It’s amazing how quickly this came to a head. I’d just heard about it a few days ago, and as of yesterday, the Brady Campaign and their ilk were in full panic mode over it with the media. Last night, Fox News was running a constant ticker about it over their program.
Then came the vote today.
We lost by two votes.
Two.
In a Democrat-controlled Senate.
We may have lost this one, but look at the circumstances. This never would have been imaginable ten years ago. Heck, it never would have seemed feasible at any point in modern times.
The winds are changing. Harry Reid voted for it. So did Russ Feingold, as well as Democratic Senators from Alaska, Montana, Arkansas, Colorado, Virginia (both Senators), and Arizona.
This evening, I had an email from the Brady Campaign claiming,
We could not have defeated the National Rifle Association without your calls to your Senators and your tremendous support.
Um, sure. I never even heard from the NRA about this. It all happened too quickly for them to get involved. I imagine a few Senators likely got rushed phone calls from NRA reps (as well as from the Brady axis), but I think it’s safe to assume that those who voted did so with little or no political pressure from either side.
This vote wasn’t lost over superior pressure. It was lost because,
- two people couldn’t be swayed in such a short time,
- the parent bill wasn’t overly time sensitive, and could thus be remanded to committee, and
- it was poorly conceived.
Frankly, this is the first time I’ve ever heard Democrats defend state sovereignty, but they’ve got a point. I’d really rather see this particular issue be settled through the courts under the blanket of the 14th Amendment. If we just ramrod a hasty bit of legislation through, some states will find a way to wiggle out of compliance.
Granted, it appeared Thune and Coburn were trying to apply the idea of full faith and credit to carry permits, but there could have been a backlash.
Take states like California and New Jersey. Both issue permits, but for the most part, it is very difficult for the average person to get one. Neither state would have any trouble convincing its electorate that their “concealed carry loophole” needs to be closed. Don’t want those wacky out-of-towners bringing in their crazy ideas about self defense? Ban civilian carry altogether.
Then residents of those states would be completely out of luck.
This one wasn’t very well thought out. More to the point, we can’t risk our winning streak. This is a war we can win, but we need to choose our battlegrounds and strategies well.