Democratic Senator Ginny Burdick says a video taken by a gun rights supporter of her at home is a "clear attempt at intimidation." The video, taken Monday evening and uploaded to YouTube by a user named "BearItOrBareIt," shows Burdick arriving at her house, retrieving her recycling bin and fetching her mail.
It largely appears to have been recorded by someone sitting in a car across the street from her Portland townhome.
Burdick, a long-time supporter of gun control legislation, had canceled a town hall meeting scheduled for Monday evening at Portland State University. Burdick cited "scheduling conflicts." The point of the video was apparently to demonstrate that Burdick was at home at the time, and that there was no actual conflict in her schedule.
Burdick confirmed to me she did not, in fact, have any other obligation that prevented her from holding the meeting. But Burdick says in the days leading up to the meeting, she and her Senate colleagues had received thousands of emails about proposed gun control legislation. She said some of those emails contained alarming language, to the point that their contents were turned over to the Oregon State Police.
Burdick says that given the heated rhetoric on the topic, she didn't think it was wise to hold a town hall meeting at a university when emotions were running so high. The meeting was not specifically meant to address gun control legislation, but it was clear that it would be a hot topic. The Democrat says she'll continue to hold town hall meetings in the future.
As for the video of her, Burdick says it "creeped me out, as it would creep anybody out." But she says she'll continue to work on legislation related to guns.