There are currently seven candidates vying the GOP nod in the crowded Maine gubernatorial primaries. Bearing Arms had a chance to interview four of them and Jonathan Bush was one.
Bush is widely known for being in the medical-tech industry and former CEO and co-founder of athenahealth. The father of seven attended Boston University and Wesleyan University, then received his MBA from Harvard. “I'm a Veteran. I'm an entrepreneur,” said Bush. “Started multiple companies and helped dozens of companies get set up in Maine, but most of my life has been as a CEO.” Bush’s uncle is former President George H.W. Bush and he’s cousin to former President George W. Bush.
Bush said that it was his experience in business that pushed him into pursuing a political career. He noticed the area around mid-coast Maine where athenahealth was located was prospering economically. “I think, ‘What the heck is going on here?’” Bush mused. “Why are all the store windows empty? Why are all the mills closed?”
“We are suffocating the American Dream for regular people in Maine, and it's unnecessary, it's a self-inflicted wound,” said Bush. “Well, rather than continue with another startup, I should make it easier for regular people to have that experience, and so we're paying it forward.”
Maine is known for fostering a robust love of outdoor-related activities. A badge of honor and part of the heritage of Mainers is the annual moose hunt. Recently there have been discussions about changing how the lottery works for some outfitters and guides. These changes have been met with mixed views.
“Our harvest is always way under the total number of allowed in the lottery — whether it's does or (bull) moose,” Bush explained. “There's no need to further restrict it. In fact, I think there's a real possibility when I'm Governor, of getting some private landowners to allow hunting on Sunday.”
Bush said that it’s crazy to not allow private landowners the opportunity to hunt on their own land on Sundays. “I think there's a passive-aggressive tweak to all of this, which is people virtue signaling about how against guns they are,” Bush mused. “I don't really think it has anything to do with moose or hunting.”
The crowded GOP primary is not lacking support of the Second Amendment. Of the four candidates Bearing Arms spoke to, all of them have voiced they are in favor of robust Second Amendment protections. Bush says that he’s “a free country guy” and that he wants “to be the governor so that (he) can – every single day — make people more free …” He noted that freedom is restricted in a lot of ways in the Pine Tree State.
“We created a 72-hour restriction on gun sales. Most gun stores I talked to (said) the best gun sales are the impulse buys on a hunting weekend,” said Bush. “It's not a first desperate guy trying to shoot something up. It's not someone who doesn't already have three, four, (or) five guns at home. It's a guy who says, ‘Oh, that is beautiful,’ … and they buy it and they take it home. And that's what keeps these wonderful stores that are also base camps for bait and gear and maps and insight on where is a good place to go — (they) are being suffocated.”
Bush was asked about a number of different areas of policy in Maine. There were and/or are legislative pushes in the Pine Tree State and he weighed in on them. Portions of these answers have been shortened and it’s recommended that the interview in its entirety is watched HERE. Portions of this interview have been edited for clarity and ease of reading.
So-called “red flag” law in Maine:
Red flag is another example, virtue signaling, beauty contest. … sorry, I get John, you got me fired up. This is a law, “In order to protect people,” they always use safety. Safety because they think it's a trump card …
This is an example of using safety in a way that creates no safety at all. Every police department in Maine is against this red flag law. This is a law that says that if anybody — your ex-girlfriend — decides to put a scarlet letter on you, the police have to take your guns away until you prove yourself — it's the inverse of innocent until proven guilty — till you prove yourself safe.
What on Earth makes anyone think that's safe? We have a hard time enforcing our yellow flag laws, which I do agree with that (if) you have a doctor (who) says this guy's not safe with a gun, we should probably not have him have a gun. But that's because someone has been diagnosed. This is anybody, literally an ex-girlfriend can just order your guns taken away from afar. It can be abused. It will certainly be abused …
This is not safety, this is virtue signaling at the expense of freedom.
Increased funding so state-level SWAT officers can enforce the red flag law:
It is such a bad — and there are people who will come out and say it, “You know, we're doing this to get rid of all guns in America.” What … are we up to? 350 million guns? They're going to get 350 million guns out of free people's hands?
