Tagged: John Yarmuth

Kentucky second district Republican Congressman Brett Guthrie says he thinks preventing other tragedies like the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut can best be accomplished by focusing on mental health issues. The Bowling Green Republican favors that approach instead of what he calls "infringing on the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens."

Guthrie's House Committee on Education and the Workforce will be looking into school safety and he says he plans to get input from Kentucky education officials.

Third District Congressman John Yarmuth, on the other hand, says he fully supports all of President Obama's proposals to end gun violence. The only Democrat in Kentucky's Congressional delegation is co-sponsoring a bill to ban high capacity gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

Republican advocates of industrial hemp in Kentucky are getting some across the aisle help. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Louisville Democrat, supports efforts to legalize the plant in Kentucky, his spokesman said. U.S. Senator Rand Paul and Agriculture Commissioner James Comer are the two leading advocates for the move.

As the Democratic National Convention wraps up, Kentucky Democrats are trying to present a more unified front for President Barack Obama. In this year’s primary, 42 percent of Democrats who cast ballots voted uncommitted rather than for the president. That created a problem for delegates to the party’s national convention, since uncommitted isn’t a candidate.

One of Kentucky’s two Democratic Congressmen believes his party has a good shot at unseating U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell in 2014. So far, many of the state’s top Democrats have announced plans to avoid challenging the Senate Minority Leader. That includes Attorney General Jack Conway, who ran for Senate against Rand Paul in 2010, former state Auditor Crit Luallen and current Auditor Adam Edelen.