Why Politicians Shouldn’t Pack Heat, a Continuing Series

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-177423833/stock-vector-cowboy-with-guns-vector-flat-design-style-background.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">Tancha</a>/Shutterstock

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On Tuesday, we published a piece from the current issue of the print magazine about lawmakers who were caught mishandling their firearms at work. But after the story came out, I was flooded with submissions from readers who remembered other instances of lawmakers getting in gun trouble—at home, at the airport, and at Dunkin Donuts. Here’s an addendum:

2013: An AR-15 rifle is stolen from the unlocked garage of Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.). “Her family is very big on gun safety and she wants to get to the bottom of this herself,” a spokesman tells Politico.

Illinois Democratic state Sen. Donne Trotter is sentenced to a year of court supervision and 60 hours of community service after attempting to bring a gun onto a plane at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Trotter says he forgot to remove the .25-caliber gun and ammunition from his bag after leaving his second job as a security guard.

2012: Colorado state Sen. Randy Baumgardner (R) calls police to report that a revolver had been stolen from his home, where it had stored it “in plain view” on a shelf in his closet.

2011: Tennessee state Rep. Curry Todd (R) is arrested for driving and possessing a gun while under the influence after a traffic stop in Nashville. He serves 48 hours in jail but will get his .38-caliber pistol back after his one-year probation period ends.

Maine state Rep. Frederick Wintle, a Republican, is banned from the state capitol after allegedly waving a loaded .22-caliber at a local newspaper photographer in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot. “I didn’t know if he was going to shoot me or if it would accidentally go off,” the photographer says.

2010: After being stopped outside of an abortion clinic with a loaded gun, Minnesota state Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R) is stripped of his leadership position. Hackbarth tells authorities that he did not realize he was outside an abortion clinic at the time, and was merely doing recon on a woman he had met on an internet dating site.

2001: Rep. Scott Desjarlais (R-Tenn.) is accused of dry-firing a handgun outside of his wife’s bedroom during the couple’s divorce proceedings.

h/t @litzz11

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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