Gun control got a snub from the Commander in Chief during the State of the Union. Not a mention, not a one. The best they mustered was a vague reference to Newtown. Not even Newtown, CT, just Everytown, Newtown. Shit, the President worked harder to win the hearts and minds of the French this year. The French! They got a speech and James Taylor song. What did the gun control crowd get? Even the left is recognizing it.
Pundits might be debating who’s really winning the gun control debate, but it’s apparent that even the true believers in the Obama White House believe it’s lost cause enough to not even be worth more than a vague dog whistle in the SOTU. That’s what they’ve been reduced to. That is what Bloomberg and his rich buddies are getting behind as a winning idea. Even the White House doesn’t believe it anymore.
Given Obama’s history of proposing and pushing legislation, as well as what he has signed or vetoed, it is clear that he is less Anti2A than Reagan was. He’s just not the bogey man he’s been painted to be.
There are other politicians who still clearly need to be dealt with *my own Feinstein is one that I keep fruitlessly voting against), but I don’t think Obama is one of them.
Well… Obama would happily sign a private sale ban, AWB, Mag ban and specifically demanded such.
The man *did* put a lot of energy into advocating for said laws. Now you can make the argument that it wasn’t a top-shelf priority, and you can make the argument that he didn’t manage to acomplish what he intended.
But just because he couldn’t deliver on the federal level doesn’t mean he didn’t *want* to.
Not only have the antis lost on the federal level but most of the state legislatures will slam the door on them as well. The executive is still an option but I think Obama feels wary on using the BATFE for anything too drastic.
The only effective strategy they can cobble together at this point are further eroding what’s left of the 2A in very blue states and introducing mob rule in others through billions in misleading campaigning for trojan horse-like referendums.
Bloomberg is like the gun-control Frankenstein, trying desperately to bring it back from the dead. He’s succeeding somewhat, but if he can be smacked back down in some key battles I think it will set the antis back for years to come.
Let’s not get cocky and allow hubris to destroy recent gains. (Open carry proponents, I’m looking at you: wonderful job in WA State–not!) As for gun control being a dead issue on the national level, need I remind you all of the words of that other mad Arab (not bin Laden): That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons even death may die?
So Obama tossed yet another group under the bus once their ability to divide-and-conquer had fallen (note too that there was no reference to the “rape factory” college crisis his administration created last year out of whole cloth).
This is not a good thing for gun rights.
– It means guns won’t be a topic of discussion now or in 2016. That is bad for us, because when guns become political cannon fodder we get the stuff we want from the GOP. And right now they are in place to give us the things we want. Obama could have made that a lot easier for us had he just called us all redneck sister-humpers again.
– Gun Control is still heavily funded by true believers. Soros and Bloomberg are not backing down. Instead of focusing on the federal side, they are more likely to keep using statewide initiatives to get the job done on their own using the methods they know work for them. Expect “background check” initiatives on the ballot in the next two years, and we are not in a good place to fend them off.
Gun Control may have slipped from Obama’s priority list, but it has not left his mind or that of those who work the issue every day. Obama corralled a lot of these guys post-Newtown but now the brakes are off. They lost a lot of momentum waiting on the Great One, but they have not stopped. They are arguably better without Obama.
Expect more issues like Washington State as a result.
We are good with Congress and bad fighting initiatives. We need to use one to blunt the other.