Jamie Radtke is running for the United States Senate in Virginia, for the seat being vacated by Jim Webb. Gunleaders interviewed her regarding the Second Amendment and firearms ownership.
Gunleaders: Do you view Virginians as, basically, Conservative or Liberal where gun ownership is concerned?
MS. RADTKE: I think that they’re most Conservative. I think that also depends, geographically, where the question is asked in Virginia. I believe we’ve made some big strides where it comes to Second Amendment issues.
Gunleaders: How do you view the role of the Second Amendment in relation to the average person’s life?
MS. RADTKE: It’s really important, it’s a fundamental right. You can’t protect your liberty or freedom without protecting the Second Amendment, so I think it’s really critical to be able to protect your protect, to protect your family to protect your life. All those things are critical. It’s really important for everyone, for every citizen.
Gunleaders: If elected, what restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms would you help gun owners repeal?
MS. RADTKE: I would be very supportive and work closely with the gun lobbyists to sit down and look at the Second Amendment issues. Obviously, we’ve had an issue in the past with the assault weapons ban and I was not supportive of that.
Gunleaders: What pro-gun laws would you work to advance and see passed?
MS. RADTKE: A lot of the legislation takes place at the state level, working on the issue of reciprocity is an important one so that people can carry into other states, that’s been important. I would want to work closely with the state legislature as well as the Federal Legislature. The reason I say that is because I’ve been asked recently about the idea of national concealed weapons permit legislation at the Federal level and that concerns me because it concerns me to think that the Federal Government would be in charge of who gets a national concealed carry permit and who is approved and who is not.
Gunleaders: That sort of leads into the next question of would you draft, support and get passed a Constitutional Carry law, whereby each state would issue it’s own concealed carry permit but under Federal Law every state would be required to honor it?
MS. RADTKE: Yes.
Gunleaders: Recently, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms has come under extreme scrutiny for letting thousands of firearms illegally “walk” into the possession of the Mexican drug cartels, which led to the deaths of two US Federal Agents and countless Mexican Citizens, all while blaming law-abiding citizens for the increase in the number of guns that traverse the border. Would you support legislation that de-funds any ATF attempt to register multiple sales of rifles and also hold criminally liable ANY ATF or DOJ officials who allowed Project Fast & Furious to go forth?
MS RADTKE: There are two questions there. The first one is de-funding and yes, I would. The second is on “Fast & Furious” and holding liable. I think it would be important to me to hold liable the one at the top, the agency head implementing the policy, not the subordinates that are under his command.
Gunleaders: It has been suggested, in Darrell Issa’s hearings, that it went far above BATFE. Would you still support holding those people criminally liable, no matter how high it went?
MS. RADTKE: I think there has to be accountability. No matter how high up it goes there has to be accountability. You have to determine if the law was broken and if charges need to be brought, no matter what level you’re looking at.
Gunleaders: BATFE is currently trying to implement regulations to create prohibitive firearms regulations that do not have statutory or constitutional authority and are trying to restrict the meaning of the Second Amendment to only sporting uses or manufacture of firearms which is in opposition to the holding in the District of Columbia v. Heller, United States Supreme Court case in 2008. Would you introduce or support a bill that would prohibit government agencies from regulating firearms without explicit statutory authority and remove any sporting requirement for firearms for their manufacture, ownership or possession by law-abiding citizens or corporations?
MS. RADTKE: Yes.
Gunleaders: Would you support a law removing firearm suppressors from the NFA, leaving them as Title 1 firearms?
MS. RADTKE: Yes.
Gunleaders: The Second Amendment states that the security of a free state rests upon a well regulated militia and the right of the people to keep and bear arms. An unarmed or under-armed militia is not a well regulated militia. Would you support repealing the 1996 law prohibiting the manufacture of new fully automatic firearms?
MS. RADTKE: Yes.
Gunleaders: The National Firearms Act was passed in 1934 as a crime control measure and it taxed and severely restricted the possession of fully automatic firearms and short barreled firearms through, in many cases, prohibitory registration and regulation. It was the impetus of the now infamous United States v. Miller Supreme Court case. Would you support the repeal of the National Firearms Act or any license or tax that is needed to own or posses any firearms by law abiding citizens?
MS. RADTKE: Yes.
Gunleaders: With regards to the Second Amendment, what will you do that distinguishes you from the other candidates?
MS. RADTKE: (laughing) I think I just did. I think that would distinguish me from my primary opponent who has been weak on guns when he was in the Senate. I am a strong advocate for the Second Amendment, all ten Amendments, actually. We’ve got to get back to where the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch actually have to live within the confines of the Constitution, which is a novel idea these days. Because we’ve gotten to a point now where as long as they have the votes to pass legislation in the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch, so be it and the Constitution’s sort of a secondary matter. That’s how it’s been with a lot of this legislation we’ve talked about, that we’re looking to repeal. They can’t just continue to pass legislation and not have the parameters of the Constitution. So I’ll be a really big advocate of the Second Amendment and work really closely with all the gun groups but also those that I’ve had close relationships with at the state level that I know are very closely connected with the grass roots when it comes to people who are strong defenders of gun rights, versus the national. They all work well with me. The state groups are the ones that have the best voice when it comes to the issue of the Second Amendment. That’s been my experience for the last ten years.
