The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Bloomberg’s little Mayors against guns group has quite a track record. A big story hitting the local news is that the FBI have been busy beavers over in New Jersey, raiding the houses of New Jersey politicians. One of Bloomy’s mayors was among those who had a warrant served.
UPDATE: Thirdpower updates his list.
Paul Helmke touts his impressive victory over the National Rifle Association, and display it as evidence that NRA is powerless:
What good did the NRA’s money and endorsements do for former Senator Norm Coleman, former Senator John Sununu and former Senator Gordon Smith? Not enough to return them to the Senate. Voters in those states rejected the gun lobby’s attacks last November and voted for their opponents.
Hey, nobody claimed NRA endorsements were a magic key to victory every time. There were a lot of broader political trends in 2008. Those still happen, you know. But either way, I have to admit, I’m kind of liking this Senate under Harry Reid. If we can just get Pelosi and Obama out of power, we might be able to run some serious bills.
Dave Hardy brings us an interesting link from the Washington Post:
Only two Republicans went against the gun lobby, but that was enough to leave supporters just short of the 60 votes they needed. The slim margin was no accident: Other Democrats, such as Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey and Colorado’s Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, were said to have been willing to vote “no” if necessary. Twenty minutes after the voting began, Bennet and Udall left the cloakroom together and walked into the chamber. Bennet went to the well to consult with Schumer, who indicated that it was safe for Bennet — a product of D.C.’s St. Albans School — to vote with the NRA. Bennet looked to Udall, who gave an approving nod, and cast his “aye” vote.
For better or worse, this is how politics works. What counts is the vote, and we still ought to appreciate that Casey was with us, and let him know as much. But we might want to add we do indeed expect that he vote with us in the future as well. Next time this comes up, if it has a chance, Casey might not want to be the Senator that lets this measure go down in flames.
All politicians are snakes, having some balance of all the worst traits of lawyers, used car salesmen, and power hungry narcissistic field marshals. Sure, there are a few politicians out there who believe in principles, but they typically end up very good at giving concession speeches. The nature of the this game practically guarantees you’ll have people who are with you one day, and against you the next. The great trick is convincing them it would be in their best interests, in terms of keeping their seat, to vote with you.
For once, the gun-control crowd won a shootout with the NRA. But nobody was talking about disarmament. “We know the gun lobby is strong,” Schumer said after the vote. “We know they will be back.”
You can count on it Chucky!
Well, you can buy his house. How awesome is that?
Via Another Gun Blog, we have this interesting story from USA Today, where they seem to make the common mistake of thinking that guns are a rural vs. urban issue:
It makes no sense to make cities such as Los Angeles and Boston, which have significant urban crime, to conform to the politics of rural places. Nor is there much sense in forcing urban police officers to make instant decisions on the legitimacy of pieces of paper handed to them by menacing looking people packing heat.
USA Today overlook the fact that of our major cities, most of them are in states that allow law abiding citizens to obtain licenses to carry concealed firearms. Let’s take a look at our top 20 cities by population. Of the top 5 cities, two of them are in right-to-carry states. Of the top 10, a full half are in right-to-carry states. Of the top 20, 13 are in right-to-carry states. If you look at the safest large cities in America, six of the top ten are located in right-to-carry states, four of those being in gun loving Texas.
So, USA Today, the vast majority of urban areas are already under the circumstances you so lament, and many of them have remarkably low crime rates. This is not a rural vs. urban issue. It’s a freedom issue. And it’s been demonstrated time and again that people are responsible enough to use this freedom wisely.
Another Gun Guy has a statement fromt the VPC, and the Brady Campaign are already promoting this great victory on their front page, and in this press release here. It’s a strange, strange world where fifty-eight Senators voting for a stunningly pro-gun measure is touted as a great victory by anti-gun groups. The Bradys even state their hope that perhaps now the Senate will address banning private sales of firearms.
UPDATE: Bryan Miller now too: “Today’s narrow victory for public safety over the profits of the gun industry should be celebrated by all New Jerseyans with any desire to make our homes, schools and communities safer from the scourge of gun violence.” Yeah, go ask people in Camden or Trenton how safe they think New Jersey’s gun laws make them from the “scourge of gun violence.”
A statement from Chris Cox Exec. Director of NRA-ILA:
“While we are disappointed that the 60 vote procedural hurdle was not met, the vote shows that a bipartisan majority agrees with the NRA. We would like to thank Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), along with all senators who voted in favor of this amendment on both sides of the aisle. The efforts of these senators were not in vain, as the NRA will continue to work tirelessly to ensure this important legislation finds the right avenue to come before Congress once again.â€
Emphasis mine. If the anti-gun folks think they’ve seen the last of this bill, they would definitely appear to be mistaken.
