One of our state reps seems to understand why Gun Control has a hard time going anywhere these days:
State Rep. Dan Frankel took note of the e-mails he received last week concerning a package of gun control bills emotionally endorsed by Gov. Ed Rendell.
Unofficially, the count was about 1,000 to 10, with the gun-rights lobby winning that grassroots campaign just as it succeeded in rebuffing Mr. Rendell’s efforts to sway the House Judiciary Committee.
Did I ever mention I love Pennsylvania gun owners? We beat them 100 to friggin one! That’s how to get things done. Frankel goes on to say:
“There’s no political penalty for those that don’t support [gun control] measures, but there is a political penalty if they do,” Mr. Frankel said of the impressive political activism that continues on behalf of sportsmen and other gun owners in Pennsylvania.
That’s exactly what Ed Rendell fails to understand. Polls don’t matter. What matters is we’ll turn out to vote for the other guy if you vote to screw us. The people that you polled barely understood the issue, and won’t be pulling a lever based on it anyway.
“We know based on independent polling that most Pennsylvanians support stronger gun control laws,” he said. “The question is where on those persons’ priority list of issues does gun safety rank, as opposed to where on the list of the gun advocates. … The other side are single-issue voters and that carries a lot of weight.”
Yes, it does. I have said before I’m not always a single issue voter, but gun rights ranks very high on my political calculus, because it tells me an awful lot about how a certain politician views his relationship with those that he governs, and his respect for limits being placed on governmental power. The gun issue is a great litmus test for how much a political candidate cares about liberty.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Mr. Rendell said. “We are not going to go away.”
Yes, it is, and we have a lot more endurance than your folks do, Governor. Do you really want to start this political fight? Because I promise you, we’re very interested in finishing it, and not on terms you are going to like.
In addition to the vigilant NRA, which on its national Web site immediately posted information about the House Judiciary Committee’s votes and each committee member’s position on them, a newer coalition of smaller gun-rights organizations adds to the effectiveness of the gun-rights lobby. They banded together two years ago to win legislative compromise on how gun owners would be affected by a new law concerning protection-from-abuse orders, and were also active on last week’s votes.
“We are more organized now than we’ve ever been in Pennsylvania,” said Kim Stolfer, legislative committee chairman of the Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League, which is part of the coalition.
I doubt this was the effect the Governor was predicting he would have.
I think in large part Rendell was used to getting his way in Philly and being able to run over anything or anybody to simply score political points. Nice to see he’s inspiring the opposition to get active.
100 to 1. That’s some good news right there!
I started to watch the video of it on TV last night, but gave up after a little while because it was pretty silly (and I had laundry to fold before going to bed)
Some thoughts though:
a) The chairman KNEW that it was just a show and that votes would not be changed based on what anyone said.
b) I can’t believe that it’s 2009 already. (Ed Rendell said that he had testified before them in 1999 when he was mayor of Philadelphia and was appearing before them again a DECADE later. *shrugs*)
c) Does anyone have a copy of the NRA e-mail that uses the word demonize in it?
d) Did he REALLY say that representative Daley’s district supported gun control? I find that hard to believe. I also wonder how the sampling was done. Was it a convenience sample? When were people called?
I linked to a copy of the poll he was using the other day.
Okay, so I looked at the poll, but it still doesn’t say HOW it was done :)
It does tell me the questions that were asked and in what districts, but it doesn’t tell me if people were contacted by phone between the hours of 1PM-3PM or if they were surveyed as they were walking into the Christian Bookstore *grins* Both of which will give skewed results. Did they go down a phone list supplied by CeaseFire? Heck, it could have been a postcard mailed to folks that needed to be returned and once they got 100 back they stopped counting.
*shrugs*
I’m going to guess phone calls. How they conducted the calls I don’t. I wouldn’t believe anything from this poll unless they release how it was done.
Not to mention the fact that Rendell was upstaged by SCOTUS who agreed to hear Heller on the same day he was grandstanding to his leftie buddies in Philly.
The Philly Daily News ran an editorial the other day Basically saying the same thing that cryin Brian said i.e. the defeat in Harrisburg was really a victory.
As for taking newbs to the range, I’ve taken the entire crime pod from the Daily News to the range for a firearms workshop and shooting exercise on the range; can’t get the opinion folks to join however…
Lastly, as a Jersey guy I really hope that y’all are orgazined and active about your 2A rights. I’ve lived the Jersey experience and would not wish that on my good friends in PA! Let me know what I can do to help.
Regards,
Paul
NRA Certified Firearms Instructor & Training Counselor