Trump, guns — Bucshon got into all of it in Evansville Monday

EVANSVILLE — It was the perfect town hall meeting audience for politically polarized 2019 — noisy when they didn't like what 8th District Congressman Larry Bucshon said and noisy when they did.

Outside Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center Monday night, homemade signs bespoke the tenor of the evening. "Larry Bucshon is a PROUD member of Trump's lying, divisive, unqualified Republican team!" screamed one. Another offered photos of President Donald Trump, a Trump baby blimp and Russian President Vladimir Putin with the words, "TYRANT RACIST UNSCRUPULOUS MORON POMPOUS."

Inside, it was a little nicer. A little.

An audience of about 150 people laughed derisively at some of Bucshon's remarks, interrupted him freely, shouted rejoinders and fed him questions hot with their own fierce opinions. Others — on the other side, apparently — broke into applause when he said Congress can't impeach Trump just because his political opponents don't like him.

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It wasn't a time or place for nuance.

With several armed Evansville police officers nearby, Bucshon cited security concerns to explain why he hadn't held a town hall in Evansville — the biggest city in his district — in two years.

After his election in 2010, Bucshon said, he sometimes made impromptu appearances in restaurants and coffee shops. But the U.S. Capitol police, the agency charged with protecting members of Congress, clamped down on that.

"They tell us not to do those because it's a pretty substantial security risk," he said.

Befitting the tone of the evening, people began laughing.

"You can laugh if you want, but this is a legitimate issue," Bucshon said. "We have to take the advice of U.S. Capitol police. And so, I would love to do more of these. But it takes months and a lot of resources to arrange them.

"It's not just me that is at risk. It's people in the audience that are at risk for safety issues."

Bucshon was reminded of the intensity of people's feelings whenever Trump's name came up — which was often in a crowd that poured scorn on the president.

"Nothing," Bucshon said in response to one man who wanted to know what could persuade him to support Trump's impeachment.

"If there was a high crime or misdemeanor, per the Constitution, that got bipartisan support, to show that the president committed crimes that would warrant impeachment, then I would go there — but right now that hasn't happened," Bucshon said.

Members of the audience continued to buzz about Trump. Citing "all this controversy about" Trump, Bucshon's questioner asked why the president shouldn't be brought before Congress.

"Because you can't impeach a president because you don't like him," Bucshon said.

Bucshon and his audience also mixed it up over gun control.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House has advanced expanded background check legislation, but the Republican Senate hasn't acted on it. Bucshon mentioned the recent mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso, saying the problem isn't guns — it's guns in the hands of mentally unstable people.

"The things that are being proposed right now by some of the gun control people wouldn’t have stopped either one of those shooters. Both of them bought guns legally; they passed the background checks," he said.

Suppose a tough gun ban could be enacted, the congressman ventured.

"Are you going to confiscate every weapon that’s currently in every household in America that is that type of weapon?” he demanded.

“That’s what they did in Australia!" one man called out.

“I understand that people want to do that, but you’re violating the Constitution," Bucshon said.

Bucshon triggered loud disagreement when he said, "We all want to stop crazy people from shooting people."

“It’s not crazy people!” one man shouted.

“It is crazy people," Bucshon said.

Dayton shooter Connor Betts made a "hit list" of people he wanted to kill and a "rape list" of girls he wanted to sexually assault, Bucshon said. El Paso shooter Patrick Crusius is a white supremacist. Jared Lee Loughner, the man who shot Rep. Gabby Giffords and 18 others outside a Tucson-area supermarket in 2011, was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Bucshon then pointed to Maurice Hill, the suspected gunman who recently rained bullets on Philadelphia police while barricaded indoors.

"What kind of gun did he use? Do you know? He had an AR-15. Where did he get it? He’s a criminal!" Bucshon said. "He didn’t have to get a background check. He didn’t have to go to a gun shop."

One person asked Bucshon a question based on the premise that current times in America are "bleak."

The congressman resisted that notion, saying the question likely reflected the questioner's disagreements with those in power. He pointed to turbulent 1968 — a year of assassinations and war, a genuine time of turmoil in America.

“I’m optimistic. I don’t think it’s a bleak period at all," Bucshon said, citing a relatively healthy economy. "Of course, there’s political disagreement."

If his audience wanted to see real turmoil, Bucshon said, they should look to the days when Abraham Lincoln was in the White House. It was a time of armed conflict — civil war.

“Trump is no Lincoln," one woman called out to loud applause.

And that's the kind of night it was.