How to lose the 2012 Presidential election: Call for an assault weapon ban.
You know, I don't get that. If the Tuscon incident had taken place last year and he had jammed this through, then it is a mere political calculation that would balance of the benefits (from his POV, not mine) of passing such legislation vs. the political costs in 2+ years. Now, however, it won't pass (it better not even get a floor vote in the House YOU HEAR THAT, BOEHNER!!!) and he and those who champion it in the Congress will have to deal with the negative fallout from that. Is he, and are his political handlers, really that out-of-touch, that stone deaf, that STOOOOOOPID, as to risk the certainty of bad political fallout on the virtually non-existent chance of passing something that they want, something of pretty dubious value? What do they really think that they would gain by this?
Let's also keep in mind that when the original AWB was passed, the only way to get it passed was with a 10-year sunset provision (hence the restoration of a minimal amount of the gun-related rights that we've lost since 1934). That was with a heavily Dem Congress and a sell-out by Bob Dole (RINO, KS). No such majority exists now even in the Senate, and the House is Republican as we all know.
Oh, and the above is predicated on a mere restoration of the '94 abomination. If they try to make it permanent or, worse yet, try to make it an ACTUAL BAN - with registration, door-to-door collections, jail time, etc., then all bets are off. Maybe I'm being a bit tin-foilish, but perhaps this is the plan? Jam through a bill, and when there's resistance that makes Tuscon look like a fight between kids in a sandbox, declare a national emergency and really clamp down hard, put millions on the Terror Watch List, jail vocal opponents, shut down Fox News, Rush, Hannity, various blogs, FR, etc. If that is the plan, first they will fail, but second, the failure will be an epic fail, similar to that which touched off the War of Northern Aggression 150 years ago. Third, if that is the plan, then whoever proposes it or tries to implement it is crazier than that mass murderer in Tuscon.