New Hampshire’s First Congressional District is likely going to remain in the hands of Democrats this November, just based on the demographics of the district. Incumbent Chris Pappas is giving up the seat to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, and there are a slew of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in both NH-1 and the Senate primary.
The gun control group Giffords recently threw its support in NH-1 behind Stefany Shaheen, a political nepo baby who just happens to be Jeanne Shaheen’s daughter. Now, New Hampshire State Rep. David Meuse has penned a column calling out Giffords’ endorsement and the “criteria and the process” that led to it.
Meuse argues that “while Giffords is free to endorse anyone it wants to, it’s a simple fact that any of the nice things they said about Ms. Shaheen could have easily been said about any of the other candidates in the race.”
Based on what I know of all of them, every single candidate in the race would likely agree that “fighting until our kids are safe from senseless gun violence” is one of their priorities too.
But what I don’t get a sense of from this endorsement is what exactly she will be fighting to pass.
Full disclosure: I decided to support Maura Sullivan early on in this race for a number of different reasons. But one of the biggest? She is one of the few Democratic candidates brave enough to have repeatedly called for an outright ban on assault weapons.
This is something she’s been calling for since 2018 and she’s never walked it back.
Given this, I’m puzzled why an organization like Giffords wouldn’t give more weight to the campaign of a former Marine, trained in the use of assault weapons, who would make it her priority to ban them—and would likely relish encounters with any gunsplainers who try to patronize her.
I’m also puzzled why an organization like Giffords wouldn’t want to compare specific positions from ALL of the candidates and make an endorsement based on those positions.
Someone needs to “gunsplain” to Meuse that the select-fire rifles used by the Marines are not the same thing as the semi-automatic rifles he and Sullivan want to ban.
What’s really fascinating about all of this infighting is that none of the three candidates Meuse mentions in his column have anything to say about gun control on their campaign websites. Shaheen is silent on an “assault weapons” ban, but so too is Maura Sullivan. And State Rep. Heath Howard, who Meuse says is the only one with a voting record on gun control, is similarly quiet about gun bans or any other kind of anti-gun policy on his campaign website.
In fact, while Shaheen has touted the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers and “more than 65 New Hampshire health care leaders,” there’s no mention of Giffords’ endorsement on her campaign website at all.
I actually appreciate Meuse talking about the anti-gun policies of these Democratic candidates, because the candidates themselves seem awfully reluctant to do so.
I also have to thank Meuse for giving me a laugh with this little aside in his column:
When it comes to these [gun control] issues, I’ve learned a few things:
1. These fights are incredibly hard and get incredibly personal.
2. Your opponents are smart, extremely well-funded, and well-organized.
3. They will make outrageous and false claims about the evil your legislation—and you personally—will cause.
4. They will patronize you by seizing on anything you may not know about firearms as an opportunity to “gunsplain” you into silence.
5. They will take your good intentions and your heartfelt idealism—and spit them both back in your face. To them, there is no such thing as a “common sense gun law.”
Meuse has been on the losing end of multiple legislative debates over things like universal background checks, waiting periods, magazine bans, and several other gun control bills he’s introduced, and it looks like some Second Amendment advocates are living rent-free in his head.
I don’t know what “false” claims have been raised by his opponents, and it’s pretty telling that Meuse didn’t provide any examples, but yes, if you’re completely ignorant on the subject of your legislation, you are going to get called out by Second Amendment supporters. There’s nothing wrong with good intentions and heartfelt idealism, but when those intentions cross over into violating a fundamental civil right, then it’s not a “common sense gun law” that you’re fighting for.
The Democrats vying for their party’s nomination in NH-1 may not have much to say about gun control now, but it sounds like all of them would be willing participants in treading on our Second Amendment rights if given the opportunity. NH-1 is going to be a tough race for Republicans, but I hope that whoever ends up with the GOP nomination will make our right to keep and bear arms the key issue it deserves to be.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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