Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 882 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

Engaging Political Candidates from the Comfort of the Couch

Because there isn’t EXCEPTIONALLY MAJOR OMG-HIT THE PANIC BUTTON gun news hitting every single day in Pennsylvania, I will often post about general political engagement opportunities that are non-gunnie specific on PAGunRights.com. Obviously, most people are not single issue voters. But even when they are, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be engaged with politicians in the same way as other citizens. This last week, it just happened that three “filler” stories just happened to line up to create the perfect example of how gun owners can stand out with lawmakers from the comfort of their couches.

First, I posted the social media homes of all of the candidates. I follow all of them, and I suggest that anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on what the candidates are doing should do the same – at least until the primary election weeds it down to two candidates. (For example, Sen. Tony Williams was saying he could find a way to respect the Second Amendment while trying to get illegal guns off the street. That’s great except that his proposal involves making our carry permits worthless…) On Twitter, you can sometimes even get them to respond when you argue back or cheer them on.

Then, I found out that NUGUN managed to engage his local lawmaker on Castle Doctrine and get him on the record through an online townhall that he found out about via new media. Questions for the townhall were submitted in advance and via email during the event. How wonderfully convenient to do that before the big rally in Harrisburg this month! It now means that NUGUN doesn’t really need to spend much time in Rep. DePasquale’s office other than to introduce himself & thank him for his support. He can now spend more time on other things during the rally.

Finally, the Morning Call‘s John Micek announced a series of live lunchtime chats with all six gubernatorial candidates over the next couple of weeks. If you’ve got a computer and internet access near lunchtime on Monday, you can tune in to ask Rep. Sam Rohrer questions. On Wednesday, you can do the same for Attorney General Tom Corbett. If you decide to ask any gun- or hunting-related questions, let us know either in the comments or via Twitter @PAGunRights or @bitterb. Actually, even if you plan to tune in to ask non-gun questions, feel free to chime in through the comments. I’d be curious to find out if any readers are going to step up their political engagement on any issue with this opportunity.

(On a completely personal note, I probably will tune in, but I doubt I’ll ask anything. I’m pretty up-to-date on most of the issues because I follow this stuff so closely. For my personal preferences, I’ll probably vote for Rohrer in May as a protest vote, volunteer for Corbett between May and November, and cheer for Jack Wagner on the Democratic side in May. The latter is because he’s by far the least problematic for gun owners. He has given a squishy answer on a gun ban question before, but it was squishy enough that he could probably be convinced to change his mind and would not be likely to make it a priority if he managed to win. The other Democratic candidates were all solidly in the “end preemption” and basically tear down anything pro-gun about Pennsylvania category.)

NRA Insurrectionist Agenda Infecting Our Past!

I’m going to join with Dennis Henigan for a minute in denouncing dangerous and inflammatory political rhetoric. So says Dennis Henigan:

It is too easy for politicians and political commentators to treat our increasingly incendiary political atmosphere as a product merely of disparate extremist individuals and groups on the fringes of our political system. Treating the problem as the product of a relatively few misguided individuals with bizarre violent fantasies misses a far more troubling reality. What we are seeing is the acting out of an ideology of violence as a tool of political power that has long had a home on the American right â€“ particularly in the â€œgun rightsâ€ movement dominated by the National Rifle Association.

Bravo!Â Monsignor! Bravo! I heartily agree this ideology of violence, but have you ever looked at how far and deep the rot has run, Mr. Henigan? NRA’s inflammatory rhetoric isÂ everywhere. In fact, I have fairly good evidence that NRA rhetoric is not only inflaming our present political situation, but must, somehow, be making its way to the past. For instance, take a look at this dangerous insurrectionist, going by the name of George Washington:

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.

Clearly this man has been brainwashed into NRA’s “guns everywhere” mentality. But he’s not the only crazy wingnut preaching insurrectionist thinking from the past. Let’s look at a man who goes by the name of Thomas Jefferson:

“The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed.”

