A Washington Times article today seemed a bit boastful that gun rights advocates were winning the battle against gun control freaks even though Congress is completely controlled by the left. But as supporters of the Second Amendment we shouldn’t be hasty in thinking we have an upper hand. It is only temporary, if we have any power to claim at all.
Obama and his administration want your guns. Make no mistake about it and they will get them one way or another. There is one major deterrent to any politician running for office – the quickest way to lose an election is to be vocal about wanting gun control. Al Gore and John Kerry were latest victims of such ignorance.
Obama, during his campaign, began changing his spots in an effort to convince voters that he was a supporter of the Second Amendment. A review of his past history on guns tells us that is a fairy tale.
The democratically controlled Congress wants to keep it that way and one thing that might upset the apple cart is if Congress begins spouting off about wanting more gun control, especially at a time when polls show Americans don’t want more gun control. We also know that immediately after Obama was elected president, Americans made a run on guns and ammunition, buying up anything and everything they could get their hands on. That trend continues although it has ebbed somewhat in some regions.
As a politician, especially one like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is looking at reelection in 2010, has to be asking themselves why American voters are hoarding guns and ammunition. A move to counter that action and the majority wishes of the people would prove fatal for Reid.
Recently Congress passed legislation that would allow for guns in National Parks. As crazy at it may seem, that change was included as an amendment to a credit card bill. There a couple things to bear in mind in regards to that bill passage.
First, we don’t know what kind of behind the scenes wheeling and dealing went on to get that amendment added. Second, if republicans can attach an amendment to a credit card bill to gain back freedom to access our Second Amendment rights at a time when they have a small minority, the near super majority democrats can just as easily slide an assault weapons ban or some other such ban onto a piece of legislation down the road.
As supporters of the Second Amendment, it’s easy to say we’ll take whatever we can get, whenever we can but there is a certain amount of danger in that as well as leaves us with a few unknowns. One of those unknowns is that without a straight up or down vote, we don’t know how specific politicians vote on the issue.
I would much rather see a bill like this one dealing with National Parks and guns, in a stand-alone format so we can get a clear picture of how each member votes. To slide it into another bill as an amendment frightens me because we never know what’s really behind the effort.
So, while we lick our chops, what might appear to be a majority of Americans opposed to further gun restrictions and a Congress seemingly timid to seek gun bans, we can’t get very comfortable. When the opportunity is right, the anti-gun movement, lead by President Obama, will move ahead. When votes for reelection are not at stake, politicians let their true colors come shining through.
Tom Remington
