Joe has an excellent post that highlights a real danger in making deals with the likes of the Brady Campaign, such as happened on HR2640, which was signed into law yesterday. The passage of HR2640 raises the political capital of the Brady Campaign, and other anti-gun forces, because they were able to claim victory. They are naturally going to want to spend that capital to push for more gun control.
This was always a legitimate reason for opposing HR2640, but it wasn’t an argument that was sensibly made by certain other pro-gun groups. I still think the deal was worth making, because we weren’t going to get those concessions out of this Congress otherwise, and the amount their political capital has been raised is a lot less than their rhetoric is indicating.
There will be no serious move on gun control in Congress until after the elections. If the anti-gun Democrats cement their hold on power in 2008, we’re in a lot of trouble, especially if the White House has Obama or Clinton in it. We’re in a lot of trouble.  That will have little to do with HR2640 though, and a lot more to do with the fact that elections matter. That’s why 2008 is so important for us.
whenever I hear about how we should “compromise” I immediately think of “Brady II” that was proposed in the 90’s. That’s what we’ll get if we continue to “compromise.”
Yet as far as I can tell the NRA is still stone-silent on the gaping flaws of at least two of the GOP front-runners. But hey, as long as HILLARY! doesn’t make it in we’ll be golden, right?
When the fat hits the fire, we can’t rely on any politician to defend our rights. We can’t even rely on the NRA to defend our rights. We can, however, rely on ourselves.
My guns aren’t going anywhere, regardless of which ass-bag occupies the Whitehouse.
Period.
At least the BC is good for something…
Here’s a good compact list for candidates with phone #’s and email links.
http://www.bradycampaign.org/elections/contactinfo/
I don’t see how Brady et al. realistically won anything, regardless of what they claim. So they go funding to help states put all their mental health records into the NICS database? We’d already agreed to that, and they were supposed to be doing it anyway. We on the other hand did get something we wanted and that they really didn’t want us to have. Spin it as they will, we won and they lost. Not a huge win (or loss) but still, the tide is turning.
Yet as far as I can tell the NRA is still stone-silent on the gaping flaws of at least two of the GOP front-runners. But hey, as long as HILLARY! doesn’t make it in we’ll be golden, right?
NRA traditionally doesn’t get involved in primary scuffles. Most advocacy groups don’t. It’s not a good idea for a lot of reasons, but that would be an entirely different post.
Rob K:
They didn’t really win much of anything, but that doesn’t matter too much. What matters is perception. Brady getting a boost was an inevitable result of this. That doesn’t change my opinion on it, but it’s still an unwanted side effect.
Yeah, I agree, they get the perception of a win for now. I don’t think that perception is that big a deal though. It gets them nothing with congress critters who all know this was no win for gun control. The only way this perception might help them is with people who already support gun control. But I think over the next year or so, it could really bite them in the ass with their donors. Their “comrade” organizations like the Violence
PromotionPolicy Center are doing a pretty good job of putting the lie to their claims of winning, as are we. Will the Joyce foundation want to fund Brady for claiming rolling over is a win?2640 will become a stalking horse. It will facilitate the addition of many more “prohibited persons” than justified and the protections will disappear.
Don’t argue now, just wait. Just remember later that you were told, when you see it come to pass.
“2640 will become a stalking horse. ”
Bull. Absolute bull. HR2640 does absolutely nothing to enable expansion of the classes of prohibited persons. Nothing. Have you even looked at it? What it does do is require states to provide a method for someone to get themselves OFF the list!
Any and all gun laws are subject to intrepretation by lawyers and the courts. Remember, 50 years ago you would not have found 10 lawyers in the entire country that saw a right to abortion and sodomy in the Constitution! Now 90% of them do, along with all the federal courts. If you don’t think that some lawyer somewhere, along with a anti-gun activist federal judge, can’t find something in HR2640 that will strip of us our rights to own guns, I think you may be delusional.
That’s a danger with any law. You’re setting up a dichotomy where the only actions are outright repeal, which ain’t going to happen, or doing nothing. I think if we are presented with an opportunity to restructure federal gun laws to favor gun owners, we should take it.
If we’re going to restructure federal gun laws can’t we at least have someone other than Chuckie and Carolyn, rabid gun haters, write up the laws? It’s like Karl Marx setting down the rules that the stock market adhere to.
Are you starting to sweat Rob K, already? Just wait. That is all I asked of you. Just wait.
Are you telling me you haven’t already read of the “next steps” that the McCarthys and Shumers are talking about? “Next Step”, get it?
Well, you will.
Holler all you want, just wait. History supports me and paints you as a u…..well, you get the idea.
If we’re going to restructure federal gun laws can’t we at least have someone other than Chuckie and Carolyn, rabid gun haters, write up the laws? It’s like Karl Marx setting down the rules that the stock market adhere to.
The bill wasn’t written by her. It was taken by Baucher and Dingell and rewritten to a) channel the energy of the anti-gun democrats to “do something” into legislation that was largely harmless to gun owners and to b) make it largely hameless to gun owners by giving back some ground that was lost years ago. The end bill was nothing close to what McCarthy actually wanted, but she wasn’t going to look the gift horse in the mouth.
“NRA traditionally doesn’t get involved in primary scuffles. Most advocacy groups don’t. It’s not a good idea for a lot of reasons, but that would be an entirely different post.”
I’ll try to remember that when President Romney signs AWB II into law or President Giuliani signs into law some labyrinthine registration & licensing scheme. I don’t think it’ll be much consolation, though.
A young girl was trudging along a mountain path, trying to reach her grandmother’s house. It was bitter cold, and the wind cut like a knife. When she was within sight of her destination, she heard a rustle at her feet.
Looking down, she saw a snake. Before she could move, the snake spoke to her. He said, “I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food in these mountains, and I am starving. Please put me under your coat and take me with you.”
“No,” replied the girl. “I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and your bite is poisonous.”
“No, no,” said the snake. “If you help me, you will be my best friend. I will treat you differently.”
The little girl sat down on a rock for a moment to rest and think things over. She looked at the beautiful markings on the snake and had to admit that it was the most beautiful snake she had ever seen.
Suddenly, she said, “I believe you. I will save you. All living things deserve to be treated with kindness.”
The little girl reached over, put the snake gently under her coat and proceeded toward her grandmother’s house.
Within a moment, she felt a sharp pain in her side. The snake had bitten her.
“How could you do this to me?” she cried. “You promised that you would not bite me, and I trusted you!”
“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” hissed the snake as he slithered away.
Romney isn’t the only candidate in this race. What do you do if you endorse Fred Thompson and Huckabee walks away with it? Think Huckabee’s white house is going to be too friendly to you? Huckabee’s not going to turn into an anti, but you don’t want to risk damaging those relationships when you have a wide open field. NRA is doing the right thing.