The horror. This Mr. Jefferson is full of seditious blather. Mr. Henigan is surely right about the right about this crazed militia nut. He even wrote a document that had the audacity to propose a framework by which it was even acceptable to wage violent war against one’s own government. Let me read a passage from it:

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience [has] shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce [the people] under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

This is crazy! How far off are we from blowing up federal buildings withÂ maddeningÂ drivel like this floating around!?!? Â Language like this only enables domestic terrorism. Let’s look at another dangerous militant known as John Adams:

“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.”

I think the Secret Service should consider paying this Mr. Adams a visit, before he gets any ideas. Same with his buddy John Hancock:

“. . .In defence of the freedom that is our birthright. . .we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the agressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.”

If this isn’t strong evidence of NRA’s message affecting even our past, I don’t know what is. Our nation never experienced any kind of armed revolutionary overtones before NRA started drilling their insurrectionist nonsense into the American Body Politic back in the 70s. I’m glad there are good Americans like Mr. Henigan out there exposing this dangerous undercurrent emerging in our political discourse, because clearly it is not just affecting our present, but our past as well.

Hat tip to Joe Huffman for the inspiration.

UPDATE: I’m told the first quote by George Washington was bogus. Thanks to Clayton Cramer for catching it. I have removed it.

Obama Gets Another Court Pick

Stevens has announced he’s retiring. He was appointed by Ford, and is 90 years old this April 20th. This is actually a pretty significant blow to the folks who voted against us in Heller, and likely in McDonald too. Stevens was widely regarded as the intellectual leader of the left-leaning side of the Court. It’s widely expected that Obama will get a third pick for the Court when Justice Ginsberg retires. The 2010 elections are only increasing in importance.

Obama will, of course, replace Stevens with a similar lefty, but it’ll be hard to replace his leadership on the Court.

Why Are MAIG Mayors so Violent?

From Jacob up in New York:

White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley is in big trouble overÂ domestic violence allegations against his wife. Â Now heâ€™s beenÂ rearrested on witness tampering charges after trying to persuade his wife to recant her accusations and say she is mentally ill and lied to police.

Stay classy, Bloomberg Mayors. Stay classy.

MAIG Mayor Defeated in Wisconsin

One of the MAIG Mayors who stood with Bloomberg against the Thune Amendment for National Concealed Carry has been defeated. Good news. We need more of this, especially here in Pennsylvania.

Don’t Play With it in Public

The Arizona Rifleman has a cautionary tale about what happens when you do.

Arizona Constitutional Carry Passes

Constitutional carry is now headed to the Governor in Arizona. The House just passed it 36-19 with 5 abstaining.

On “Caution” in Supporting Democrats

I’ve responded in general terms to critics who say I should be “cautious” supporting Pennsylvania Democrats who are pro-gun. But since there’s a pile on from red states that implies I’m only looking out for gun rights at the expense of other limited government issues by supporting Democrats, I’m going dive into specifics and ask that said critics respond with the best way to handle each of these races.

First, I do think it’s important to note that this criticism comes from red states. Why? Because Pennsylvania isn’t one. Now, on the other hand, it isn’t Massachusetts, either. In that state, if you can find a more moderate Democrat, it’s important to support them in most districts simply because only a Democrat can get to the negotiating table to beat back gun control in the first place. Realizing that Pennsylvania is far more politically diverse, we have a luxury at looking at political decisions by district. And that’s what any good political analysis will do – consider the realities of the district and the actual candidates on the ballot.

Senate District 22
This seat is an open race due to the retirement of A+ rated Sen. Bob Mellow.

The Candidates
Here are your choices of candidates: Joseph Corcoran (D), Charles Volpe (D), Jim Wansacz (D), John Blake (D), Chris Doherty (D), Christopher Phillips (D), Frank Scavo (R). We’re supporting Rep. Wansacz as our featured candidate because he is an A rated candidate. In fact, he’s actually become even more pro-gun since he was initially elected. Meanwhile, Volpe has never held elected office before, Corcoran is a former county commissioner for the major county in the district, Phillips is a school director for the district’s largest city, Blake is a former bureaucrat, and Doherty is mayor of the largest city in the District. None of these candidates have a background that would give them a rating or voting history. However, we do have video of Doherty going on the record to end preemption and limit how many guns we could buy, something that could only be effectively instituted by creating a formal registry of gun owners. On the GOP side, Scavo is a former school director in one of the smaller towns of the district. He did previously run for this seat in 2002 and received a grade of A-, a hair lower than one of the Democratic candidates running now.

