MSNewsNow.com – Jackson, MS

The firearms puns just keep on coming. Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn says he welcomes gunmakers to his state with “open arms.” Bygones, but when it comes to connecting Republicans and bad jokes, it’s becoming more and more difficult to resist.

But back to Gunn: He feels a little put-upon on behalf of those poor, victimized gun manufacturers, so he’s inviting them to relocate to Mississippi where apparently they’re pro-Second Amendment… as opposed to other states, see, that are anti-Second Amendment, see.

Yes, in GOP minds like his, if you don’t approve of serial massacres of children and other innocents and would like to see common sense safety measures put in place to prevent future ones, you’re anti-Second Amendment.

(CNN) – Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn has invited gunmakers such as Colt to relocate to his state from others including Connecticut, where firearms have been a controversial issue since a school shooting there last December left 20 students and six adults dead.

The gun industry in Connecticut is being attacked and “demonized” because of national politics, Gunn said in a letter this week to Colt’s Manufacturing Company CEO Dennis Veilleux.

He also invited gunmaker Magpul Industries Corp. of Colorado to relocate to Mississippi. Gunn, a Republican, said firearm manufacturers are “under attack in anti-Second Amendment states.”

He’s not only a job creator, he’s a gun creator!

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called the proposal “preposterous.”

Connecticut residents support the Second Amendment and responsible gun ownership, “far from demonizing firearms products made here,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

“This preposterous pitch to companies with long, successful histories in our state shows the need for national standards and statutes to reduce gun violence,” the senator said. “Competition among states for less protective laws is a race to the bottom that should be avoided. The poison of illegal gun trafficking respects no state boundaries and threatens to cause more horrific tragedies like Newtown and the 1,900 gun violence deaths that have occurred since then.”

That pretty much says it all. Simply moving business to other locations would not prevent guns from being moved back and forth between states, nor would it prevent gun violence, nor would it protect anyone’s constitutional rights (those would be the same constitutional rights that are not being violated, by the way).

So grow up, gun zealots. Face facts. Dip a toe into the real world. Wouldn’t that be novel?