The Summer of Our Discontent
June 10th, 2006 by Syd
Dark visions intrude through the smoke of the charcoal grill: Mayor ??We Don??t Need No Stinking Constitution? Nagin was re-elected; Bush is in serious trouble in the polls; gun grabbers are filing a host of new bills including laws to ban .50 caliber rifles ??to reduce the gun violence? (although no drive-by shooting has ever been perpetrated with a .50 caliber rifle); the anti-freedom set seems emboldened to move again on gun rights because of a perceived weakness in the Republican party; the pseudo-Republican mayor of New York is launching a gun control campaign funded by his own deep pockets; the poor urban areas are again aflame with ??gun violence? ?? mostly impoverished young black men shooting their friends; the news media continues its misinformed drumbeat against ??assault weapons,? even to the extent of claiming in news stories that ??assault weapons? were used in several high-profile crimes when in fact they were not; actual violent crime is down in most of the major cities (while showing a modest uptick in some of the medium cities), but that??s not the way the media plays it ?? you??d think there was a war going on.
There are some bright spots: 48 states now have some form of legal civilian concealed carry; the AWB died; the manufacturers?? immunity bill was finally passed; twelve states have passed ??castle doctrine? or ??stand your ground? type of laws which protect people who defend themselves from malicious prosecution and spurious civil suites; several states have passed laws prohibiting criminal bureaucrats from confiscating guns during times of emergency; gun sales are up and actual crime is down dramatically from the early nineties.
Politically, we have to face the fact that the Bush administration is in trouble. We could be staring down the barrel of a Democrat-controlled House and/or Senate very soon. Gun rights, rightly or wrongly, have been associated with the conservative Republican movement, and that could spell trouble for us in the next few years. Unless Bush can pull an extremely large rabbit out of his hat, gun owners may be facing a very hostile regulatory environment soon.
Gun rights shouldn??t be a partisan issue. In an ideal world, both Democrats and Republicans should respect the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms as enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. Once upon a time they did. I was raised by ??yellow dog Democrats? and they were all gun owners and active shooters and hunters. In the real world of today, Democrats have been identified as advocates of extreme gun-control, as if they could pick and choose which parts of the Bill of Rights they wanted to support.
Republicans have been identified as being more supportive of gun rights, but in practice, have offered something less than enthusiastic support for Second Amendment issues. A prime example was George Bush??s promise to sign a renewal of the ??assault weapons ban? if it reached his desk, knowing it wouldn??t as long as the elephant controlled the congress. Why spend political capital when they know that gun owners will default to the Republican party just because the Democrats are so much worse?
AG Gonzales is extremely hostile to private gun ownership. We see this concretely in the stepped-up harassment of gunsmiths and firearms dealers by the BATF, now a part of the Justice Department which Gonzales controls. I would be tempted to vote Democrat in the next presidential election just to get rid of Gonzales, but again I fear that Democratic victory in 2008 could bring in an administration even more hostile to gun rights than the Clinton regime.
All of this is to say that I feel a chilly wind blowing. The lukewarm and sometimes ambiguous support of the Republicans may soon be replaced by the manipulative hostility of the Democrats. Like so many southerners of my generation, I began my political life as a Democrat but long ago became alienated from that party which no longer seems to advocate my concerns. Maybe my true political party is the Gun Party. Regardless of what lapel pin you??re wearing, complacency about gun rights will not be an option in the days to come.