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Arizona is having an immediate impact on the sanity of local politicians all over the country. The latest loony-bin candidate is Virgil Peck of Kansas. And you wonder why Tuscon wants to split off and become its own state? Kansas certainly has its share of the nuts.

LJWorld:

A legislator said Monday it might be a good idea to control illegal immigration the way the feral hog population has been controlled: with gunmen shooting from helicopters.

Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, said he was just joking, but that his comment did reflect frustration with the problem of illegal immigration. Peck made his comment during a discussion by the House Appropriations Committee on state spending for controlling feral swine. After one of the committee members talked about a program that uses hunters in helicopters to shoot wild swine, Peck suggested that may be a way to control illegal immigration.

Appropriations Chairman Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, said Peck’s comment was inappropriate. Rhoades said he thought Peck was joking, but added, “Hopefully he won’t do it again.”

Asked about his comment, Peck was unapologetic. “I was just speaking like a southeast Kansas person,” he said. He said most of his constituents are upset with illegal immigration and the state and federal government response. He said he didn’t expect any further controversy over his comment. “I think it’s over,” he said.

Feral pigs and guns in helicopters. This is truly a horrifying thing to think, let alone say. And that's not a joke.

Dome On The Range caught the audio and says:

Yes, Virgil. Everyone in Southeast Kansas believes that we should respond to
immigration by sniping down brown people from a helicopter. Should we
bother checking their citizenship status first or should we just go off "their olive complexion," as suggested by your colleague, Rep. Connie O'Brien?

So much for toning down the rhetoric after the tragedy in Tucson. It's worth noting that at the end of February, the Kansas Republican Party called union members protesting in the Capitol "thugs." What seems more thuggish to you: Kansas workers exercising their right to free speech in a public building (in protest to a bill that suffocated their First Amendment rights), or an elected representative suggesting we should gun down immigrants like pigs?

Check out Peck's website. It conjures up visions of a cross between VDARE and Stormfront with a hint of the Hutaree Militia.