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Candidates Debate in Fifth Congressional District

With incumbent Congressman Robert Hurt stepping down, one of the largest districts in the state is now up for grabs.  Candidates Jane Ditmar and Tom Garett met this week for the first in a series of debates.

From the start, the candidate forum made it clear that voters will choose between two very different world views. Tom Garett, a Republican from Buckingham County, argued against a ban on assault weapons and other gun controls.

“Ultimately, the problem I don’t think is guns; the problem is violence. Until we can crack down on knife murder and bludgeoning murder and hands and feet murder, I don’t think vilifying an object, an inanimate object, is necessarily the solution.  If you believe that the founders were right in their Constitutional vision as it related to the second amendment.”

Jane Ditmar, a Democrat from Albemarle County, said she supports the second amendment, but new restrictions are needed.

“We need to have universal background checks. We do not want to sell to people that have certain types of mental illness; a proclivity towards violence, particularly under protective orders, and anybody who we’ve identified as a terrorist.”

Ditmar expressed support for the Affordable Care Act, noting there was room for improvement.  Garrett attacked the federal requirement that people get health insurance.  And while they agreed gerrymandering is a bad thing, Ditmar said the power to redraw congressional boundaries should be taken away from the legislature, while Garrett expressed doubts that the non-partisan panel she proposed as a replacement could truly be non-partisan.

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief
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