There’s not a lot happening at the national level in the political sphere of our issue. Yes, we’re waiting on McDonald & Stevens, but those aren’t things we can control directly at the ballot box. (Though with Obama likely to get 2 or more SCOTUS appointments, pay close attention to your Senate candidates.) With so much uncertainty in the economy, it seems hard to imagine that guns will play a significant factor in 2010.
So imagine my surprise when the Second Amendment is getting some play out in Pennsylvania’s 12th district – the race to replace the late John Murtha. It’s been tweeted and is now appearing in commercials. Both candidates in the special election discuss it on their website. Our issue has not gone away, and politicians are still rushing to embrace gun owners in many areas. What can I say, other than it’s nice to be winning.
It could be an issue if they bring back the assault weapons ban. If they do bring it back, we are screwed. They’re on a roll with health care. Why not go for broke?
There’s always an if, but my point is that it hasn’t happened. Congress hasn’t done anything but pass pro-gun bills, so people assumed that guns wouldn’t play much of a role in the elections. However, we’re fortunate that some politicians still feel we’re a relevant constituency, even with “competition” from other groups that work on other issues.
I would say it will be an issue. I think we will make it an issue at local levels if not on the National level.
In Mitt Romney style, anti-gun Brady hack and former Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio is running for Attorney General and suddenly decided he needs to get a CHL so he can claim to be one of us regardless of his Ted Kennedy voting record.
There’s a big difference in it being an issue for someone who reads gun blogs every day and the average gun owner.