Weer'd Beard takes a look at the current big picture on the 2nd Amendment front in politics, and offers his opinions on some of the current GOP candidates.
Of course, when you're deeply involved in an issue, sometimes it's easy to forget that most people don't care about it as much as you do.
The problem with the vast majority of politicians, both Dems and GOP, on 2A issues is that these issues are simply not really on their radar. For every Bloomberg who has made gun politics a core issue of their political persona, there are hundreds for whom it ranks in attention and importance somewhere between school lunches and workplace smoking policies.
The current front-runners in the GOP race are exemplars of this: They are neither specifically pro-gun nor anti-gun, but rather they are mostly pro-reelection and pro-political-party-power. (I don't get too ecstatic to find out that a politician has a toter's permit; I mean, so does Diane Feinstein.) And there's not anything specifically wrong with that from a political standpoint; if you have an agenda, you need to get elected and have party backing to implement it. I'm just not sure how much of anything that's really important to me shows up on these people's agendas.
Generally, they’re probably vaguely in favor of hunters shooting ducks and granny being able to keep a .38 in her purse if she takes a training class and dope dealers shouldn’t have machine guns and that’s probably the extent of the thought they’ve put into guns and gun rights.
Other than that, they’ll vote or veto or sign whatever their handlers and consultants tell them will poll well.
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24 comments:
All the more reason to focus on the culture as much as the politics.
The courts will not go where the culture has not. Prof. Instapundit
Other than that, they’ll vote or veto or sign whatever their handlers and consultants tell them will poll well.
We were talking about this at the blogmeet. The biggest impediment to good government these days is the Congressional staff. Congressmen have too many staffers who, collectively, have too much time on their hands. Cut them down to one personal aide and somebody to answer the phone, and magically the 3,000 page bills that nobody reads (or that have to be passed before we can find out what is in them) go away and the 'critters have to concentrate on more immediate concerns.
Oh, and kill all the lobbyists while we're at it.
(I don't get too ecstatic to find out that a politician has a toter's permit; I mean, so does Diane Feinstein.)
True, tho I feel like pointing out Austin is (clap, clap, clap!) Deep in the Heart of Texas, which is heavily shall issue territory, while SanFran in definitely NOT.
they’ll vote or veto or sign whatever their handlers and consultants tell them will poll well.
Ok, I'll grant you that one; Perry did that twice, and has come out admitting he was wrong in trusting his advisors, when it turns out they were on the payroll of the companies that would benefit from the state contracts. Altho wasn't it Bubba Clinton who reminded us, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me"? I'm afraid it might apply here.
You are right Tam, the gun issue just isn't the hot item right now. Anyone running with guns as the main issue on their platform would be missing the boat (and not be being elected). The electorate is much more concerned with the economy (as it should be).
Unfortuneatly, I think that it's going to end up being Obama for another 4 years (or Mit, which is practically the same thing. Seriously, has anyone seen Mit and Obama in the same room?). I doesn't look to me like the electorate has had enough of an economic fright to keep them from voting for whoever will give them the most free shit.
s
The price of being a little odd, a little different (or being a wookie-suited extremist who does things like travel long distances on your own dime to be trained in gunfighting, or to attend a political conference that, let's face it, amounts to a couple of very long days away from your family sitting at a table taking notes, with hourly breaks to stand in line to pee) is that politicians just don't spend a lot of time really thinking about you or talking to you. I pay it gladly, and if I could figure out a way to be just as neglected by various regulatory agencies, I'd be OK with that too.
On the other hand, the price of building a political organization that can deliver votes is that you WILL get attention from politicians and they WILL care what you want . . . . and then you've got to figure out whether you can live with them once you get them elected.
True enough on the permit thing, though I think it's at least worth noting that the TX governor has actually deployed his tote to ward off eeevil (coyotes are eeevil). Perry's pretty pro-gun. He did say that he's in favor of guns everywhere:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Perry-Allow-concealed-handguns-everywhere-1844443.php
I doubt it will happen, but it would be fun to watch him go if a better boomstick question made it into a debate.
tweaker
Does anybody know where Herman Cain stands?
Dennis the librarian shusher
I say we ask Gov. Perry whether he prefers Glock or a 1911...
"Does anybody know where Herman Cain stands?"
I think SayUncle had some posts back in June.
Not sure of present but he gave some answers early on that displayed a dismaying ignorance of what 2A really means. I was hopeful for Cain prior to that but have pretty much written him off.
'Course he could be an exemplar of Tam's thesis.
"I say we ask Gov. Perry whether he prefers Glock or a 1911..."
I'd druther ask ALL of them for their take on Gunwalker.
For his jogs around Austin, Gov. Perry carries a Ruger LCP. At least that's what he shot the coyote with a few months ago. As for the candidate field on gun control in general, I think the key characteristic is where do they come from? Tell me their home state where they cut their political teeth and I'll pretty much be able to nail their constituency appeal on the gun issue.
Ed I think your more or less spot on.
Fer instance, my Dem Senator Mark Begich (AK) is doing pretty well on gun rights so far, as he said he would be.
In that respect it is state gun culture that is important to swing as politicians will tend to default to what they were surrounded with.
WV: enrout - in the process of pulling a Rugen
Ed,
"For his jogs around Austin, Gov. Perry carries a Ruger LCP."
But not openly, and it damned sure wasn't "printing". Rick helped shoot down that fix to y'all's law, although now he says he was for it before he was against it.
"Oh, he's from Texas! He MUST be pro-gun!"
