Democrats and guns
James Webb realizes the second amendment isn’t about duck hunting:
I know first hand the importance of armed self-defense by law-abiding citizens as a deterrent to criminals, and in the long term, to would-be tyrants.
Mind you, the NRA is supporting his opponent. Says Webb:
Please help me clear up this deliberate distortion by an organization that I must regretfully conclude has more on its agenda than protecting the earned Second Amendment rights of our citizens.
Seems to be a pattern.
Update: In comments, bitter says:
No, it’s not a pattern. If you follow the comments thread over at Countertop’s, you’d see there’s more to the timing of this than Webb is admitting. He didn’t return the survey until later based on evidence available. Not to mention he’s only getting upset about this now after magazines were mailed more than a month ago. Most likely he’s been sitting on this and just now realized that there is a strong gun vote in Virginia that could throw just enough votes to Allen to help him hold onto his seats.
Still, his quote about tyrants is righteous.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:46 pm
I read that statement, and I must admit I was pleased because he promised to introduce a law to allow concealed weapons in National Parks, something I’ve been pushing for quite a while (he obviously must read my blog). 🙂
Webb is clearly one of the better Democrats as far as guns are concerned. Whether or not Majority Leader Reid will allow him to be pro-gun if a .50 Cal ban or AW ban comes up for a vote is a subject of debate.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm
No, it’s not a pattern. If you follow the comments thread over at Countertop’s, you’d see there’s more to the timing of this than Webb is admitting. He didn’t return the survey until later based on evidence available. Not to mention he’s only getting upset about this now after magazines were mailed more than a month ago. Most likely he’s been sitting on this and just now realized that there is a strong gun vote in Virginia that could throw just enough votes to Allen to help him hold onto his seats.
I’ve been trying to get positions on gun control from the Webb campaign for months, since before the primaries and they weren’t posting or giving information. While I don’t doubt his stance, I do smell something fishy with the timing of his announcement to bash NRA. Don’t take him at his word until the evidence proves otherwise. I’m not saying that it’s impossible NRA isn’t at fault here, as you know how many times I’ve bitched about them. It’s just that the evidence I’ve seen points to Webb or someone on his campaign screwing this one up.
November 2nd, 2006 at 2:13 pm
I’ve always been a advocate of a national CCW, but NOT if it’s under Federal control with its rules, regulations, fees, etc. Any such law should only be pursuant to the Constitution and say that all state CCW permits shall be recognized everywhere in the U.S. subject only to the laws of the “several State” re: CCW.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Permitting CC is an infringement which is prohibited by 2A. It may be the best we think we can do, but think about this, the permit data base becomes another de facto gun registry, or at least gun owner registry.
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Permitting CC is an infringement which is prohibited by 2A. It may be the best we think we can do, but think about this, the permit data base becomes another de facto gun registry, or at least gun owner registry.
If you stop introducing new legislation when you get a concealed carry law, then yes, it’s a potential danger. But if you follow the Alaska model — establish a permit system, let everyone get used to the idea, and then introduce permitless concealed carry a few years later — then it can be a valuable stepping stone to our ultimate goal.
Right now, there is no significant political support for permitless concealed carry in most states. But that might change in another decade, so a strategy that slowly changes the laws bit by bit — eg, eliminating restrictions on concealed carry in National Parks — will eventually lead to a much better situation.