If the today me went back in time a year and told the last year me we will elect Donald Trump President, the last year me would have worried at what point in the next year I will develop a severe drinking problem. That would be doubly the case if I had told last year me that the Republican candidate would turn Pennsylvania red. There is now some hope that we can replace Scalia with someone who is strong on the Second Amendment, and that is damned important. Let’s look at the winners and losers from a gun rights point of view:
Winners
- The background check issue can no longer be credibly claimed to be a 90% issue. Really, it couldn’t after Washington State, but at this point it’s too close to call in Nevada and Maine. Looks like it will barely eek by in Nevada and be defeated, again barely, in Maine. Bloomberg spent a metric shit ton of money on these, and the best he could manage is a nail biter. People will tell pollsters anything that makes them feel good. When people actually weigh the policy implications of ending all private sales of firearms, they aren’t nearly as enthusiastic. This is a mixed bag for Bloomberg, but I think he’ll keep trying.
- The NRA. They dumped a ton of money into running ads for Trump and helping with getting our people to turn out. The NRA hats I saw in line at my polling place tells me we were out there. Trump owes us big time, and we had better make sure he remembers that.
- Pat Toomey eked out a victory, but his margin was smaller than Trumps. People did undervote! I think we would have been better off if he had lost, but hopefully he’ll “come back to Jesus,” so to speak. Bloomberg pretty clearly cost him votes.
- Pennsylvania Dems. The top of the ticket, Trump and Toomey, might have won, but the GOP lost all the other state wide races. This tells me that Pennsylvania went red because of Trump, not because of any major shift in the electorate. Further, a lot of those people who voted for Trump either split their tickets, or only voted for Trump.
- Brian Fitzpatrick. He replaces his brother, Mike Fitzpatrick in the seat for PA-08. I am not pleased that he only rated B from NRA, but Santarsiero wanted to ban semi-automatic firearms, and go door to door. Screw that carpetbagger! He can go back to New Jersey if he wants a second political career. The other ring county GOP congressmen all retained their seats. Pat Meehan is no great friend to us, but no great enemy either, and won re-election. Ryan Costello, however, retained his seat, though that district is such a gerrymandered monstrosity, so it’s hard to argue that’s really a ring county district. No other upsets in the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation.
Losers
- The State of California is a lost cause. Their gun control ballot initiative won comfortably. That initiative instituted background checks for ammunition purchases and banned magazines holding more than ten rounds.
- Washington State voted for the Bloomberg initiative by what looks like a healthy margin. This initiative implements “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” which allow people to have their rights taken away by anyone who is willing to testify that a person is off their rocker. Expect Bloomberg to bring this to other states via ballot.
- Hillary Clinton. Oh, her tears are sweet. I am skeptical of the orange one, but I will enjoy this. Never in my life have I seen a candidate so worthy of losing. She’s an awful politician, and I mean that in the way if I said you were a good politician, it at least would mean I admire your talents in getting 50%+1 people to think you’re not such a bad person. How bad is Clinton? She lost to Donald Effin Trump. That’s how bad she is! She ran on gun control as a major centerpiece of her platform and it did not help her.
- Gun control as a winning issue for the Democrats. Seriously guys, it’s a stinker. Put Bloomberg in the corner and you’ll be a lot better off. I actually have a pretty open mind about things, and I’m a very reluctant Republican. But I won’t vote for any candidate that supports the kind of crap your candidates have been peddling. Seriously, stop listening to Bloomberg and Obama. They are a big part of the reason you have ended up here!
Feel free to share more winners and losers in the comments! Obviously I don’t follow every local race or issue.
The WA GBVO thing might get a hostile reception in federal court, given the utter lack of due process.
Magic eight ball says, check back after Trump appoints new SCOTUS judge.
I think that’s going to be the hope for Washington generally. I’m hoping that someday many of these gun control measures can be ruled unconstitutional by a Court that respects the Second Amendment.
In colorado it will no longer be so easy to change the constitution via popular vote. Before last night you could get a ballot issue on by basically getting signatures in Denver and Boulder. Now you’ll have to get signatures state wide. Big win! Hopefully it will basically kill the ability to get these ballot measures on.
Also in Colorado … it looks like we’ll have a real primary vote and it will be an open primary. I know this one is arguable but I would argue it’s for the best to avoid candidates that do well in primary’s and then lose nationally.
