I find it amusing that the two Democratic front-running presidential candidates are both hanging their hats on gun control. It’s a testament to the reality that they are not simply liberals but rather stupid liberals. Setting aside momentarily that the fundamental concept of progressive gun control is morally and pragmatically bankrupt, one need only look at public opinion to see the reality of it.
According to the latest IBD/TIPP poll, just 42% of the public thinks stricter gun control laws will help keep guns out of the hands of criminals, while 52% think increased gun ownership increases public safety. The poll also found that 42% of adults say that they own or someone in their household owns a gun, and 28% say they are planning to buy one for security or protection.
The simple fact is John Q overwhelmingly agrees with gun-rights groups that the Second Amendment “will always be a relevant and necessary safeguard against tyranny.” Fully 72% side with that view. Support for this view crosses demographic and ideological lines: 52% of Democrats feel this way, as do 52% of those who don’t own or plan to buy a gun. Overall, just 23% of those polled think that the Second Amendment “is no longer relevant or necessary in modern-day America.” All of this comes after seven years of the president shamelessly stepping over bodies to get in front of a camera and make yet another pitch for gun control that would have done nothing to stop the tragedy du jour.
When I think of people I’d love to see hoisted upon their own petard, Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia comes immediately to mind. McAuliffe was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and has been a friend of the Clintons, one of the few that haven’t had a fatal accident or committed suicide for no apparent reason.
Democrats decided to focus on Virginia’s midterm election and poured millions of dollars into the state Senate election. Bloomberg alone dropped several million. The night before the election, McAuliffe appeared on MSNBC literally begging voters to flip just one seat so Democrats could regain control and he could enact new gun-control measures. Nothing happened: zippo, nada, no change.
Rebounding from that disaster, Virginia’s Democratic Attorney General unilaterally decided to break the state’s concealed-carry reciprocity agreement under which Virginia’s concealed-carry permits were honored by 25 other states. The ink wasn’t dry before the paper was covered with the you-know-what that hit the proverbial fan. McAuliffe, coward to the core, immediately undid the deed in a deal with Republicans, and it gets better.
The Republicans bullied McAuliffe to include more pro-Second Amendment concessions including a mandate that Virginia recognize permits from all states and create reciprocity agreements with every state that wants one. The deal literally cut the Democrats off at the knees.
Add to all this a recent Appellate Court decision favoring the Second Amendment, other pro-Second Amendment actions and the dismal murder rates of Democrat-controlled cities with draconian gun control laws, and it’s no wonder people are abandoning their anti-Second Amendment position faster than rats jumping off a sinking ship. So when liberal nut balls scream for more gun control, I’m in there rooting for ’em. The more they demand, the more the public turns its collective back on them. With the general election looming on the horizon, I find I’m becoming calmer all the time about it. Except, you know, in Chicago, where there’s a long history of the dead voting Democrat.
