Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he could go along with a Democratic plan to keep people on the no-fly list from buying guns – but only if the list is seriously narrowed.
Appearing Thursday on Fox News Channel's
"Special Report," the GOP presidential candidate said he could go along with such a plan if the no-fly list were limited to people who were subject to active investigations.
When it was pointed out that The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, sitting beside Bush as a panelist asking him questions, had been inadvertently put on the government's terrorist watch list, Bush reiterated his point that the list should be cut before denying people gun permits.
"I'm defending you, brother," Bush told Hayes.
Second Amendment advocates oppose denying guns to everyone on the no-fly list because of situations like that of Hayes, who may have gotten on the watch list after buying one-way tickets to Turkey.
Bush said that ultimately, limiting gun access is not what has to be done to stop terror attacks on U.S. soil.
"The answer is going to be that we have to identify people before they come to the country," he said. "Identify them if they're communicating with known terrorists outside the country. And there's ways to do that to protect civil liberties in this country, and we need to get back to that business."
Bush said the metadata collection program that expired November 30 should be reinstituted.
Bush also was asked how long he plans to remain in the race. He currently is polling at just 5.3 percent in the
RealClearPolitics average of polls.
Host Bret Baier noted that Bush last appeared on the show in September and vowed to be higher in the polls the next time he was on.
"You invited me too early," Bush said. "Trust me. I can sense it. When I campaign, our crowds are bigger. … People are starting to get serious about this."
When he noted he is up at 5 a.m. working out and watching the ads his super PAC puts out, Hayes asked him if he brought up the 5 a.m. workout just to disprove front-runner Donald Trump's slams that Bush is "low energy."
"Donald has got his little slippers on and tea and ornate bathrobes. He is calling into the shows at 5 in the morning," Bush replied. "He's a hard-working guy, too."
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