Rutherford said, "Everything is done, as far as I know. I paid the fine that they asked for, and I'm done with it." Political positions Rutherford aligned himself with President Donald Trump, voting in line with Trump's position 96.6% of the time. He voted against a majority of fellow Republicans approximately 3.9% of the time. Gun policy In 2017, Rutherford voted for a measure to make permits for the concealed carrying of firearms valid across state lines. Also in 2017, Rutherford signed a letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives expressing his support for legislation to ban bump stocks. In 2019, he voted against universal background checks for firearm purchases and against giving additional time to law enforcement agencies to conduct background checks on firearm purchasers. From 2015 to 2016, Rutherford received $1,000 in campaign donations from the NRA's Political Victory Fund. In 2018, Rutherford sponsored a bill, the STOP (Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing) School Violence Act, that authorized $50 million a year to create a federal grant program "to train students, teachers and law enforcement on how to spot and report signs of gun violence"; the House approved the bill, 407–10. The bill authorized funding for the development of "anonymous telephone and online systems where people could report threats of violence" and $25 million for schools to "improve and harden their security, such as installing new locks, lights, metal detectors and panic buttons." A separate spending bill would be required to provide money for the grant program; Rutherford sought to include such funding as part of an omnibus spending bill. Environment Rutherford voted to rescind the Stream Protection Rule. In interviews in 2016 and 2019, he acknowledged the existence of climate change but questioned the scientific consensus that human activity has caused the increase in warming. On 2019, Rutherford voted against a measure to block Trump from withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. Rutherford has expressed concern over sea level rise, which would adversely impact St. Augustine. He has criticized the Green New Deal proposal as a "socialist manifesto" and in 2018 voted for a resolution opposing a carbon tax. Rutherford and Representative Jeff Van Drew introduced the Atlantic Coastal Economies Protection Act, which would prohibit seismic air gun testing in the Atlantic Ocean. In 2019, in a rare break with Trump's position, Rutherford voted in favor of legislation to