Rep. Don Bacon has consistently opposed commonsense gun safety laws
Bacon’s Democratic challenger, Nebraska state Sen. Tony Vargas, backs background checks and red flag laws to prevent gun violence.
Six days after a Sept. 4, 2024, mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, left two students and two teachers dead, a 15-year-old student was critically injured in a shooting at Northwest High School in Omaha. Although there have been more than 400 other school shootings in the United States since 1999, Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon has consistently opposed legislation to prevent gun violence.
Bacon is being challenged in his 2nd District reelection race by Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas in a rematch of the 2022 election. Bacon won that race 51%-49%. The Cook Political Report shifted the race from its “lean Republican” column to “toss-up” on Sept. 5.
The two candidates have starkly different positions on gun violence.
Bacon claims to be a “centrist,” despite his solidly right-wing voting record.
In an April 15 social media post, he touted an endorsement from the National Rifle Association, which opposes gun safety regulations: “I am honored to be the only #NE02 candidate to earn the endorsement from the @NRA for my re-election in 2024. I will always stand strong to protect our 2nd Amendment rights, unlike my opponent Tony Vargas.” Since his first congressional campaign in 2016, Bacon has accepted more than $20,000 in campaign funds from the NRA’s political action committee.
In 2019 and 2021, Bacon voted against requiring background checks for all gun purchases. He claimed, without evidence, in a March 2021 press release, “There is no question that loss of life due to gun violence is traumatizing and heartbreaking, but we cannot ignore the fact that the numbers do not show background checks, gun registries, and other measures will work.”
After mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, in 2019, Bacon said in a press release, “I have and will continue to support closing NICS loopholes and passing Red Flag legislation that includes due process protections.”
In 2022, however, Bacon voted against the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, a red- flag bill to allow federal judges to temporarily disarm individuals deemed an imminent danger to themselves or others.
The background checks and red flag bills passed in the House of Representatives, but stalled in the Senate due to Republican opposition.
Bacon also opposed the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a compromise that expanded background checks required of gun purchasers under age 21 and offered federal funding to help states implement red flag laws. Bacon questioned whether red flag laws are constitutional and said in a press release, “I do not believe federal tax dollars paid for by Nebraskans should be used in other states, such as California and New York, to fund Red Flag programs that do not have due process protections nor a right to attorney.”
The bill, which was backed by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the National Association of Police Organizations, International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Fraternal Order of Police, was signed by President Joe Biden in June 2022.
Bacon is currently co-sponsoring bills that would roll back existing gun laws, including proposals that would override state laws preventing out-of-state gun owners from carrying concealed weapons, grant special nondiscrimination protections for firearm and ammunition manufacturers in contracts with the federal government, and prohibit states or localities from taxing guns.
On his campaign website, Vargas lists endorsements from anti-gun violence organizations Brady and Giffords.
“Senator Vargas knows that we must do better by every American, because no person should have to fear for their lives every time they go to school, to a grocery store, or to church,” Giffords said in its endorsement. “[A]nd in Congress, he’ll continue to stand up for families and children by fighting to expand background checks to all gun sales, implement desperately needed red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of abusers, and ban military-grade assault weapons.”
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an average of 196 Nebraskans die by guns every year, 17 of them children and teens.
A 2020 SurveyUSA poll sponsored by Everytown found 80% of Nebraska voters supported red flag laws, including 75% of Republicans and 74% of gun owners. A Morning Consult poll that same year found 86% of Nebraska voters favored universal background checks.
