JR reports she’s listed as a consponsor on the bill, and adds:
Isn’t this the same Kirsten Gillibrand everyone was sending money to because she was such a pro-gun Democrat?
I will admit I was thoroughly wrong about Kirsten Gillibrand. But at the time I was her advocate, there was no evidence to doubt Gillibrand’s fidelity to the issue except for a lot of cynicism. Sometimes cynicism turns out to be right, and this was one of those cases. But cynicism is also destructive if taken too far.
But prior to her elevation to the Senate, she signed on to everything NRA ever asked her to, including co-sponsoring ATF reform, signing into the Heller brief, and voting for DC gun rights. Do I regret supporting her? Yep. But hindsight is always 20/20. You have to take chances sometimes. They won’t always work out. I’m taking one with my new State Representative. Taking a back seat and seeing how things turn out is not going to be effective, because politicians don’t come to your view through the righteousness of it, they come to it by being influenced. I don’t see any logic in standing outside of that process, and automatically cede that ground to our opponents.
Nonetheless, if you were a hoodwinked supporter of hers, I would encourage you to make your displeasure known to her here, as I have done, especially if you’re a resident of New York. I would also note that even if her Republican opponent is anti-gun, you’d at least be helping put the Senate back in charge of lawmakers who will support us.
I hope that the NRA/ILA is proactive in denouncing this bill and this Senator.
Every member of the NRA that lives in New York needs to be informed of Gillibrand’s actions and encouraged to oppose them.
The NRA really needs to actively oppose Gillibrand at every turn now. There has to be consequences for actions. If she wants to turn her back on gun owners who supported her, knocking her NRA “A” rating down a notch is not enough.
I just hope that the Republican party sees fit to replace her with someone other than ‘Rudy’ the last thing NY needs is another RINO representing them.
The GOP needs to run someone who can win. If that’s Rudy, so be it. At the least, it gets us closer to a majority.
I agree. In order to win, however, a successful candidate should be able to garner support from both upstate, and downstate. As the former Mayor of NYC, many upstate people will not support him out of principal. I feel that Upstate as a general population is tired of downstate politics ruining things for the rest of us.
Sebastian, What’s your interest in NYS Politics by the way? are you an escapee of our formerly great state? I notice you cover things in NY more often than most gun-bloggers.
I’ve lived my whole life in Southeastern Pennsylvania. I cover New York and New Jersey politics because I’m concerned about the states that border Pennsylvania too. Plus, I want to lend moral support to the bloggers in the nasty states. Jacob Rieper is the only New York gun blogger I can think of. And we have Cemetery over in New Jersey.
There’s also BlackPowderBill’s blog, http://blackpowderbill.blogspot.com/ he’s a member of Scope NY and active in the Genesee County Chapter.
Is the point to have a Republican Congress or a pro-Liberty Congress? Obviously not all Republicans are pro-Liberty or even pro-guns. Mc-gunshow loophole-Cain for example.
Sebastian, I’ve been glad to read that you’ve been active in local/state politics. I’m wondering if you have also been going to your county party committee meetings? (If you’ve written about it & I missed it, sorry.) Here in IL I haven’t worked up to state level involvement. But I will say that what I have seen about candidate selection, for Republican & Libertarian Parties, has been somewhat disheartening.
I had thought that if I could have an influence at the beginning of the political cycle – candidate selection – I could start to effect the whole cycle. But…
William Ayers had it right. If you really want to effect fundamental change in the electoric you need to start when they are young and still in school. For what you teach then will have an effect on them for the rest of their lives.
For example, when talking about new restrictions on park closing times with another Republican election judge I brought up “peacefully assemble”. Her response was that she didn’t want to hear spurious arguments, that if a cop interferred with a group of people then he must have had a good reason and they should have the good sense to obey him without hesitation.
Education. My experiences with the Boy Scouts and more recently 2 teenage granddaughters of a friend confirm my belief that ultimately it all comes down to education.
Is the point to have a Republican Congress or a pro-Liberty Congress? Obviously not all Republicans are pro-Liberty or even pro-guns. Mc-gunshow loophole-Cain for example.
My point as a gun control activist is to have a Congress who won’t trample my gun rights. The Republicans are better on that issue than the Democrats. The Progressive Dems are willing to accept blue dogs being in power to keep their majority. This country doesn’t lean far enough one way or another to demand ideological purity to any one agenda. The majority party is always going to have its Collins and Snowes, as much as that pains me.
Sebastian, I’ve been glad to read that you’ve been active in local/state politics. I’m wondering if you have also been going to your county party committee meetings?
I haven’t, but largely because I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I’m not sure tying the fortunes of gun rights to the GOP in my area would necessarily be a smart move, as the GOP’s fortunes haven’t looked too good. My goal is to create a benefit for candidates of either party to support pro-gun positions. I would like that to exist outside of the party apparatus.
