Year: 2009

Don’t let this stop you from contacting your Critters, but this is welcome news:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tossed cold water on the prospect of reinstating the assault weapons ban, highlighting Democrats’ reluctance to take on gun issues.

Attorney General Eric Holder raised the prospect Wednesday that the administration would push to bring back the ban. But Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated on Thursday that he never talked to her. The Speaker gave a flat “no” when asked if she had talked to administration officials about the ban.

“On that score, I think we need to enforce the laws we have right now,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “I think it’s clear the Bush administration didn’t do that.”

That’s not a clear “we’re not going to do it,” but it’s about as close as you’ll get from Pelosi.  Keep pressure on Congress.  I will be doing a more detailed analysis later to see which critters should be targeted for calls, letters, etc.  That’s not to say all them shouldn’t be, but some are more important than others.  If the “blue dog” dems get hounded (no pun intended) with calls just from Holder opening his yap, it gives them a reason to remind the White House and leadership not to put them in a difficult spot.  It makes it less likely we’ll have to fight a bill.

Hat Tip to Blog o Stuff

Gillibrand is changing her position on Tiahrt, but still sticking to her “needs to fixed” language:

Gillibrand acknowledged backing Tiahrt’s repeal by signing the letter, an aide said, but denied making a 180-degree turn on the measure. Gillibrand said instead that Tiahrt needs to be “fixed.

“I have always supported law enforcement having access to all of the information they need to keep us safe, fight against gun violence and keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” she said in a statement.

Gillibrand said there is language in Tiahrt that “specifically says that it will not limit data sharing for law enforcement.”

But she said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others “have made clear that the law does, on occasion, obstruct information-sharing for law enforcement.”

I don’t regret donating to her, because she’ll still be better than than likely alternatives.  McCarthy as a Senator would be a disaster for us.  If this is the issue she picked to part with us on, that’s fine if it helps her avoid a primary challenge from the left.  But it calls into question her reliability on other gun rights issues, and is why I put her down as a maybe on the AWB.  Remember that one of her predecessors, Al D’Amato, voted against the 1994.  It’s not out of the question that she will stick with us on that.  We need to pressure her, and give her reasons not to vote yes.

Oklahoma Democrat, Dan Boren, is forming a Second Amendment Task Force in The House, which “will be charged with monitoring legislation regarding the Second Amendment during the 111th Congress.”  Jason Altmire, from the Pennsylvania delegation, is also in the group.

The group is bipartisan.  Might be a wise idea to contact your Congress Critter and ask him to join Boren’s task force.  This sends a message to the Administration and Pelosi that this is not an issue to bring up in the 111th Congress.