Quote of the Day: On Politicians

From John Richardson:

The one thing to bear in mind right now is that no politician is your friend. It doesn’t matter the party nor their past support for gun rights. They will throw gun rights and gun rights supporters under the bus if they think it could impact their chances of reelection. One merely need look at Florida where many supposed gun rights supporting legislators threw gun rights under the bus in their haste to pass SB 7026.

Great lesson in politics there. If you’re Marion Hammer, what do you do now? The problem is that the other side is crazy. Many Florida Dems actually voted against the Florida gun control package (3 day wait for all guns, GVROs, 18-21 ban on purchase for all guns, meaningless Armed teacher program concession) because the Republicans would go along with outright bans. The Republicans are going to be happy to say, “Your favor was the no on bans after a mass shooting at a school, but we’re going to do something.”

Here’s the problem: once you start losing, it’s hard to stop losing.

“Take no prisoners! Primary them all!” the hardliner would say.

Say you give every one of those A-rated Republicans who voted for this shit (and there were a lot of them) and changed their grades to an F and backed every primary challenger you can find. That might feel good, but do you think it’s likely that politician is going to try to get back in your good graces, or just write you off? Sure, you can back a primary challenger, but in most cases, that challenger is likely to lose. There’s a lot to be said for the phrase, “If you take a shot at the King, you had better not miss.” If you’re not smart about it, you’re just going to piss away all your influence with these people. The purist solution to this problem is just to take your ball and go home. Well, you can do that, and it might feel good. It might also be a lot less work. But that pretty much means everyone elected to office will ignore your interests entirely.

If I were Marion Hammer, I’m not going to forget that vote. I’ll look for targets of opportunity if someone looks vulnerable, and I think I might have a shot. But I’m going to be most concerned about preserving my influence and not losing even more. While I would argue priority number one going forward is ending that waiting period and repealing the 18-20 prohibition on sale, neither is a culture killer. The waiting period is a hassle, and the universe of 18-20 year olds buying guns is pretty small. The ban on 18-20 year olds from purchase is a culture frustrater, but not a killer. Gun bans are culture killers, and at least so far, Florida Republicans have held the line there. In any sell-out like this, there are going to be leaders and followers, and it’s some leader scalps I’m going to want if I’m the lobbyist, but I’m not going to aim recklessly or indiscriminately. I’ll choose my time and opportunity. But taking the occasional scalp is how you build political power, and the lesson isn’t so much for the scalpee — he or she is irrelevant once they are sent packing — it’s the implicit threat to his or her replacement that you can do the same to them, and also to every one of the previous worm’s followers.

Here’s another truth of politics: whether you like it or not, when the political opposition is entirely opposed to your interests, your political allies will start to believe they don’t have to be perfect on the issue, they just have to be a more palpable alternative to the opposition. There’s no getting around this. You can take your ball and go home, but then neither side will care a whit what you think. Influence isn’t a binary proposition. Think of it more as a garden. Marion Hammer now has a weed problem, and it’s threatening the crops. The hard-line approach, such as advocated by GOA, is just to take a flamethrower to the garden. Some weeds are a bigger problem than others. Weed selectively. We can live with some of them and still have a good harvest.

The key right now in Florida is going to be organizing. Marion Hammer has power because ordinary, every day gun owners give it to her. Without organizing at the grassroots level, we are nothing. We have to build. Bloomberg can outspend us all day long, and money can buy awfully impressive astroturf, which we laugh at, but it’s no joke. Look what it just did in Florida.

21 thoughts on “Quote of the Day: On Politicians”

    1. Purchase. Florida, to sum it up, put Rifles and Shotguns under regulations and stipulations that Handguns were put under with the 1968 Gun Control Act.

      This victory in Florida for the Gun-Banners is equivalent to the victory they scored in February of 1968 in California; that Bastardly, Mulford Act. The Mulford Act was passed by a Democrat controlled State House of Representatives, Republican Controlled State Senate, and signed into law in California by a Republican Governor named, Ronald Reagan.

      1. Not quite; I think the FL bill bans private party purchases by 18-20 year olds too. That makes it worse than the 1968 handgun ban.

        So, from now on, FL young adults will be only able to own ANY gun if they get one as a “gift.”

        That’s horrifically bad.

        1. I guess that makes it even worse than the 1968 California Mulford Act too. Also, take a look below on my big post. I’ve been researching what Gwen Graham and the Florida Democrat Party wants to do should they gain power in Florida in 2018.

      2. Regan was a democrat at the time and was heavily involved getting the bill passed.

    2. I think the 18-21 year old ban is a bigger deal than our host with regard to killing the culture.

      http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/

      On average, male gun owners buy their first gun at age 19. Most gun owners are men. That means there are a ton of gun owners who get their first gun right after graduating high school and moving out. It preserves continuity from growing up in a gun owning household to owning one’s own gun, which may be a gift.

