McCain mocks Cruz claim on guns

Running for president in New Hampshire over the weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz told a group of gun owners he’s “pressing” Sen. John McCain to convene hearings on whether soldiers should be allowed to carry concealed guns on military bases.


McCain (R-Ariz.) says the request is news to him.

“I was fascinated to hear that because I haven’t heard a thing about it from him. Nor has my staff heard from his staff,” McCain said of Cruz (R-Texas). “It came as a complete surprise to me that he had been pressing me. Maybe it was some medium that I’m not familiar with.”

Cruz told a crowd of gun owners in Litchfield, New Hampshire, that he was leaning on McCain, the Armed Services Committee chairman, to have “a public discussion about why we’re denying our soldiers the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Asked about the status of those hearings, McCain went to great lengths to ridicule Cruz for suggesting the two had discussed the issue. He joked that perhaps Cruz was bouncing messages off the “ozone layer.”

“Maybe it was through, you know, hand telegraph. Maybe sign language,” McCain said. “Ask him how he communicated with me because I’d be very interested. Because who knows what I’m missing.”

Cruz’s office said that the Texas senator had raised the issue in hearings last year and sent a letter to former Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) requesting the committee hear from Defense Department and outside experts on the subject of allowing armed soldiers on military bases. Cruz is now working on a similar letter to McCain, who became chairman at the start of the year.

“Senator Cruz has been discussing this issue for a long time and he looks forward to continuing to raise it in the Senate Armed Services Committee where he serves with Chairman McCain,” a spokeswoman said.

There’s little love lost between the two, given that McCain has denounced Cruz as one of the Senate’s “wacko birds” and Cruz has suggested that McCain lost the presidential race in 2008 because he wasn’t conservative enough. While Cruz pursues the Republican nomination along with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, McCain is encouraging his friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, to run for the White House.

The two disagree on guns as well. While Cruz led the charge to defeat a background-checks bill in 2013, McCain voted for that bipartisan proposal that failed by a 54-46 vote. In New Hampshire, Cruz said he was eager to discuss the possibility of allowing soldiers to arm themselves on military installations to better protect themselves, something top military brass advise against.

On Monday, McCain didn’t rule out such hearings — he just seemed surprised that Cruz had gone public with a conversation that McCain says never happened.

“I’ll be glad to discuss the issue and see if we need hearings,” McCain said.