From the New Hampshire Union Leader:

"Tired of the usual chicken dinners, the Manchester Republican Committee is planning to arm supporters next month with Uzis, M-16 rifles and other automatic weapons for a day of target practice at a Pelham firing range" at their next party fundraiser.

As if it wasn't already obvious how much the gun lobby is in bed with the Republican Party, this "machine gun shoot out" on August 5th makes it crystal clear.

Isn't it so interesting how overweight, middle-aged white guys like to pretend they're important. How sad their lives must be to prove their "manliness" by shooting a machine gun. How sad is your existence -- your day to day boring life -- that a machine gun shoot makes your whole summer. That way, you can fantasize what it would be like to fight in a war -- not that many of the attendees have ever been in one. Not that these "tough guys" even have a clue what violence and war actually look like.

We wonder if there is any correlation between the attendees weight and the number of rounds they hope to fire? Hopefully they can just sit back and plunk away. Doing any kind of physical exertion or running up a hill with an Uzi might be too much.

Chris Pappas, the city Democratic party chairman, called the event "not just in poor taste; it is downright offensive."

"The citizens of Manchester have lived through a deadly spike in violent crime the past year-and-a-half, despite the campaign promises of (Mayor) Frank Guinta to lower crime rates," Pappas said. "That the mayor's political party would seek to glorify the use of machine guns for political gain is unconscionable."

But this is where it gets really good:

Twenty safety experts, called "range officers," will be on hand to load the guns and monitor the shooters...."My first and foremost goal is that everybody who walks in walks out," Thibodeau said.

Um, we're pretty sure you won't get killed at our machine gun fundraiser, but........you never know.