Posted on 03/01/2013 7:37:55 AM PST by Drew68
Gun-control advocates hoped the shattering December murder of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn., would upend the de facto non-aggression pact on federal gun laws that both political parties have consented to in the last decade. But now that expanded background checks seem to be the only initiative that may pass Congress, the most powerful bloc of gun-control proponents in the country is conceding that the gripping sense of outrage following the Sandy Hook massacre has ebbed.
Democratic governors fault Washington lawmakers for not acting more aggressively but, more strikingly, some even point a finger at Americans themselves for not keeping up the pressure on elected officials.
“I think the public outrage at this has somewhat waned and that makes the consensus harder to achieve,” said Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, adding: “[S]adly, after the funerals, for too many of us as Americans, our attention turns to other things and that makes it harder to achieve the consensus, and nothing moves terribly fast in Washington anyway.”
O’Malley, who has been one of the loudest voices for gun restrictions, recalled that he and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell both predicted after Sandy Hook that there would be a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban within six months.
“It hasn’t happened,” said O’Malley.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, who was also governor in the 1990s during similar shooting sprees, also cited the now-familiar pattern of demands for action abating as the months pass following the tragedies and pro-gun forces mount aggressive lobbying campaigns.
“The same thing happened after Columbine, same thing happened after Thurston in Oregon a number of years ago: there’s this big coverage peak, people get outraged and a few days later the anti-gun control people begin to emerge and then there’s a distance,” Kitzhaber said. Asked whether the federal government is falling short on the gun issue, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy shot back: “Sure it is. Sure it has.”
“We had a workable [assault weapons] ban, right?” Malloy continued. “We had a magazine size limitation. And in 2004 when it needed to be renewed, it was not renewed. So yeah, clearly we let a lot of people down as a nation.” Now, even the most optimistic gun-control backers will concede it’s highly unlikely that any legislation limiting the sale of particular weapons could get out of the Senate let alone come to a vote in the House. That’s partly because the passage of time since Newtown has diminished the demand for action – but it’s also because there remains a robust core of Second Amendment supporters who are effective at making their voices heard with lawmakers.
O’Malley, a former Baltimore mayor, compared the efforts of the two sides in his own heavily suburban and urban state, where there’s broad public support overall for gun restrictions but also a vocal element opposing such steps.
“We’re calling people together for a rally in Annapolis this Friday for sensible gun safety legislation,” he said. “It’s going OK, but it doesn’t happen by itself. Whereas the NRA is a group that’s networked and now hyper-networked with the Internet, and was able to generate a giant crowd … They’re very effective with the small group of people who feel intensely about this.” The gun-rights group has just as much sway in Washington, as the difference between what, legislatively, seems possible now as compared to in the days immediately following Newtown.
In an effort to show Congress that the NRA doesn’t have always have the political upper hand, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has begun spending money on pro-gun-control candidates and won a victory Tuesday against a pro-NRA Democrat in a Chicago-area House district. He promises to do more of the same in 2014.
But governors aren’t waiting on the Beltway politics of guns to change.
So, instead of waiting on piecemeal legislation from Washington, some Democratic governors are moving to implement firearms restrictions in their own states that almost certainly could never pass the Republican-controlled House or a Senate with a bipartisan consensus on gun rights.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law in January strengthening his state’s assault weapons ban and limiting the number of bullets in gun magazines. O’Malley is pushing legislation this legislative session that would ban all assault weapons, restricting the size of magazines and seeking to license handgun purchases. In conjunction with a trip by Vice President Joe Biden to Connecticut last week, Malloy rolled out his own proposals, which included an expanded assault weapons ban, background checks for all gun purchases, a ten-round magazine limit.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell actually pushed through some gun control proposals before Newtown, but is now attempting to get additional legislation relating to mental health and school safety to his desk.
“Whatever happens at the national level, we in Delaware didn’t feel like it would be the appropriate thing for us to wait,” said Markell.
But it’s not just in the heavily-urban states where Democratic governors are taking action on guns. Even some governors who’ve previously been cautious on the issue are sounding off. In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper is seeking expanded background checks and has said he supports some curbs on magazine sizes. Kitzhaber has also signaled a willingness to support gun restrictions, including assault weapons bans and magazine size limits.
And Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who in 2010 received an NRA “A”-rating and hails from a heavily rural state, said he’d like to see federal action on universal background checks and restrictions on the size of magazines.
Yet even while such Democratic governors are taking action on guns, there’s a frustration in their ranks about what is becoming a patchwork solution to what they see as a national problem.
“The problem is California has very strong regulations but our neighboring states of Nevada and Arizona don’t,” said California Gov. Jerry Brown.
Malloy, previously the Mayor of Stamford, described what is the bane of many Northeastern mayors and governors.
