It starts with gun owners. Fearing that their old Smith and Wesson revolver just won’t do the job anymore, trigger-happy citizens across the country are stocking up on their beloved weapons because the big, bad Democratic Party is going to stop letting people buy them.
“I think they’re going to really try to crack down on guns and make it harder for people to try to purchase them,” said [Rachel] Smith, 32, who taught all five of her children — ages 4 to 10 — to shoot because the family relies on game for food.
I am always very concerned when people seem to know things about my party that I don’t. I missed, for example, the line in the DNC’s 2008 platform that mentioned a ban on hunting weapons.
The truth is that the Obama administration and Congress will not touch gun laws, and gun owners really no reason to fear any changes at all in national gun policy. For one thing, the Supreme Court exercised a decidedly activist approach and ruled that the Second Amendment guaranteed individuals the right to private firearms. Therefore, anything short of a repeal of the Second Amendment would not represent a wholesale ban on guns.
Another reason that gun rights advocates need not worry is that the incoming administration probably does not want to commit political suicide. People want government to help fix the economy, not alter gun regulations. What’s more, the last time Democrats approached the issue, it backfired bigtime as the NRA mobilized in response to the passage of the Brady Bill in 1993 and the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994. A negative response to gun control was one of the reasons that Democrats fared so poorly in the 1994 midterm elections.
–Dan Rozenson
The NRA likes to whip up fears like this because it boosts sales. But hey,why not. It’s economic stimulus!
While I definitely agree with your comment that it would be akin to committing political suicide (when there are so many more pressing and desirable items on the Democratic agenda), there were lines in the Democratic platform and on Obama’s campaign site (albeit buried under “Urban Policy”) that did mention Obama’s support for making the AWB permanent, closing the gun show loophole and making guns “childproof.”
I think it’s fair to say Obama and certainly Biden (author of the AWB) aren’t big fans of what they wouldn’t consider “sporting” guns.
If the economy/unemployment contribute to a rise in violent crime, I think it’s possible to see one or two of these provisions added to a crime bill.
This is true. At least one industry is doing well now. Actually, make that two.
http://www.kval.com/news/local/34365489.html
EDIT: Tim — should an omnibus crime bill pop up, they might test the waters with some very light new gun restrictions, but they would have to be utter fools to get a debate started on trigger locks or concealed carry laws. It’s not even clear that they would have the votes — many of the Democrats elected since 2006 are in moderate-to-conservative districts and are wary of gun control.