Missouri GOP on Robin Carnahan: She's a left wing, liberal leaning, loony

Elect Robin Carnahan and you're electing a gun-hating loony, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Missouri Republican Party. It's flimsy, but it's better than the Republicans's recent obsession with trying to tarnish the secretary of state with ads that point out their own candidate's weakness- his association with lobbyists:

As Missouri members of the National Rifle Association and others who value our hunting heritage and Second Amendment Freedom rally around Republican Roy Blunt, Robin Carnahan’s history as an anti-Second Amendment crusader is coming under scrutiny. For years, Carnahan has made her distain for the Second Amendment clear—leading the opposition to Proposition B in 1999, which would have given law-abiding Missourian’s the right to carry. She has remained unapologetic, and she has even bragged about her participation in the campaign. Carnahan’s dismal record has even led the Rolla Daily News to conclude that she is “the opposite” of pro-gun.


“Robin Carnahan has an abysmal record when it comes to protecting the Second Amendment. In fact, more than a decade ago, she gained notoriety when she led the campaign to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “Make no mistake about it: Robin Carnahan is an anti-gun liberal who sees no value in our constitutional right to protect our families and property from threats.”

Robin Carnahan’s history as an anti-Second Amendment crusader has been well-documented.

According to the Kansas City Star, Carnahan led the 1999 effort against Proposition B, which would have given law-abiding Missourians the right to carry. [The opposition to Prop B] is headed by his daughter, Robin Carnahan. And its spokesman, Farinella, was formerly [Mel] Carnahan’s chief of staff. Through the end of the year, Safe Schools had raised $9,084, including $7,000 from Handgun Control Inc., the Washington-based group founded by Brady and his wife, Sarah. (The Kansas City Star, January 24, 1999)
The Carnahan-led anti-Proposition B efforts were so vicious that one of her fellow Democrats accused her of launching a “smear campaign.” [Rep. Crump, D-Potosi,] the sponsor of Proposition B, said opponents were trying to fool voters into believing that the concealed-weapons measure would endanger public safety. “It’s a plain smear campaign to say that criminals could carry firearms,” Crump said. He was joined by about 20 members of the House and Senate who had voted last year to send voters a plan that would allow people to get permits to carry concealed handguns if they met certain requirements. The requirements include that a person be 21 years old, not have been convicted of a felony and pass a state-approved handgun safety course. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 12, 1999)

Carnahan, whose brothers Tom and Russ were state lobbyists while her father was governor, was accused of attempting to shake down lobbyists who worked in the capitol for her anti-Second Amendment campaign. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 12, 1999)

Carnahan has remained unapologetic about her anti-gun work. In 2002, Carnahan bragged, “I helped defeat that and I’m proud of it.” (Post-Dispatch, October 30, 2002)

The St Louis Post-Dispatch noted that Carnahan’s participation in the anti-gun campaign had become a liability to her mother’s 2002 campaign for U.S. Senate. But at the Democratic Party office in downtown Independence, there was a hint that Robin could be a campaign liability. Juanita Howe, 77, a volunteer, told Robin that several people on her get-out-the-vote call list have asked about Robin's work for gun control. (Post-Dispatch, October 30, 2002)

The Rolla Daily News reported that Carnahan is the “opposite” of pro-gun. “Hanaway is pro-life, pro-gun and pro-marriage only between a man and a woman...not that it matters too much in the secretary of state’s office. Carnahan is just the opposite.” (Rolla Daily News, October 6, 2004)