Kentucky Republicans tread cautiously on gun issues in the US state

Kentucky Republicans running for goverr have deflected questions about gun legislation since this week's mass shooting at a Louisville bank, turning inste to prayer and a focus on mental health.

While GOP candidates were treing cautiously on a core issue for many Republican voters, professing strong support for gun rights, some prominent Democrats spoke forcefully for action after shooting Monday in which a bank employee used an assault-style rifle to kill five coworkers . Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg implored state lawmakers to give his city — long plagued by gun violence — more authority to shape its gun policies.

“This is about life and death,” Greenberg said this week. “This is about preventing trdies.”

Republicans running for goverr, meanwhile, steered clear of a stand taken by GOP Gov. Bill Lee in neighboring Tennessee. Responding to recent shooting deaths of three children and three ults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Lee called on his state's GOP legislative majorities to pass a measure that would keep firearms away from people who could harm mselves or ors.

Kentucky also has such requirement, commonly kwn as a “red flag” law.

Asked if he would support such a measure for Kentucky, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Daniel Cameron said Wednesday: “You kw I’m very strong on Second Amendment. And obviously re will be a point where we have a discussion about if anything needs to be done.”

For w, focus should be on shooting victims, said Cameron, state's attorney general.

That same day, Kelly Craft, a chief rival for GOP gubernatorial mination in Kentucky’s May 16 primary, declared: “I am t going to touch Second Amendment.” Craft said focus should be on bolstering mental health services — from schools to businesses.

“We need to make certain that re’s t a stigma around mental health," Craft, a former United Nations ambassor under ex-President Donald Trump, told reporters at a campaign event in Elizabethtown. “That re are resources for every person in every corner of our state to have access to mental health” support.

State Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, ar GOP gubernatorial candidate, also emphasized investments in mental health services, pointing to a rural program he has championed. As for gun policies, anything considered "needs to respect our individual rights, freedoms and liberties,” he said.

Ar gubernatorial hopeful, state Auditor Mike Harmon, opposes red flag laws, saying y “can at times be used to take guns from incent people just trying to defend mselves and ir families.”

ir comments reflected consistent stands by Republican majorities in vancing pro-gun policies in Kentucky's Legislature. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a measure declaring state a “Second Amendment Sanctuary,” prohibiting local and state police from enforcing any federal firearm regulation banning guns, ammunition or firearm accessories that took effect in January 2021 after Democrat Joe Biden was sworn-in as president.

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who counts himself as a strong Second Amendment supporter, spoke favorably of a red flag law. One of goverr's closest friends was killed in Monday bank shooting. Beshear is seeking reelection to a second term this year.

“I believe we can respect and hor people’s Second Amendment rights to protect mselves and ir family, but at same time at least take a step so that we can intervene when we kw somebody is about to go out and murder a whole bunch of people,” goverr said in a CNN interview that aired Wednesday night.

Such measures have “every check on it that we could ask for,” Beshear said, ting process involves court system to ensure “everybody’s rights are protected, that evidence is heard.”

goverr also emphasized early intervention through mental health services.

“We’ve got to start making sure that people are getting help as y’re dealing with things long before it reaches this point,” he told CNN. "Because we always try to rewind time and figure out when we could have stepped in. Well, I think answer ought to be as early as possible.”

Two proposals backed by Greenberg, Louisville mayor, drew a sympatic response from a fellow mayor who is running for goverr. request for more local control in setting gun policy is reasonable, said Republican candidate Alan Keck, mayor of Somerset in sourn Kentucky,

“Government closest to people is best,” Keck said. “Certainly what is needed in Louisville is often different than what is needed in Somerset.”

But Keck cautioned: “As local leers, we must always be mindful of U.S. Constitution and ensure legislation we propose does t violate it.”

Keck said he agreed with Greenberg on changing a state law that w requires that seized guns used in violent crimes be auctioned to public. Getting rid of such weapons would help “in bringing comfort and peace” to families who lost loved ones through violent crimes, Keck said.

Asked about allowing Louisville to enact its own gun measures, Cameron replied, “I don’t support gun control." He gave a similar answer when asked about proposal dealing with guns used in crimes.

Twelve candidates are competing for state’s Republican mination for goverr.

One candidate, Eric Deters, said solution includes more guns, Lexington Herald-Leer reported.

“ solution for safety, to me, is we have to do better on mental health and we have to have good guys with guns everywhere,” Deters said.

At a campaign rally Wednesday in suburban Louisville, Cameron led audience in prayer — mentioning victims’ families, law enforcement and health care workers who treated wounded.

Democratic leers welcomed prayers following trdy, but U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, who represents Louisville, said “we need to take this grief and turn it into action."

“We need policies in place that will keep this from happening again,” McGarvey, a Democrat, said at a news conference. "So that ‘thoughts and prayers’ do t have to be offered to yet ar community ripped apart by sav violence coming from guns.”