Thread: Whitehouse.gov vs. Assault Weapons

I'm not too worried about anything, especially a revival of the AWB. Obama might want this stuff, but Obama doesn't pass laws, Congress does. And the Democratic majority in Congress depends on voters who aren't committed Republicans and are willing to vote for Democrats (and did so these past two cycles), BUT don't like to see gun control legislation from their Democrats and may be willing to vote the other way in reaction to it. This is exactly what happened in 1994 with the AWB, as fm2176 points out. The more left-leaning reps and Senators (from NY, California, Massachusetts, etc.) might not stand to lose many of their constituents to that sort of thing, but the Democrats elected in places like Virginia and Pennsylvania and Tennessee and so forth are closer to the center, and got a lot of votes from gun-owning people in rural or semi-rural areas, and realize quite well that voting for gun control legislation could piss these people off enough to cost them their seats next cycle. And the Democratic party doesn't have a majority if all it's got are reps from liberal districts in NY and California, where voters aren't angered by gun control. To keep their fat majority, they also need those reps from places where people own guns and drive trucks and so on.

I hope that after a year or two, people will realize that their guns are still safe, and all the hoarding and price-gouging and predictions of doom will end. But I wouldn't count on it. For better or for worse, too many gun owners are paranoid about it, and aren't going to be persuaded by the facts above.

Originally Posted by Syme

I'm not too worried about anything, especially a revival of the AWB.

One day a scorpion approached a frog along a river bank.
The scorpion asked, "Froggie, please give me a ride across this wide river."
The frog responded, "I would be a fool to do that. You will sting and paralyze me."
Said the scorpion, "Ridiculous! If I stung you then we would both drown."
Trusting the scorpion's logic the frog agreed and allowed the scorpion onto his back as he swam out into the river.
In the middle of the river the scorpion stung the frog.
As the frog convulsed from the scorpion sting and began to slip beneath the waters he looked back at the scorpion and said, "Why? Why?"
The scorpion answered, "Because I am a scorpion, and it is my nature."

I'm not worried about an AWB since I have little or no interest in that style of firearm, and frankly i am loving the soft vintage market right now. I just don't trust the Democrats learned anything from history.

Originally Posted by smith357

One day a scorpion approached a frog along a river bank.
The scorpion asked, "Froggie, please give me a ride across this wide river."
The frog responded, "I would be a fool to do that. You will sting and paralyze me."
Said the scorpion, "Ridiculous! If I stung you then we would both drown."
Trusting the scorpion's logic the frog agreed and allowed the scorpion onto his back as he swam out into the river.
In the middle of the river the scorpion stung the frog.
As the frog convulsed from the scorpion sting and began to slip beneath the waters he looked back at the scorpion and said, "Why? Why?"
The scorpion answered, "Because I am a scorpion, and it is my nature."

I'm not worried about an AWB since I have little or no interest in that style of firearm, and frankly i am loving the soft vintage market right now. I just don't trust the Democrats learned anything from history.

Well, I think you can generally trust politicians to act in their self-interest, and that includes avoiding legislation that would alienate a large fraction of the people that they have convinced to vote for them; such a large fraction, in fact, that they would be at very real risk of losing their prized majorities. We can already see that the Democrats have indeed learned from history, because you'll notice that ever since the 1994 AWB episode, the party as a whole has been very quiet about gun control. Certainly the more liberal members (Schumer, Feinstein, et. al.) have never stopped vomiting up their ridiculous showboating nonsense at every opportunity, but the party as a whole seems to have learned that gun control is a losing issue for them and that the majority of Americans simply don't want to hear about it. I have certainly heard more than one prominent Democratic strategist concede that point. That's the political reality of the situation, despite any folksy parables comparing Democrats to irredeemably treacherous scorpions.

Plus, be heartened by this: If, against my predictions, the Democrats are dumb enough to pass significant gun control legislation again, you can shortly look forward to the resumption of Republican rule!

EDIT: Warner, Webb, Reid, Baucus, Conrad, Johnson, Gillibrand, Tester, Begich, and Nelson are all solidly pro-gun Democratic Senators. You may recall Webb in particular as the guy who got in trouble for trying to bring a concealed handgun into the Capitol. All are from areas where gun ownership is popular and where, while the people aren't necessarily too conservative to elect a Democrat if he seems like a decent sort, a Democrat who supported a major gun-control bill would definitely have trouble getting re-elected. There is a corresponding large block of congressmen in the same boat. They know it, and their party leadership knows it (in the case of Reid, they ARE party leadership). The last thing they're going to do is hand the Republicans a big pile of ammunition to use against them the next they're up for reelection.