Ron DeSantis in Iowa criticizes Trump and Biden for banning pistol braces, bump stocks

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis doubled down on his support for 2nd Amendment rights Saturday, including the ability to own a modified weapon without registering it with the federal government.

"It's just a piece of plastic. All of a sudden, people are going to be felons because they have a piece of plastic?" the Florida governor said of the Biden administration's actions banning pistol braces.

DeSantis visited the Crossroads Shooting Sports range with U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl. The Iowa Firearms Coalition helped facilitate the event, though board member Richard Rogers told the crowd neither the group nor its PAC would be endorsing DeSantis.

The IFC does not endorse candidates in primary elections.

"However, now my duties with the IFC are over," Rogers said, before pulling a DeSantis sticker out of his pocket and placing it on his chest.

More: Iowa Poll shows where Trump, DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, Christie stand in Iowa Caucuses

The Florida governor spoke against regulations on bump stocks and pistol braces — a topic he touched on while on the campaign trail in October. The devices can be used to make firearms more lethal by improving their rate of fire and stability, respectively.

A man using a pistol brace killed 10 people at a Boulder, Colorado grocery store. The shooter at the 2017 Las Vegas massacre that killed 58 people had 12 rifles with bump stocks.

DeSantis criticized Donald Trump, stating that his administration set the standard for Biden when they placed restrictions on bump stocks.

"Without any debate, without any due process, without any of that," he said. "That is a government run amok. That is a bureaucracy that is not in tune with the constitutional design."

The Department of Justice under Trump amended Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulations to place bump stocks under the federal legal definition of a machine gun, according to the ATF, making them illegal.

The ban was put in place after the Las Vegas shooting that also injured more than 850 people at a 2017 country music concert in Las Vegas. The mass shooting was the deadliest in modern U.S. history.

Massie, who has reintroduced a bill to eliminate the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 five times, said DeSantis would be "most pro-Second Amendment president we have had in 100 years." He endorsed DeSantis in April, a month before he formally entered the race.

"Always my litmus test was to ask a politician about the Second Amendment. If they start out their sentence with duck hunting, I'm not voting for you," Massie said. "I like duck hunting, but that is not what the Second Amendment is about."

Addison Lathers covers growth and development for the Des Moines metro. Reach her at ALathers@registermedia.com and follow her on Twitter at @addisonlathers.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: DeSantis promises to reverse pistol brace ban on "day 1" of presidency