The Week in Wingnuts: ‘Vaginas’ and Guns in Boston

The Daily Beast’s weekly rundown of the wildest ideas being proposed, or passed, by state lawmakers.

Arkansas: Gunless Boston Liberals

Nate Bell, a Republican Arkansas State representative, sent out a tweet on Friday that soon went viral as Boston residents remained in lockdown in their homes. The tweet, sent from Bell’s official account @NateBell4AR, read: “I wonder how many Boston liberals spent the night cowering in their homes wishing they had an AR-15 with a hi-capacity magazine? #2A.” It didn’t take long for the Internet to erupt, prompting an apology from Bell. “In hindsight, given the ongoing tragedy that is still unfolding, I regret the poor choice of timing,” Bell wrote on his Facebook page.

New Hampshire: ‘Children and Vaginas’

State Republican Representative Peter Hansen got the “shock value” he initially sought with his comments, when he was forced to apologize after calling women “vaginas.” Rep. Hansen, who once restrained an intruder who broke into his own home using a gun, was discussing the idea of retreating in an email when he uttered the phrase that got him in trouble. A day later a number of local groups called on him to apologize and resign but Hansen refused, saying his comments were blown out of proportion. But with pressure continuing to mount from both sides of the aisle, a day later Hansen caved for his "blatantly offensive, insensitive, and frankly, stupid language."

New Hampshire: Coming After You

Jack Kimball, the former Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party-turned leader of the state’s Tea Party, looks to have developed a new way of political fighting: mass impeachment. Kimball filed an "emergency verified complaint" for "breach of oath of office" against all of the 189 house members who voted to repeal New Hampshire’s stand-your-ground law, which passed and is now due in the Senate. Saying the vote violated fundamental principles of the state’s constitution, the New Hampshire GOP have since distanced themselves from Kimball’s actions, while Democrats have called the act a “shameful embarrassment.”

Missouri: Mailing List Wars

Missouri State Sen. Brian Nieves, whose previous claim to fame was appearing in a Tea Party movie about an armed revolt against the government, found himself again in the public sphere after an angry email exchange with a former local lawmaker calling him a “freak” and asking him to take him off his mailing list. After Nieves wanted some questions answered—questions like “Who are you?” and “Is there something wrong with you?—things turned nasty, with Nieves eventually writing: “You'll be removed but be Very Careful to NEVER Threaten me! Also, don't ever send anything to this email address again because every time you do, you automatically get put back on the distribution list. :-)”

Something strange happening in your state that we missed? Shoot us an email at luke.kerrdineen@newsweekdailybeast.com.

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