Six hopefuls for the newly formed 9th Congressional District seats described varying solutions to local and national problems at Tuesday’s candidates’ forum hosted by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce.

The event, which took place in D.H.H. Lengel Middle School Auditorium of Pottsville, allowed the candidates to discuss their positions on six different topics chosen before the event by Schuylkill chamber members.

The six candidates are: Laura Quick, D-Lebanon County; Gary Wegman, D-Berks County; Denny Wolff, D-Columbia County; George Halcovage, R-Schuylkill County; Dan Meuser, R-Luzerne County; and Scott Uehlinger, R-Berks County. The topics were gun control health insurance and the American health care system, the role of government, business regulations and infrastructure, and national security.

Guns

The candidates found common ground during the topic of Second Amendment rights, agreeing that more needs to be done to enforce lawful gun ownership. However, the extent to which guns should be present was hotly debated.

“What we don’t want are laws that inhibit legal ownership and do nothing that stop criminality. That’s often what Democrats on a national level offered,” Uehlinger said. He added that arming teachers may be a viable solution, citing several states that already allow for teachers to carry firearms.

“I’d be willing to add new laws for (school protection), but I’m not for any new laws that prohibit or ban the private people to keep and bear arms,” Meuser said.

Halcovage said the nation needs to focus on keeping guns away from the mentally unstable and criminals without adding new gun laws.

Quick and Wegman, both Moms Demand Action advocates, supported common-sense regulation of gun laws. However, they also added they stand against the “corporate greed driving a wedge between responsible gun owners.”

Immigration

After the debate for Second Amendment rights, all the candidates gave unique stances on the remaining five topics.

Meuser said bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., need to uphold and follow the Constitution.

“They lost that ‘We the People’ interest,” he said. “The liberal approach to these things is a disaster. Taxing and spending is the easiest thing.”

Wolff stressed his experiences as a farmer, saying that he has seen the costs of a crumbling infrastructure and the importance of a government that responds to problems. He also said the construction of a wall on the country’s border with Mexico in order to deter illegal immigration is not a good investment.

“A $70 billion wall just looks a little too expensive,” Wegman said.

Quick agreed with Wolff that a border wall is a waste of money. She said more money should be invested in the border patrol, which also would improve employment.

Health care

Wolff also spoke about his personal experiences with his son’s health care.

“While he was being evaluated at different hospitals across the country, they never asked if I was Democrat or Republican, but they did ask if I had insurance. While meeting with other families in waiting rooms, some other families were not as fortunate to have health insurance, and were looking at bankruptcy to get their child treated. This country is too good for that.”

Uehlinger said his background in the military and the CIA is the best to help ensure the country is secure.

With respect to immigration, Uehlinger added that his wife and children ­are legal immigrants and that illegal immigrants are an insult to people like them.

“Border security is national security,” he said. “We need to build a wall.”

Wegman stressed health care as the dominant problem in the district.

“Health care is the number one issue on our constituents’ minds. The answer here is going to be a single-payer system” not owned by, but with prices negotiated by, the government, according to Wegman. “We fix health care, we fix everything else.”

Jobs

He said a strong health care system will mean more money for infrastructure, green energy and other needs.

“We have the open space for the solar panels and wind turbines” in the 9th District, Wegman said. He said this and other innovations is all in the name of job creation.

Halcovage discussed his experience as Schuylkill County Commissioner and workforce development, saying that his experience within the county government system would translate well if elected. He also stressed the importance of local government doing its job correctly.

“I see money that comes down from the state, and if the state does not have their budget passed, the money freezes there,” Halcovage said. “We (also) have to make sure regulatory barriers that get in the way of infrastructure projects are streamlined and shortened.”

These six candidates are running for the new 9th District, which consists of Carbon, Columbia, Lebanon, Montour and Schuylkill counties. It also includes parts of Berks, Luzerne and Northumberland counties. The old 9th District was centered around Altoona, Blair County.

The event was attended by roughly 200 people. The evening was opened by Pottsville Area Superintendent Jeffrey Zwiebel, while Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce President Robert Carl was the moderator.