LITTLE ROCK -- U.S. Senate hopeful Conner Eldridge on Thursday backed efforts to prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing guns as Republican Sen. John Boozman's campaign accused the Democratic challenger of politicizing the mass shooting in Orlando.
Eldridge, a former federal prosecutor, stopped short of endorsing specific legislation but said he supports having the FBI and U.S. Justice Department establish a system to prevent such purchases "while vigorously protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens." Eldridge announced his support hours after Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy ended a 15-hour filibuster calling for gun control legislation in the wake of Sunday's shooting at a gay nightclub that left 49 victims dead.
"It's clear this guy was under investigation and he was someone who was suspected of considering a terroristic act," Eldridge told The Associated Press, referring to the gunman, Omar Mateen. "We need to fix that so individuals like him are prevented from buying a firearm."
Mateen was added to a government watch list of individuals known or suspected of being involved in terrorist activities in 2013, when he was investigated for inflammatory statements to co-workers. He was pulled from that database when that investigation was closed 10 months later.
Boozman's campaign accused Eldridge of playing politics.
"What is irresponsible is politicizing this attack rather than working to address the issues at hand," Boozman Campaign Manager Chris Caldwell said in an email. "Senator Boozman and his colleagues have been diligently gathering information on the Orlando attack to respond in a way that puts us on a path that protects the rights of law-abiding American citizens while keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists."
Eldridge dismissed the claim as ridiculous and accused Boozman of not showing leadership on the issue.
Eldridge didn't specifically back legislation by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California to keep to keep people on a government terrorism watch list or other suspected terrorists from buying guns. He said an alternative proposal by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas that would allow the government to delay a gun sale to a suspected terrorist for 72 hours, but require prosecutors to go to court to show probable cause to block the sale permanently, doesn't go far enough.
Boozman voted against an earlier version of Feinstein's proposal in December and is reviewing Cornyn's legislation, Caldwell said.
Eldridge didn't call for additional gun control measures backed by some Democrats, including an assault weapons ban and expanded background checks.
Eldridge faces an uphill battle to unseat Boozman in Arkansas, where Republicans control all statewide and federal offices. Two years ago, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor lost his re-election bid in a campaign that he kicked off by defending himself from criticism from gun control groups over his voting against expanded background checks for firearms purchases.
State Desk on 06/17/2016