All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
California may be #1 on the Brady Campaign’s scorecard for gun control laws, but New York is #1 where it counts: corruption:
“… From 1976 to 2010, New York had the most corruption convictions of public officials of any state anywhere in the country, weighing in at a cool 2,522 convictions …”
The Hill reports on gun control in the Democrat Party platform:
“… The draft language of the Democrats’ 2012 platform … argues that current safeguards protecting the public against gun violence are insufficient and urges “an honest and open conversation about firearms.” The document also calls for “reasonable regulation” governing guns, including laws banning assault weapons and requiring all gun sellers — not just licensed dealers — to perform background checks on potential buyers …”
Like the GOP platform, the platform is written by party functionaries and is completely unenforceable. It does show a mindset of what the Democrats consider their voter base.
“… Most of the gun language in the Democrats’ draft platform mirrors what was in the 2008 document, but the call for an “open conversation” about gun control — something that’s been all but absent for years on Capitol Hill — is a new addition. The provision marks a subtle shift in messaging for Democratic leaders who have been reluctant to press for tighter gun control — or even hold hearings on the subject — for fear of a political backlash …”
Well, guess what? This is going to cause some political backlash.
No matter how you cut it, the American public is in no mood for more gun control. What point is there in antagonizing an organized constituency (NRA, etc.) when the general public already thinks the President has done a lousy job at running the country? It’s not as if Obama can afford to turn more voters against him.
Furthermore, what point is there in pandering to the kook fringe which have no ability to generate any sort of money/votes around their issue? They don’t even talk about organizing a GOTV effort; it’s just lots of whining about neither party adopting their issues.