The Brady Campaign is claiming that they are right on the cusp of getting a win on federal gun control legislation:
The president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence claimed momentum Tuesday in a renewed push for more stringent federal gun control regulations.
The article notes that conventional wisdom says that, um, gun control is dead for this Congress, and very likely for the next session, assuming the GOP doesn’t screw up just about every Senate race to the same degree they did 2012.
It could be argued that conventional wisdom is correct, especially with Joe Biden using the gun control group’s efforts as an example of what not to do for immigration policies.
On the other hand, Gross’s claim is that they focused on chipping away just a few of the folks who supported the Second Amendment to reach 60 votes. This is likely just a claim since he refused to name any names, but it is a reminder that gun owners in those purple, blue or just barely red states who had either Democrats or Republicans voting with us need to remind those lawmakers that they are still watching any moves they make on the gun control issue.
At this point, all the Republicans have to do to win big in 2014 is simply to keep their mouths shut for one year. Obamacare will be hung at the Democrats’ necks, and it will sink them big. Think about it. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 million people have lost their insurance coverage, and there is currently NOTHING out there for them to replace it.
My wife is an oncologist, and her department is completely swamped with people who are front-loading their medical services in order to get them done in 2013. There is NO way the Democrats are going to bring up gun control in order to distract people from the Obamacare fiasco. That’s like shooting yourself in the face to relieve an itchy scalp.
AND Obama has turned in one of the most politically tone-deaf decisions in years, of postponing the ban on old insurance policies for one year, so the public is going to get a fresh wave of cancellations just in time for the elections.
Baghdad Bob ought to be representing the Brady Bunch on this press release… or Joe “We’re-only-TWO-votes-away” Biden.
So, I hope if I’m wrong someone will correct me, but I remember hearing that one of the things the Obama team found from their analysis of campaign messaging strategies was that they got better responses from people when they said things (in emails or phone calls) like “we’re almost winning! Join in to help get us across the finish line!” or the like, rather than “OMG the Republicans are going to beat us if you don’t help NOW!”
I wonder how much of that was campaign-specific, though. Because that same strategy isn’t working for gun control, and the opposite keeps being gleefully employed to the exclusion of almost all other messages by pro-gun groups (“Your 2nd Amendment Rights are in grave peril!” rather than “Join the fun and growing American tradition”) with some success.
I guess I’m just hopeful that gun controllers continue being hilariously tone-deaf and pro gun groups are adaptable enough to reassess strategies when appropriate (and before a major loss).
“The article notes that conventional wisdom says that, um, gun control is dead for this Congress, and very likely for the next session, assuming the GOP doesn’t screw up just about every Senate race to the same degree they did 2012.”
Never underestimate the GOP’s ability to legitimately rape themselves. I’m sure every journalist will ask each candidate what their views on abortion and gay marriage are. Some will undoubtedly answer.. poorly. That may even help them in their own states, but it’ll hurt Republicans everywhere else.
Gross acknowledged that the campaign remains at a financial disadvantage when compared to the powerful National Rifle Association, but he said the group intends to triple or quadruple its $10 million annual budget in the next five years.
I also intend to triple or quadruple my income over the next five years. We’ll see how we both do.
Considering the low they fell to before Helmke left, this wouldn’t be terribly hard to do. Not to mention that Newtown mobilized quite a few new activists on their side who had higher incomes.