Why firearms don't matter this election and you should vote for Obama.

[gorfle]

I know that there are a lot of folks out there who are very pro-firearm rights, and who use a politician's stance on firearm ownership as a litmus test for whether or not to vote for them.

Let me tell you why firearms don't matter this election and why you should vote for Obama.

First of all, I am encouraged that firearms have not taken a central point of focus during any of the election debates or discussions to date. This indicates to me that the Democratic Party recognizes that this is a dangerous issue.

Secondly, we have the Heller Decision behind us now, which reaffirms that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, and not a collective right.

Finally, and most importantly, we must all ask ourselves what the primary reason of firearm ownership is. If you agree, as our founders did, that the primary reason for firearm ownership is to serve as a deterrent and a means to resist tyranny and oppression, then we must all ask ourselves what sort of government is the person we are voting for likely to bring us?. Is your candidate the one to push us down the road of more liberty and less likelihood to need to resist tyranny and oppression, or more likely?

Over the last 8 years we have seen an administration that has infringed on our civil liberties. We have seen and heard about pervasive wire-tapping and domestic surveillance programs. We have learned about the suspension of Habeus Corpus and the perils of being declared an "enemy combatant" at a whim, effectively stripping away your Constitutional rights indefinitely. We have been moving down the road towards totalitarianism. This must stop, or we may well find ourselves at the point of having to use our firearms as the final recourse our founders feared. The candidate most likely to reverse this course is Barak Obama.

It would be folly to follow the more pro-firearm candidate, McCain, only to be led down the road that leads to 8 more years of what we have already had.

[TxRider]

1. It doesn't matter to much anymore..

I've thought about it...

I already have all the assault weapons I want.

I would like to see a new AWB challenge Heller ASAP. Not going to happen under McCain.

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. And a new AWB won't happen under Obama, either.

No one has ever accused Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi of being stupid. They will quietly smother any
new AWB, lest they hand Congress back to the GOP in 2010.

They will not be willing to endanger all the Democratic Party's goals in order to placate a vocal minority. Besides, what would it matter if the VPC/Brady coalition did complain? People aren't going
to vote Green due to a lack of further gun control. Cynthia McKinney is just as crazy as Sarah Palin,
and it shows. The Greens are a joke until they get someone more credible running for President.

No, I think Dems are smart enough to realize that most of a loaf is still better than no loaf at all.

[Irreverend IX]

3. There are a number of differences between today and 1994 w.r.t. gun policy.

In 1994, the Brady Campaign was at the height of its power and they drew huge crowds of reporters wherever they went, and groups like the Million Mom March were picking up lots of steam. The media always plays on the fears of the people, and during the innocent Clinton years there wasn't much to seriously be afraid of, so guns were a convenient target.

Today, the anti-gun groups are much weaker. Sebastian from Pro-Gun Progressive gave a firsthand account of a Brady press conference where only 3 non-Brady staffers attended in this blog post: http://progunprogressive.com/?p=213 . The Million Mom March was bought up by the Bradys a few years back when it couldn't keep going on its own, and none of the anti groups seem to release membership numbers anymore.

But the Internet really sheds light on the disparities between the two sides: I know of more than 100 blogs that are dedicated to gun discussion and pro-gun advocacy, and 3 blogs that are dedicated to gun control advocacy, and 2 of those anti-gun blogs (the Brady blog and Gun Guys) are written by paid lobbyists. Most amusing is that the Bradys disabled comments on their blog posts after the comments began running 30-to-1 against them. Before the Web took off, people were much more dependent on the anti-gun MSM for public policy information.

[SteveM]

5. Seems like MSM IS the anti-gun lobby, now (nt)

[Howzit]

4. I predict an event labeled as domestic terrorism will be used to push though

"common sense legislation", including an AWB.

[aikoaiko]

6. I'm voting for Obama even though he still supports the AWB reauthorization.

But its a huge problem for me. Sadly, it even makes me consider voting for Senators and my Representative based on this issue regardless of party affiliation. Fortunately, my Representative is pro-gun and anti-AWB, and a Democrat. I still need to look at my choice of Senators.

Once stupid guns laws gets passed, they tend to stick around.