Buried in the Aug. 24 on-air interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters which quickly turned into a fiery debate and seems to be getting much more attention over his remarks about taxes, ICE and comparing circumcision to child sex changes, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed dodged a question about his call three years ago to replace the Second Amendment with a right to health care.
Asked by Watters about his desire to replace the right to keep and bear arms, El-Sayed parried:
“Well, look man, I think more people are more worried about whether they can see a doctor than whether or not they can have a gun. I’m just going to put that out there.”
The confrontation between Watters and El-Sayed comes at 15½ minutes into the 25-minute interview. It lasts about 30-45 seconds, but it was enough to show El-Sayed is uncomfortable about being put on the spot over an issue, and a personal statement, which could bring Michigan gun owners and hunters out of the shadows and into the voting booth in November.
The video snip was posted on Facebook by the National Association for Gun Rights. As the camera focuses on El-Sayed, he hesitated for a second, apparently trying to formulate his glib reaction to Watters’ query, “You don’t want to replace the Second Amendment, do you?”
When he wouldn’t give a direct answer, Watters observed, “I think you dodged the question, and that’s a pretty big one in Michigan.”
El-Sayed comes back to assert:
“I’m perfectly okay with people having their hunting rifles. It’s an important pastime. I’ve got family that goes hunting every single year.”
It was the kind of remark gun owners have gotten used to from Democrats who have stated they “support the Second Amendment,” and then turned around to vote for every restriction that came along. Now they have a candidate in Michigan who is willing to dismiss the amendment, and now that he’s running for office, El-Sayed is reluctant to come right out and admit it.
This exchange could ultimately define where the entire Democratic Party agenda has moved.
Faced with an upcoming Supreme Court review of bans on so-called “assault weapons” in Cook County, Illinois and the state of Connecticut in a pair of cases known as Viramontes v. Cook County (IL) and Grant v. Higgins (CT)—both brought by the Second Amendment Foundation—anti-gun Democrats and the gun prohibition lobby are nervous, because they think what’s coming sometime next year is a smackdown of a cornerstone issue: whether modern semiautomatic rifles and pistols are protected by the Second Amendment. Outright bans in about a dozen states could be nullified, and their hysteria-laden diatribes about “weapons of war” would be up against a Supreme Court ruling they will not be able to pretend doesn’t exist.
The Watters question came several days after it was reported by CNN that El-Sayed—in a report blocked by a paywall—that the progressive Democrat had, back in April 2023, made the suggestion in a now-hidden YouTube video. The story was covered by Fox News and the Washington Times.
Earlier this month, El-Sayed won the Michigan primary against moderate Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens by a single percentage point. He will now face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in the Nov. 3 general election. That race was recently described as a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report.
Another credible news agency, The Hill, had also reported on the “re-surfaced” videos, explaining that the YouTube podcast in question showed El-Sayed “suggesting that lawmakers replace the Second Amendment with a constitutional right to healthcare and encouraging the public to rethink the way it celebrates Independence Day in clips that are now deleted.”
As reported by TheGunMag.com, “In the video, according to the various news reports, El-Sayed asks, “What if we tweaked the Constitution, amended the amendment, and instead of the right to bear arms, we change it to the right to have health care?” Apparently now El-Sayed thinks if he dances around that suggestion, people may forget about it.
While the Second Amendment question may not seem as important as tax schemes, ICE deportations of illegal aliens and child sex changes in the proverbial “broad scheme” of things, it will be very important to gun owners in Michigan, and everywhere else, if Democrats re-take the U.S. Senate with El-Sayed as a member of the Democrat caucus.
Recent court rulings in the Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals, one rejecting a lawsuit seeking to force the ATF to toughen its regulations on so-called “ghost guns” and the other declaring New Mexico’s 7-day waiting period unconstitutional, are adding to anti-gunners’ consternation. They are witnessing the crumbling of their gun prohibition crusade.
Now, with their fast-talking, evasive Michigan candidate for the U.S Senate not-so-artfully dodging a question about his feelings toward the Second Amendment, they may be facing a campaign issue they don’t want between now and November.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
