Ben Carson on Gun Control
No limits to gun ownership, except in cases of insanity
Q: In one article in Breitbart, you indicated that there shouldn't be a line about what types of weapons citizens can buy. At the same time, you have said in places where there are a lot of crowds, referring you don't want a crazy person ending up with the wrong type of weapon. So you seem to be open to limiting that. What is your stand on this?
CARSON: Well, my point being we should never compromise the Second Amendment. Of course, we should be thinking about what we can do to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of mentally unstable people. The two things are not incompatible.
Q: So you're not saying there should be a limitation on what type of weapon a sane person should be able to buy?
CARSON: Of course not. You know, when we put this amendment in place, you know, state-of-the-art weapon was what? A musket? But the principle was that the citizenry should have access to whatever they needed in order to protect themselves from an overly aggressive government.
Source: Meet the Press 2015 interview moderated by Chuck Todd , Oct 25, 2015
2nd amendment critical in guarding against tyranny
Q: In your book, there's a passage in which you say confiscating the guns of American citizens would violate the Constitution. But who wants to confiscate all the guns of the American citizens?
CARSON: Well, what I'm talking about is the reason that we have a Second Amendment in there. It's there for the reasons that I stated in the book, specifically, in case of an invasion by a foreign power, the people will be able to aid the military, and also, if we have a time when we have the wrong people in office and they want to dominate the people, the people will be able to defend themselves.
Q: In the book, it suggests, though, that there is a present threat that guns would be confiscated from American citizens?
CARSON: No. Many of the things that are in the Constitution are to help to prevent horrible things from happening. So they're in place to make sure that the people maintain their liberties, and that the government remains constrained.