State legislators are not the only Republican politicians who believe that firepower turneth away wrath. The Grand Old Party loves the Grand Old Pistol. Asa Hutchinson, already announced as a Republican candidate for governor, has been criticizing President Obama's plans for restrictions on guns, and has revealed his own purchase of a .45-caliber weapon with a magazine that holds 13 rounds. He said the gun would be illegal under Obama's proposal, leaving Hutchinson at risk on a hike he's planned in Alaska, where grizzly bears can be bothersome. Hutchinson didn't mention it, but any gun that could dispatch a grizzly could do the same to a medical-marijuana user, and a group hoping to legalize medical marijuana in Arkansas is working to put a medical-marijuana proposal on the general-election ballot next year. A similar proposal was narrowly defeated last year. When Hutchinson was the federal drug czar under President George W. Bush, he was the scourge of the medical marijuana trade, using federal laws and agents to raid dispensaries in states that had legalized it, deaf to the pleas of patients in pain. Sen. John Boozman has not announced any recent gun purchases, for bagging bears or medical-marijuana patrons, but he's just voted against extension of the federal Violence Against Women Act, which is designed to protect women from domestic and dating violence, and to help victims recover when violence occurs. Shooting is one of the more popular forms of violence against women. Boozman comes to the aid of his party.
State legislators are not the only Republican politicians who believe that firepower turneth away wrath. The Grand Old Party loves the Grand Old Pistol. Asa Hutchinson, already announced as a Republican candidate for governor, has been criticizing President Obama's plans for restrictions on guns, and has revealed his own purchase of a .45-caliber weapon with a magazine that holds 13 rounds.