Posted on 11/29/2010 11:27:09 AM PST by Dan Nunn
Governor Rendell sounded resigned and reflective, when he defended three vetoes during a conference call this morning. When a reporter asked how the Democrat felt about having to veto a measure expanding the right to deadly self-defense, instead of being able to sign one of the gun control bills he fought so hard for during his tenure, Rendell called his anti-gun violence efforts “an abject failure.”
Rendell held scores of press conferences focused on bringing attention to a bill requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons to the police. Last year, he stacked assault weapons on a table in the governor’s reception room to try and illustrate his point. This morning, he blamed NRA opposition for the bill’s failure to reach a floor vote in either chamber. “When we couldn’t get those bastions of valor to even vote that, because the NRA opposed it, there’s not a lot of hope.” Rendell said he isn’t optimistic about any gun control measures passing next year, when Republicans control the House, Senate and governor’s office.
Someone asked whether his veto is just stalling the “Castle Doctrine” bill's inevitable passage next year. “I just don’t know. We’ll see,” Rendell said. “And look – I can only do what I believe is right. I can’t take care of the future. I’m not going to be a factor in it. I did what I believe was right.” Rendell argued the Senate’s packaging of the gun language into a popular bill strengthening Megan’s Law provisions made lawmakers more inclined to vote for the measure, failing to note standalone “Castle Doctrine” legislation passed the House on a 159-38 vote in October.
Rendell also justified his veto of a measure expanding firefighters’ ability to file workers’ compensation claims for cancer caused by exposure to chemicals on the job. He argued the bill’s language put an unfair burden on municipalities by assuming cancer was caused by firefighting, unless lawyers could prove otherwise. “For things like, as I said in my veto message, prostate cancer or brain cancer, there is no evidence whatsoever – scientific evidence – that anything you do, any of your activities, can promote those. And those are perhaps exclusively genetic. But there’s no scientific link. It would have been absolutely impossible to prove.”
He warned the bill would lead to skyrocketing insurance costs, and would force local governments to cut services or raise taxes. Union leaders oppose the veto, but Rendell argued he pushed for a compromise bill expanding firefighters’ ability to file for claims, but on a more limited scale that offered more legal protection for municipalities. The bill passed the House on a unanimous vote, and just four senators voted against it.
Not to mention the other part of his interview: "When we couldn’t get those bastions of valor to even vote that, because the NRA opposed it, there’s not a lot of hope."
The NRA, despite being vilified beyond belief this last election, prevented gun control bills from advancing in Pennsylvania during the tenure of the most anti-gun governor in decades, if not ever.
PA Ping
The Castle Doctrine was not only supported by the NRA, but by a majority of citizens in PA who believe in the 2nd amendment. Many of them lobbied their legislators all by themselves.
Note the greasy hack Rendell is blaming the NRA, not the GOA or any of the other hanger-on little groups that fund raise by bashing the NRA.
Agreed. And many people heard about the progress of the Castle Doctrine by the 20+ emails the NRA-ILA sent out to its members.
Of course, this article isn’t speaking strictly of the Castle Doctrine, but it’s ridiculous to minimize the NRA’s influence on Pennsylvania (and national) politics.
It will be a happy day in January when the moving vans arrive to take Rendell and his fat ass out of the governor’s mansion and to move Tom Corbett in.
Well said.
Oh, so SCARY! Why, those GUNS even have a PISTOL GRIP which everyone knows makes them so much more LETHAL! And the POWERFUL .223 "bullet"! And there are so many "bullets" in the "clip!" (new castrati wets himself at this point)
What an ignorant gun-grabbing pussywillow who would rather take your rights under color of law as do anything else.
If one of "Fast Eddie's" minions tried to hit a real rifleman with one of those little carbines he's so scared of, he'd have a 3rd eye appear from 600 yards away from a real rifle cartridge like .308, .30-06 or 7.62x54. I know a 15-year-old kid at church who could make that shot all day long with his M1A.
Glad to know Fast Edd has a handle on the focus at hand...
what’s amazing is that the guy can live in Pennsylvania his entire life, rise to the rank of Governor, and yet still be clueless that gun-grabbing is an absolute non-starter here.
He’s on his last 30 days of being able to screw us up.
The Castle Doctrine will be back. He’s just driven another
nail in the coffin for Bob Casey though.
I want to see the headlines in every PA newspaper scream “THANK GOD HE’S GONE”. Won’t happen ‘cause the Unions will lament it.
Bob Casey...wants to take your 401K, IRA and 5013cb to fund more pay raises. What an F’n empty suit.
With Bob Casey Jr., we would have at least gotten a decent shot at the honor of having the dumbest member of the U.S. Senate, albeit with some stiff competition from Al Franken. Then Washington re-elected Patricia Bin Murray and California re-elected Babs Boxer, so poor Junior won’t even a shot at the title before we give him his pink slip in 2012.
Good. Bring him up on charges and throw him in jail before he does more damage.
Anyone who wants to cluelessly discount the NRA’s involvement in the Castle Doctrine issue in Pennsylvania should check out the following interview with John Hohenwarter, the NRA’s state liaison to Pennsylvania:
http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2010/11/18/our-interview-with-john-hohenwarter/
Eddie-don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-in-the-ass ping.
I’m an NRA member who has soured a bit on them. The reason being that they endorsed so many Democrats in the last election even when the opposing Republicans had an A rating by the NRA. I called them and asked how they could support Dems over Repubs just because the Dems were incumbents and they said it is their policy to do so since they are a single issue organization. My question to them is how many of the Dems they endorsed helped Obama get the USSC judges in power who are so anti-gun that they will help make anti-gun decisions?
The NRA has to look more at the big picture and not just on the voting records of Dems or Repubs. They need to see who has more potential to help or hurt the gun rights of their members and not just say “this guy votes mostly pro-gun so we will endorse him”. They need to see which party has the most potential to help anti-gun people gain power and the fact they endorsed so many Dems who helped us get two of the most anti-gun Supreme Court justices in power shows that the NRA has to wake up and see they are helping the enemy and not the people who pay them dues.
I will be calling them again to bring this to their attention but I’m not holding my breath to their seeing the foolishness of their ways and changing this policy. If they don’t start seeing the big picture regarding guns and politics then I may have to pull my membership and see where else I may better assist our cause.
This discussion has been beat to death, but if you want to try it, how about this: the Castle Doctrine would have never gotten to Rendell's desk if there weren't pro-gun Democrats in the PA House.
Roll calls in the PA House and PA Senate. First group of alphabetized members are Republicans, second group are Democrats. Not a lot of red (as in NAY) there.
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