Is this just a case of bad advice from his staff in an attempt to gain support from otherwise liberal areas of the state? Whether he gets that support remains to be seen. Instead of simply refusing the survey he went out of his way to impeach Mr Van Cleave's reputation. Either he truly didn't think his position through or he's covering luke warm support for the 2nd Amendment. In the past Mr. Kilgore has gone out of his way to associate with 'respectable hunters'. By implication this also bought general gun owner support. In light of current behavior this brings his position on guns into question. Was he merely using the hunters to gain what he knew wasn't certain if his true views were known? This behavior is certain to arouse more intense scrutiny on both sides of the gun issue. It's likely at this stage of the campaign more scrutiny really isn't what his campaign as after.
If it's a case of bad advice then Mr. Tucker should be fired. Since that hasn't happened, and no apology is forthcoming, then I can only assume that the Kilgore campaign is willing to turn off the hard-core activist gun owners.
IMO this makes no sense. Kaine has now pulled ahead of Kilgore in the polls, and I've heard local officials state that they are worried about the lack of interest in this election. They expect very low turnouts, and a few hundred votes could swing some key races. So, why insult a group of people who are among the most likely to go vote on election day?