Sebastian is musing about if HR 822 gets to President Obama’s desk.
Sebastian thinks the President will veto so he doesn’t upset his core voters.
I might disagree. The big proponents of gun control are inner city minorities who confuse gang violence with legal gun ownership, and the Wealthy White Liberal Ivory Tower types who support gun control because they’re pointy-headed idealists 100% divorced from reality.
The people who actually actively support gun control is a VERY small number, and it would appear that while in the 90s the anti-gun movement was so powerful that the Brady Campaign chose a Republican Paul Helmke to helm their operation to help garner bi-partisan support for a movement born from the far left…support these days is again from the far-left.
These people may chose to hate President Obama, but will it be enugh to get them to vote for a Republican candidate? Living in Massachusetts, and being born in Southern Maine I know a LOT of these ultra-liberals. The answer is “No”, “Democrat” is their team, and they will not question the party.
Also of the more moderate base, how many of those people really care about gun laws? Sure they might answer a survey saying we should ban “cop killer bullets” or handguns, or “assault Weapons” or ban various forms of carry, but would Obama signing national reciprocity into law really get their butts off the couch? Especially with Obama’s record on Gays, Food stamps, unemployment benefits, and Healthcare? I don’t think they’d notice.
Now here’s where things get scary. Right now the GOP front-runners by a wide margin are Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain. Now Cain is the dude I like the most of that Rag-Tag crew, but he’s not a politician, so he has no record on guns, and frankly many of his talking points are whishy-washy. Gingrich was last in power with the Antis were kicking our ass. Also my #1 reason for disliking him is I see him as a symbol of the old-guard Republicans, The big-government anti-rights daddy-state types. I’m sure his fingerprints are on all sorts of gun control laws, and that can be spun either way. Romney is solidly ANTI-Gun, and has a solid record making life for gun owners in Massachusetts worse.
So here’s a hypothetical: President Obama signs a law that means your carry permit in your home state is valid in every state that honors a carry permit, and he’s running for a Second term against one of these Second Amendment lightweights, or an honest-to-God Gun Banner (Romney). Also add in the Obama’s signature is on the bills allowing checked guns on Amtrack, and guns in national parks.
Now its likely that Fast and Furious was a government plot to push a national gun ban…but can we prove it? Also Can we Prove that President Obama had knowledge of both the program AND its intent?
So given all of those factors, who does the NRA endorse for the 2012 Presidential election?
Of course Sebastian may be right and HR 822 may be vetoed by the President which will certainly eliminate all curve balls….but I dunno, a scary game could be played here.
If the NRA endorses the weak or anti-gun Republican over a Democrat President with a strong pro-gun political record, they could be called out like GOA is these days, as a Republican shill false Flag, if they support President Obama they’ll look confused because they have spent so much time and effort talking out against him.
If they sit it out, they’re on the bench and they lose a lot of political relevance….
What do you think?