According to the AP, they are asking how they lose. Lots of sad pandas to go around:
“We’ll probably end up passing more gun bills” that expand owners’ rights “than we did during the Republican administration,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a leading gun control advocate. “That is what surprises me.”
You know, that’s surprising me too. It must be that shoulder thing that goes up. But how about that Congressman David Price’s snub to the Brady Campaign here:
“People do not want to be on the wrong side of this particular cultural divide,” said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who supports tougher gun controls. “It’s too bad there’s not a more responsible national organization” to counteract the NRA, he said.
Ouch, that’s gotta hurt. Even I wouldn’t be that harsh. The Brady’s were worthy opponents in their heyday, it’s just that once the grass roots gun owners got pissed off and fired up, they had nothing to counter it.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California is another Democrat frustrated by the gun debate. When she asks colleagues why they don’t support tougher restrictions, she said, they reply, “You just don’t get it, Woolsey. You don’t have our districts.”
Woolsey doesn’t get it because she’s from one of the few areas in the country where there isn’t much in the way of gun rights activists to make her life difficult. As much as it’s tempting to say we’ve lost six or so states to gun control, it’s not really true. There’s only a few metro areas making California anti-gun, but those districts represent a lot of people, and in those districts, it’s probably more important that their rep makes a peace statement on memorial day, than honoring our veterans. We lost New York City in 1911, and people took their cultural attitudes on guns with them when there was the mass exodus from cities in the late 20th century. What gun control advocates are finding is that controlling a few legacy metropolitan areas isn’t enough, and the ripples being created by Heller are likely to undo even that. It has to be frustrating, but I can’t say I feel sorry for them.
The Bradys and VPC are no longer issuing press releases, they’re releasing lamentations.
I’m astounded by David Price. His wife Lisa is the head of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence. We’ve had to fight her and her minions for years here in NC.
I suspect that’s why he made sure to say national organization. Although that makes me wonder how well his wife plays with Paul Helmke and/or Josh Sugarmann. This comment may reveal that they don’t play so well together.
“You just don’t get it, Woolsey. You don’t have our districts.â€
Maybe, just maybe, the representatives (hired hands) making that statement have finally figured out which side of their toast has the butter on it.
Occasionally, we get the idea that our faxes, letters, and e-mails fall on deaf ears or, are short-stopped by staff and are never seen by our hired hands in Washington.
The quoted statement tells me that our hired hands are fearful of losing their cushy jobs if they don’t pay at least some attention to their employers’ concerns.
We’ve made some progress toward reestablishing the 2nd Amendment’s proper meaning. Heller was a single battle in an ongoing war. We still have many battles to fight. We must not be ashamed to be a nuisance in the eyes of the people we hire and send to Washington. After all, they are our employees, not our rulers. Make them justify their jobs. And, constantly remind them, If they can’t or won’t perform their jobs to our satisfaction, they can be replaced.
Holy crap. I was just about to send you the exact same link. It is funny. And I’m kinda surprised that it was even brought up.
No mention of the brady’s by name, no? Shows how much there known.
Hope we didn’d’ leat leagele
>“We’ll probably end up passing more gun bills†that expand owners’ >rights “than we did during the Republican administration,â€
Does Rep. McCarthy know something we don’t? Are we to understand she’s fighting against some gun-rights bill even as we type?
“You just don’t get it, Woolsey. You don’t have our districts.â€
This should be an eye-opener of what many of these 2006 mid-term Democrats from Republican districts think about their constituents. What happened to the days of a representative actually representing the interests of their districts? I agree about them finding out which side their toast is buttered on, but it goes far beyond that. This is an act, and one that will turn on us if they survive 2010.
McCarthy also said , “”I do believe that down the road the president will start working on some of the gun violence issues.” On my blog today I asked folks what they think about that.
Could I ask you Sebastian? Do you think Obama will turn on you guys like some of us had hoped? Or, is the grassroots movement you keep talking about too much to combat?
If the politics of the issue change, I think Obama will pick it up and fight for gun control. If you look at his record, and the record of the people he’s surrounded himself with, there can’t be any doubt they’d like to pass restrictions on guns.
But right now, the politics of the gun issue don’t work for passing more gun control laws, because too many Democrats are in districts where they can’t afford to vote for it. Such was the case in 1994 too, so that’s not a guarantee.
What we’ve done is greatly raised the cost, politically, of gun control. It’s still possible, but it would require the Democrats sacrificing the rest of their agenda. I don’t think they are willing to do that currently. But in 4 years if the Republicans can’t make any headway? Who knows.
I knew Lynne Woolsey before she was elected. She may be the dumbest member of Congress-and yes, I know about Maxine Waters. During the 1992 campaign, I was legislative officer for the Cotati Rod & Gun Club. I called up candidates during the primaries, finding out where they stood. Even the Democrats who weren’t pro-gun (and this being a district of millionaires, they were mostly anti-gun) at least made an attempt to find common ground, even if they were honest about their position.
Not Woolsey. “You know Clayton, I’m not sure that there’s even any point in our having this conversation. If I had my way, private ownership of guns would be completely illegal.”