[Sarge43]

I go into the regular gun shops that I frequent and see signs touting how our rights are basically gone like the wind the day after the election if the Democrats win. Now I see things like this every election, so it's not surprising, but it did get me to thinking - How much of this is true, and how much is just paranoia?
It would seem to me with the grass roots gains that we as weapon owners have made in the past 8 years (many states passing "shall issue" carry permits, the passing away of the mandatory 5 day waiting period etc) that our rights, while not as protected as they need to be, have been making a comeback. The media being so far the other way has quietly just let these gains go without fanfare, so the headlines still reflect the gloom and doom of the gun grabbers coming after us and our rights.
It would seem to me that we are in a better position now than we have been at any point in the last decade, with government officials who are voting more and more to protect and restore our rights given by the second ammendment. With our 3 branch governement, the President can't just dictate domestic policy as law except in the most extreme of circumstances, and it would seem that in todays climate any attempt to go backwards would be quickly shut down by the other branches. Am I off my rocker here? Looking through rose colored glasses? I'm not saying that we and our rights are on easy street by any means, only that we seem to be in a better place and on the way up than we were in the past.
The gun grabbers had their shot with the waiting periods, the weapons and magazine bans that were so touted in the media, but failed miserably to have any impact on crime.
Do you think the next President, no matter who it is, is going to have a large impact on "us"?
Very interested in opinions on this.
Sarge

 

[El Pistolero]

Well, one fact is that obama supports a national law against concealed carry and with the democrat controlled congress it's not a huge jump to think they would follow him on it:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.gun.html

 

[gottripletsNC]

While I agree with Pistolero whole heartedly, I don't think that Obama will be the death knell to gun ownership, I do however, worry heavily that he can put one heck of a dent in our rights. One thing that we have is a voice. I am a member of the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association), and when the government tried to pass laws that would end homeschooling, the homeschoolers of America started calling their representatives, and they SHUT DOWN the switchboard in DC for three days. Politicians have a formula for every one person that calls, they know how many more are trying to call, so that legislation died quickly. It had only ONE vote in the entire house. That vote came from the person that introduced it.
If the government starts trying to mess with us, then we need to do the same thing. When enough people call to shut down the switchboard, the politicians run scared!!!

 

[El Pistolero]

I don't think he will completely do away with gun ownership or anything either, I do think he will do whatever he can to chip away at it and whatever that includes I could not say for sure. It probably depends on what people will let him get away with. I'm sure he would appoint anti gunners to every position he can.

Clinton did some chipping when he was in and it bounced back now, but obabma is more anti gun than clinton every thought about being.

Going against guns has actually cost the democratic party and it may again, but I don't think it will stop certain politicians from trying.

 

[Sarge43]

I know here in KS that democrats actually crossed over and voted in support of overturning the govenors veto of the concealed carry law. It gives me hope at least. I'm sure there will always be hardcore anti's just like there are hardcore pro's, but it seems to me that common sense is coming into play a little more in the bulk of politicians at least where personal weapons are involved. I hope it's true.
In my mind, if Obama did try to wreak havoc, there would be an upswell in protest playing up the ineffectiveness of the last attempts at gun grabbing and the fact that laws only affect those inclined to follow them in the first place. I personally don't think that he'll be able to much further his agenda on private weapons. All that said, I hope we don't have to find out.

 

[tsp45acp]

I don't necessarily fear Osama/Obama & the Dem house and Senate. I fear the Supreme Court nominees he'll bring forth with the votes to get them in. Tracy

 

[MarshallDodge]

I don't like to use the term Republican and Democrat when talking about lawmakers. I believe their are good pro-gun candidates on both sides of the isle so I like to label them for what they are pro- or anti-gunners.

Typically Democrats are anti-gun and in the case of Obama he has got to be the worst of the worst. In this election I think we need to work hard on getting pro-gun people elected on all levels.

If Obama gets in office there will be some attempts at curtailing our gun rights, you can bank on it. McCain will probably feel the heat from Congress to pass some anti-gun legislation as well. He has moved around some on the issue but he made a heck of a convincing speech at the NRA meetings that made me feel much better about him. Sure McCain has done some things to hurt our cause but I believe him to be the better candidate over Obama.

Video (it gets good at about 3:48)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1_Xti2ieKo

 

[Denis S]

It's a fact that liberals don't like private gun ownership. In the long term, just following the demographics trends, there's probably going to be a near total ban on firearms in the US. So the posters are not paranoid. In the short term, however, I think the dems will let this issue sleep until they gather more strength. They'll pick their battles. The last administration has done some productive things (war on terror, supreme court nominees, scuttling global warming agreements) that put the libs on the defensive. It will take some time for them to put forward broad reaching anti-american legislation of the AWB type.

 

[longtooth]

I hope you are right but I fear they will start fast & furious if they win this one.

 

[El Pistolero]

I don't like to use the term Republican and Democrat when talking about lawmakers.

