Machine gun socials return to the 8th

In 2010, Republican congressional candidate Tim D'Annunzio made national headlines when he hosted a pair of machine gun socials in the 8th District.

Now Republican Vernon Robinson is picking up where D'Annunzio left off.

Robinson, from Winston-Salem, plans to run in the 8th District in 2012. He's sponsoring a machine gun fundraiser on Sept. 26 at Eagle Guns in Concord. For $50 supporters can fire a magazine of a fully-automatic submachine gun. There will be a door prize: a new AR-15.

"By hosting this event, Vernon Robinson declares his solidarity with those who enjoy shooting and owning guns," Robinson campaign director Steve Arnold said.

Robinson, who has run for office before, has a way of making news.

As a Winston-Salem alderman in 2004, he bought a one-ton granite marker with the Ten Commandments on one side and the Bill of Rights on the other and planted it at City Hall. The city hauled it away.

He ran for Congress that year in a 5th District Republican primary. Before losing a runoff to Virginia Foxx, he raised almost $3 million from a network of supporters across the country.

In 2006 he ran against Democrat Brad Miller in the 13th District. Making immigration an issue in that race, he ran a TV ad with mariachi music in the background.

"If Miller had his way," it said. "America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals."