J.D. Vance Reminisces About His Grandmother Keeping 19 Loaded Guns in Her Home: "That's True American Spirit" | Vanity Fair

J.D. Vance used part of his speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday to proudly share that his grandmother kept more than a dozen loaded guns stashed around her house—a story he told less than a week after Donald Trump was shot at a rally in an attempted assassination attempt. And Republicans, unsurprisingly, loved it!

Speaking from Milwaukee on the third night of the convention, the Ohio senator told the crowd:

And our movement, ladies and gentlemen, it’s about grandparents all across this country, who are living on Social Security and raising grandchildren they didn’t expect to raise.

And while we’re on the topic of grandparents, let me tell you another Mamaw story. Now, my mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq, in 2005. And when we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns. Now, the thing is, they were stashed all over her house. Under her bed, in her closet. In the silverware drawer. And we wondered what was going on, and it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, Mamaw couldn’t get around so well. And so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arms’ length of whatever she needed to protect her family. That’s who we fight for. That’s American spirit.

Given that Donald Trump was recently shot at, did the crowd fall silent at the mention of Mamaw’s gun collection? Did they murmur to themselves about how irresponsible it was to keep handguns under the bed and in a drawer, rather than responsibly locked up? Did they start a “too soon” chant? Obviously, the answer is no, no, and “have you met a Republican lately?'

Instead, the group erupted in laughter and then proceeded to applaud they idea of someone keeping 19 guns hidden around their house.

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Republicans have blamed everything from the Secret Service to Democrats to the media for the attempt on Trump’s life—but have refused to admit that America has a gun problem. “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Representative Wesley Hunt said this week at event in Milwaukee hosted by the US Concealed Carry Association. “That son of a bitch is now dead because a good guy with a gun shot him, so let’s keep that in mind. The insinuation that we’re going to just eradicate this country of guns is a ridiculous one, so you better arm yourself accordingly.”

On Tuesday, three days after Trump was shot, a senior campaign adviser declared that loosening gun laws even further would be a major priority in a second Trump administration.