We’re making a list, and checking it twice, so we can find out who’s naughty or nice. Here’s a breakdown of the votes on the Thune Amendment, for national reciprocity for concealed carry licenses, in the US Senate. We should not fret, or feel defeated. We just got 58 votes from the most Democratic Senate we’ve had for a long time. Almost a supermajority. We have come a long way, and this was a major piece of legislation. Here are the results.
| YEAs —58 | ||
| Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Casey (D-PA) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) |
DeMint (R-SC) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feingold (D-WI) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagan (D-NC) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (D-SD) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lincoln (D-AR) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) |
McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Vitter (R-LA) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS) |
| NAYs —39 | ||
| Akaka (D-HI) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Burris (D-IL) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY) |
Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kaufman (D-DE) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lugar (R-IN) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) |
Merkley (D-OR) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Reed (D-RI) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Specter (D-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Voinovich (R-OH) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR) |
| Not Voting – 3 | ||
| Byrd (D-WV) | Kennedy (D-MA) | Mikulski (D-MD) |
The voting on the Thune Amendment will begin at 11:30. This will let us know who our real friends are in the Senate. I will update as the voting proceeds.
UPDATE: DiFi was heard on C-SPAN talking about how strict the California licensing process is. She would know, since she’s been through the process.
UPDATE: Thune is calling the Democrats out for using a VPC study which is largely crap. Some of the alleged killers did not have permits, and one of them who did was never charged because it was self-defense.
UPDATE: Barassso just whipped out his Wyoming concealed carry license on the floor of the Senate.
UPDATE: Coburn just said he would support the Dems in the states right argument if they’d agree to a bill on enumerated powers and restoring the 10th Amendment. Think there will be any takers?
UPDATE: I think the vote will be at noon. Someone said 11:30. Can’t remember where I saw that. High Noon on the Senate floor… ha!
UPDATE: Barbara Boxer claims she’s never seen the phones in her office ring off the hook. That sounds like a dare to California gun owners if you ask me.
UPDATE: Boxer just acknowledged DiFi’s personal experience with the California permitting process.
UPDATE: Webb and Warner were both yes votes. Both Virginia Democrats.
UPDATE: Indiana Republican Dick Lugar voted no. Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, voted yes.
UPDATE: Democrat Bob Casey voted with us. Former Republican and now Democrat Arlen Specter voted against us.
UPDATE: Gillibrand is a no too, but I gave up on her a while ago. She’s switched sides.
UPDATE: Udall of Colorado voted yes. We might break majority. Holy crap, Bennett too!
UPDATE: Why did Specter vote no when a lot of fellow Democrats didn’t cave?  Webb & Warner were targeted with full page adds yesterday. Bennett hasn’t had to face the voters yet and will in 2010. Udall was never alll that reliable in the house. They voted yes. I think Specter made a mistake. A big mistake.
UPDATE: Last call for vote changes. Arlen? Come on man. We just picked up Pryor from AK.
UPDATE: Final vote 58-39. The bill is defeated, as it needed 60 votes under the rule. I told Bitter this morning I expected majority, but no passage. We have done better than I would have anticipated, and this was a major piece of pro-gun legislation that would have altered the landscape significantly.
UPDATE: Expect gloating from the anti-gunners, but we came very close. We will be back with this bill, or another like it. They can take that to the bank.
Brillianter looked at the results of his private citizen survey, and was surprised more people aren’t carrying defensive sprays. He makes a case for it. When I was spending more time in Philadelphia, and more likely to run into drunk assholes than I typically am in the burbs, I carried OC. Once I talked to someone who was on a grand jury over in New Jersey, who deadlocked over the issue of “Why did the nice police officer shoot the guy with a knife when he could have used pepper spray?” Ultimately they ended up no billing him, but a several folks on the jury were not happy about it, but it was the law, and the guy I talked to ultimately blamed the training that teaches officers to shoot people charging at them with knives. Apparently he expected kung-fu moves with the officers night stick, and thinks pepper spray drops a deadly threat as reliably as a pistol. I figured I didn’t want to end up in a similar situation, so I solved the problem by not carrying a spray.
I think Brillianter makes a good case. You’re a lot more likely to end up facing a non-lethal force situation than you are a lethal force situation, so it makes sense to carry a spray.