Less than a week after saying he'd support a ban on AR-15s, Rep. Chris Jacobs announced that he will not seek re-election because of blowback by his party.
If there was ever any clearer indication that in the United States there are two political parties, one that supports school shootings and one against them then this would be it. Chris Jacobs has only been in Congress for one term, winning a special election in 2020, ironically in part because he was endorsed by Trump and the NRA.
Source: New York Times
Speaking from his suburban Buffalo district a week ago, about 10 miles from the grocery store where 10 Black residents were slaughtered, Mr. Jacobs framed his risky break from bedrock Republican orthodoxy as bigger than politics: “I can’t in good conscience sit back and say I didn’t try to do something,” he said.
...
On Friday, facing intense backlash from party leaders, a potential primary from the state party chairman and a forceful dressing down from Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Jacobs announced that he would abandon his re-election campaign.
“We have a problem in our country in terms of both our major parties. If you stray from a party position, you are annihilated,” Mr. Jacobs said. “For the Republicans, it became pretty apparent to me over the last week that that issue is gun control. Any gun control.”
On May 27th he said this. On June 3rd he said he'd had enough.
A couple of days later Trump Jr called him a "gun-grabber."
