Oddly enough, white males will be the swing voters this election. And if there’s one thing rural and working-class white voters care about a lot, it is their guns.
Any gun enthusiast older than 21 remembers the 1994-2004 assault weapon ban vividly. It was a dark time. Its many loopholes insulted everyone’s intelligence. Purely cosmetic features were banned on otherwise fully-functional AR-15s. Assault weapons was not a bona fide category; for starters, military assault rifles are select-fire. So various arbitrary criteria like collapsing stocks and bayonet lugs were defining features of banned weapons. Civilian “asault weapons” merely look scary. They’re no different than your grandfather’s M1 Garand.
The law also had another major component: it banned large capacity magazines and the transfer of new assault weapons, while allowing existing ones to be owned and transferred. This was a particular grievance of working-class gun owners. Because of the freeze on new magazines and new assault weapons, prices rose dramatically. Formerly $10 Glock magazines cost $100 or more by 2000. No-name “pre ban” AR15 lower receivers cost $1,500 or more. The wealthy, as always, could find a way to get whatever they wanted. But working-class collectors who care about various nonletha features for aesthetic reasons were left to scrape together cash or forego their preferred purchases altogether.
During the Clinton years, Barack Obama became a gun-control fanatic, known for demagoging gun control to keep his South Side constituency happy and to defeat the typical perception of liberals as soft on crime. Obama supported Mayor Daley’s ridiculous lawsuit against suburban gun dealers for “negligently oversupplying” firearms that were resold to criminal inside the city. Even now, Obama continues to blame gun manufacturers and dealers for the criminal acts of urban gang members.
For over 20 years, Chicago has banned handguns and assault weapons, while also requiring the registration of all non-banned long-arms. Needless to say, I felt much safer in Texas and Florida, where I and other law-abiding people could defend ourselves, than I ever did under that regime. Like all gun control laws, Chicago’s approach consists of sentimental feel-good measures that only impact the most scrupulously law-abiding citizens.
Urban dwellers generally support gun control because, even though there are far fewer guns per capita in a city like Chicago, a much higher percentage of guns are in the hands of criminals. The perception of guns is negative, and this perception is aided by the media. Lawful uses of guns in recreation and self-defense are unknown and under-reported. Under these circumstances, it’s politically easier to cast aspersions on the “devil object” than it is to call for serious punishment of the mostly young black and Hispanic gang members who make a hobby of shooting one another and innocent bystanders.
Obama’s gun control position proves to me how utterly bereft he is of moral courage and intellectual seriousness. While at the University of Chicago law school, Obama had easy access to the real facts on this issue because John Lott was there at the time and had just published More Guns, Less Crime. This publication and the various seminars about it had no impact on Obama’s views; Obama remained a run-of-the-mill liberal. Overall, Obama rarely would be seen engaging the rigorous “law and economics” researchers, who made mincemeat of his conventional liberal views on gun control and much else.
Obama appears at first glance to be a reasonable technocrat. Historically, however, he has shown no willingness to challenge the popular will of his constituency, even though various new research shows the falsity of various liberal policy chestnuts, in particular as they relates to guns and crime. The only hope of gun owners is that Obama is selfish and power-hungry. His number one core value appears to be himself. He’s distanced himself from his old South Side positions, and generally has not taken major risks in his career, as evidenced most dramatically by his various “present” votes on controversial issues during his career. Gun control is widely seen as a factor in the Democratic defeat in 2000. His naked ambition is the only hope of gun owners from legal harassment.
Far from being a courageous messiah, a racial healer or a book-smart technocart, Obama’s just another politician, flattering his constituency and looking out for number one. What a sign of the times that someone as ordinary as this generates such enthusiasm!
Between skyrocketing oil, our degraded citizenry, and the likely riots if Obama doesn’t pull off a victory, it’s definitely time to keep your powder dry.
These are the enemies of freedom - ALL DEMOCRATS.
Vote them out this coming November.