Forgive my pessimism, but I’ve given up on political solutions. Mrs. Gillibrand’s treason to her oath, to her principles, and to her supporters is not the exception, it is the rule. Does anyone remember Geo. Bush’s statement that he WOULD have signed an extension of the AWB if Congress passed one?!! My former Republican Congressman was THE vote that put Clinton’s gun ban over the top despite my letters reminding him of the plain meaning of the 2nd Amendment. I later wrote to chastize his treason. I never heard from him again. My Senator, a Dem who also voted for it, told me we’ll just have to agree to disagree. What! Agree to disagree over treason?! Not on your life, Senator! I never heard from him again, either. Its like that election judge who thinks constitutional grounds make “spurious” arguments. The late William F. Buckley, Jr., would have described such people as “invincibly ignorant.” I prefer incorrigibly corrupt. I’ve stopped calling and writing these turkeys; I’ve stopped sending money to parties, candidates, and campaigns. I am spending my hard-earned money on guns, big guns, and LOTS of ammo. I figure it’s harder for them to confiscate than to inhibit purchasing. And, heaven forbid, if it ever comes down to needing to use them… well, I’ll have them, and enough to arm several other patriots in my area. Ye think me extreme? Listen to our Fathers: “The militia, who are in fact…the people at large,…will form a powerful check upon the regular troops, and will generally be sufficient to overawe them.” – Tench Coxe “Whenever.. the right of the people to keep and bear arms is prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.” – St. George Tucker “The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws because the whole body of the people are armed….” – Noah Webster “To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them. Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people….” – George Mason “Another deduction follows, that the people will be universally armed….A people that legislate for themselves ought to be in the habit of protecting themselves, or they will lose the spirit of both.” – Joel Barlow I could go on and on. But this should suffice. Our government no longer obeys its oath to the Constitution, nor does it respond to our demands that it do so. In fact it is now labling US as domestic terrorists!!!! The 2nd Amendment was wriiten for times such as this. Arm yourselves, lest ye be slaves! Again, sorry for my pessimism.
I can sympathize Arnie, but I don’t share the pessimism. We’ve made a lot of progress just in the time I’ve been involved in the issue, which isn’t as long as some people. All using the political process. It’s a night and day difference now than it was even in 2000, let alone the early 1990s. The political process is imperfect, and politicians are certainly imperfect, but the process does work. It’s difficult, it’s frustrating, but it does work.
Once everything devolves in people shooting each other, it’s all over. Everything we’ve built for the past 233 years will be at an end. I don’t believe civil war would restore the founders Republic, I think it would destroy what’s left of it.
I sure hope you’re right, Sebastion. I really do. I can’ help but wonder if our Founders had these same conversations, not wanting to sever ties with the Mother country, making every possible effort at reconciliation and compromise, but in the end “acquiescing in the necessity,” and seceded from Britain at the cost of war. I realize we have won some political battles and we have been better off than nine years ago. But it’s more like a pendulum swing than a solid step forward. And it is clearly starting to swing back with the past election and the present cabinet. The next four years will unquestionably see scores of Federal judgeships filled with anti-constitutionalists, and I fear that will include the Supreme Court (I mean honestly, do you see Republicans blocking a single nomination made by Mr. Obama on 2nd Amendment grounds?). Congress is already considering new gun laws that are worse than the Clinton bans, and the White House is pulling out the stops to justify them, even calling constitutionalists like us domestic terrorists! Even the Heller victory was disappointingly hollow with that emasculating “reasonable regulation” provision which, frankly, denudes the right-to-arms of its primary purpose: armed resistance to federal tyranny. Without the deterrent effect of a HEAVILY armed populace, tyranny and usurpations by the central government will be far more likely just as armed ciminals are far more disposed to perpetrate their nefarious deeds in gun-free zones, making the civil war you detest a more likely reality. I can’t help but consider the possibility that the pendulum will swing substanially past the point it reached in the 90s; maybe beyond the point of return. The Founders knew this could happen. Ben Franklin even predicted it! They gave us the 2nd Amendment for a reason, and it wasn’t to shoot ducks, clay pigeons, or burglars. It was to kill tyrants! The quotes in my previous post evince that, and there are plenty more I could have posted. Now if it is any solace, if conflict were inevitable, I don’t think it would be a civil war as you fear. Rather it likely would be a war of secession like what our Founding Fathers fought when they seceded from Great Britain to gain their fredom and independence. I certainly would have no more desire for an armed take-over of Washington than General Washington had for an armed take-over of London. I just want, as they did, to be left alone by the central government to enjoy my liberty in peace. If we can achieve that politically as your sanguine assessment predicts, praise be! I’ll just have a bunch of excess guns to sell at REALLY low prices! But if you’re wrong…well, I guess I’ll be glad I had the guns. But as I said at the start, I sure hope you’re right, Sebastian. I REALLY do!