(Basking Ridge, NJ) In the span of 10 years, Tom Kean Jr. has gone from supporting child proof gun mandates, to refusing to acknowledge the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school. On common sense gun reform, and every other issue, Kean shows us he will vote for his GOP colleagues’ approval, not with the values of the people he represents.
Tom Kean Jr. has improved his grades significantly with the NRA over the years; going from an “F” rating in 2003 – pre-MAGA; to an “A+” rating in 2017 – with the rise of Trump. In 2020, he was back down to a “B” attempting to appease moderate Republicans fleeing Trump. Yet, today flaunts his support for Trump in recent campaign mail.
“At the moment when America most needs strong and principled leadership to stand up to the gun industry and put in place sensible measures to protect our kids, Tom Kean Jr. is nowhere to be found. He is never going to do the right thing when it is hard,” said Malinowski.
Some of Kean’s most egregious votes on gun violence prevention include:
- 2019: Kean voted against establishing a commission to approve “personalized” handguns, also known as “child proof guns” because they can only be fired by the owner, and requiring firearm retailers to sell personalized handguns.
- 2018: Kean voted against reducing the maximum capacity of ammunition rounds to 10 rounds.
- 2015: Kean voted against requiring firearm retailers sell personalized handguns that can only be fired by the owner.
- 2015: Kean voted against codifying stricter restrictions on who can carry a handgun in public.
- 2013: In the wake of Sandy Hook, Kean stalled Republican votes and then voted against an emergency bill, which would have created a new electronic system for instant background checks and mandated background checks for private gun sales in New Jersey.
- 2013: Kean voted against a 180-day window for persons to dispose of unlawfully possessed firearms.
- 2009: Kean voted against prohibiting individuals from buying more than one handgun in a calendar month
- 2002: Kean voted against the nation’s first “smart gun” bill, which required handguns sold to be childproofed as soon as the technology is available.