by Guy Page
VDC’s coverage of the VP lieutenant governor debate (“Both lieutenant governor candidates favor assault weapons ban,” October 10) stirred quite a bit of controversy among our readers, especially supporters of GOP candidate John Rodgers as Vermont’s next lieutenant governor.
At an October 9 Vermont Public debate, Rodgers was asked about whether he would support an assault weapons ban. He replied, “I don’t think anybody needs automatic weapons.”
VDC printed his remarks verbatim and led with the headline, ‘Both lieutenant governor candidates favor “assault weapons” ban.’
VDC asked the campaign for further comment the morning before the story ran, and did not receive a reply in the admittedly brief three-hour window. The following morning, Rodgers laid the issue to rest in an email: “Words matter. I said no one needs an automatic weapon. Currently in Vermont you cannot buy an automatic weapon legally. The answer is a troll on the question. They asked if we would ban assault weapons. In my mind an AR-15 semi automatic is not an assault weapon. I own several of them and would not support a ban on their sale.”
At our request, Rodgers called in to the Friday at Four podcast last week and clarified that he most emphatically does support the full right to own and use semi-automatic weapons, including the AR-15, of which he owns several and uses as a deer hunting firearm of choice because of its ease of use.
In short, John Rodgers is firmly committed to the right to bear arms, he took pains to explain to our audience.
While VDC YouTube channel failed to load the podcast, the episode can be seen on our Facebook page.