Karen Mallard probably thought the publicity of her destroying her AR-15 would do wonders for her campaign. After all, as a Democrat in her primary, such an act was likely to appeal to her base on a visceral level. Further, her actions made headlines, which I suspect was part of the goal. After all, how else was she supposed to attract funds from outside of her district?

Well, she tried. She tried and failed. Spectacularly.

Karen Mallard, a teacher running a low-budget campaign to win the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 2nd U.S. House District, only picked up 37 percent of the vote on Tuesday against the better-funded Elaine Luria, a former Navy officer who runs a Norfolk art studio. With all precincts reporting, Luria grabbed 62 percent of the votes and will face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Taylor in November.

“Congratulations to Elaine Luria for winning the Democratic Primary tonight,” conceded Mallard. “Good luck in the General Election. I look forward to helping you defeat Taylor in November.”

…

While the gun control group allied with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown organization may have thrown their support behind Mallard, Luria got the nod from Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue initiative which helped balloon the Navy vet’s fundraising, causing Mallard to insist that she was “not getting a fair shot.”

As detailed by the Center for Responsive Politics, Luria socked in $510,861 against Mallard’s more pedestrian $68,212 campaign fund.

Taylor, a former Navy SEAL vying to extend his time in Congress beyond his first term, has amassed some $2.3 million.

Wow. It’s almost like gun control wasn’t a winning strategy for Mallard after all. Funny, that.

Mallard’s stunt was just that, a stunt. It was the kind of thing you do to get attention, and it worked.

However, it also landed her with a police investigation since she technically made a short barreled rifle in the process of trying to destroy the weapon. Frankly, I still believe she needs to be prosecuted for that act. After all, does anyone believe we would get a pass after doing something like that on video? Of course not.

Of course, it also tells us just how clueless Mallard was about her district. She was convinced a move like this would help, but her opponent made no such move, didn’t get the support of the anti-gun Everytown For Gun Safety, and still won. Maybe–and this is a crazy thought here, but bear with me–gun control isn’t as winning of a strategy in that district as Mallard thought.

The truth is, no one in their right mind thinks you can turn a red district blue by going with a radical anti-gun agenda like Mallard’s.

Mallard did, which tells you all you probably needed to know about her.

Gun control activists always think everyone is on their side. Either that or they’re convinced that they can make them be on the side of gun grabbers. Well, that’s not how it worked, and Karen Mallard is now the poster child for it.

Frankly, I think it’s pretty hysterical myself.