Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, shared his personal story during his keynote speech at the Republican convention on Wednesday, and no family member received a louder cheer than his gun-toting grandma.
Vance, known for chronicling his challenging upbringing in the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” talked about how his Ohio hometown had suffered from factory closures and addiction.
“I had a guardian angel by my side. She was an old woman who could barely walk, but she was tough as nails,” he told the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“I called her mamaw, the name we hillbillies gave to our grandmothers,” said the 39-year-old Ohio senator and newly confirmed vice-presidential candidate.
Vance recounted how his grandmother had passed away in 2005, just before he left home to serve in the Iraq war.
“When we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns,” Vance explained, drawing raucous cheers of “Mamaw, mamaw” from the enthusiastic crowd.
“They were hidden all over her house — under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware drawer… this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s reach of whatever she needed to protect her family.
“That’s who we fight for. That’s the American spirit,” he said.
Vance’s remarks came days after Trump, the former US president and Republican nominee for November’s election, survived an assassination attempt.
Trump was wounded in the ear, and a rally attendee was killed on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman was shot dead by Secret Service snipers.
US President Joe Biden has called for a ban on the type of semi-automatic rifle used in the attempted assassination.
In his speech, Vance also paid tribute to his mother, a former addict who has been sober for almost a decade.
Vance suggested celebrating the anniversary in the White House in January, “if President Trump’s okay with it.”
This earned a nod from his boss, who was watching from the VIP box ahead of his own major speech on Thursday.