“As far as background checks, when you go up and down 95 — you can do it in Philadelphia, you can do it in New York City or Bridgeport or New Haven or Hartford or Stamford for that matter — you find a gun that’s been used in a street crime, a hand gun and you trace it to the last place it can be traced to, more often than not it is [from a state like] Florida or Virginia, which allows sales that we would never allow,” said Malloy. “People buy them, put them in the back of the car, drive them up the streets in these communities and put them in the back of their cars. We do need federal action.”
While they want more, the pro-gun control Democratic governors believe even incremental progress in Washington this year could breathe life back into the issue.
“I think the president can’t stop talking about it…and if he gets universal background checks, it gives momentum to states to do more,” said O’Malley.
Immediately after Newtown, I predicted quick passage of a national assault weapons ban as well and posted as much often on this forum. I hope to continue to have been wrong. Those of us who care about RKBA need to have long memories and remain ever vigilant, never complacent. These people aren't going away and many of them have shown their true colors. They want guns banned. All of them.
Had to send one son to Israel to buy ammo
These gun-grabbers were looking to Americans to carry out the Leftists dream of gun confiscation....but Americans were busy standing in long lines to buy more guns and ammo.
It sucks to be a gun-grabber. Let’s work to keep it that way.
Any shooting will be an opportunity for the regime to take advantage of. Next time.
That's what happens when your base is made up of low information voters, they have an attention span that only last until the next big thing comes around. Thankfully, for us, this tragedy took place when most legislatures where out of session and wouldn't be back until after the holiday
Gun control is best passed during times of economic and political certainty. It is much more difficult to pass legislation when people are insecure and feel that chaos mae come in the near future.
It is entirely possible, if we keep up the pressure, that nothing will be passed and as the Milleniums come of age the opportunity to do so will evaporate. They are very Pro-2A, partly due to the effect of video games with which they grew up.
20?
0bama mentor Bill Ayers said that 25 MILLION would have to be “eliminated” in order for the new socialist society to work.
Not to worry.
There will be another Sandy Hoax.
Soon...
I live in north Jacksonville, Florida. There's s small indoor shooting range in the neighboring town of Yulee about 10 miles north of me. That place is always packed! Every time I've stopped in, there's a line of people waiting to shoot either their own firearms or store rentals.
I really want to put some rounds through my .45 but have been loath to expend any of the few hundred rounds I currently am holding on to until the inventory restabilizes. Fortunately, as an Ordnanceman in the U.S. Navy I can pretty much go shoot a Sig 9mm and brush up on my skills whenever I want (and at the government's expense).
““[S]adly, after the funerals, for too many of us as Americans, our attention turns to other things and that makes it harder to achieve the consensus, and nothing moves terribly fast in Washington anyway.”
Well, then, bully for us! Man wasn’t made to live in fear of death. Sin brought in the fear and ever since, Satan and his children have stoked it. I mention this because the love of God in Christ can make one very bold and impervious to pathetic appeals for earthly security. God makes us secure, and no one can touch Him!
So we can weep with those who weep and still keep our wits.
On an earthly plane, “Hard cases make bad laws”. Even this simple saying is lost on the eggheads and gurus who supposedly know what’s best for us.
Of course it has passed, because Obama got sidetracked by sequester-geddan campaigning around the country..
Besides, now that Obama is going to Furlough Police, national guard and border patrol, and is releasing dangerous criminal illegals from Jail to cause havoc(not to mention threatening Woodward with a drone strike LOL) , just to force the GOP to raise taxes, that makes a stronger argument for the 2nd amendment and self defense,
time to form those local militias, its like that Kevin Cosner movie 'The Post man' .
HA_HA
How to survive the sequester (it will be worse than Y2K and Climate change both put together)
The shootings in Connecticut were a heartbreaking TRAGEDY. The “outrage” was a product of the Drive-By Media as a tool of furthering their agenda.
The several governors, afraid to further harsh dealing with the ILLEGAL gun users, aim their wrath at an inanimate object that is, by itself, useful only as a costly paper weight.
Their courage (/s) is shown by their constant demands to solve a problem of law breaking by attacking those who always OBEY the law.
The next crusade will be the curing of the DRUNK DRIVING epidemic by banning cars, rather that coming down hard on those who drive drunk.
Just so they can take advantage of transient emotions to advance their anti-American agenda.
And of course, the 25 million would be the productive capitalists. Once they're gone, everyone else would starve to death.
Not a very good plan. The EBT cards would be worthless. Then what would all the moochers do? They'd have to eat each other, I guess. That's not a very good plan either.
Obama’s sequester idea has pushed gun control off the front pages.
Speaking of drunk driving, Maryland's Governor O'Malley wants to prohibit people convicted of DUIs from owning guns. (Well, he wants to prevent everyone from owning guns but, baby steps, you know...)
It would be PARADISE! Paradise, I tell you!
You cannot look at somebody like O'Malley as even being human ~ he's a cannibal king and for him and his kind normal people are just more meat for the pot.
HA, come to Oregon....
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