PA Bill Number: HB335

Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.

Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...

Last Action: Removed from table

Last Action Date: May 1, 2024

more >>

More events

If it comes down to Jeb v. Hillary, who do gun owners vote for? :: 06/16/2015

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will reportedly enter the race for the Republican nomination for president today, and already there is groaning in some conservative corners, but for Second Amendment activists, the question might boil down to this: If the choice is between Jeb and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who gets your vote?

Of course, there will be many a stubborn person who casts what has become known as a “throw-away” protest vote for some third party, not-a-chance-in-hell candidate. In that case, election veterans will explain, it’s really a vote for Hillary. Every vote directed away from Bush is one handed to Hillary in that kind of a match and everybody with functioning gray matter knows it.

There will be those who sit out the election and don’t vote. A lot of Washington State gun owners did that last fall, and now they’re complaining about the passage of Initiative 594, the 18-page gun control measure. A vote not cast for Bush in that scenario is equal to a vote cast for Hillary, if she is the Democrats’ nominee.

The next president will appoint the next Supreme Court justices, along with the next string of lower federal court judges, who are appointed for life. Second Amendment leaders will no doubt be reminding the grassroots of that for the next 16 months, leading up to the election of 2016. Rulings from those justices and judges will impact firearms rights for the rest of your lifetime.

The next president will appoint someone to head the embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He, or she, will name the next cabinet, including the next Attorney General.

While Jeb was Florida governor, he signed “stand-your-ground” legislation, causing the gun prohibition lobby to abuse the state’s nickname, calling it “the Gunshine State.” He got an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. When he spoke to that organization at its April convention in Nashville, he reminded them, “I’ve been in the trenches with you and when I was governor, we were passing laws and creating protections for gun owners that set the bar for other states to follow.

“I will match my record against anyone else’s when it comes to the support and defense of the Second Amendment,” he told the audience.

Hillary, on the other hand, didn’t attend the NRA convention. Strolling through the exhibit hall aisles and the convention center hallways, one did not detect much surprise or disappointment.

Of course, these questions also apply to all the other Republican hopefuls, except perhaps for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who hasn’t announced. Maybe now he won’t.

The field is already standing room only. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki and Rick Santorum have tossed their hats in, and the nation is still waiting to hear from Christie, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and even Donald Trump has been hinting at it. Several of them spoke at the NRA's leadership forum and their remarks may be viewed here.

But today the big news is Bush. His dad was president. His brother was president. Some see that as a plus in Jeb’s column, others see it as a serious handicap, but perhaps no worse than Hillary running in Bill’s shadow. So, if it comes down to Jeb versus Hillary in November 2016, the outcome is up to you.

-------------------------------

Got an opinion about this column? Share your thoughts in the "Comments" section below.