A federal government that adheres to the Constitution. Officers in that government that respect their solemn oath to defend and protect same, from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
To see the AWB die?
As an unconstitutional vehicle for the government to oppress the citizenry, yes, I want it to die. I also want a president tossing shovel fulls of dirt on it, not promising to sign it should it be renewed.
Or to have Bush et al beat their chests and bellow "Constitution... Second Amendment... Founding Fathers?"
Yeah, chest beaters like Sam Adams and Patrick Henry, what did they ever accomplish... You think Bush is going to further a policy of killing of the AWB by advocating his personal support for it?
You can't have both.
I disagree.
Once Bush et al show their hand the DemoncRATS have a clear field of fire.
Bush is on record as saying he'll sign the bill. As with the CFR he's abdicating his responsibility. Is he trying to complete a 4 year term without ever using a veto? Where does Hassert stand? Is the Speaker of the House for or against the bill, seeing as how the House of Representatives remains the only component of government between the bill dying or being renewed?
I disagree.
I hadn't realized you were an experienced legislator.
How long have you been in politics?
What offices have you won?
What legislation have you gotten passed?
What legislation have you defeated?
Not much. Sam Adams was the master of a mob and considered pretty low by the rest of his family. He probably instigated the Boston Massacre, and was responsible for a good deal of counterproductive mob violence. His only purpose was to act as the "bad cop" for the voices of reason like his cousin John and the other thoughtful patriots of Boston.
Patrick Henry - as is not well known - after his famous outburst in the House of Burgesses apologized abjectly because he was afraid he was going to be charged with treason.
The firebrands provided the oratory, but it was the nuts and bolts workers like Adams and Washington and Morris and Hamilton and Madison that actually put the show together.
Something of the same sort is going on here. Ideological purity makes for grand flights of rhetoric, but clear thinking gets the goal accomplished. And the goal here is getting rid of the "AW"B.