JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The gun rights group Gun Owners of America endorsed Republican candidate for governor John Brunner on Wednesday.
The group, one of the largest gun rights organizations in the country, said they spent weeks researching the Republican candidates for governor before landing on Brunner.
“For more than forty years, John has thrown his support behind candidates and causes that stand up for your constitutional liberties,” said Tim Macy, chairman of Gun Owners of America. “John understands that the government’s role is to protect your individual liberty, not to take it away. He knows that it’s the criminals and terrorists who are behind the violence in this country, not law-abiding gun owners.”
Brunner welcomed the endorsement as part of his profile as a constitutional conservative.
“As an authentic constitutional conservative dedicated to protecting all of Missourians constitutional rights, I’m proud to receive Gun Owners of America’s endorsement for Governor,” Brunner said. “It’s more important than ever that we stand up for the right to keep and bear arms and I’ll never waver in my defense of the right of law-abiding Missourians to do just that.”
With more than 1.5 million members, Gun Owners of America has become a prominent and stringent gun rights group. It differentiates itself from the National Rifle Association, saying it is more protective of gun rights than the NRA.
All four Republican candidates for governor have been proponents of gun rights and several have featured guns in their ads.
