In his one term as state Representative, Bob Kingsbury made quite a splash:
Kingsbury famously blamed a purported rise in crime on the proliferation of kindergarten, the decline of gun ownership and the elimination of school boxing.
His bill requiring new legislation include a direct quote from the Magna Carta became a national joke.
He explained his opposition to D.C. statehood by saying, “I don’t want 25% more murders in New Hampshire.”
He’s baaaack. The Laconia Daily Sun has the latest Kingsbury episode:
Former State Rep. Robert Kingsbury yesterday asked police to arrest two city Democratic state representatives for violating their oath of office to uphold the state Constitution because they voted to reinstate the prohibition against carrying firearms into the Statehouse.
He began his statements by reading portions of the New Hampshire Constitution, the United States Constitution and explaining to the commissioners how all police authority is local.
Chief Chris Adams thanked Kingsbury for his comments and the commission adjourned the public portion of the meeting without further reaction.
Huffington Post reports Mitt Romney has picked up support from three controversial state House Representatives. GOP state Reps. Robert Kingsbury and Kyle Tasker have endorsed Romney and GOP state Rep. Susan DeLemus said she is “likely” to back the Republican nominee.
Kingsbury was widely ridiculed earlier this year when he blamed kindergarten for a purported rise in crime. Before that, Kingbury’s claim to fame was his bill requiring new laws to include a direct quote from the Magna Carta providing justification for the law.
Before he made national headlines by dropping his gun on the floor during a committee hearing, Tasker came under fire for a Facebook post in which he wrote about “blowing a cop away.”
“When a police officer points his firearm that’s not gonna make me feel threatened?” he asked. “If I’ve been trained to respond to that with force am I justified in blowing a cop away because I’m quicker on the draw, and he already pointed his firearm at me? Police are just citizens with badges and all laws should apply equally.”
DeLemus was an outspoken supporter of the attempt by Birther Queen Orly Taitz to keep President Obama off the ballot for the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary. After the Ballot Law Commission rejected Orly’s complaint, DeLemus was videotaped berating and threatening members of the commission and the Attorney General’s staff.
Huffington Post reports the Romney campaign could not be reached for comment.
Last week, GOP state Rep. Bob Kingsbury explained that he believes there is a direct link between the growing inmate population at the Belknap County Jail and the state’s mandatory kindergarten program.
Today, Kingsbury sat down with The Huffington Post and provided details. ”In general,” the 86 year old Laconia lawmaker said, “the towns with a kindergarten have 400 percent more crime than other towns in the same county. In every county the towns and cities with kindergarten had more crime.”
In Kingsbury’s world, kindergarten is not the only factor that contributes to a higher crime rate — but he does not blame day care or preschool programs.
“Children go to kindergarten at the point of a gun,” Kingsbury said. “Children go to day care and it’s not the same; there is no point of a gun.” Kingsbury said he believes that teachers are partially to blame but the rise in crime is not the fault of teachers. Instead he blamed attorneys and the courts for what he called a lack of discipline and rules in schools and for prohibiting teachers from disciplining students as in previous decades.
GOP state Rep. Bob Kingsbury has the explanation for a purported rise in the crime: kindergarten. The Laconia lawmaker, who has been researching the local crime rate for 16 years, also points to declines in gun ownership and boxing as contributing factors. Seriously. The Laconia Daily Sun has the story.
Representative Bob Kingsbury said he’s been working on a theory since 1996, when he analyzed local crime rates and compared them to a list of communities that offered public kindergarten. Then, he told his colleagues, Laconia offered kindergarten and had the highest rates of crime. Meanwhile, surrounding towns, some of which didn’t offer kindergarten, had less crime.
“We’re taking children away from their mothers too soon,” Kingsbury concluded.
Kingsbury wrote to all of his then state representatives, informing them of his research. To his dismay, the state Legislature has since joined the remaining 49 states in mandating public kindergarten. “And we have more crime today,” he said.
Last week, the mayor of Washington D.C and members of the D.C. Council traveled to Concord to testify in favor of H.R. 56, a resolution endorsing statehood for the District of Columbia.
The delegation hoped to find common ground with the state’s lawmakers over the issue of self-determination, comparing their “Taxation Without Representation” motto to our own ”Live Free or Die.”
Instead, members of the House Committee on State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs raised objections over Constitutional issues and grilled the visitors over the city’s high crime rate and strict gun laws.
The delegation may have been expecting the chilly response. But I bet they weren’t prepared for the objections expressed by Reps. Robert Kingsbury (R-Laconia) and Frank McCarthy (R-Conway).
Kingsbury said he felt that the federal government needed all the land in the District to protect itself in case rogue elements of the military ever attempted to overthrow it.
“What if the Washington Monument fell down?” McCarthy asked. “And the federal government wanted to rebuild on a new location and this new state didn’t want them to build there. What then?”
Projected Democratic seats: 190
