Posted on 01/08/2013 4:06:24 PM PST by Red Steel
McCAIN MAY BE WORKING TO STAB US IN THE BACK
It was reported yesterday that Vice President Joe Biden guaranteed to ailing Boston Mayor Tom Menino that sweeping gun control legislation would be passed by the end of January.
How sweeping?
A quick look at Feinsteins semi-auto ban legislation suggests that up to 75% of all handguns currently in circulation would be banned, along with 50% of all long guns.
Depending on its configuration, the AR-15 you already have would probably be treated like a machine gun. You would have to be fingerprinted, background checked by the FBI, and undergo a six-month license application process to keep it. And when you die, the government will seize it.
If you dont get an NFA license, you can expect the SWAT teams to descend on your house.
But, you ask, how could such rabidly anti-gun legislation ever get past Congress?
For an answer, look at what happened on the fiscal cliff.
The Senate would change its rules so that it could pass a gun ban with only 50 votes (plus the vote of Vice President Joe Biden) - or so that you could write the gun ban in a House-Senate conference committee on a must-pass bill. Democrats like West Virginias Joe Manchin, Nevadas Harry Reid, and Pennsylvanias Bob Casey who will not have to run for reelection for awhile - will cast courageous votes for this gun ban.
And it will hit the House with enormous momentum - momentum which House Speaker John Boehner (who has already called for a dialogue on gun control) may not have the courage to resist.
But the first step will be to demolish the Senate rules so that gun control only requires 50 votes - or so that gun control can be inserted in the conference report on a must-pass bill. And this is where John McCain comes in.
McCain is angry that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul worked with Gun Owners of America on a variety of pro-gun issues that slowed down his defense funding bill. And it is no secret why McCain loves House-Senate conferences: Just last month, he and Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin used the DoD conference to demolish position adopted by Senate supermajorities, including the prohibition on indefinitely detaining American citizens without trial. Therefore, McCain and Levin are out to punish Paul and GOA for opposing his legislation to indefinitely detain American citizens.
So they are working together on a series of rules changes to, inter alia, make gun control a lot easier to pass.
The first McCain-Levin rules change would make it impossible to fight a motion to proceed to gun control legislation. Remember ObamaCare? Our last real shot to kill ObamaCare was by filibustering the motion to proceed to it. Once the motion to proceed was adopted, the bill became amendable and Harry Reid could play lets-make-a-deal.
The second McCain-Levin rules change would make it easier to add gun control to a bill in conference. Currently, senators can block a conference. If the McCain proposals are adopted, a must-pass bill could be sent to conference, amended in conference with a draconian gun ban, and then sent back to the House and the Senate on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
McCain will try to tell you that that would be outside the scope of conference. But scope of conference rules are never followed. Gramm-Rudman was written in conference from the ground up.
The third McCain-Levin rules change would block any amendments except for those Leader McConnell and Manager McCain proposed. All other senators would be out in the cold.
This McCain-Levin package must be stopped.
Senator Rand Paul is currently planning to offer an amendment requiring a two-thirds vote in the Senate before any anti-gun measure can be passed.
I know. I know. If it were up to me, gun control would not be able to be passed with 100 votes. But we need to propose something which will pass the Senate.
So this is the day of march. We saw, with the resolution of the fiscal cliff debate, how the diminution of the Senate rules (and Republican courage) can lead to historically bad results.
But if conservatives allow these rules changes to be implemented, they have no reason to complain when the rules allow them to be defeated in battles over the debt limit, the continuing resolution, and sequestration.
In those battles, the rules - which are now up for debate - will determine whether we win or lose.
I doubt that Dingy Harry will ever bring Feinstein’s bill to the floor for a vote. He wants to get re-elected himself and there are a bunch of red state Dems up for re-election in 2014. They will not vote for gun control right now. These pols all know that the mood of the country is not for gun control.
No way. Lettuce is a stalwart defended of freedom and a loyal conservative! [choke] Almost wasn't able to type the words.
He can't help it.
It's what he does!
Oh believe me, I don’t feel bad about thinking it at all. In fact, since there’s not a thing I can do since so many of ny fellow ‘conservatives’ spent the last several years telling me how I had to vote in the very people who just caved on the fiscal cliff thing and will in all likelihood cave on all or even part of the 2nd Amendment, I am taking enormous pleasure in their “WHATT!!! THIS IS NOT FAIR!!!” sniveling.
We tried to tell them principles mattered. We tried to tell them the GOP was only going to screw them. And all we got for our troubles was excuses that continue to this very day and called ‘traitors to our country’ for not going bug nuts over their lib candidates. And I don’t just mean Romney.
Know what? Good. They damn well got what they asked for so they can all STFU about it. When they had the chance to stand up for what was right, they turned their backs on what they claimed to believe in and did everything they could to ‘Win” Well lookie at what they “won”..
We can’t trust a thing the GOP tells us and they side with the Dems more often than not.
Some “Win”
Pissed. Boy am I. And I could give a damn what the idiots have to say because they know I and others like me were 100% right all along.
/Rant
I see where you are coming from and I'm tempted as well to sit home on election day until the GOP gives us a truly conservative candidate to vote for—it may be the only way to teach them short of starting a third party.
But the damn Democrats keep nominating America hating liberal fascists and then it's either Hell or an uncomfortable place and you just can't let the biggest evil bastard win without a fight.
It sux
Wouldn’t cover bolt-, pump- or lever-action.
Not that that’s any reason for celebration.
Which would be a shame since a pistol round lever action makes for a decent home defense weapon.
This issue covers both dims and republicans and it is THE “line in the sand”... watch. I understand what you are saying but this is the foundation of this Republic and enough in DC know it... the communists will vote to ban and they may get it through the communist Senate but the House will not go for it.
LLS
Wouldn’t any legislation have to originate and pass the House first?
Gee, what happened to the House?
That conveniently shoot the same 5.56 ammo as the guns they are coming after..
I can just imagine using a portable battery pack and actuator in the butt stock that will perform the same lever action electrically, or a co2 cylinder and piston.
...when they should just ban hamsters;)
I would not be surprised if someone came up with a kit that would indeed turn a lever action into something that fires continuously.
If a full ban gets started and indeed America prepares for the second revolutionary war millions of new AR owners will be searching for burst and full auto sear kits, or getting a 3D printer to make copies they can then use as parts for molds and to then make cast metal parts.
Because of the superior firepower of multiple agencies with a lot more ammunition Americans need an edge other than being numerically superior and having bad breath.
Take out the bottom of the rifle where the clip resides and install a magazine or belt feed capable mechanism and one has a fairly portable mini-gun—retool the works to allow fast barrel replacements and you have a very accurate and deadly weapon.
You know, If the fascist gunphobes do succeed in taking our semi-autos, it will indeed create a cottage industry in home grown AUTOMATIC weapons—then the Obama jackbooted commie thugs will have a real time.
LLS
Ruger .308 Scout.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.