Texas's gun laws are closer to California's than they are to Indiana's. Hell, Tennessee specifically wrote their revamped CCW law in the late '90s so that it wouldn't be as eff'ed up as Texas's...
Texas gun laws close to California, I don’t know about that. Being and Old Texan, we have cleaned up a lot of stuff, you still cannot carry your pistol in the open but you can stick a loaded gun, long or pistol in you car within reach as long as you are not a felon. You can now shot folks that endanger your home with the Castle Doctrine that is a few years old and now employers cannot screw with your gun in a company parking lot.
Beyond that, most law officers down here expect intelligent people to have loaded guns around and the ones I have spoken to just say make sure it is loaded, that you know how to make it work and buy a good enough gun to go bang when you want it to.
Open carry might be a nice thing but that we don’t have right now and except for that I think we are in good shape. By the way, our old governor Ann Richards vetoed concealed carry several times while she was in office and Gov. W signed it the first time it was presented to him.
Based on what I know I am not worried about Perry on gun issues since he is a small town, Texas Aggie good old boy.
OldTexan,
"You can now shot folks that endanger your home with the Castle Doctrine that is a few years old and now employers cannot screw with your gun in a company parking lot."
Most states have that, so welcome to the party. ;)
Do you have mandatory training for CCW in TX? We don't in IN.
Do you have $100 lifetime CCW permits in TX? We don't in IN.
Do you have strange restirctions about what gun you can carry based on your "qualification" test in TX? We don't in IN.
Do you prevent people from carrying in bars in TX? We don't in IN.
And mind you, IN is not some gun owner's paradise; our CCW laws are pretty average on the whole. They're certainly better than most, but it's no AK or WY or VT.
But Texas is about like Ohio. I'm dreading going down there next week; I haven't had to worry about "printing" in years...
(Er, sorry, we DO have $100 lifetime CCW permits in IN. Mine, which came on a pink sheet of paper that I had to cut out and laminate myself, cost $100 and has a big blank space where the expiration date should be...)
Thank for the info and we have some work to do. I did appreciate the CCW course I had to take and I don't much care about having to renew it again next year.
As for printing when you come down here, I have never know of anyone having a problem and hope the same thing works for you.
If you are in the Dallas area, I will buy you some of the best Barbeque you have ever eaten and tell you how much I have enjoyed your writing for a number of years, even before you moved up North.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your time down here and don't worry about bringing rain gear since we don't seem to have much rain anymore.
Sigh... with all the Grammas in this state (Nebraska) we're just lucky to have CCW at all.
Back on point, I honestly believe that should a candidate begin to make some serious noise about reducing the size and scope of the federal government, they would jump to the front of the pack, RIGHT NOW!
Never ever forget Mitt Romney's position on guns:
... July 8, 2004:
Romney signs off on permanent assault weapons ban
Governor Mitt Romney has signed into law a permanent assault weapons ban that he says will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on these guns.
"Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts," Romney said, at a bill signing ceremony on July 1 with legislators, sportsmen's groups and gun safety advocates. "These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people."
... and from the 2007 Republican Debate in South Carolina May 15, 2007:
Q: As governor you signed into law one of the toughest restrictions on assault weapons in the country.
A: Let’s get the record straight. First of all, there’s no question that I support 2nd Amendment rights, but I also support an assault weapon ban. Look, I’ve been governor in a pretty tough state. You’ve heard of blue states. In the toughest of blue states, I made the toughest decisions and did what was right for America. I have conservative values.
Ummm ... yeah. Right.
Em-boldening by me for emphasis.
BoxStockRacer
I smoothly divide all people into one of two categories: Team Liberty or Team Tyranny.
Red, blue ... doesn't matter.
I think the political class has become so far divorced from the general public as to represent a whole new society. They live much like some strange tribe in Borneo must live, thinking they are the only ones that matter in the entire universe.
Every now and then we get to see someone from the mensch class get elected into power and then watch in horror as they slowly are transformed into the same enemy we have always had.
What's a revolutionary to do until the revolution? I suggest board games.
Good post, and a bunch of outstanding comments, by the time I got here, just about EVERY comment I had was already said by others...
We used to never have to even worry about gun laws down here in Texas back in the 60's and 70's and even the early 80's.
But then all the damned yankees who couldn't find a job in their own home states started invading us, along with Californians and they started trying to make us just like the ratholes they were fleeing.
If you're dreading coming down here, then stay the hell out.
I've only had two damned jobs in my entire life where I had no say in where I went. One was when I wore a uniform in the military, and the other was when I wore a badge with an eagle on it.
Other than those two jobs, I never had one in which I could say where I went.
And as far as printing? Do a little homework. The law her says "concealed," not "invisible."
I see people "printing" all the time and so do the cops. Can't recall one person being arrested or ticketed for it.
--AOA
AOA,
"If you're dreading coming down here, then stay the hell out."
No, I believe I'll be visiting my friends anyway. You see, I know lots of Texans with more manners than a goat.
I'll just keep my eye out for those silly "30.06" signs y'all have, and try and remember to leave my heater in the car when I see "51%" notices. Oh, and "inform the officer" if I get pulled over.
AOA,
The law does not say invisible, and I'm sure you have memory of each and every police contact that never occurred because the Peace Officer decided to let the printer print.
It doesn't change the fact that, because of the way the law is written (and Tam, I did not know Perry helped shoot down the fix for this) a person who's totin can get nailed for Failure to Conceal and risk losing his license for 5 years because of it.
Like it or not, Tam's right. As sad and sickening as it sounds, TX tote laws are closer to CA than IN. Now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to vomit.
tweaker
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