      If that continuity is broken then there’s a chance for the young adult from a gun-owning home to just never get around to buying that first gun. And then the culture fades generationally.

      Florida prohibited all purchases to include private sales:
      “A person younger than 21 years of age may not purchase a firearm… A person who violates this subsection commits a felony of the third degree.”

      It is unclear to me whether a bona fide gift would be prohibited as “purchase” is undefined, but such a gift seems to be the only way that Florida 19 year old could acquire a gun of any kind now… unless they build a Ghost Gun of course. But if a friend or family member buys a gun with the express intent of transferring it to a 19 year old adult relative to circumvent Florida’s new law has that become a straw purchase?

      1. On average, male gun owners buy their first gun at age 19.

        I didn’t realize that. Hopefully we can get that invalidated by the courts.

        1. Funny that’s when I bought my first one.

          I hope the courts do their jobs.

          1. I’m sure that Michael Bloomberg will slip a few $Cheques under the table to buy off judges to uphold gun-bans.

      2. I had assumed that this culture-killing aspect was the whole point of the new gun control wrinkle. Nice to see the demographics confirm it. Thanks for the post.

        1. It’s all part of the Radical-Left’s “Culture Wars”. It’s the best way to subvert the entire Constitution and Bill of Rights.

        2. Also regarding Demographics, mass migration from 3rd World S***H***S (both legal and illegal migration) into America, brining in different cultures, and, furthering tribal identity politics, as well as societal balkanization is what will kill the gun culture in the end.

          Look at California and Illinois.

      3. What scares me for Florida right now is this question: What happens to the 18-20 year olds in Florida, whom before the passage of raising firearms purchases to 21, are currently in possession of firearms right now?

        Looking at the Demographics, about 30% of current Florida gunowners are between 18-20. Do those people need to surrender their furearms? If a cop now pulls over a 19 year old gunowner on his or her trip to the range, in possession of a firearm purchased before this law, what happens to him or her?

        This confusion may in fact, scare the current 18-20 year old gunowners in Florida to turn over their guns, and if that’s gonna happen, Florida’s gun culture is already lost.

        However, in the most immediate case, we have to hope that Rifles and Shotguns are treated like Handguns in Florida, where possession of them isn’t banned for 18-20 year olds, but just purchasing from FFL’s. Parents and grandparents can gift and will handguns to their 18 year old and over children/grandchildren.

  1. At a minimum, Florida by itself is in Jeopardy for the 2018 Elections, 2nd Amendment and all. I know some of the good people here at PAGunBlog have felt that I’m being hysterical in some cases, but looking at how psychotic the political Left is in this Country, I’m a young man in his mid 20’s who’s very afraid for the Status of America, on all political issues going forward into the future.

    1). Florida gunowners: You guys need to lead the charge in torpedoing Rick Scott’s political career for the 2018 Florida Senate Election, by ensuring that he loses the Primary Election. If he becomes the GOP Nominee for the 2018 US Senate Seat of Florida, he will cause negative coattails, down-ballot. That’s what this Gun Control Bill is gonna do to him. Not only will Bill Nelson get reelected, Gwen Graham will be elected Governor, the Florida State Senate will flip to the Democrats, and the GOP Majority in the Florida State House of Representatives will be cut down into single digits. Florida will turn “California-Blue” in 2019, and will remain that way for 40 years, easily.

    2). I’ve been researching what Gwen Graham wants to do pertaining to the Gun Culture in Florida. In short, she will wipe it off the map.

    a). Gwen Graham wants an “Assault Weapons and High Capacity Magazines” Ban that will ban 2/3rds of the Guns in Florida; possesion of them, and all. She and other Florida Democrats want to outright ban all semiautomatic firearms that can accept a detachable magazine, and like I said, the possession of them and all.

    b). She wants to copy the “New Jersey Model” for Concealed Carry in Florida. That means turning the Carry Permit system into a “May Issue” system, and removing the jurisdiction of the issuance of Concealed Carry Permits from Local PD’s and County Sheriffs Departments, and put it in the hands of the Florida State Police, who she will stuff the Bureaucracy of it with Anti-gun ideologues. Say goodbye to Concealed Carry in Florida, in one fell-swoop.

    c). Gwen Graham and Florida Democrats are already screaming about turning the new “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” law into an expanded “Anonymous Tipline Law”, similar to a Bill that is working it’s way through the Illinois Legislature. This means that, instead of just family members petitioning the Police and Courts to confiscate your guns, anyone and everyone will be able to call you in to the Police and Courts (J’accuse!). Gunowners will also not be allowed to face their accusers, so along side the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments, the 6th Amendment that guarantees a speedy trial before a jury of one’s own peers, is out the door.

