October 31st, 2008
Gunning for Victory by Dave Kopel
Definitely worth a look.
I’d like to point out this bit:
The very worst-case scenario for the Second Amendment is -7 in the Senate, and -26 in the House. This would be a terrible outcome, but it is considerably better than the very worst-case scenario for Republicans in both houses. That the former is better than the latter reflects the National Rifle Association’s success in working with pro-gun Democrats. Obviously the more realistic scenario would be smaller losses in both houses, with perhaps a few pick-ups in the U.S. House.
There are a lot of races were pro-gun Republican incumbents are being challenged by pro-gun Democrats — no net loss for the Second Amendment.
While this is completely true and good to know that there is a certain level of “gun safety net” out there for gun owners in the event that things go very badly, it’s also worth remembering that pro-gun Democrats, particularly newly-elected pro-gun Democrats, are going to have significant trouble making much of an impact (i.e., heading off a new Assault Weapons Ban). They will find themselves caught up in the party machine and probably be more of a speed bump at most, rather than a roadblock, to new gun control legislation.
Obama is clearly (despite what he says) very strongly anti-gun, and so is virtually all of the senior Democratic leadership in Congress. I’d rather have pro-gun Democrats than anti-gun Democrats, but when push comes to shove the pro-gun Democrats will usually side with the anti-gun Democrats over any Republicans.
