CD4 candidate Stephens calls for gun ban, seeks healthcare transparency

Congress should ban semi-automatic weapons, and the U.S. should have remained in the Iran deal. Obamacare contained significant advances, and Congress should fix it, not repeal it. That’s according to Allison Stephens, a regent and Democratic candidate for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District.

“We need to ban semi-automatic assault weapons,” said Stephens while filming Nevada Politics Today. “I think we need to make sure we’re addressing a lot of other issues — bump stocks, making sure we’re talking about mental health, including suicide prevention.”

Asked if the ban she supported would include all semi-automatic weapons, Stephens said, “Upfront, yes.” She also said she was undecided on the idea of gun confiscation.

“I don’t know if that’s the right proposal. That’s something I would have to get further insight on. Also, listen to constituents in CD4 to see if that’s something they would like.”

Stephens pushed back on the idea that banning semi-automatic weapons would infringe on the Second Amendment.

“I definitely don’t support infringing on someone’s right to own a gun,” said Stephens. “I do think we need to be aware of these weapons and what they could be used for and think about public health and safety. It’s really important to balance these two.

“People are welcome to own guns. I certainly support the Constitution, but we need to take care of semi-automatic weapons.”

She also opposed President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement President Barack Obama signed with Iran regarding nuclear weapons.

“I think it’s important for us to stay in the Iran deal,” said Stephens. “Number one, because we compromised our credibility. We said we were in this deal, and now we’re backing away. Where does that position us in an international community?

“Secondly, I think this is the best deal we can get.”

A key component to lowering health care costs is increasing transparency in the cost of services, according to Stephens. She defended Obamacare and said it should be improved, not rejected.

“Yes, we know that costs have gone up,” said Stephens. “We also know that there are ways to start attacking that and start dealing with it. One of them is cost transparency.

“It’s very difficult to talk about the affordability of health care when we don’t really even understand how much procedures and diagnostics even cost. So I think that’s a first step.”

Stephens declined to say how she would have voted on Trump’s DACA compromise that included wall funding in exchange for a 1.8 million-person amnesty.

“I can’t go back and try to rehash what’s been done and old votes.” Said Stephens. “I’m going to be focused on protecting what we have now, protecting immigrants but also moving forward to comprehensive immigration reform.”