The Voting History
As the local paper put it when the Senator’s retirement was announced, this seat was never competitive. They said, “the only speculation was whether the Republican Party would make it a contested race.” In other words, the local GOP doesn’t even make an effort for this seat. Looking at the electoral history, it makes sense. Wikipedia has information dating back to the 1960s when the seat was held by a Democrat from 1963-1968. It was then held by a Republican for less than two years (not a full Senate term, not even a full House term!) from January 1969 to November 1970. Since 1971, it has been held by the same Democrat.

The Summary of Facts
So here’s what we know: There’s a competitive Democratic primary that has one good guy and one bad guy with four unknowns. Gun owners have the opportunity to sway to primary so that the pro-gun guy can win. There is no primary on the GOP side, so no one needs to worry about him until after the May primary. The last time the GOP put up a candidate, it was the same guy and he pulled in a whopping 31% of the vote – beat by more than two to one.

The Risks
If gun owners are crazy and flippant about politics like me, they have the chance to get involved in the Democratic primary and set it up so that they have a choice between candidates rated A and A-. If they are cautious and sit out of the game because it’s the evil Democratic primary, they are likely looking at a choice in the fall of F and A- with a strong likelihood that the F will win. And, like that, they will have just flipped an A+ seat into F overnight.

The Questions
So, critics, do you still encourage caution in this race? If you would sit out as a gun owner, why? What about the electoral makeup of this district or quality of the candidates would bring you to a different conclusion?

I have more examples below the fold that I would like our critics to analyze as well. Just indulge me in the game of politics. If you’re a critic of getting into bed with Democrats, I think it’s important to see a few different examples of when I would encourage people to get involved and when I think they should sit it out.
Continue reading “On “Caution” in Supporting Democrats”

Corbett Way Ahead

Capitol Ideas is reporting that Corbett’s lead over Roher in the GOP primary is now 58-7. Rohrer can’t really come back from that, so it’s hard to see at this point how he stays in the race in all but name. It’s a shame too, because I like Sam Rohrer, but I wish he had stayed in the PA House, or moved up to the PA Senate. As I mentioned when he announced his candidacy, there’s very little precedent in Pennsylvania politics for a state representative moving up to the big chair. I hope this won’t be the end of Sam’s political career, because we need more liberty minded constitutionalists in politics, not fewer.

Tony Williams Ad Featuring Gun Control

It’s not too surprising, being a State Senator in a Philadelphia district, that Tony Williams favors gun control. A shame too, because I think he’s one of the better Dems in the race for Governor in the Democratic primary. He’s airing ads that push the issue:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJDNTykCsT0[/youtube]

These ads certainly aren’t going to hurt him in most of the communities in Philadelphia, and that’s where he can probably expect to draw the most votes from in the primary. But it’s been surprising that all the Democrat candidates have been willing to run on this issue when it’s not really been at the forefront, and is generally understood to hurt Democrats in statewide races. So why do all the Democratic candidates, save Jack Wagner, who is at least sidestepping on the issue of guns, feel they can not only endorse mild gun control measures, but even go so far as to attack preemption, which is a bedrock issue for us?

I’ll call it the Ed Rendell effect. I think our Governor has convinced Dems that the NRA can’t touch them. After all, he was NRA’s public enemy number one, and he beat us both times. He’s even gone on record saying as much. But Ed won the first time by running from his record on the issue, up against a weak and uninspiring GOP candidate in the form of Mike Fisher. He won the second time because the GOP got behind the disastrous candidacy of Lynn Swann. Ed beat the GOP both times. Not a difficult feat in Pennsylvania, when the GOP doesn’t have their game on, which is much of the time. If Ed’s convinced Democrats being in favor of gun control doesn’t matter in this state, they are going to be in for a harsh lesson come November, and for as long as the GOP has a bench that looks halfway decent.