This is a tiny group of people, largely in cities, who have never seen or held or shot a gun, who believe that they will protect people they don't know by taking other people they don't know and making them less free. It is an insane sort of Pol Pot-like state encroachment on regular people's lives.
So-called “large-capacity” magazine bans:
Each one of these is another gimmick. They go: “the bump stock,” “the capacity magazine,” “the (3D) printed gun.” We're a free country. The idea that because you have eight rounds instead of 18 rounds in the magazine, that's something good or bad, or that people are more safe, is just the most absurd idea. You could take a pickup truck, and kill tons more people, if you want to kill people, there's just nothing to this. It's another example of virtue signaling …
There is zero objective correlation, causation, for sure, but not even correlation between these magazines and anyone's safety or any murder or any crime. It's insane.
You want to stop crime? Teach people to use guns.
My wife had a bunch of employees in Massachusetts, and they're all talking about guns. I said, “Really? When was the last time you held a gun?” And crickets, nobody at the table. And I was like, “Hold on, hold on. Nobody here has held a gun?” And so we had a corporate retreat. We took them up to Maine. We got my skeet thrower, we got shotguns, and boy, the howl of joy from these physicians of being able to connect with that clay pigeon.
I believe what we need to be doing in addition to fighting these encroachments, these little manipulative political gimmicks to get rid of the Second Amendment, is to be better evangelists; don't just be against gun control …
You know, (the) Second Amendment doesn't mean everyone's got to go get a gun. It means they're allowed to, but that willingness to stand up against tyranny or insanity does correlate with willingness to learn how to properly use a gun. And I think Maine needs to be a place where all the kids know how to use a gun.
So-called “safe storage” mandates:
You happen to want to have a gun to protect your home, and then it's going to take you a minute and a half to make it unuseful? I mean, it's another example — I don't know what this … You have to say, “Here's some things — gravity makes things fall to the Earth, right? Supply reduces increasing price.” That I am having to say these things is a little crazy.
A gun that is unusable as a gun doesn't protect you as well as a gun that is usable as a gun. If you make a law saying you can have a gun but it can't be usable to protect your home, it doesn't protect your home.
Studies on lead ammunition use:
They're trying to make it illegal to buy coffee makers on Amazon that are plastic, because forever chemicals are used in the plastic. And maybe when the water goes by some of the forever chemicals — so … they want to make it so you're not allowed to buy coffee makers?
And to your point, John, maybe not allowed to buy lead bullets, because that little tiny piece of lead buried in the side of a mountain might, I don't know, give an ant lead poisoning or something.
Again, these are insane, insane. Isn't this the group that said, “Follow the science”? Where? Where's the science in these little pieces of lead that are fired so rarely? The richest gun owner in the world with his own sand pit may fire a pound of lead a year. The idea that that is some sort of environmental concern just blows — it strains credulity beyond — we've already given it too much time, but we've got to fill the hour.
The so-called "ghost gun” law Governor Mills allowed to go into effect:
They're working at the edges. … People are allowed to sell guns to each other right now at gun shows, etc. I don't understand what — when does it become a gun? And how do you define that? It just seems like an opportunity to climb up the tailpipe and kill the Second Amendment. I don't believe it's a significant thing. I don't believe actually, that it's statistically relevant. I don't. I see no merit in it. I think it's just part of this game.
That may change over time, but right now, it's — I don't get it. Now, remember, you can't own (a gun) if you're under yellow flag, you can't have a gun in your house, ghost or otherwise. There are people who can't have guns, and they have to obey those laws, and if not, they go to jail. I'm not saying let them off the hook. We have laws. If you're not a safe guy, you get rules that safe guys don't get. I'm all for that, but I think trying to inflict (infringements on) all the safe people, all the reasonable, the 99.9 percent of people that are reasonable, responsible, patriotic, caring people, painting them with the same brush, just for safety sake is impractical and and downright politically dangerous.
Restoration of rights to non-violent felons:
I think it's fine. I think right now we have another problem, which is that in Maine, we don't enforce our laws. You've got tons and tons and tons of people who are actively criminals that are not in jail, not even being taken through court. There's a thing called deferred disposition that district attorneys will use to basically make it look like they have a clean docket when they just let criminals go without processing them.
