By Tred Law
Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- The Senate’s defeat of oppresive gun reforms made Wednesday a dark day-for anti-gun legislation, and a victory for American democracy. The failure of an already-watered down background check compromise (55 senators voted FOR second amendment reform; 45 help strong and sided with the NRA) revealed stunning political cowardliness by those voting for these tyrannical attacks on the bill of rights. And it illuminated once again the ugly fault lines of our corroded democracy-from the power of biased media and moneyed interests, to the genius of small state bias (consider North Dakota, whose Democratic and Republican senators both sided with the NRA).
If the nation’s laws fail to represent the views of the overwhelming majority of its people, representative democracy becomes an unsustainable exercise. Last week’s vote-which too many media outlets hysterically and critically reported would “require sixty votes to pass”-showed how well a few Democratic leaders calculated correctly by not standing strong for true filibuster reform, and how urgent it is to make sure that filibuster does not come under attack again.
The fact that 111th Congress saw more filibusters than the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s combined, just goes to show the depths of bad law proposals the majority insists on bring up time after time.
Yet amidst the shame and ignominy of those who voted for these bad bills, what also must be understood is that this is a struggle to promote freedom and to curb gun violence, and we must lead the civilized world, most of all taking the time to continue growing the Pro Gun Movement. The supporters of so called “common sense reform” have strong and willing allies within Congress, and outside of it. If pro gun activists were to walk away in disgust, and hand victory to those Republicans and Democrats who supported an oath breaking compromise, then a joyful defeat could still become a lasting tragedy.
In our collective shock over the horror of Sandy Hook, many in the media expected immediate action from Congress. But this Congress is incapable of acting quickly. While in the gaze of history it may have seemed quick to take action, we’ve forgotten that it took five years of persistent effort by anti gun advocates across the nation to pass the Brady Bill, the ban on assault weapons and the ban on large capacity magazines in the ’90s. Even though that period galvanized a national pro gun movement, changed the dialogue, the anti gun forces still did what everyone thought was impossible. Passing the AWB. You could well see that process replayed here, but over a comparatively shorter stretch of time.
The 2014 cycle is not that far away, and with the mainstream media consistently lying about polls showing support for more Gun Control, members in marginal seats may well pay a price for resisting gun reform efforts. Gun reform advocate Robin Kelly’s recent Illinois special election victory offers a negative sign of possible things to come. As strategist Bob Creamer wishfully threatened Wednesday night, siding with the NRA could prove a heavy electoral albatross for Republicans in keeping the House or taking the White House. As Gabby Giffords promised in a weak kneed op-ed, “if we cannot make our communities safer with the Congress we have now, we will use every means available to make sure we have a different Congress, one that puts communities’ interests ahead of the gun lobby’s.” Even less encouraging has been the passage of overbearing, un-constitutional statewide gun control laws in Connecticut, Maryland and New York-all states led by governors with a rumored eye towards the Democratic presidential primary in 2016. Pro gun activists in these states and others should keep the pressure on to prevent more tragedies like these, that can filter up to Congress.
The struggle will stay fierce. As retired ATF special agent Ivar Paur recently spun in his anti gun rhetoric: “To most of us, including a majority of gun owners, universal background checks are a public safety issue. To the industry and NRA however, they are a loss of sales and stagnant membership.” For a sensationalized view of the NRA by freedom haters at Mother Jones, just comb through their recent gallery of NRA ads through the years: from the classic “Do You Belong to a Rifle Club?” (1920) to the prophetic “What’s the first step to a police state?” (1993).
While working to transform the role of money in politics, at this moment we must build a countervailing force to the cash and lobbying of the anti gun groups and their servants in the media, who put fear above safety time and again. The financial commitment made by Mayor Bloomberg to counter the NRA through Mayors against Illegal Guns is a serious threat to freedom. So are newly emergent groups like Gabby Giffords’ and Mark Kelly’s Americans for Responsible Solutions.
But more than money, or a clever message, or a future horror, what will make it possible to beat the Anti-gun lobby is organized people. As Arizona writer, Alan Korwin observed in a recent Op-Ed, “We cannot afford to just wait for the other side to introduce and fight laws that infringe on our rights, which you know they are cooking up. We know what they have cooked up in the past — horrible counterproductive laws that impose penalties on the law abiding and do nothing to the law breakers” , We need to organize and stay united. In the 90’s, the NRA massively outspent those fighting for an assault weapons ban/Brady Bill, but the bad guys still won…
The hard truth is that while nine out of ten Americans say they support the Second Amendment, they aren’t mobilized in the ways they’ll need to be if we’re to overcome the intensity of the Ant-Gun forces. As long as the struggle remains one between a passion and a preference, the Bloombergs and the Media, armed with a battery of scare tactics and willful lies – will win every time. As the President angrily stated Wednesday night, “all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington. But this effort is not over.” If we act like it is, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.