Posted on 06/29/2010 8:24:23 AM PDT by LouAvul
When the Supreme Court extended the individual right to own a gun Monday, they handed Second Amendment advocates—many of whom are at home in the GOP—one of their most significant legal victories ever.
But who won the day in politics? The Democrats.
For them, the court’s groundbreaking decision couldn’t have been more beneficial to the cause in November. Now, Democratic candidates across the map figure they have one less issue to worry about on the campaign trail. And they won’t have to defend against Republican attacks over gun rights and an angry, energized base of gun owners.
“It removes guns as a political issue because everyone now agrees that the Second Amendment is an individual right and everybody agrees that it’s subject to regulation,” said Lanae Erickson, deputy director of the culture program at the centrist think tank Third Way.
A House Democratic aide agreed that the court’s decision removed a potentially combustible element from the mix.
“The Supreme Court ruled here that you have a fundamental right to own and bear arms, and that means at the national level it’s harder – whether it’s Republicans or whether it’s the [National Rifle Association] – to throw that claim out: if Democrats are in charge they’re going to come get your guns,” said the aide. “It pretty much took that off the table.”
The likely removal—or at least neutralization—of the gun issue this fall is of no small matter in the battle for the House and Senate. The Democratic majorities in both chambers were built, in part, on victories in pro-gun states and districts that had until recently been difficult terrain for Democratic candidates as a result of the national party’s position on gun control.
The chorus of responses to Monday’s ruling was a group of normally dissonant voices: It proved the rare occasion when both former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could find common ground.
In a Facebook post titled, “Another Victory for the Second Amendment,” Palin wrote that the case “should leave little doubt that our individual right to keep and bear arms applies everywhere and is a right for everyone.”
Reid essentially agreed, calling the right to bear arms “one of the essential freedoms on which our country was founded.”
“I am pleased that the high court has taken steps in both the Heller and McDonald cases to guarantee this fundamental right,” he said in a prepared statement, referring to both the 2008 Heller decision, which struck down the District of Columbia’s restrictive gun law, and Monday’s McDonald v. Chicago decision against Chicago’s handgun ban.
For congressional Democrats—especially those in seats outside major metropolitan areas where support for gun rights runs high—the ruling offered a chance to assert their pro-gun bona fides.
That statement is why anybody who would ever trust a demoRAT is a fool. The rats will still chip away at our rights one step at a time. Cf kalifornia.
Too funny!....As if this one issue will save their collective asses!!!
This article is nonsensical and based on wishful thinking.
BS. The dems will try to find a way around this to prevent normal people from defending their life and property using deadly force if necessary.
You are so right. That complete phrase ““It removes guns as a political issue because everyone now agrees that the Second Amendment is an individual right and everybody agrees that it’s subject to regulation,”” is complete fancy.
Like Reagan said — (or supposedly said) ‘trust everyone, but cut the deck’ and ‘ watch what they DO, not what they SAY’
Until, and *IF* the DemocRATS really let this issue go, it’ll still be an issue.
Right, and watch Chicago Mayor Dailey - He’s going to resurrect some kind of regulation just in time for November
More and more, Politico is starting to look like one of the MSM Obama-bootlickers. This imbecile’s logic is that now that 1 of the rightwingers issue is out of the way...we won!!
Absolute idiocy but thanks for the LOL in the morning.
Hopefully 2A advocates will recognize that SCOTUS is one vote shy of another decision that could effectively overturn both Heller and McDonald, if they vote for Senators who will rubberstamp another Sotomayer or Kagan nominee.
The Supreme Court struck a blow against state and local infringement of gun rights -- but the concept of "reasonable regulation" has not been resolved. Here in MA, the news is filled with reports that the Governor is looking at this ruling and deciding what to do on the state level (we're currently quite restricted and the Democrats obviously want to find a way to keep it that way).
Gun Control is now a very hot topic on the local level. And all politics is local. This is not good news for Dems.
Please will someone confiscate all the medicinal marijuana they have at Politico...
Snort.
A two word note to the 'Rats: Elena Kagan.
I’m surprised I even read the article. It’s from Politico.
But it is about the court ruling, and gun rights, so I did.
Typical Leftist Politico.
Grasping at straws, just as the GOP establishment did in 2006 and 2008. The trend is the trend. Coming up with fake reasons to be optimistic is a sign of denial.
They intend (supposedly) to mimic the DC regs that aren’t all that bad now.
To legally own a handgun in DC, ya gotta
(1) take a safety course (not a bad idea)
(2) spend an hour on the range with instructor (also a good idea)
(3) get fingerprinted (not the best, but tolerable. I did it in Ga)
(4) submit to a ballistics test so expended bullets can be traced back to your barrel (a bit instrusive, but again tolerable ... just buy a replacement barrel ;-p )
(5) stay registered.
DC has only had 800 people register legally since implementing those regs. (per CBS news)
So ... if Chicago requires all that, which isn’t much worse than passing a driver’s test and getting a license for a car, then so be it.
Plus the Illinois legislature (IIRC) put a law in place that makes it NOT a crime to use deadly force with an unregistered handgun in legitimate home- and self-defense.
Perhaps not as bad as it might seem.
The NRA.org and usacarry.org and georgiacarry.org have some good poop on this.
p.s. GA changed the law, and I am pretty sure you no longer have your prints displayed on your license when renewing.
It's an attempt to create a myth, that the objective of curtailing legal protection for firearms ownership and bearing is off the DEMs minds. Only a few stupid people are going to fall for this fabrication, 4 of 9 justices say the RKBA isn't enforceable against the states, and the DEMS want to put MORE like that on the Supreme Court.
This is like saying that the loss of Vicksburg was a victory for the Confederacy because they no longer had to defend the Mississippi. The liberals win by making their ultimate victory look inevitable. Convincing people that greater achievement is impossible so they should just loot as much for themselves as they can get. The mere fact that they were defeated, not merely stopped, but thrown back shows that the assumption of the eventual cultural victory of the left is a farce. They can be fought. We can not only slow them down, but we can take back our country. There is no way that the Dem’s can spin that as a victory.
Always has been as far as I'm concerned. It drew its writers from AP, etc.
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