This highlights the problem with republicans, it's a damn shame!
And.. Carl Paladino, the candidate Rep. Stefanik the No. 3 GOP leader in the House is now supporting, is a lunatic!
Republican who supported assault rifle ban ends reelection campaign
By Marianna Sotomayor
Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.) announced that he would suspend his reelection campaign Friday after facing pressure by his party to step aside for coming out in support of gun reforms as a solution to stem the tide of mass shootings in the country in recent weeks.
Jacobs was born and raised in Buffalo, a city that became the site of a racially motivated shooting last month that left 10 dead at a local grocery store.
At a news conference in his district last week, just miles from Buffalo, Jacobs took an unprecedented step for a Republican endorsed by the National Rifle Association by announcing he would vote with Democrats to ban assault weapons, limit high-capacity magazines, raise the age to purchase a gun to 21 and ban civilians from acquiring military-style armor.
Jacobs’s position amid a trio of mass shootings over the past week proved costly. Just seven days later, he said it would be best to suspend his reelection campaign in a district that had become more reliably GOP after redistricting.
“I truly believed I could win this election, but it would be an incredibly divisive election for both the Republican Party and the people of the 23rd District, many of whom I’ve not ever represented,” he said at a news conference Friday. “The last thing we need is an incredibly negative, half-truth-filled media attack funded by millions of spent dollars of special interest money coming into our community of guns and gun violence and gun control.”
The first-term congressman, who was elected during a special election in June 2020, will serve the remainder of his term representing New York’s 27th Congressional District. He was seeking reelection in the 23rd district after the 27th was eliminated due to redistricting.
Jacobs’s stunning decision to step aside rather than seek reelection proves how almost no room exists within the Republican Party for members who support banning assault weapons or limiting high-capacity magazines.
Though a bipartisan group of senators are negotiating modest changes to gun laws in the wake of the shooting at an elementary school in Texas, the quick dismissal of Jacobs is an indication of just how little appetite there is by Republicans to address modifications to gun use.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the No. 3 GOP leader in the House, quickly announced her endorsement of Carl Paladino to replace Jacobs without mentioning either politician’s views on guns.
“Carl is a job creator and conservative outsider who will provide Western New York and the Southern Tier with strong representation and leadership. Carl will be a tireless fighter for the people of New York in our fight to put America First to save the country,” she said in a statement.
In an interview with the Buffalo News last week, Jacobs acknowledged his change of heart happened after an 18-year-old used an assault weapon to shoot 13 individuals at a Tops Friendly Markets in his hometown. Of the 13 people shot, 11 were Black.
'Progress is possible' on gun legislation after Uvalde shooting
“I hope I’ve been compassionate when I read and heard about previous incidents like this that have happened over the years, but I guess there’s just something markedly different when it happens in your city, to people you know,” he said. “This has been a profoundly impactful event for me.”
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/03/gop-house-member-who-voiced-support-banning-assault-rifles-ends-reelection-campaign/
Do something positive.
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