State of California secondary Archives: on Gun Control

Jimmy Panetta: Mental illness is often the root of gun violence

Dianne Feinstein: Gun lobby has too much power in Washington

Dianne Feinstein: Guns. I wrote the assault weapons ban that was the law of the land for a decade. Now the National Rifle Association essentially has a stranglehold on Congress. I also believe the big oil companies enjoy outsize influence and protection in Washington.

Carly Fiorina: Opposed 1994 assault weapon ban; opposes no-fly list gun ban

Fiorina dismissed Boxer's recent focus on gun control--including Fiorina's opposition to the 1994 assault weapons ban--as a "desperate attempt" to distract voters from the real issues that concern them, including the dismal economy and need for job creation. Fiorina sidestepped a question about her support for allowing people on the federal government's no-fly list to purchase firearms. "Barbara Boxer knows perfectly well the difference between the terrorist watch list and the no-fly list, and if she doesn't know the difference, then that's really a problem," Fiorina said. "It was Boxer who voted to give constitutional rights to terrorists. Boxer's record on national security is fairly weak."

Carly Fiorina: Let people on no-fly list purchase guns; it's poorly managed

Fiorina said they should: "The no-fly list has been, unfortunately, way too large, and I know people who have been on it who have been stopped and if we permit anyone who is on that no-fly list to have their 2nd Amendment rights taken away from them, that's a terrible problem," she said.

During a subsequent debate with Boxer in September in Moraga, Fiorina asserted that her sister-in-law, a friend's husband and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts had all been on the no-fly list, which she added "isn't particularly well managed."

But Fiorina was mistaken at least in part, according to a TSA myth-fact document: Kennedy was never on the no-fly list--but his name closely matched that of someone on the watch list.

Barbara Boxer: Assault weapon ban has kept people safe

Boxer countered that such bans have kept people safe. "To go back to that dangerous yesterday makes no sense," she said. "It has bipartisan support."

Carly Fiorina: Assault weapon ban is arbitrary about which weapons qualify

Boxer countered that such bans have kept people safe. "To go back to that dangerous yesterday makes no sense," she said. "It has bipartisan support."