Granite State voters looking for a moderate Democrat in the governor’s race will have to keep looking. Both Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington took to social media Tuesday to tout their support for new gun control laws and tout their seal of approval from a national anti-gun group.
Within minutes of each other, former Manchester Mayor Craig and current Executive Councilor Warmington posted messages on X announcing they had “earned the 2024 Moms Demand Gun Sense Candidate distinction.”
(Warmington was “honored” by the distinction, while Craig was “proud.”)
“You can trust me to take action to protect our students, families, and communities from gun violence,” Craig added.
“As governor, I will continue to fight for smart gun safety legislation that keeps Granite Staters safe,” was Warmington’s line.
The two candidates have largely echoed each other on policy. They both support legal abortion for any reason up to the day of birth, and they both oppose a ban on sanctuary city policies in the Granite State.
So perhaps it’s no surprise they both appeared at a recent gathering hosted by the group Moms Demand Action “to meet with lawmakers and advocate for stronger gun safety measures in New Hampshire,” according to the organization’s website. Moms Demand Action is best known for supporting laws that “prohibit the manufacture, sale, and possession of assault weapons… while providing current owners a pathway to keep them.”
Moms Demand Action gathering in Concord, N.H.. on April 11, 2024
Both Craig and Warmington are calling for a ban on the sale or purchase of assault weapons in New Hampshire, though neither candidate has released a definition of “assault weapon” — a term often used to describe semi-automatic weapons that “look scary” but which has no definition in the firearms industry.
The two Democrats would also overturn the state’s “constitutional carry” law that allows lawful gun owners to carry their guns, openly or concealed, without an additional permit.
Republicans in the legislature are unimpressed by the Democrats’ anti-Second Amendment stances.
“The candidates seem to be confused both about the state and office for which they are running,” said House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R- Auburn). “How do they imagine such fruity notions will get past the New Hampshire legislature?”
Rep. JR Hoell (R-Dunbarton), who’s also secretary of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, mocked the notion of Craig calling for tougher law enforcement on law-abiding gun owners.
“Have you been to Manchester? Mayor ‘More Crime’ Craig turned the city into a disaster, and now she wants to implement the same failed policies of Chicago and Baltimore.”
On her campaign website, Craig echoes the language of Moms Demand Action, claiming “New Hampshire has some of the weakest gun laws in the country.” The activist group claims the Granite State has the 39th weakest gun laws in America.
Hoell responds that they’re looking at the wrong number.
“New Hampshire is one of the safest states in the nation, and we should not blindly follow the failed policies of other states.”
As of 2020, New Hampshire had the lowest crime rate in the country.
Former state Senate President Chuck Morse helped get the “constitutional carry” law through the legislature and onto Gov. Chris Sununu’s desk. He’s now a GOP candidate for governor.
“Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington are simply regurgitating tired liberal rhetoric, completely disregarding the constitutional issues with many of these worn-out gun-control ideas. Instead, we need to focus on the root problem and make sure that people get the mental health care they need,” Morse said.