I hear that from a lot of people and there are plenty of pro gun democrats in this state but the fact remains that the vast majority of the anti gun sentiment and bills come from the democrat side, period. For that reason alone it's perfectly logical to connect the anti gunners with the democrats and I don't care how many pro gun democrats it offends. If they don't like it they can change parties.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I hear that from a lot of people and there are plenty of pro gun democrats in this state but the fact remains that the vast majority of the anti gun sentiment and bills come from the democrat side, period. For that reason alone it's perfectly logical to connect the anti gunners with the democrats and I don't care how many pro gun democrats it offends. If they don't like it they can change parties.

Did I touch a sore spot with you EP? :wink:

I believe there were 15 Republicans that voted for the Assault Weapons Ban. :nonono:


I agree that the Democrats are typically anti-gun and said so in my post. Unfortunately people vote along party lines, not whether or not the candidate is qualified, pro-gun, etc. Up in Montana for instance, there are quite a few pro-gun Democrats. They were voted in because of the strong unions at the mines and Democrats support unions.


Personally I would like to do away with the party system in this country. Just tell us what you stand for and we will decide on whether or not you should get elected.

 

[El Pistolero]

Just because I state the way it is does not mean you touched a sore spot with me, you are assigning yourself WAAAY too much self importance.

Quoting 15 republicans voting for the ban in no way means the republican party is remotely as anti gun as the democrat party. There are pro gun democrats in a lot of the southern states, there are some here, but I will say again by far most of the anti gun stuff comes from the democrats/liberals like chuck schumer.

In 1995, the Republican-controlled House voted to repeal it, but the democrats controlled the white house and senate. Did you notice that? The democrats passed it in power and the republicans tried to repeal it whey they got the house? If you notice it was the republicans in charge when the assault weapons ban was NOT reinstated.

You also said:

I don't like to use the term Republican and Democrat when talking about lawmakers. I believe their are good pro-gun candidates on both sides of the isle so I like to label them for what they are pro- or anti-gunners.

and regardless of what you say the democrats ARE the anti gun party where the republicans have been more supportive of gun owners regardless of whether a few republicans voted for the assault ban. Nothing is ever 100%, but as parties they are FAR from being even close on this issue. I'm no big fan of the republicans but I do at least go through life with my eyes open.

I say again, If pro gun dimocrats get offended by their party being called anti gun then tough because the dimocrat party IS the anti gun party of the worthless 2 "ruling" parties regardless if some of the people are pro gun whether you like it or not.

Party does not matter, it's the politicians. Right. It looks like the democratic party is backing gun control?:

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/09/democratic_law_1.php

Democratic Law Makers Rally for Gun Control

Democratic state legislators went into one of the most conservative counties in the Pennsylvania and announced plans to submit a package of bills on gun control during a day-long special session of the House on crime near the end of the month. The state issues about 1 million hunting licenses each year. As a result, gun control legislation has been hard to pass because most legislators represent the rural areas of the state where there is a high rate of gun owners and sportsmen.

Legislative proposals would include limits on the sale of handguns to one per month; a ban on military-style assault weapons statewide; additional funding for police and police equipment; and a requirement that gun owners report a lost or stolen firearms within 24 hours.

Democrats are pushing the legislation forward as a result of new polling data showing that suburban residents have a concern with gun violence. The poll shows that 80 percent of rural voters said they support a statewide limit on handgun purchases to one gun a month. Nearly 75 percent of the Republican voters surveyed supported the one-gun-a-month limit as well. The group of Democrats were led by State Representative Dwight Evans of Philadelphia.

There have been more than 260 homicides in Philadelphia this year, and more than 1,200 shooting victims, Evans said. More than 80 percent of the city's homicides were committed with guns, according to statistics on the city's Web site.

With momentum for gun control at a high level, this may be the best shot Democrats have to establishing gun control in the state. Some critics say this legislation may not be the best option, but Democrats understand that reform takes time and are trying to fix the problem instead of just recognizing that there is one.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I think you have me labeled all wrong. I am a card carrying Republican but I have crossed over to vote Democrat on the occasion that the Democrat was a conservative.

For instance. When I lived in Illinois I voted for a conservative Democrat that was running against George Ryan, a Republican, for governor. George was a wolf in sheep's clothing. He was not only anti-gun but he had a lot of other liberal tendencies. He went on to win the election and was later indicted on a scam that he had pulled when he was Secretary of State. He is now in prison.

All I am saying is be careful who you are voting for, the Republican may not be the best choice. :frown:

 

[El Pistolero]

Well I can certainly agree with that at least on a state level, In some voting years I have seen the nra back more democrats in this state than republicans. On a national level though I have not seen any democratic presidential candidate more pro gun than the republican president and it's not likely to happen as the people that seem to control the democratic party are far too left for that to happen.

I've been around long enough to see the democratic party move way left. Zell miller said the party moved left and left him and it's the truth, the democratic party is a long way from kennedy's time (I saw kennedy not long before he was killed).