Some of the best politicians are advocates who find themselves stepping up to the plate and just taking a swing. The person that says “Ya know, somebody should do something about that,” and then decides to be that person. That doing something generally will be done with a zeal and proficiency like none other. Take for example Rebecca Schmoe, a gun rights advocate who’s decided to throw her hat in the GOP Primary race for Kansas State House.

I had a chance to catch up with Schmoe the other day and we had a nice chat

People might know Schmoe from her work over at 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control, a group that started up to be a counter voice and visual to the angry Commie Mommies. At 1 Million Moms, Schmoe jokes that she serves as the SpokesMom of the organization. Schmoe says that the group makes themselves available to those seeking resources.

She estimates that should someone need something like training, through their network they can get such individuals a trainer that they know and trust within 50 miles of their location. Anything from fielding general questions or helping out on navigating the laws in different jurisdictions, 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control, Schmoe says is there to help.

Schmoe has been involved with grassroots Second Amendment advocacy for over ten years, and within the last three has taken on the role as the Kansas State Director for the DC Project.

Schmoe’s  legislative district is 59 and the currently seated House member just decided to not run again. Being politically active, Schmoe asked the GOP in Kansas about what the game plan was. The answer was the GOP was seeking a conservative that respects the Constitution. With that Schmoe said “If you give me the support, I’ll do it.”

The primary is being held on August 2nd. Up until two hours before the filing deadline, Schmoe was slated to get the nomination unopposed. However, at last minute she did get a challenger, and is actively campaigning for the GOP nomination.

Looking at the NRA candidate ratings, Schmoe is an “AQ”. The “AQ” is as high of a rating a candidate can get that’s never had a position serving as an elected official. The “Q” comes from there being no track record to compare what a candidate says versus what they’ve done in the past. In practice and on paper, Schmoe is an “A”. Schmoe’s opponent has no rating.

If you ask Schmoe what’s her idea of a “commonsense” gun law, what she has to say best distills her constitutionalist view on the topic of “gun rights”.

“I would say a commonsense gun law would be what is already written in the Second Amendment, because it does not get any more clear than [that.] You have the right to own and possess and use [firearms] in defense of your own life. It cannot be infringed, in that the government did not grant you that right. And therefore they cannot take it from you. I don’t know of anything that’s more commonsense than that. As we just saw in the active killing event in the mall, the best possible scenario when someone chooses to break laws and end lives is that you are ready and prepared at that moment, in that place to be able to defend yourself and others. That was a horrible tragedy, but it could have been so much worse. And that’s really, the commonsense gun laws that we need is to be prepared to protect yourself whenever and wherever you are, because the criminals are prepared to take your life. And so it’s, it doesn’t get any more commonsense to me than that.” – Rebecca Schmoe

As for Schmoe’s continued activism, she’s scheduled to head to DC in September to engage with her representatives with the DC Project. However, it’s the hope that she’ll still be in the midst of campaigning should things go well on the August 2nd primary.

In talking about visiting DC Schmoe said, “So it’s always good to have a presence and to have a voice in that area because so often, it really gets drowned out.” In our current climate it’s so important that we engage our politicians but also show how diverse the Second Amendment community actually is. Schmoe continued, “Basically we serve as a counter visual…because we all know the stereotypes that we have heard over the years, and we are busting that myth wide open.”

Other areas of politics that Schmoe subscribes to would classify her as a Constitutionalist. If her answer about so-called “commonsense” gun laws did not tip readers off, her commitment to what it really means to be a public servant is just as resolute as her 2A support. Schmoe explained what happened as soon as her application was in, “One of the very first things I did was that I signed a pledge to actively seek term limits at the federal level. They have not designed the wording to do that at the state level at this time. But they are really focused on the federal level.“

She further discussed how being a public servant was never supposed to be a fulltime, life-long career, but rather service to our communities, states, and federal government. Most poignant is that Schmoe observed that our politicians after serving in positions in government are supposed to return to their regular lives and then live under the laws that they’ve created.

Schmoe mentioned the importance of advocacy, noting “Really all that I would add in is that we need more of this, we need more people who are invested. Whether it is authors who are writing books, whether it is content creators, for social media, whether it is advocates, or something else, in the liberty movement, we need more people to step up and run for these positions.” Well, Rebecca Schmoe’s sentiment is received, as well as the fact that she’s putting her money where her mouth is.

For more information about Rebecca Schmoe for Kansas State House district 59 and her primary campaign, you can visit her over at her Facebook page. If you’re interested in following her and her work at 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control, you can also check out that page for more information, as well as what’s going on at the DC Project HERE.

A full audio recording of my conversation with Schmoe can be checked out HERE or in the embed below: