Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed blamed "originalism" for America's gun violence at a town hall in Midland on Saturday, saying of the nation's founders: "When they promised the right to bear arms, they had muskets. So yeah, everyone should have equal rights to a musket." The crowd laughed, CNN reported.
El-Sayed was answering a third-grade teacher and mother who identified herself as Amanda and asked what he would do to stop school shootings, days after a shooter killed three children and a teacher at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon. "I'm really tired of lockdowns and my students who are scared, even though they know it's a drill," she said.
Originalism is the view that the Constitution should be read as it was understood when it was written. El-Sayed said hunters would keep their guns: "If you're using your shotgun for hunting, nobody wants to take that away from you. Enjoy hunting, go hunt. But I don't want somebody with credible threats of violence hunting people." CNN reported that he also said guns have "more rights" than women in America.
The Supreme Court has addressed that argument. In its 2008 Heller decision, the court held that the Second Amendment "extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding."
Trump won Midland County with 56% of the vote in 2024. El-Sayed faces Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in a tightly contested race for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, and Election Day is Nov. 3.
Photo: Abdul El-Sayed meets voters at Michigan Technological University, Oct. 22, 2025. Conlan Houston (CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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