Bitter has a summary of the down ticket races to watch in Pennsylvania in regards to gun rights. Despite turning a number of the Philadelphia suburban ring county districts back to red in the 2010 election, I’m still very concerned about how long term trends look for the GOP. Gerlach has always been in tight races. It’s one of those things that just feels like it’s a matter of time. I am quite pleased that Kathy Boockvar, the Democratic Challenger of Mike Fitzpatrick, scored an A on her NRA questionnaire. While Fitzpatrick will undoubtedly carry an endorsement per NRA’s incumbent friendly policy, it is a sign that perhaps the Democrats don’t think running anti-gun candidates is a wise choice, even very close to Philadelphia. The worst thing that could happen to us would be for the Democratic Party in this area to become reflexively pro-gun-control. Not only does that run the risk that a good seat goes bad, it makes it easier for the Republicans to get away with just not being as bad as the other guy.
Year: 2012
Friday Humor
Compare and Contrast
Just to drive the point home, NRA holds a joint even with the Romney-Ryan Campaign to announce their endorsement just outside of DC in Virginia:
10,000 people show up. CSGV gets outraged and calls for protests outside of the White House, and you get this. And they wonder why no one pays any attention to them, or gives a crap about their cause?
UPDATE: Many more pictures from John Richardson.
Romney/Ryan NRA Endorsement
The announcement for a special event hosted by NRA came a few days ago, so I figured that could only mean one thing. From Chris Cox:
I’m proud to announce today that your NRA Political Victory Fund is endorsing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan for President and Vice President of the United States.
Romney’s statement on assault weapons from years ago while he was Governor of Massachusetts will continue to dog him with the gun vote, but with what’s on the line with the Courts, I expected NRA would endorse him anyway. In fact, in Chris Cox’s letter, the first reason listed is “Mitt Romney will appoint pro-Second Amendment judges to the Supreme Court.” With the endorsement, hopefully NRA will have some input into the selection process when it comes time to replace justices.
Zimmerman to Sue NBC
Is “The Truth About Guns” Killing Gun Blogging?
Folks are unhappy “The Truth About Guns” Robert Farago was given an award by Second Amendment Foundation, and it’s prompting a discussion about whether gun blogging has jumped the shark. I was not pleased to see Robert Farago win an SAF award, only to turn around and mistreat Emily Miller by asking personal questions about her carry habits off the record and publishing it, nor headlining her bathroom habits, which I complained loudly about on Twitter, and which The Truth About Guns did not seem to appreciate. It is quite unfortunate that they lambast the Main Stream Media, and engage in the same kind of unethical reporting we took to blogging to escape. But I’m not certain why this should have any bearing on gun blogging as a whole. I’m certainly going to continue to do what I do without much regard to what awards the TTAG folks are or aren’t getting, and if people like what I have to say, great. To quote Uncle, “Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.”
History of the Louisiana RKBA Ballot Measure
We Must Be Doing Something Right
New York State Senators are taking to the papers to complain that they can’t get any gun control passed because it keeps getting blocked by the “Gun Lobby.” Well, you know, maybe when you’re finding micro uzis in the Bronx that should be a pretty strong indication your gun control laws don’t work.
After Sleeping On It …
… I still think Romney owned that debate, and the Brady Campaign are still irrelevant.
Watching the Twitter Debate Meltdown
Under their new leadership, the Brady Campaign has basically conceded that they aren’t planning to be serious players in the public policy space when it comes to actually lobbying for change to gun laws. They put their entire faith of any relevancy whatsoever in public policy in relying on the media since they hired an advertising executive to take over the struggling group. He was put to the test in his focus on getting a gun control question asked at tonight’s presidential debate in Colorado.
First, let’s say outright that not a single question was asked about gun control. In a swing state that was the site of the last major press event for the Brady Campaign, they put everything they have into getting a question inserted into this debate by the mainstream press moderator. It didn’t pay off.
Second, the rather interesting thing was to watch the meltdown on Twitter via the direct tweets from Brady and their retweets. Let’s watch how it unfolded…
Can’t believe Lehrer is asking the same Q re: economy 5x but won’t ask about #guncontrol as they sit a stone’s throw from Aurora.
— Jennifer RiceEpstein (@jriceepstein) October 4, 2012
.enough talk now about economy- get to talk about preventing gun violence #debate2012#wearebetterthanthis
— Joan Peterson (@commongunsense) October 4, 2012
RT @bmalte32 Numbers, numbers. How about these: 48K Americans will die in next 4 yrs from guns unless our leaders act #wearebetterthanthis
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
@mittromney @barackobama #debate2012 #wabtt Shame on both of you! Not to discuss gun violence IN DENVER @uofdenver! #auroratheatershooting
— Sandy Phillips (@MamaRedfield) October 4, 2012
RT @mreifler Enuf of politics standing in the way of safety. Candidates r 10 mi from Aurora. What will they DO about lax gun laws? #wabtt
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
20 mins left in #debate2012. Candidates are in DENVER, a stone’s throw from Aurora & Columbine. #AskAboutGuns! #wearebetterthanthis
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
Shocked gun control isn’t an issue brought up based on the proximity of the debate thanks @bradybuzz for the reminder #debate2012
— Elissa Nauful (@elissan) October 4, 2012
Finally, the Brady Campaign staff must have been watching MSNBC after the debate. From what I’ve read tonight, the MSNBC talking point is that Obama’s failed performance was all the fault of Jim Lehrer. The Brady folks jumped on board with that blame game.
Jim Lehrer missed an opportunity to move our national conversation forward but we know the conversation has only just begun. #wabtt
— Brady Campaign (@bradybuzz) October 4, 2012
Clearly, their message is so relevant that not even a Chicago politician who has previously supported bans on handguns wants to touch their topic in a presidential campaign.
UPDATE: While they might have had a meltdown on Twitter, the Brady Campaign posted outright lies and fabrications on Facebook tonight. In fact, they made up their own alternate reality debate where gun control was the main focus of the debate.