19 April 2016

GOP legislative candidate Chet Billi campaigns in camo with gun

Slightly updated, 20 April. Dressed like Fidel Castro, Republican candidate for House District 5 (Whitefish, map) Chet Billi delivered a campaign speech in Depot Park in Kalispell on 16 April, a long gun strapped to his back. James White of the Northwest Liberty News recorded the event, which also can be seen on YouTube.

Billi at the conclusion of his speech. This is a still frame from the NWLN’s high quality video. The man at right also was the master of ceremonies at the Oath Keeper’s Second Amendment Rally two years ago.

Luis Korda’s legendary image of Camilo Cienfuegos and Fidel Castro as they entered Havana in 1959.

Billi, still a student at Whitefish High School, also is ramrodding the campaign for I-175, the ballot measure that would allow school employees to pack concealed heat.

Approximately 40 persons, some carrying sidearms or long guns, attended the event. Billi was the only legislative candidate present.

At a similar event two years ago, legislative candidates Jerry O’Neil, Ronalee Skees, Mike Hebert, PSC candidate Derek Skees, and congressional candidate Matt Rosendale, Republicans all, spoke. All wore standard business clothing; none openly carried a weapon.

Billi, however, in a scene right out of Ammon Bundy’s occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, campaigned for political office costumed like the leader of a banana republic junta.

Weapons have no place at political events. We employ political campaigns to settle our differences through the exchange of ideas, arguments, and information. A candidate who delivers a speech while carrying a rifle and wearing camouflage violates the social contract, and through his conduct, declares himself bereft of the judgment we require in elective office.

Lay down your weapon and pull on your civvies, Chet. The voters are looking for brains, not bullets.