John Gaskey | Nemasket

When John Gaskey decided to run for Plymouth’s 2nd constituency, he did so with the recent decisions of Parliament in mind.

“I’m very upset about a lot of the legislation that came out in the last election cycle,” Gaskey said. “The more I look at things, the more disturbed I am about things and the lack of presence of our representatives on Beacon Hill.”

Gaskey said he was “disgusted” with the latest gun control bill that came out of Parliament, saying it was “really disturbing that they are violating our civil rights in this way.”

“I consider myself a staunch Second Amendment believer and a firm believer in civil rights, constitutional civil rights that are guaranteed to us by the federal Constitution,” Gaskey said. He also said he is “staunchly pro-life” and sincerely believes in the right to life.

According to Gaskey, immigration is the most important issue that is repeatedly brought to his attention during the election campaign.

He said he opposed the state’s budget decisions regarding migrant housing and the way the state “cares for the illegals in the housing system ahead of veterans and our own citizens.”

Gaskey said he has firsthand experience with the problems associated with migration. He grew up in El Paso, Texas, and has served in the Coast Guard for 23 years, where he dealt with mass migration from Cuba and Haiti.

He said he had seen “the horrors these people have faced to get here.” People have had their money and belongings stolen on the journey. He said he has a “personal vision” of how the government’s immigration policies “harm the people they let in.”

Since leaving the Coast Guard, Gaskey has worked in the medical technology field, learning about the problems with how hospitals operate. Changes in the health care system that have occurred over time, particularly during the Covid pandemic, “have broken a lot of things” and caused a lot of corruption in the medical system, he said.

In addition to immigration, the “transgender stuff” is another issue he’s heard about from his constituents, Gaskey said. He wants to “do my best to get the state and the legislature to back off the transgender-progressive direction they’ve taken.”