For those that don’t know me, I’m a Marine Corps infantry veteran with two combat deployments to Iraq. This experience has turned me into a vehement anti-war advocate as I don’t believe that United States’ foreign policy has made us safer, and all the death we’ve caused across the planet has, in fact, increased hatred towards our nation. Following from those wars, the United States fought on the same sides as Al-Qaida in various regime change operations in the middle east during the Arab Spring, trained individuals in Syria that eventually left to help form ISIS, and are assisting the Saudis in the genocide of the Houthis in Yemen. Not one of these actions has made us safer and will breed the next generation of terrorists across the globe.

The 2001 AUMF is still in effect, over a decade after bin Laden was killed, and is currently being used as justification for regime change in the African country of Niger. Senator Rand Paul tried to end or fix the AUMF in various ways twice this year, both times failing to get more than 11 votes. Waiting for the House and Senate to correct the massive mistake they made in 2001 by handing unlimited unilateral military power to the Executive Branch is a waste of time.

As such, I’ve devised as best a shield as possible to protect the next generation from being drafted and sent to these unconstitutional military conflicts, borrowing language from sanctuary state policies combined with the exception baked into Defend the Guard. This has culminated in what I like to refer to as Selective Service Sanctuary State legislation.

This simply states that New Hampshire law enforcement will not cooperate with Federal agencies in the locating, apprehension, or transportation of individuals failing to register or show for selective service call ups, unless Congress formally declares war or the homeland is invaded.

I have several Republicans co-sponsoring, and I’m reaching across the aisle to try and get this as an even R/D split. Pushing back against the ravenous military industrial complex, which is profiting off the deaths of our youth, is a nonpartisan issue.