Ky. Republican Rand Paul questions part of Civil Rights Act, says it should be local issue

Ky. candidate questions part of Civil Rights Act

WASHINGTON — Kentucky Republican Rand Paul says he would have opposed forcing businesses to integrate under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The Senate candidate was questioned about the landmark federal law in interviews on National Public Radio and MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Wednesday. He said that while he liked the Civil Rights Act and opposes racial discrimination, he thought a lot of problems could be handled locally instead of nationally.

Asked by Maddow whether or not lunch counters should have been desegregated, as in the 1960s in the South, Paul declined to give a yes or no answer. Instead, he said he doesn’t believe in discrimination, suggested the issue was abstract, and raised the idea of who decides whether customers can bring weapons into restaurants.