The two candidates for the 7th Congressional seat met in a debate Thursday at Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua.
A question about finding a solution to mass shootings was addressed by Republican incumbent Sean Duffy and Democratic challenger Margaret Engebretson.
Duffy said the government has tightened restrictions on people who shouldn't have guns..
"..I think it's important to protect our Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens....so often the people who are grabbing guns and killing folks, they weren't allowed to have a gun. Either there was a mental issue, there were warning signs or they had a felony or domestic abuse conviction...."
Engebretson says she had much training when she was in the military. She said lawful use of guns for hunting and protection are the law...
"...We need common sense gun regulations. We need background checks, we need to limit magazine sizes, we need to ban military-style assault weapons. The AR-15 and M-16 are very similar. They're very lethal. When I get to Congress we need the political will to do something about this..."
To a question about pre-existing health care coverage, Engebretson said if Senator John McCain had not turned thumbs down on a proposal to end coverage for pre-existing health conditions, coverage would have been lost...
"...We have a private insurance industry that is sapping us dry. Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. It's out-stripping inflation and we must act together to get this under control."
Duffy said, from his view, it was the Democrats that caused the problem...
"..I find this to be incredibly rich when Margaret and others complain about health care right now when they wrote the Obamacare bill. They partnered with big insurance companies and big health care companies to write that bill. The ones they say they hate actually wrote Obamacare..."
Duffy says insurance prices have skyrocketed. Engebretson favors a single payer health care approach. She says that would cut costs for everyone and charged Duffy with fighting for big insurance and other companies while forgetting other people. Duffy said the proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders would cost $32 trillion and would bankrupt the system.
The candidates debated President Trump's rhetoric and several other topics.
WXPR recorded the debate and will rebroadcast it Saturday morning at about 8:00 a.m. during Weekend Edition.
