Author: Sebastian

The Brady’s are touting their latest victory over the big bad National Rifle Association because she was confirmed 68-31.  Even the Washington Post is saying not so fast.  NRA has been pushing pretty hard, and exploring the edge of the envelope.  Defeating a Presidents nominee is extraordinarily difficult, and this result should not be surprising.  But you will see many in the media attempt to play up NRA’s weakness here, and try to make the case for the gun control movement.

You had nine Republican Senators defect and vote for her.  The nine were Vionovich (OH), Graham (SC), Alexander (TN), Gregg (NH), Bond (MO), Snowe (ME), Collins (ME), Lugar (IN), and Martinez (FL).

Here’s the situation as I see it.  Previously we had a choice between lousy not lousy when it came to gun rights.  The Democrats were lousy, and the Republicans were just enough not lousy to keep us voting for them.  After suffering defeat after defeat, and at risk of becoming a regional party, the Democrats decided to run pro-gun candidates in conservative districts in order to rebuild their majority.  The gambit worked!  Now Republicans have to be very concerned that Democrats are threatning the loyalty of what has been a very significant voting bloc for them.  NRA has 4 million members, and some 13 million, I believe, who have been members and are sympathetic.  Additionally, I think I recall there being 33 million people who think they are members of the NRA.  That’s nothing to sneeze at in politics.

So what we have before us in an opportunity to whip the Republicans a bit, and let them show us that they can out pro-gun the Democrats.  I think the Thune amendment was part of that.  I also think the Sotomayor vote is too.  Nine defections certainly sucks, but 31 Republicans still voted against her confirmation.  That’s 31 Republicans who just showed us they can out pro-gun the Democrats.  Despite the loss, this puts us in a very good position.  A lot of those pro-gun Dems will know they need to work to make it up to us for their vote on Sotomayor.  Guys like Tester, Webb, Pryor, Begich, and the other pro-gun Dems know they are not going to win re-election or easily win re-election without NRA support.  In essence, we may be in a position now where the pro-gun elements of each party, which are a majority of both houses of Congress, try to out do the other.  It’s far from the reality the Brady’s are touting, and far from what you’ll see in media outlets.  I honestly don’t think NRA’s power has ever been stronger, and we’re very very lucky that’s the case.

Plans for the North American Leaders summit:

Mexico also wants more gun control in the U.S., particularly when it comes to assault weapons.

“I would like to see the assault weapons ban reinstated – it’s not philosophical, it’s because of what we have seen on the ground…There is a direct correlation between the assault ban and expiring in 2004 and the numbers – simply the sheer numbers – of assault weapons that we seize in Mexico…We are both cognizant of what can and cannot be done right now – we will softly, diplomatically…continue to say that this is an important issue for us but I think the real perspectives of this moving on Capitol Hill these days are slim to say the least,” the official said.

““The Mexican government is not about challenging the Second Amendment.  That’s a sovereign decision of the United States.  It’s a sovereign decision of the U.S. Congress.  That’s up to you guys. But the Second Amendment wasn’t adopted by the Founding Fathers to allow transnational organized crime to illicitly buy weapons in the Unites States and be illicitly cross them over international borders into countries where those calibers and types of weapons are prohibited,” the official said.

So they expect me to believe that because in 1994 we banned flash hiders and bayonet lugs, that Mexican drug cartels just couldn’t abide by dealing with post-ban features, and went without.  You know, if the people pushing these issues weren’t so dishonest, our jobs would be a lot harder.  Trust me, the last thing Mexican officials want is for us to actually listen to them.  As long as they can blame the United States for their inability to control their own border, and control their own crime and corruption, they don’t need to answer for their own failing.  They blame our gun laws for the same reason New Jersey and New York blame the gun laws in the rest of the country; to pass the buck.  The alternative is admitting to your own people that your policies are a failure, and no politician will ever do that.