    Democrat candidates for 2018 in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, and Washington State are, alongside Gwen Graham and other Democrats in Florida, considering instituting the “New Jersey Model” for Concealed Carry, and banning open-carry, outright.

    If 2018 is a Blue-Wave Election Year, at a minimum,……ALL Semiautomatic Firearms will be banned, and the Right-To-Carry movement will be banned and wiped off the map in America, in one…..fell…..swoop….It’s not “hysteria” I’m talking about, it’s the truth. Remember, gunowners in Florida thought “it could never happen here”…….well it did, under a Republican Trifecta Government……and it’s on track to get worse unless we always remain active and vigilant.

    1. “Democrat candidates for 2018 in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont … (are) considering instituting the “New Jersey Model” for Concealed Carry, and banning open-carry, outright.”

      You keep mentioning ME, NH, and VT.

      These states are very unlikely to go along with this agenda, even though local Democrats may be “considering” it.

      (we have other gun control issues to deal with but the one’s you mention are total non-starters in Northern New England — the entire region has Constitutional Carry)

  2. I think the most dangerous thing we are seeing is that the anti-gun forces now have a tactical blueprint for how to destroy the gun culture in a state. It’s working quite effectively for them in Blue States. The average gun control supporter isn’t all that knowledgable on the issue, but Bloomberg, et al definitely know what they’re doing.

    And let’s face it, once the Dems can get an assault weapon ban passed in a state, it is effectively dead to our side, culturally and legislatively. It cannot be resuscitated. I wish I were wrong, but evidence says I’m not :(

    1. Describe their “tactical blueprint”. We all know that it involves dumping boatloads of $$Cash into 24/7 Anti-Gun Media Cycle Propaganda.Everytown is spending more $$Cash on their gun ban campaigns now than ever before, and will up the ante even more for the full swing of the 2018 Midterm Election Campaigns.

      I agree with you that they have a tactical blueprint now, as we should’ve expected wholeheartedly instead of becoming apathetic after the 2014 and 2016 Elections, that Bloomberg and other Antigun figureheads would regroup behind Closed Doors to learn from their defeats, and reorganize to become effective and destroy us.

      1. “Describe their ‘tactical blueprint’ ”

        Let Trump be Trump, and play lots of clips from NRATV, particularly of Lana Douche. :-)

      2. The Blueprint:
        – Ram whatever will stick through using an “emergency” to justify circumventing the normal hearing process.
        – Ensure the language is so broad that any reasonable court would throw it at as “void for vagueness” (but they won’t, Because Guns).
        – Slap on life-destroying felony penalties.
        – Allow the deep blue localities and bureaucrats to selectively enforce the incredibly vague law and exert a chilling effect over what was previously normal and accepted conduct.

        To the broader points here… We are in a boat load of hurt because the Democrats have purged any Blue Dogs from their party. That means the GOP can shit on is with few consequences. What will we do, run to Kamala Harris? This is why Bloomberg was pouring $$$ into Democratic primaries over the past few years.

        Also I’d like to point out that Marion Hammer has been fine with the supermajority GOP legislature canning good pro-2A legislation for years in FL. Every year or so issues like campus carry, open carry, etc get shelved in committee when a few Republicans defect. Hammer has not been able to do jack about it and doesn’t even publicly berate the 1-2 politicians who kill the bill (even though they’re easy targets). The FL GOP leadership isn’t pro gun and Marion has lacked the influence to make anything happen for years. Much like Wayne its probably time for a new race horse. The weeds have been growing for years.

        1. “The Florida GOP Leadership isn’t pro-gun”.

          I know……the Bush-Mafia is still pulling the strings of the GOP in that State.

    2. I see what you are saying. Destroy the gun culture in a State with a predominantly urban voter base. Then, Congressmen from that State will never pass National Reciprocity.

      I think that legislatures have a prominent propensity to pass laws to REPRESS rights whereas judges have at least SOME propensity to rationalize the logic to ENFORCE rights. This explains the strong support for: 1A; 4A; 5A.

      What I think we ought to be working on is litigation with a potential for establishing Circuit court precedents that SCOTUS will feel compelled to uphold. (Trump needs another 1 or 2 SCOTUS appointments.)

      Wrenn vs. DC is the precedent to push in SCOTUS; i.e., that the “average” citizen has a right to carry; and, government has no power to deny a CCW. SCOTUS will – I predict – uphold this precedent because it forbids States from their practice of Won’t-Issue. Under Wrenn the States will still be able to charge fees, require training or testing; yet, any citizen can apply and SHALL be issued a permit. THAT will be ENOUGH to build a community of gun-carriers in the urban precincts. If 10% have permits then 50% will know someone who has a CCW; and, that will be enough to inform urban voters that guns CAN be owned by civilians SAFELY; even carried in public.

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