We got to enforce our laws, and once we're enforcing our laws, if you go to jail, do your time and are released. Maybe there's a little program you go through, but 100 percent I don't think there's any reason that somebody (should lose that right) for life. You don't take their vote away for life. You don't take any of their — you get a sentence, it's a certain amount of time, and then after that, you're good. Good people do bad things and they build back. That is the entire Christian story. We are all fallen people. The idea that somebody gets a permanent scarlet letter for life for something is it's not the point of the system.
Democratic proposal to add $500,000 to the Maine state budget for state lawmakers’ use for buying home security equipment:
The creep is everywhere. It's like that movie “The Fog,” or whatever, the cloud, “The Blob,” it's creeping in. The state legislatures need health care coverage. Oh, they need more days. They need more pay. They need securities. Oh, but for — and here's that key word again — safety. Oh, for safety, because we're so devised (for) safety. You're not (in) more danger than anybody else, buddy. And you don't need all these little things. You're creeping in. You're eclipsing the American dream in the name of representing people — it's a poisonous behavior, and we ought to, lovingly put it to bed …
The overall encroachment of freedom in general is just making me spend my life savings trying to earn a job, that pays $70,000 a year because it's so bad.
In Maine, it's illegal to have a campfire that's more than three feet wide. That's a law in Maine. It's illegal to take care of more than three people, three children, in your house without a 200 page application. Everywhere you look.
The Second Amendment is just one place where freedom is slowly being suffocated in the name of virtue. And I with all my being, with all my soul and heart, I call b*llshit on that premise you’re protecting me by taking my freedom away. I call b*llshit.
Rumors about a so-called “assault weapon” ban referendum:
I’m sure they will. The Democratic Socialists of America, if you’re down in Louisiana … and you vote, if you donate to the Democratic Socialists of America website, that money is spent in Portland Maine on ballot initiatives, because they believe they have a foothold here, because of all The Brooklynites that came up. (They) love the restaurants — I do too — I don't know why we have to create a totalitarian state just (to) have good restaurants, but I'm quite sure there'll be ballot initiatives going over the top all day long.
And one of the things the governor of Maine has to do is organize; register Republicans, go door to door, make phone calls, raise money. There are plenty of people with money that believe that freedom is being encroached and that need to step up and fund hearts and minds efforts to reverse that course. That's part of the job here is that this is a front line on the case of socialism versus freedom as a way of helping regular people, both sides believe.
Final thoughts on the Second Amendment:
I snuck it in. The thing I wanted to get in is the Second Amendment is the canary in the coal mine. It's not the coal mine …
Final pitch to voters:
I'm Jonathan Bush. I'm a husband and father of seven. I'm a veteran, I'm an entrepreneur, and for the last 30 years, I've been a CEO.
Maine desperately needs to reduce taxes, shred the crazy laws that John and I have been talking about, and shrink Augusta. The question is, who's the right guy to do it? I say we need an outsider to lobbying, and we need a CEO, a turnaround CEO.
Since being a platoon leader in the army, leading people on a mission is all I have ever done, getting the mission right, shredding the distractions, bringing in the best people, getting rid of the weak people — motivating the team.
Maine's government is poorly led. We've discussed all the encroachment, the misuse of government to attain people's personal agendas rather than increase freedom and after tax wealth for average people. By contrast, my leadership is well established. Over 1,000 Mainers have built careers and lives in jobs I created in the mid coast. This is what separates me from the lobbyists I am running against, and it is why I am asking you to go to JonathanBush.org. Sign up. And vote.
The Maine primary election is scheduled for June 9, 2026. Early voting runs from May 10 until June 4. As of the date of publication, the GOP candidates running in the gubernatorial primary are: Jonathan Bush, Bobby Charles, David Jones, Garrett Mason, Owen McCarthy, Ben Midgley, and Robert J. Wessels.
To catch our full conversation with Jonathan Bush — and we recommended you do tune in for everything he had to say — click HERE or watch the interview in the embed below. Also be sure to catch our interviews with Bobby Charles, Garrett Mason, and Ben Midgley.
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