H.R. 1022: Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007
Sponsor:
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy [D-NY]
Cosponsors [as of 2008-05-03]
Rep. Neil Abercrombie [D-HI]
Rep. Gary Ackerman [D-NY]
Rep. Howard Berman [D-CA]
Rep. Earl Blumenauer [D-OR]
Rep. Lois Capps [D-CA]
Rep. Yvette Clarke [D-NY]
Rep. William Clay [D-MO]
Rep. Joseph Crowley [D-NY]
Rep. Diana DeGette [D-CO]
Rep. William Delahunt [D-MA]
Rep. Rahm Emanuel [D-IL]
Rep. Anna Eshoo [D-CA]
Rep. Sam Farr [D-CA]
Rep. Chaka Fattah [D-PA]
Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA]
Rep. Barney Frank [D-MA]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]
Rep. Jane Harman [D-CA]
Rep. Alcee Hastings [D-FL]
Rep. Mazie Hirono [D-HI]
Rep. Rush Holt [D-NJ]
Rep. Michael Honda [D-CA]
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee [D-TX]
Rep. Henry Johnson [D-GA]
Rep. Patrick Kennedy [D-RI]
Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D-OH]
Rep. James Langevin [D-RI]
Rep. Barbara Lee [D-CA]
Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA]
Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY]
Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY]
Rep. Edward Markey [D-MA]
Rep. Betty McCollum [D-MN]
Rep. James McGovern [D-MA]
Rep. Martin Meehan [D-MA]
Rep. Kendrick Meek [D-FL]
Rep. Bradley Miller [D-NC]
Rep. James Moran [D-VA]
Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D-NY]
Del. Eleanor Norton [D-DC]
Rep. John Olver [D-MA]
Rep. William Pascrell [D-NJ]
Rep. Edward Pastor [D-AZ]
Rep. David Price [D-NC]
Rep. Steven Rothman [D-NJ]
Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D-IL]
Rep. Adam Schiff [D-CA]
Rep. Brad Sherman [D-CA]
Rep. Albio Sires [D-NJ]
Rep. Louise Slaughter [D-NY]
Rep. Hilda Solis [D-CA]
Rep. Ellen Tauscher [D-CA]
Rep. John Tierney [D-MA]
Rep. Niki Tsongas [D-MA]
Rep. Christopher Van Hollen [D-MD]
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL]
Rep. Diane Watson [D-CA]
Rep. Melvin Watt [D-NC]
Rep. Henry Waxman [D-CA]
Rep. Robert Wexler [D-FL]
Rep. Lynn Woolsey [D-CA]
Rep. Albert Wynn [D-MD]
3 comments:
You already see it, as well. Obama is already making attempts to deny past anti-gun propaganda (such as denying his responses on his 1996 IVI questionnaire). Of course, as recently as 2007 he has come out against handguns, concealed carry, and "assault" weapons. Nonetheless, since the beginning of 2008, he has been relatively quiet on the issue except for "bitter"gate - and it's no wonder.
Of course, his stance changes slightly from city to city. In Chicago he appeared to take the "hard on crime" pro-gun control tone, but in Idaho he took a "the 2A is an individual right" tone along with the little story about his wife talking about how she was driving through a deep rural area and said to him "I can see why people out that far want to own guns."
But in the end, we know what Obama is all about. It's important that we keep making people aware of the truth, since he's gearing up to try what Kerry tried in 2004. This information is everywhere nowadays, but here's a good place to start (a Obama "fact sheet" on my blog), well cited and all:
http://www.thewariscoming.com/twic/?page_id=43
Remember Kerry's duck hunting photo-op?
He was dressed up in camo gear head to toe, with the exception of a bright orange hunting vest.
The idiot had no idea waterfowlers don't use orange colored safety garb because:
1. you sit in a blind with your buddies so the chances of being shot by accident because of mistaken identity are slim.
2. ducks are hunted only with shotguns ; the maximum range of a shot is 30-40 yards so wearing an orange vest is pointless since nobody is sniping at the birds with a rifle from 500 yards and may not see you because you're all dressed up in camo.
3. ducks and geese have an extremlly good vision, some say they can see 5 to 7 times better than a human. The last thing you need to wear when they are circling overhead trying to see what's the matter with those new decoys you put on their pond, is a bright orange vest.
I don't think I ever seen something more pathetic in my entire life than Kerry in that phony photo-op.
That speaks volumes not only about what a clueless idiot he is, but also how idiots and clueless his entire team of Democrat operatives are.
Yep I do remember. I didn't know about the quality of vision of a duck, though. (I've never hunted duck, only pheasant and grouse, and then only when my dad when I was in my early teens. I'm not sure if they have that kind of vision or not.)
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