PA Bill Number: HB2235

Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...

Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...

Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY

Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024

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Maybe pushing gun control not so smart after all :: 11/05/2015

The Washington Post yesterday seemed to acknowledge that pushing gun control — at least in two Virginia races decided Tuesday that left Democrats supported by Gov. Terry McAuliffe — “may have backfired by producing a pro-Republican backlash,” something that should sound an alarm for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

This acknowledgement came simultaneously to a report in the Washington Free Beacon that, for the sixth month in a row, October showed a record number of FBI background checks. That translates to increased gun sales, a fact which gun rights advocate Alan Gottlieb used to remind people that “Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the best gun salespeople on the planet.”

Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, is no stranger to this issue. He’s been watching trends in the gun community for decades, and recent history has demonstrated that when anti-gunners push for more restrictive laws, people flock to the gun shops, gun shows and sporting goods stores.

Earlier this week, Examiner noted also that Washington State, where Gottlieb is headquartered, reached a milestone. More than a half-million active concealed pistol licenses are now in circulation. The mark was reached late last month, and it reflects a trend that has been continuing for the past few years, and is indicative of a nationwide movement.

The other day, Hillary Rodham Clinton told an Iowa audience that she will push gun control as a campaign issue. But the Washington Post article suggested that this might not be a smart move.

Just how serious is this controversy? The Huffington Post noted yesterday an election outcome in Coos County, Oregon, where voters by a 61 percent margin passed a measure that “directs the sheriff to decide whether certain state and federal gun laws violate the Second Amendment. If he thinks they do, the county is banned from using any resources to enforce those laws.”

The HuffPo headline had a snarky sub-head: “P.S. This is illegal.”

In the Virginia races, where McAuliffe had invested money and political capital, there may have been a spoiler, according to the Washington Post. That was the money spent by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg in an attempt to influence the election’s outcome and give McAuliffe a Democratic Senate.

The newspaper referred to a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial that said Democrat Daniel A. Gecker, who was challenging Republican Glen Sturtevant, “made a massive mistake” by letting an “interest group affiliated with” Bloomberg run ads on his behalf. The editorial said it gave voters “a reason to rise up in indignation.”

There is much at state with the 2016 election, as this column has noted previously. The president nominates federal judges and Supreme Court justices. The Senate confirms those nominations. A shift at the Supreme Court could affect Second Amendment rights for generations.

Clinton has staked out a position that not only may send people to gun stores, it may also get them to the voting booth next November. That could have long coattails, affecting local elections as well. It’s too late for her to tone down the rhetoric, or walk it back. Clinton, and to no small extent, Barack Obama, have ignited a discussion, and they’re stuck with it.