Bad Day for New York Gun Owners

It was a bad election day for New York gun owners.  Tom King says:

I expect to see the following proposed legislation in both houses of state government shortly after the start of the 2009 legislative session Smart Gun, expanded COBIS, Micro Stamping of shell casings, an expanded assault weapons ban, reduction of magazine capacity, mandatory storage/insurance and renewable pistol licenses with very limited concealed carry. It is not a pretty scenario but it is not untenable.

Gun owners in New York State are going to need some help.  One thing I would encourage of New York gun rights activists is that it is possible to work within the Democratic Party.  We have some very anti-gun urban Democrats in Pennsylvania too, but we also have a lot of pro-gun Democrats, who are good on our issue.  Unfortunately, one of them is John Murtha, but on guns, Murtha has been on our side.  Sometimes you have to work with the political circumstances political fortunes stick you with.

How the Second Amendment Fared

Dave Kopel reports it’s not a disaster, and makes this note about the presidency:

President. Based on past record, certainly a -1. One important difference between our last Democratic President and our next one is the latter has shown himself to be much more self-disciplined. Accordingly, it is possible that he will not waste his political capital on a reckless culture war against gun owners, as President Clinton foolishly did.

So perhaps President Obama will spend his political capital elsewhere, and be a -0.1 President on the gun issue. The approach would be in line with the positive, unifying themes that Obama presented on victory night in Iowa last January, and with his eloquent victory speech tonight.

I don’t know if President Obama will be so temperate. But anyone who fears for the worst can still hope for the best.

We must hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.  2010 will be important for us.

Barack’s Insurance Policy

Steven Den Beste has an excellent, and serious post about this election.  But I love his update:

One other good thing: no one will be spinning grand conspiracy theories about this administration’s Vice President being an evil, conniving genius who is the true power behind the throne.

Joe Biden is Obama’s insurance policy.  He’s better protection for him than a whole legion of Secret Service agents.

Quote of the Day

From tgirsch:

Anyway, it’s not the end of the world, and this too shall pass. You’ll get over it. And if you wait long enough, the Democrats will screw themselves, as parties in power always do, and it will once again be your turn to fuck everything up royally.

Very true.

Barack Obama is my President

I can’t agree more with this message from Bob Krumm and Rightwingprof.  Obama won.  He will be legitimately our President.  The margins were high enough in most of the states that mattered, I don’t think we can attribute it to fraud.  We can attribute it to Republicans sucking.  I am willing to give Obama the chance to govern as the center-left moderate he’s sold himself as.  I am willing to give him a chance to show me he’s not going to come after gun owners.  And I am absolutely willing to start talking about the 2010 elections.  We have an election to win, folks, and we only have two years to get ready.

How NRA Fared in District 8

Unfortunately, we lost our presidential and congressional race this election.  It was a bad day to be a Republican, and people overhwelmingly said the economy was their top concern.  But, both our endorsed State Representatives comfortably held on to their seat, and we did oust one anti-gun Democrat in my distrct (Chris King).  We also got a B rated state rep elected over a question mark candidate.  Interestingly enough, I don’t think Obama’s coattails reached down to state level races.  We did pretty well at the state level, overall, at least in my district.

The Silver Lining: Frank Farry Wins!

My State Representative, Chris King, who’s grade dropped from an A- to a C-, was ousted by Frank Farry.   Frank’s NRA grade was “?” because he didn’t get his questionare in, so I could send him no volunteers.  But I did talk to him, and got a reassurance he was a good guy on our issue.  This is a win for gun owners.  It’s also a win for class.  Seriously, how much of a goober are you if you don’t show up to thank your supporters and congratulate your opponent?  I think it’s safe to say Chris King’s political career is finished.  Frank Farry ran a stellar campaign, and to oust an incumbent as a Republican in a Democratic election year is a testament to that.  I hope we’ll be able to work with Frank moving forward, and that he’ll earn an NRA endorsement for 2010.

Thanks George!

Let’s be honest about who’s fault it really is we lost this election.  The Rove strategy has proven to be a total failure at this point.  New England now has no Republican representation left at all.  Pennsylvania is following close behind.  The South is still solid, well, except for Virginia, and maybe North Carolina.  George Bush destroyed the Republican Party, with a lot of help from a formerly Republican Congress.

America Still Racist?

Your name can be Barack Hussein Obama, and you can be black, and you can be President.  America is not a racist country.  There was no Bradley Effect.  If you think about America going from forcing African Americans to sit on the back of the bus, to electing one President within a generation, that’s really not an achievement that should be discounted.  I am worried for my country because of the political outcome of this election, but there is a silver lining in this outcome.