Open primaries? Dudley isn’t going to like that!
Silver lining…
There are two politicians worse than Clinton. how bad are Johnson and Weld that they could only get 4% against Clinton and Donald Trump.
4% is a pretty hot ticket for Libertarians isn’t it?
5% is a magic number for money. Against these two? They were at double digits in Sept at blew it.
Johnson tripped over his own feet, but fuck weld and his endorsement of Clinton. I guarantee you that lost votes, even if just libertarians that refused to vote for that Quisling.
I agree that it did. Because of Weld’s statements during the campaign, if I did lodge a protest vote, it would have been a write-in. I never would have pushed the button for them because of Weld.
Those clowns are fakes. I wouldn’t piss on either one if they were on fire. I’m a registered L.
This is a major reason why, even though I *did* cast a protest vote (for McMullen, in Utah), I wouldn’t have been able to bring myself to vote Libertarian. I would likely have voted for Castle instead, if it weren’t for McMullen.
No more complaints from whining leftists about “gridlock”. We now have a unified government. Problem for the lefties, who got what they wanted in the elimination of their much dreaded “gridlock”, is that it is a unified, Republican government. They never saw it coming.
As far as the People’s Demokratik Republik of Kollyvornia is concerned, expect millions of instant outlaws as we defy Gavin Nuisance’s ammo control tyranny. Gun owners in this Godforsaken state have had enough.
They didn’t just “ban magazines that hold over ten rounds”. They did that 16 years ago. This is confiscation of the previously grandfathered magazines. But “nobody is coming for your guns”…
We’ll see if the entire state yields the first turn in to police. So far, San Francisco, LA, Sunnyvale, and Oakland have all passed a “turn em in” law, with literally zero compliance.
I’d love to see Judge Diane Sykes of the 7th Circuit nominated for Scalia’s position. She wrote the decision in Ezell v. Chicago. She’s only 58. She was also a state supreme court justice. Most importantly, she didn’t go to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, or Stanford for law school.
bloomy was beat 52 to 48 in Maine.. we were outspent 10 to 1 (he spent toward $6 million in our little state… We won making the carpet bagger argument, and need for background checks to loan a gun for hunting to a friend…. Praise the lord.. And we also deprived the hildabeast of one of four elec. college votes… that on top of the national yuge win is making for a giddy day.. ding dong the witch is dead
“bloomy was beat 52 to 48 in Maine…”
This was the result of a tremendous disorganized, but effective, grassroots campaign by THOUSANDS of Mainers.
Thank you fellow Mainers for beating back this gun control attempt by Bloomberg — and rest up for the inevitable battles to come in the future.
Awesome night for gun rights. Bloomy could barely get 50% in NV, and lost in Maine. That’s awesome.
The NRA had a great night, Bloomy not so much.
Too bad Toomey couldn’t have lost though.
The NRA’s price should be universal reciprocity. Not only would it make things better for us but Bloomberg would have a stroke.
Bear in mind, the NRA is not looking to win, they want to maintain the status quo. Helping to get a non-Dem into office would do that.
That way, the bucks continue to roll in, to support the lifetime positions of power at the top of the organization.
Fighting Shrillary directly would have been a steep hill for them to climb. Much easier for them to coast a bit, until the next big problem arrives in four years.
There are 26 States that Bloomy can lie to the people to get anti-gun laws on the ballot.
https://ballotpedia.org/States_with_initiative_or_referendum
Fortunately I live in one he CAN’T. (SC)
I’m well aware that my State is on that list, but I’ve been thinking about using the ballot to our advantage. We have a governor who’s vetoed Constitutional Carry; I haven’t yet had the time to organize an effort try to put the issue on the ballot here in Utah…
Yes, California is a lost cause. It’s even worse than you might think just looking at the surface. California is the Mordor of American gun-control.
It’s not just that a solid majority of the people in California are now Democratic Party and anti-gun. Despite all the talk of Bloomberg, California is the host of the brains behind gun control.
The Brady Group, the Violence Policy Center, those Washington D.C. beltway groups are ossified fossils. Moms Demand Action and Gun Sense? Mere astro-turf celebrity front orgs. San Francisco (where else?) is the home of the Legal Community Against Violence, and I believe the source of much anti-gun strategy and model anti-gun legislation for the nation.
Bloomberg may be the moneybags, but I think LCAV is the General behind gun-control activism.