South Bend Mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg appeared to get choked up during a campaign stop Sunday when a second-grade student asked him what he would do to make schools safer.
Buttigieg was speaking at a campaign event in Austin, Texas when the boy asked the question. Part of the Democrat's answer was filmed by an event attendee and later shared to Twitter.
"It's not normal, it's not ok, and we owe it to you, we owe it to anybody who's in school, and for that matter their teachers, who we love and want to be safe, to make sure that safety is there," Buttigieg said.
"To me that means making sure that we take a whole bunch of steps in terms of what it takes to get a gun, that we make it harder for somebody who is dangerous to get a gun or somebody who is ill or somebody that has a history of harming the people they love," Buttigieg told the elementary school student. "It means we've got to change what kinds of weapons people can get."
Buttigieg added that given his miltary service it means he knows a lot about "some" of the weapons people have used in mass shootings. "One thing I know about them is that they don't belong anywhere near an American school,' he said.
Buttigieg's campaign policy for gun control includes the implementation of universal background checks for individuals who want to purchase a gun, to ban military-style assault weapons and to create a nationwide system for gun licensing.
The mayor's campaign website also lists removing the "boyfriend loophole," a gap in current gun legislation that allows a man or woman convicted of domestic violence against a dating partner to still purchase a gun legally. Presently, only dating partners who share a child and are convicted of domestic abuse are prohibited from gun ownership. There are also no laws that protect a family member outside of a partner or child from being a victim of domestic violence, nor do laws extend to stalkers or other protective orders or prevent them from purchasing firearms.
According to the Giffords Law Center, misdemeanor domestic violence crimes are the third-most reason for the denial of a firearms purchase application.
"One of the voices that's in my head when someone like you asks a question like that. We cannot let you down," Buttigieg told the child, his voice seeming to catch. "Those of us in elected office owe it to you, to do whatever it takes, even if it means losing an election every now and then to keep you safe."
Buttigieg finished by telling the second grader that he should keep asking individuals running for office about what they planned to do regarding gun violence.
"I hope anytime you see an elected official or anyone who wants to be an elected official that you ask them that same question," he said.
