Gun Owners of CD3: Quentin Wittrock Has Already Told You What He Thinks of Your AR-15. Now It’s Time to Vote.
If you own a gun in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, I need five minutes of your time before August 11.
I’m Tyler Bass. Not the field goal kicker — a hard-working Minnesotan who’s spent time at the range, gone through gun safety courses, carries my permit to carry, and knows exactly what it feels like to send rounds down range with people I trust. I’m one of you. And what I’m about to show you should make every single gun owner in this district furious.
He Wrote It Down. In His Own Words.
Quentin Wittrock, my opponent in this Republican primary, used to run a political blog called Principle Based Politics. Before he decided he wanted your vote, he put his real positions in writing — no filter, no campaign consultant softening the language. Just his own thinking, published for anyone to read.
In a post titled “Federal Gun Control: Applying Principles,” Wittrock argued, in his own words, that the federal government should require background checks on every single gun sale in the country with zero exceptions — and that it should ban the consumer sale of assault weapons, semi-automatic weapons, and their ammunition. This includes the AR-15, AR-10, any pistol that is not a single shot or revolver and shot guns. Which is basically every weapon sold today across America used for home defense.
Read that again. Ban the consumer sale of semi-automatic weapons.
That’s not gun-show talk. That’s not a hypothetical. That’s the AR-15 sitting in your safe right now. That’s the rifle you sighted in at the range this summer. That’s the platform half of us in this district use for home defense, for hunting, for competition shooting, for just enjoying a Saturday putting rounds downrange. Wittrock wants it banned. He said so himself.
He didn’t stop there either. Three days before that post, he wrote a companion piece laying out the philosophical groundwork for exactly this position — walking through the Second Amendment step by step, only to arrive at the conclusion that the federal government should be in the business of deciding which guns you’re allowed to own.
Both posts have since vanished from his website. Funny how that happens right around campaign season. But the internet doesn’t forget, and I’m not going to let Minnesota gun owners get fooled by a scrubbed website. Here they are, archived, word for word, so you can read it with your own eyes:
Don’t take my word for it. Read them yourself. Then ask yourself if this is who you want representing gun owners in Congress.
Right Now, in St. Paul, This Isn’t Theoretical
While Wittrock was writing blog posts about the “principled” case for banning your rifle, Minnesota Democrats in the House and Senate have been actively pushing legislation to ban the AR-15 and cap magazines at 10 rounds. That’s happening right now, this session, in our state capitol.
So ask yourself this: if Wittrock ends up in Congress, and a federal bill lands on the floor that does exactly what he already said he supports — banning semi-automatic weapons — where do you think he lands? He’s already shown you his answer. He wrote it himself.
I don’t know a single gun owner in this district — not one — who wants a “Republican” nominee who’s on record building the case for gun bans. Not one who thinks a law degree gives someone the right to lecture the rest of us about how much of the Second Amendment we get to keep.
I’m Not a Lawyer. I’m One of You.
I’ve had a job since I was 10 years old, mowing lawns because if I wanted something, I had to earn it. I built a company out of a $250 paycheck, gym equipment, and a website I made myself, after months of walking Rochester in a suit handing out resumes with nobody hiring. I know what it means to fight for something with nothing behind you but your own two hands.
I’ve also put in the time at the range. I’ve gone through the safety courses. I carry, legally, because I believe in the responsibility that comes with the right. That’s not campaign talk — that’s how I actually live. When I say I’ll defend the Second Amendment, it’s because it’s already part of my life, not because a consultant told me to say it.
Quentin Wittrock can write all the “principled” legal arguments he wants about why the federal government should be allowed to take your AR-15. I’m not interested in the legal theory. I’m interested in making sure that when this district sends someone to Congress, it’s someone who will never, under any circumstance, vote to restrict what gun-owning, law-abiding Minnesotans are allowed to own.
Vote Like Your Rights Depend On It — Because They Do
This August 11, gun owners in CD3 have a choice. You can vote for a candidate whose own writing lays out a roadmap for banning your rifle — or you can vote for someone who’s spent time on the range instead of in law books, and who will never trade your rights away for a “principled” argument.
I’m not going to let Minnesota gun owners get steamrolled by a scrubbed website and a law degree. Get out and vote on August 11. Bring your friends from the range. Bring your hunting buddies. Bring everyone who’s ever taken a safety course and earned their permit to carry. This is how we win this district back for people who actually respect the Second Amendment — not just the ones who can write a clever legal justification for chipping away at it.
Tyler Bass. CD3. August 11. Vote like it matters — because it does.
