Paper Maché. Most of us did Paper Maché when we were in grade school. We blew up balloons, dipped strips of Newspaper into wheat paste and stuck them to the balloon to create some figure…a Pinata, perhaps, that we filled with Candy and later destroyed. People do creative things with Paper Maché. I once made a Dala Horse when I was about 12.
Paper Maché is great stuff for arts and crafts, but frankly it sucks for making anything else useful in life. Paper Mache is fun. Thats all. And Paper Maché candidates look great, sound great, and are fun, but frankly they are useless.
When not running for office, you won’t find a Second Amendment Paper mache candidate within miles of anything guns or Second Amendment. They have their Cheese Sandwiches and TV’s. They don’t hunt. You won’t see them shooting on the range on an early Monday morning, refreshing those skills. No, You also will not see them next to you in a Class taught by Dave Spaulding, Massad Ayoob, John Farnam, or Rob Pincus for that matter. Nope. And, you won’t see them on the line at Thunder Ranch, or on the line at Gunsite. No. You won’t see the paper Mache candidate in any of those places.
Now perhaps many of you reading this are saying, “Hold on a second. Most of the other candidates don’t have that sort of firearms acumen, nor are they that dialed in on guns.” You are right. They don’t. And they aren’t. But those candidates also aren’t playing King-of-the-Mountain, in their discussions and advocacy of the second amendment, either. Those candidates haven’t declared themselves the final bastions in the race for all things second amendment, either. Right now, If we are having a contest to see who can proclaim themselves the loudest and proudest 2nd Amendment Candidate currently running in the slate, Paper Mache Candidate Bob Burns wins the trophy, hands down.
Sadly for Paper Mache Bob Burns, there is more to being pro-second amendment than circling choices on a piece of paper that an organization mailed to you. There is more dimension to 2A advocacy than clanging the proverbial loud obnoxious gong. What’s in a survey, you ask? Everything and nothing. Candidates lie. They do! Ask the two former State Reps from Exeter. Am I saying Bob Burns isn’t really a 2A Supporter? Nope. Not saying that either. But what I am saying is that the Second Amendment is a “cafeteria” issue for Paper Mache Bob, I don’t even know if he truly has the conviction that we Second Amendment Supporters have.
There is currently one Granite State organization that got out there early and mailed the candidates their survey. However, if not responded to, the candidate was given an “F.” And Many candidates didn’t bother to answer. I am not going to quarrel with that because some of those candidates who got F’s, actually have identical pro-2A advocacy voting records to the very members who sit on that board and made those decisions. If they want to squander their credibility, I haven’t a thing to say about that.
Most, if not all who know me…and have known me for a very long time, know that I am fully invested in the Second Amendment as a Defensive Firearms Instructor, Hunter Education Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, SAFTD Instructor, NRA Life Member and Chairman for the Rockingham County Friends of NRA. And for the past dozen years, I’ve been President of Southern New Hampshire’s largest Fish & Game Club with a membership of over 1,500. I also have a reputation for calling out Anti’s and FUDDs, but enough about me.
Bob Burn’s so-called “record” on guns is paper. You could actually light it on fire and it wouldn’t exist. Bob Burns the candidate only comes around with hat in hand when running for an office. Rah, Rah, I support the Second 
Amendment, vote for me.
Several years ago, Granite Grok Interviewed Paper Mache Bob when he was running for something else…There Paper Mache Bob was, being interviewed by Skip Murphy, right by the Londonderry Fish & Game Club Jim Cates Pond, doing it again…Rah, Rah, vote for me. I’m pro-gun,” and Sporting that NRA Hat! (Do ya still Have that Hat, Bob?” Nice visual, Bob. I think that was when we had the NRA President David Keene at the Club and a Machine Gun Shoot the next day. There was Paper Mache Bob, the Perennial Candidate.
But let’s be perfectly honest. There is more to the second amendment than being a Paper Mache candidate like Bob Burns. When Bob Burns gave a thumbs up for “red flag laws” during his NHPR interview, I said, “Ah…FUDD!” Circling the correct letter on a survey is pretty meaningless if you circle all the right ones and support the WRONG issues. Just ask our two former “Republican” State Reps from Exeter. I used to see them at Friends of NRA banquets around the Concord area, glad-handing folks asking for support…only to stab us all in the back later at the State House. He is a red flagger like his pal Andy Sanborn.
Granite Grok has endorsed Steve Negron. I support Steve Negron. I have had the opportunity to sit down with Steve, Face to Face, Eye to Eye and spend time with him and ask the questions that affect All of us who drink at that well of the Second Amendment. Steve Negron gets it. Steve Negron also has a stellar voting record. And Steve Negron is solid. I stake my reputation on it.
Paper Mache Bob Burns, however, doesn’t have a 2A voting record on which to run. Only the circled letters on surveys and that churlish smile. Paper Mache Bob shows up at 2A venues like the chubby freckled kid at the public pool with the dirty face and runny nose. You’re nice to him, but there isn’t any substance there. We are “fair weather” friends for Bob Burns, and that does not make one a solid Second Amendment advocate. “Oh! (looks at his watch) Running for office..better go see the rednecks with the guns.”
When you vote for a candidate, its all great when the candidate says, “I’m Pro Second.” But honestly, how do you “Quandt-ify” that? Paper Maché is great for arts and crafts…Not for the Second Amendment. But I get it. When you run for an office where you don’t live in that district, You have to engage in Seagull politics with a solid issue.
Good luck there, Paper Mache Bob Burns!
