Editor's Note: In order to make some kind of point, and obviously drive up YouTube clicks, Brandon Herrera relocated from North Carolina to Uvalde, Texas to run for Congress. Uvalde is the small Texas town where nineteen children and two teachers were massacred by a gunman in May of 2022.

The Uvalde News Leader's Sofi Zeman reports that gun maker Brandon Herrera left behind an "inactive explosive device" at a recent campaign event in Uvalde, requiring the San Antonio bomb squad to respond to the incident. Herrera's team subsequently released a statement describing the device as a "spent shell" and claimed it was not "a threat to anyone."

"At the event, a generous fan brought Brandon an inert, spent dummy shell as a gag gift that Brandon had fired in one of his videos," the campaign said. "Brandon’s campaign then re-gifted to the round to another fan who failed to collect it at the conclusion of the event as attendees were being ushered out."

Uvalde police Chief Daniel Rodriguez told Zeman that security footage recorded an unidentified person leaving the object outside the building where a campaign event had just taken place. An unnamed individual discovered it the following day and informed the police, who proceeded to ask the bomb squad in San Antonio—100 miles away—for assistance. "We don’t believe that he intentionally left it there," Rodriguez said, "but until we obtain a statement, we won’t know for sure what actually happened and why he left it where he placed it down."

Herrera, who has over 3 million subscribers on his YouTube channel called "The AK Guy," is challenging Rep. Tony Gonzales in the March 5 Republican primary for Texas' 23rd District. He ended September with considerably more money than any of the congressman's other intraparty foes.

Republished with permission from Daily Kos.