Did you hear the one about the Democrat Party chairwoman in Pueblo using a Republican candidate’s campaign sign for target practice with her AR-15 at a local shooting range?
Probably not since it isn’t making headlines beyond the Chieftain and KRDO news.
Afterall, it was a Democrat doing the shooting.
Chairwoman Bri Buentello thought it would be hilarious to shoot up Stephen Varela’s campaign sign and post a picture of herself with it on social media.
PeakNation™ will recall that Varela ran against Democrat Nick Hinrichsen for the state Senate seat in District 3, and that Hinrichsen and Buentello are married.
PeakNation™ will also remember that if a local Republican Party chair had done the same thing, it would be making statewide and national headlines.
The media would be full of outrage.
While we relish the idea of using campaign signs for target practice in general because they’re so annoying, it’s best to keep such antics to oneself lest it be construed as a threat.
Because once it’s posted on social media, the target (pun intended) could and did construe it as a threat.
KRDO in the Springs reports that Varela, who is a member of the Colorado Board of Education, said the media post was intimidating.
“It was a real fear,” Varela said. “To see that kind of violence and essentially communicating the threat, there was my sign, there was a target on it. It was shot up.”
“There could have been any other yard sign, especially on the Democratic headquarters, that they were looking at recycled yard signs,” Varela said. “For her to specifically pick mine, pose with the AR-15, hold the yard with the bullseye, it just didn’t make sense.”
Meet the @coloradodems’ new Chairwoman for Pueblo County. Also a former Dem Rep and wife of a current CO State Senator.
If a Republican posed like this, you’d call it incitement of violence and condemn it instantly. Does the same standard apply to your own? #copolitics pic.twitter.com/Q3W5r6qRAm
— Kristi Burton Brown (@KBBColorado) February 12, 2023
Buentello claims she’s reached out to Varela to apologize, but he says the damage is already done.
“The message is already out there. I mean we see so much political violence right now, it’s totally unnecessary,” Varela said. “If I were to do that, what would have happened to me? There would have been calls for my resignation.”
If Buentello were Republican, the Denver media would be comparing her to U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and trying to link her to all kinds of wild conspiracies.
But she’s a Democrat, and so now it’s okay for Democrat women to own an AR-15 if it’s just for target practice and posting pictures on social media to threaten their husband’s Republican political opponents.