I actually wish they would vote on the AW ban again.
I loved it in 1994. Sometimes people need to be jerked out of their slumber.
That’s a good point.
I was 23 at the time and still kind of clueless politically.
The AWB ban (along with Waco and other Clinton-era abuses of power) really woke me up. Perhaps the Obama era will awaken a new generation of conservatives?
San Fran Nan isn’t completely stupid. When we look back at the ‘94 elections, the DNC lost no fewer than 21 seats to NOTHING OTHER THAN THE GUN ISSUE.
And they knew it. Their own internal polling told them this. There were members of the House that were buttonholing Schumer (who was in the house back then) and screaming at him “You did this to us!”
Pelosi knows that she could easily lose the Congress in ‘10 if she pulled a vote on this issue. Easily.
The campaign commercials would write themselves instantly - increases spending, increased taxes, more gun control, you name it - and it would be ‘94 all over again.
She might be talked into it by some of the rabid nitwits in the House... but one of Rahm’s formulas for their current dominance was to curry favor with more rural districts by recruiting pro-gun Democrats. As soon as Pelosi lets a big gun bill go through — even for those Democrats who vote against it - they’re in trouble.