When A Million Moms Marched
Posted on November 7th, 2008
by Kelley Vlahos |
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The NRA may not be complaining, but this week’s election has once again thrown the fate of the Second Amendment into question. At least gun owners feel it, and that’s why they’ve been lining up and leaving the shelves empty at gun stores across the country.
Local gun dealers quickly are running out of stock of magazines for Colt AR-15s and AK models and many have seen a sharp increase in the sales of those guns.
“Pretty much anything with more than 10 rounds is in high demand right now,” said Michael Martin, a sales representative at Impact Guns in Salt Lake City. “We had one supplier go from 92 assault rifles to 12 in one day. Our suppliers are just frantically scrambling.”
Customers at Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns have expressed their worries about a renewed gun ban on the store’s online message boards, and the past 10 days have brought major jumps in sales.
“For customers out there thinking about getting one of these guns, don’t think,” said James Bunten, president of FBMG, who has had to order stock much further in advance to guarantee his store’s stock. “At least put money down on it now to get a place in very long line.”
Not only has the election of Obama ignited old fears that Democrats will push anti-firearm laws until only the government has guns, but the appointment of Democrat Rep. Rahm Emanuel as President-elect Obama’s new chief of staff has made those fears more urgent. Every bio of Emanuel notes his aggressive push for the assault weapons ban passed during the Clinton Administration. The law, which banned a series semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns defined as “assault weapons” in the legislation, was allowed to sunset during the Bush Administration — one of the rare accomplishments for which conservatives can give Bush and the the GOP in congress credit — but may be headed for a revival under a new Democratic Washington.
Obama has said he supports reinstating the assault weapons ban, but in the thick of the election, refused to get on the bandwagon trying to overturn the repeal of the DC handgun law. The Second Amendment blogosphere is already hunkering down for a fight, and can prove as formidable an opponent as the kossacks on the left when threatened — though it remains to be seen whether the resurrection of a Million Moms is in the offing. Best to keep your powder dry.
Filed under: Conservatism, Politics, libertarianism
I always thought Second Amendment worries about the Democrats now were silly, gun control died a long time ago, and if the Virginia Tech massacre didn’t revive it nothing will. The Democrats certainly aren’t stupid enough to try to bring the issue back.
Gun sales always increase during a recession.
I’m conflicted. I see no reason for a citizen to own a handgun yet I want to run out and buy one on the off chance they get banned (unlikely but still). No one needs an AK and everyone should have a shotgun.
The more I read it the more the second amendment seems to me like it was written by someone in elementary school. It’s like they changed subjects halfway through the sentence.
If I remember correctly, when Charleton Heston held up the antique rifle and in effect said, “We’re tired of talking, we’re going to start shooting,” the Million Moms ran back to the brothels and street corners where they had been recruited from in the first place.
In 2002, the pro-gun control Dems lost a bunch of seats.
In 2006 the Dems that got elected were mostly pro gun.
I don’t think gun control is going to be a very high priority.
rawshark, if you don’t like the 2nd amendment then change it. Just don’t ignore it.
[...] - Salt Lake City Tribune Hat Tip: American Conservative [...]
The National Rifle Association was thrashed from coast-to-coast on Tuesday, in big races and small, from the top of the ballot to the bottom. They tried to scare voters silly about guns, and were ignored by Americans from New Hampshire to New Mexico.
They promised to spend $40 million to defeat President-elect Obama and other candidates, and ran the most divisive, negative, and false campaign they could devise - pretending the Heller decision didn’t even exist - telling anybody who would listen that Obama was going to “take your guns away.” Few listened.
Instead, President-elect Obama reminded voters that he believes in an individual Second Amendment right to own a gun with reasonable restrictions, such as background checks on all gun sales, restrictions on the easy access to assault weapons, and cracking down on corrupt gun dealers.
And you know what happened?
Barack Obama became the first Democratic Presidential candidate to win the NRA’s home state of Virginia since 1964. And then he went on to carry Indiana, again for the first time since 1964. Then he won North Carolina for the first time since 1976. Then Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, New Hampshire, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and a collection of states adding up to a 364-Electoral Vote landslide.
President-elect Obama won Pennsylvania - with the highest per-capita NRA membership of any state in the Union - by 12 points. He won Elk County for Heaven’s sake.
On Tuesday, President-elect Obama won the most votes of any Presidential candidate in American history - over 64,000,000 so far.
Not only did Sen. John McCain lose - a man NRA used to call “one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment” before they endorsed him. NRA-endorsed candidates for the Senate were routed across America, as well.
A-rated Sen. Sununu lost in New Hampshire to F-rated Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. A-rated Sen. Dole lost in North Carolina to F-rated State Sen. Kay Hagan. A-rated Sen. Smith lost in Oregon to F-rated (and Brady Campaign-endorsed) Jeff Merkley.
NRA lost big Senate races in Colorado and New Mexico to Brady Campaign-endorsed Democratic Reps. Mark and Tom Udall. Rep. Tom Udall defeated his NRA-endorsed opponent with over 60% of the vote. NRA even lost in Louisiana to Mary Landrieu, the one chance Republicans had for a pickup in the Senate.
What this election showed about the gun issue - perhaps above all else - is that supporters of common sense gun laws may have Justice Antonin Scalia to thank for finally defusing guns as a wedge issue in American politics. Along with an individual right to own a gun, he also held a wide array of gun control laws to be “presumptively lawful,” that also happen to be politically popular.
That’s President-elect Obama’s position.
There are too many problems left behind by the current Administration to believe gun policy is going to be near the top of the new President’s agenda. But with 100,000 gun deaths and injuries every year in America, gun violence prevention policy will finally get a fair hearing again — and largely without the irrational fear that somehow “big government is going to take anybody’s guns away.”
Why? Because Justice Scalia just said that can’t happen.
I’m not waiting around to see what the Brady Campaign’s version of “common sense” gun control regulations look like. Fear rhetoric about gun control might not have swung the election to the GOP, but gun legislation will, especially if they try it before 2010.
Which, for adults who aren’t paternalistic about other people’s ability to handle guns responsibly, is okay.
With Obama the entire constitution is in jeopardy.
http://rightklik.blogspot.com/