The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette thinks Obama needs to grow a spine when dealing with the “gun lobby.”
If Mr. Obama called for limiting the size of ammunition clips in certain weapons, something that we and even former Vice President Dick Cheney think is a good idea, it would confirm the NRA’s darkest conspiracy theories. But all Mr. Obama wants is a reasoned discussion, and the mighty NRA can’t bear even that.
To them a reasonable discussion means “You guys talk about how much of the Second Amendment you are willing to surrender.” Â Personally, I’d prefer it if Obama came after us. We have the votes to defeat this in Congress, and that would be the excuse we need to fire our people up headed into 2012. That’s going to be a lot harder if politicians like Casey and Tester can still claim Obama won’t touch the gun issue.
Sebastian, You sound like you’re whistling in the dark. Your glory days are coming to an end. You sense this and it makes you say silly boasting things like “bring it on.”
Obama is definitely not the man I’d hoped he was, but all it’s gonna take is one or two changes on the Supreme Court and a good showing for the Dems in 2012.
Enjoy it while you can.
mikeb302000 remember your “Glory Days”
http://blog.joehuffman.org/2011/03/18/QuoteOfTheDayChuckSchumer.aspx
We’re here to tell the NRA their nightmare is true!. We’re going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We’re going to beat guns into submission!
U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer
November 30, 1993
NBC Nightly News
—
We’re not interested in curtailing the rights of gun owners…
Chuck Schumer
U.S. Senator from New York
March 16, 2011
Obama is definitely not the man I’d hoped he was, but all it’s gonna take is one or two changes on the Supreme Court and a good showing for the Dems in 2012.
And then you’ve got what, Mikey?
You still have 70% of the American public on our side. 2008 had a great showing for Democrats, and WTF did you get out of that? Note that it isn’t just Obama who’s avoiding this issue; it’s a majority of the Democrats in Congress.
Much as I wish the anti-gun minority would get the Dems to commit suicide over the gun issue, it just isn’t going to happen. If the Dems win in 2012, they will continue to avoid an issue on which their views are extremely unpopular.
And I wouldn’t be getting too much of a stiffie over the Supreme Court either, Mikey. If they had decided against Heller in 2008, it would have been a blow to gun rights, because you would have been able to credibly say that the SC had consistently upheld the “collective rights” lie.
If, OTOH, the SC reverses Heller, it will be seen not as proof that “collective rights” is true. Rather, it will be seen as evidence that the SC is corrupt. That is why, if the case is ever looming on the horizon, the Dems will do everything within their means to kill it before it reaches the Supremes. If they have to, they will buy off the anti-gun plaintiffs with their own money. They do NOT want to be massacred at the ballot box, which is what will happen if they piss off 100 million American gun owners.
You ought to move to America sometime. It might open your eyes.
Actually, Mikey, these are *your* glory days. You still have gun control in Italy. You won’t, a generation from now.
Anyone thing Mikeb is living in a different universe?
Not in a different universe, just in a different decade in this one. I get the impression that he left the USA when gun control was on the rise in the 1990s. Even though he can read the news and see that it isn’t successful today, he hasn’t been on the ground here where he can see just how dead gun control is.
He’s like some hippie who has lived in a commune since 1968, who is sure that this decline in LSD use is just a passing fad, and that Acidtopia is just a few years away.
mikeb: all it’s gonna take is one or two changes on the Supreme Court
I like seeing that from mikeb., as a counter to this from Paul Helmke:
Over the years, I have seen the gun lobby effectively thwart efforts to pass many sensible gun laws by arguing that even modest gun control would lead down the path to a complete ban on gun ownership. It is the classic “slippery slope” argument, and it has served the gun lobby well politically. The “slippery slope,” however, is now gone. The U.S. Supreme Court took it off the table Thursday in their D.C. v. Heller opinion. Government is now barred from “taking away” the guns of law-abiding Americans.
If as (mikeb says) the Heller decision will be overturned, then Helmke is WRONG and the “slippery slope” is NOT gone. If the Heller decision will be overturned, then the passage of lesser gun control laws could indeed lead down the path to various gun bans, and thus gun owners need to continue to vigorously oppose such efforts. mikeb, keep spreading the word!
Awww, Mikey, who’s the sad clown? Who’s the sad clown?
mikeb302000 – talk about silly boasting, do you really think with Obama’s abysmal performance the Dems are going to regain control in both houses?
Kenno, I am not sure the news media would allow a SC that overturned Heller to be characterized as corrupt, but like many other “revolutionary” court decisions, they would be hailed as the restorers of “sanity” or “common sense.” I remember when Heller first came out, a TV episode of “The Practice” gave a one-sided tirade that (errantly) claimed Heller overturned “200 years of established Second Amendment jurisprudence.” I wouldn’t underestimate the ability of tyrants to paint their actions as beneficial to the public good. We need to be alert and vigilant – and prepared (well-armed NOW).
Arnie, it’s not up to the news media. We stopped gun control in its tracks in the late 1990s, when the media was much more powerful than it is today. Don’t give them power they don’t have.
I’m not sad, Tammy. And, Kenno, I think you have your percentages screwed up. The overwhelming majority favors background checks and other sensible improvements. Some of these things may happen even with a spineless president and conservative Supreme Court. But, I’m optimistic about the future.
In fact, maybe you guys should start stockin’ up now.