Now that Donald Trump went down to North Carolina and sent a clarion call to Gun-nut Nation to save his Presidential bid by going after Hillary with everything they’ve got, we might take a minute to try and figure out exactly what the 2nd-Amendment gang can really bring to the attempt to change the color of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from blue to red. Of course Trump will say that his victory would once again make the White House really white, if you know what I mean, heh heh.
It does seem that the Trump Express has not only run off the rails, but in the process just about run out of steam. Those huge leads in the polls are now a distant memory, even with all that money he allegedly raised last month basically the campaign is broke. The Fox News freebies meant a lot more when he was running in the primaries against other Republicans whose supporters also only watched the ‘fair and balanced’ news shows that used to be produced by a fat, old philanderer named Roger Ailes.
If the GOP can’t beat the most vulnerable candidate the Democrats have nominated since I don’t know when, they can’t beat anyone at all. Which means the GOP may also lose the Senate and there are whisperings that the House might be in play. If that happens, we will have the one political alignment in Washington which produced the gun-control laws in 1968 and again in 1994, namely, a Democratic Congress and a liberal President with strong ties to the South.
Anyone who tells you that HRC will be content with a gun bill that just widens the NICS background check system to cover secondary gun transactions doesn’t know the history of the Clintons and gun control at all. Because one of the big, unfinished pieces that was left behind in 2001 when Bill and HRC departed from the White House with some of the silverware in tow was an agreement with Smith & Wesson that basically required the company to not only forge ahead with smart gun technology and other safety standards, but also made the company responsible for downstream behavior of everyone – wholesalers and dealers - who sold their guns.
I don’t think it would have been possible for the company to have met those terms and retain a fraction of its current financial strength and manufacturing size; I also believe that this is the kind of regulations that might just reappear in a Clinton-sponsored gun bill next year. Because the truth is that many of the provisions of that agreement have become the stock-in-trade of the Gun Violence Prevention movement today, and if Mister Trump owes something to Gun-nut Nation for helping him secure the Republican nomination, HRC will certainly owe GVP big-time if she ends up grabbing the brass ring.
The problem of course, is that everything else which Trump used to pull himself to the top of the primary heap when he was talking only to Republicans, particularly the most activist Republicans, won’t count for all that much against the other side. And this is the first general election in which even the vaunted power of the NRA membership will be competing against a motivated and large GVP community which didn’t even exist in any real numbers just four years ago.
Shannon didn’t sit down at her kitchen table and start contacting her Moms until after Obama beat Romney in 2012. Guess what? Moms Demand Action now counts more than 3 million energetic members which ain’t chopped liver when it comes to grass-roots activity and support.
The NRA’s attacks on Hillary are right out of the same playbook they have been using for twenty years. And to me, even Trump’s snarky and stupid threat muttered in North Carolina sounded a little stale. If he thinks that the NRA still has the playing field to itself when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, he better think again.
A Blue Congress will be challenged in a nation most of whose states are red. States rights. We already know those states are willing to try to use nullification and other low-brow state’s rights tactics to by-pass the federal government. Folks need to remember there are over 5,000 state seats up for grabs come November 8. The Republicans will not go quietly into the night, even if they are thrown out of Congress. ALEC also has their back. https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_elections,_2016
Always learning from your Articles! DC was so hot that I think it depressed turnout. We couple only survive a couple hours before we needed to return to the hotel. You made the right decision to stay home.
Sent from my iPhone Gail Lehmann
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If I were the GOP (I’m a Donk) I would have disavowed Trump by now and concentrated on holding the House and Senate.
As you say, the Clintons are scorched earth to the gun community and if back in the White House, will go after Heller as well as the lawful commerce in firearms act. I said that before, i.e., if all Clinton wanted was moderation, she would not be constantly grumbling about overturning Heller and fantasizing Aussie solutions.
Its not clear to me how Smith and Wesson et al can control terminal use of its products but if that goes through, a lot of gun companies will be shedding value faster than Trump is shedding supporters. As a bicycle-pedestrian advocate who has been toying with Vison Zero, I will start looking for lawyers to sue the car companies. After all, they sell product that is 1. equipped with distraction devices that raise public risk; 2. massively overpowered and capable of speeds greatly exceeding the legal limit with no controls to ensure safe use in urban areas; and 3. advertised with “closed course, don’t try this at home” gimmicks that sell product based on dangerous, illegal driving. Imagine if Bushmaster had TV ads saying “fake children, don’t try this in your school. Talk about the urban assault weapon? Its sitting in our driveways.
I’m no fan of the proliferation of ARs in public hands, but we do, in fact, assume a certain amount of public responsibility when both ARs and Hummers are legal and available.