They’re sticking to their guns, so to speak. Despite watching their agenda slip away, the Brady Campaign continues to put a sunny face on things. Their response to the 9th Circuit Nordyke decision reads,
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld Alameda County’s ordinance banning possession and sales of firearms on county-owned property, that was enacted to end gun shows on county fairgrounds.
“We are pleased that the court recognized that the Second Amendment does not prevent state and local governments from enacting common-sense gun laws,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Actually, that’s not the case at all. The ruling narrowly allowed Almeida County to ban guns from county-owned property. It did not allow anything further. To the contrary, the main story with the Nordyke case was that the 2nd Amendment is incorporated against State and local governments through the Due Process clause of the 14th.
Of course, they don’t want to talk about that.
Instead, this week’s email alert from them is about S. 843:
I am asking you to contact your Senators today. The message is clear: we need to close the gun show loophole.
It makes no sense that in most states anyone can walk into a gun show and buy guns – like AK-47s – from unlicensed sellers without a Brady criminal background check.
That’s why last week Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) introduced a bill, S. 843, to close the gun show loophole.
Right now there are 11 cosponsors. Building the list of cosponsors is what we need to move this legislation forward.
We need Brady criminal background checks on all gun sales to help protect you, your family, and your community from gun violence. Since gun shows provide the venue, advertising, and audience for so many of those unregulated sellers, this is the obvious place to start.
The gun lobby will be fighting us every step of the way with its mantra “any gun, anywhere, for anybody.”
That makes it even more critical that your Senators hear from you today. (…) Everyone’s help is needed to make our communities safer.
This is interesting. S. 843 is about the only bill on the Federal level I’m watching this year, and judging by their tone, it seems that its chances may not be very good at all.
Still no word from the NRA on the Pena v. Cid, but the ink’s still drying, and Gura may want to spearhead this on his own. In any case, he knows his stuff, he drafts a good strategy, and he handles himself well. He’s got some serious muscle backing him already, and I’ve high hopes for this one.
The Brady/VPC axis crows about California being a model for “commonsense” firearms regulation. I imagine they see the 9th Circuit as deserting them in Nordyke, and this could overturn another pillar of their canon.
All this, and my El Paso rig finally arrived. What a week.
