The presidential candidate says his more moderate views on gun control and more can help him beat President Donald Trump in 2020.

It was October of 2017, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a gun owner in a state where more than half of households have firearms, was mulling a White House request to lower the flag to half-mast in mourning for the victims of a gun rampage in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500.

"I was sitting there in the office, saying, I don't even know what to write in this proclamation" ordering the flags to be flown half-mast, Bullock said at a National Press Club speech Wednesday. "And a co-worker, a young staffer said, 'Oh, we now have a template for mass shootings.'"

It was that moment – along with other jarring episodes of gun violence – that have led the chief executive of the deep red, happy-hunting state to re-evaluate his views on gun control. It has also put Bullock, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, in an unusual position, one that could damage or elevate his candidacy as the party struggles between rewarding its progressive base and nominating someone with a broader appeal in the general election.

In some ways, Bullock seems out of step with his party's approach to gun regulation, as Democratic candidates come up with new proposals to limit or ban certain kinds of gun ownership. While the group largely agrees on such policies as universal background checks and "red flag laws" allowing the confiscation of firearms from people determined to be mentally ill, other candidates go further, such as calling for an assault weapons buyback program or national gun licensing.

But Bullock, who repeatedly notes his unique position as a Democrat who won statewide in a state President Donald Trump won by 20 percentage points, says he has an unusual advantage as well: he understands gun owners and the culture they fear losing, and has the credibility to speak about the issue without demonizing rural voters he says Democrats need to win nationally.

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Bullock has personally experienced both sides of the story of gun ownership. He recalls the family joy when his then 11-year-old son killed his first deer on a hunting expedition. But it was also his 11-year-old nephew who was fatally shot 25 years ago by a ten-year-old who brought a gun to school. "Now, it wouldn't even make the national news," Bullock says.

More recently, Bullock says he asked his middle-school child, after his first week in a new school, what he had learned. The answer? "I learned where to go in the case of an active shooter," Bullock recalls his son saying.

"Yes, the Second Amendment confers rights, but like all rights, they come with responsibilities, and like all rights, they can be forfeited," Bullock said, referring to the "red flag" law. "I am calling on my fellow gun owners to take leadership in the fight against gun violence… (and) be bigger than what the city of Washington, D.C. is," he added, referring to the Senate's refusal to pass gun restrictions.

Bullock himself opposed universal background checks when he ran for governor in 2016; now he supports them. He also said he wants "limits" on magazine clips and "limits on the sale of assault weapons."

Asked to explain the change, Bullock said, "there are things… when you continually lower the flags…" then switched to a memory of attending a March for Our Lives in Montana. He'd been asked to speak, but declined, he said, opting to attend with his own children, listening to young people talk about the dangers of assault weapons. "That's when the transformation, if you will, occurred," he said.

Other Democrats, meanwhile, are going further. Former vice president Joe Biden on CNN Tuesday reiterated his support for universal background checks for new gun owners and called for a ban on assault weapons, with a national buyback program. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey in May released a national gun licensing program plan; South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday released a firearms policy plan that includes the licensing as well.

Other candidates have additional ideas – Sen. Kamala Harris of California, for example, wants to revoke the licenses of gun manufacturers and dealers that break the law while Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota would also close some legal loopholes.

Ten Democratic candidates so far have agreed to appear at a gun safety forum in Des Moines Saturday, according to sponsors Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.

None has advocated what some gun owners fear – taking everyone's guns away – and Bullock says it's the National Rifle Association which is responsible. "The NRA said this to try to make it a cultural issue," but "the majority of gun owners I know have both respect for the weapon, and want to make sure the weapon doesn't get into the wrong hands," he said at the press club.

It is that middle ground – whether it's guns, health care or immigration – that Bullock says puts him in a better position in a general election to beat Trump. Bullock supports a public option and the availability of Medicare for All – but he says taking away people's private health insurance is only an assurance that Trump will win re-election. He wants to stop detaining immigrant children at the border, but does not believe in decriminalizing the act of crossing the border unlawfully.

Many of the top-tier candidates in the polls for the nomination come from the left wing of the party, with Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Harris following Biden in many surveys of primary voters. Those candidates have indeed energized a certain part of the party, but Bullock isn't convinced it's enough to take Trump – whom he called "a con man with orange hair and a gold toilet" – out of the Oval Office.

Bullock said if he were to become the nominee,he would win Massachusetts, California and Vermont. "I wonder if the senators from Vermont, Massachusetts and California can make the same guarantee about carrying Montana or Michigan or Wisconsin or Pennsylvania," Bullock added. Meanwhile, the Montana governor is still trying to reach the fundraising and polling threshold to qualify for the Democratic presidential primary debates in Houston next month.

