Republicans Win, now how do we....

[Zrex]

Get the gun loby and our duly elected representatives to stop sitting on their hands and actively try to repeal illegal, unconstitutional gun laws?

Since many have proclaimed that GWB can now come out of the closet and be pro-gun, I would like to see some legislation instead of 4 years of status quo. I want some agressive action. I want to see something done, instead of just hoping and praying that something is left undone.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I think you are living in Fantasy Land if you think any gun laws will be repealed.

The Republicans would have never repealed the Assault Weapons Ban if it hadnt had the built-in sunset date.

 

[ToxicSteel]

Good question... what should be the first three things on the new agenda. A national CCW would be nice but will never happen. Anything we can think of specifically?

 

[Zrex]

Perhaps I am in fantasy land, but is it too much to ask our "pro gun" congress and "pro gun" president to actually do something "pro gun" instead of doing nothing at all?

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

The Republicans would have never repealed the Assault Weapons Ban if it hadnt had the built-in sunset date.

Strange then that they sponsored a repeal of the ban every year from 1995 to 2003 and actually passed one in the House in 1996.

You are absolutely right that they would never have gotten one through any Congress between 1994 and the newly arriving 109th Congress - there were just too many grabbers for that to happen and Clinton had already promised to veto it in 1996; but if the implication was that the Republicans weren't willing to try, well, I think history proves you wrong on that count.

 

[ToxicSteel]

I see that the Republicans have the Senate by a much larger majority now... what are the odds that pro-gun bills will pass the Senate?

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Perhaps I am in fantasy land, but is it too much to ask our "pro gun" congress and "pro gun" president to actually do something "pro gun" instead of doing nothing at all?

Well, just in case you need to check your bearings in relation to fantasy land, here is the situation from the past four years:

2000-2002 - Republicans control the House; but about 20% of them are anti-gun. Not much pro-gun legislation gets passed. Democrats control the Senate.

2002-2004 - Anti-gunners from both parties get a boot and the percentage of anti-gun Republicans in House drops significantly. Slight pro-gun majority in the House. Republicans barely gain control of Senate; but once again the Democrats are mostly united against guns and just enough Republicans defect that gun legislation is doomed.

In March 2004, 52 Senators support a silly ban on cosmetic features. 53 Senators support outlawing private sales. This is the same Senate that will be in session until January 2005.

Despite this, the Republicans do pass some modest pro-gun legislation including the Tiahrt Amendment, bills arming airline and cargo pilots, and National CCW for police.

January 2005 - we replaced Republican Senator Pete Fitzgerald (pro-ban, anti-gun) with an even more anti-gun Democrat. We replaced moderately pro-gun Republican Senator Campbell with a moderately anti-gun (pro-ban, pro-MMM) Democrat. On the other hand, we replaced 5 GOA F-rated Democrats with 5 new candidates all receiving GOA grades of B or better.

We will now have a chance to pass any legislation that the Dems do not want to filibuster. The real question will be how much political capital are the Dems willing to burn filibustering gun bills?

 

[Zrex]

Argh - just saw this - much better than my idea:

Petition thread