NSSF Ridicules Busse’s Masochistic Second Attempt at Public Office

Ryan Busse is something of a laughing stock in gun circles, and for good reason. 

To start with, he was part of the firearm industry, then jumped ship and immediately made a name for himself in anti-gun circles. I’m pretty sure there’s good money in that, too, because groups like Giffords love to trot out people who were part of the Second Amendment community and turned coat. It makes them feel like they’ve accomplished something and somehow think people like Busse will convince the rest of us to flip.

Busse must have started reading his own press from the anti-gun media, though, because he thought he had a shot at becoming the governor of Montana, and was absolutely destroyed.

As Cam noted on Tuesday, Busse is back for another round of public flogging as he sets his sights on a congressional seat instead.

And the NSSF came out at the announcement with guns blazing.

Ryan Busse is apparently ignoring his resounding rejection as many democrats do these days, and doubling down on unpopular policies in this next go around. He lost his gubernatorial bid to Gov. Gianforte by nearly 20 percent after Montana voters roundly rejected his platform to lead the state, which included implementing strict gun control laws. That includes a ban on AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles — highly popular in the Big Sky State among both men and women — that he gave full-throated support to in 2024. 

That’s a real tough position to sell to voters again in the state with the highest percentage of gun owners per capita in the entire country. For his part, Rep. Zinke has been a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and firearm industry that provides for exercise of that Constitutional right. Rep. Zinke earned an A+ in the 2024 NSSF Congressional Report Card, denoting his exceptional support and advocacy for legislation that supports the industry and the right to keep and bear arms. In that regard, Rep. Zinke and Busse are as far apart on Second Amendment issues as Montana is wide.

Cashin’ In

In his congressional campaign announcement video, beyond making it abundantly clear to everyone that he is of the “I’m a hunter, but…” persuasion, Busse declares, “I know the difference between serving a place, and cashing in on it.”

“Cashing in on it” is exactly what Busse did professionally after spending 25 years working for a leading American firearm manufacturer, during which span they produced more than 2.3 million rifles, pistols and revolvers. What did he do after that? He went and took a hefty paycheck from the national gun control group GIFFORDS Courage to Fight Gun Violence the very next year after leaving his previous employer. GIFFORDS still has the press release up announcing Busse was joining as a “senior advisor” and he’s parlayed that role into television appearances and media opportunities ever since to push an antigun agenda more in line with Fudds than true Montana ranchers and outdoorsmen and women.

Of course, Busse has to get through the primary first, and there are other candidates who didn’t get thrashed by the governor in 2024. That might well keep him from doing much of anything, though there’s little doubt the anti-gun money will back him to a pretty sizeable degree. The question is whether it’ll be enough to lift him above his opponents.

Only time can really tell on that one.

The fact that Busse keeps coming back to Montana and picking offices that are held by popular enough Republicans makes me wonder if the whole “masochism” thing isn’t more on-the-nose than we might otherwise have thought. After all, Zinke’s district is R +5. Busse lost to Gianforte by nearly 20 points. All of this directs itself toward a complete and total thrashing, particularly as his anti-gun credentials are well-established and impossible to hide at this point.

Sure, he might not focus on that on his campaign website–he didn’t in his gubernatorial campaign, either–but the information is out there, and it will come up sooner or later. 

He’s got to have some kind of humiliation kink or something to do this to himself again.

Or maybe he’s just delusional enough to believe that people in Montana, which has more guns per capita than any other state, somehow want a 2A traitor in public office so he can take their guns.

Either way, I’d advise those close to him to get him some professional help, because this ain’t healthy.

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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