We can't gloat till they are gone, but I like this kind of news.
=====================================================================
Oct. 21 Neal Knox Report -- President Bill Clinton, in a
Thursday afternoon Capitol Hill pep rally for the Congressional
Democratic Caucus, made it clear that new gun laws are no longer
on his agenda.
In his half-dozen-item "We want..." list of things he is demanding
to be put on the funding bills before he will sign them, guns weren't
mentioned.
------------
Well after the evening television news last night -- the
deadest news time of the week -- the White House put out a press
release proclaiming today as a "National Day of Concern About Young
People and Gun Violence."
The usual litany of "approximately 10 children are shot and
killed" (if you count 19-year-old drug dealers as children) was
surprisingly offset by a statement that "Gun violence issues differ
in each community, and no single program or approach works
everywhere."
That was a stunning concession to the growing awareness in the
White House -- and a lot of campaigns for Congress -- that "guns"
is backfiring as a political issue, just as it did in 1994.
Amazingly, despite today being "Young People and Gun Violence
Day" Clinton didn't even mention guns during today's radio address,
although much of it concerned school programs.
--------------------
While we've been watching Al Gore and others backing away from
the gun issue for weeks, the gun-hating Washington Post yesterday
carried a front-page article that must have further blistered the
anti-gunrights ideologues.
Written by three of the Post's top political reporters it
said: "The issue of guns--once seen as a potential winner for
Democrats--is now threatening the party's prospects of keeping the
White House and regaining control of Congress."
The article pointed out that last year Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Patrick J. Kennedy (R.I.)
(Teddy's son) had gleefully said his party "would hang the gun
issue around Republicans' 'necks on Election Day.'" But it stated
not only Gore but "House Democrats have also scaled back their
legislative and rhetorical attacks."
At the same time, the Post noted, incumbent Democrats are
coming under fire in several battleground states because of their
votes on last year's gun bills.
This week NRA President Charlton Heston fired up our troops in
three such states -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- even
bringing out more than a 1,000 at a 7:30 a.m. rally near
Pittsburgh. My hat's off to him.
The Washington Post's Metro section sniffed that "outside
groups" were butting in on the Virginia races, naming NRA and the
National Organization for Women.
I'll wager that the Virginia-headquartered NRA has more
individual dues-paying Virginia members than any other voluntary
association in the state -- and more Virginia NRA women
members than the National Organization for Women can claim.
---------------
Brazil's government, which plans to impose an almost-total ban
on firearms, initiated the move last June with an Executive Order
prohibiting all new gun sales. Thursday the nation's 11-member
Supreme Court unanimously struck down the edict, saying it violated
the right of self-defense and would have no demonstrable effect on
crime since criminals don't buy guns in gun stores.
Let's hope the Brazilian court renders the same judgement on
the pending law, which will require most people to turn in their
guns within one year of passage.
---------------
Smith & Wesson has ordered a 15 percent layoff as a result of
the generally slow gun market and the boycott resulting from their
March capitulation to the Clinton White House and the city
lawsuits.
What's ironic is that Tompkins PLC, the British owner which,
I'm told, last fall ordered S&W to get out from under the lawsuits
so they could sell the company, is now complaining that they can't
sell it to anyone.
Unless Tompkins virtually gives the company to its remaining
employees -- and that includes some mighty good folks -- S&W is
clearly going down the tubes.
=====================================================================
Oct. 21 Neal Knox Report -- President Bill Clinton, in a
Thursday afternoon Capitol Hill pep rally for the Congressional
Democratic Caucus, made it clear that new gun laws are no longer
on his agenda.
In his half-dozen-item "We want..." list of things he is demanding
to be put on the funding bills before he will sign them, guns weren't
mentioned.
------------
Well after the evening television news last night -- the
deadest news time of the week -- the White House put out a press
release proclaiming today as a "National Day of Concern About Young
People and Gun Violence."
The usual litany of "approximately 10 children are shot and
killed" (if you count 19-year-old drug dealers as children) was
surprisingly offset by a statement that "Gun violence issues differ
in each community, and no single program or approach works
everywhere."
That was a stunning concession to the growing awareness in the
White House -- and a lot of campaigns for Congress -- that "guns"
is backfiring as a political issue, just as it did in 1994.
Amazingly, despite today being "Young People and Gun Violence
Day" Clinton didn't even mention guns during today's radio address,
although much of it concerned school programs.
--------------------
While we've been watching Al Gore and others backing away from
the gun issue for weeks, the gun-hating Washington Post yesterday
carried a front-page article that must have further blistered the
anti-gunrights ideologues.
Written by three of the Post's top political reporters it
said: "The issue of guns--once seen as a potential winner for
Democrats--is now threatening the party's prospects of keeping the
White House and regaining control of Congress."
The article pointed out that last year Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Patrick J. Kennedy (R.I.)
(Teddy's son) had gleefully said his party "would hang the gun
issue around Republicans' 'necks on Election Day.'" But it stated
not only Gore but "House Democrats have also scaled back their
legislative and rhetorical attacks."
At the same time, the Post noted, incumbent Democrats are
coming under fire in several battleground states because of their
votes on last year's gun bills.
This week NRA President Charlton Heston fired up our troops in
three such states -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- even
bringing out more than a 1,000 at a 7:30 a.m. rally near
Pittsburgh. My hat's off to him.
The Washington Post's Metro section sniffed that "outside
groups" were butting in on the Virginia races, naming NRA and the
National Organization for Women.
I'll wager that the Virginia-headquartered NRA has more
individual dues-paying Virginia members than any other voluntary
association in the state -- and more Virginia NRA women
members than the National Organization for Women can claim.
---------------
Brazil's government, which plans to impose an almost-total ban
on firearms, initiated the move last June with an Executive Order
prohibiting all new gun sales. Thursday the nation's 11-member
Supreme Court unanimously struck down the edict, saying it violated
the right of self-defense and would have no demonstrable effect on
crime since criminals don't buy guns in gun stores.
Let's hope the Brazilian court renders the same judgement on
the pending law, which will require most people to turn in their
guns within one year of passage.
---------------
Smith & Wesson has ordered a 15 percent layoff as a result of
the generally slow gun market and the boycott resulting from their
March capitulation to the Clinton White House and the city
lawsuits.
What's ironic is that Tompkins PLC, the British owner which,
I'm told, last fall ordered S&W to get out from under the lawsuits
so they could sell the company, is now complaining that they can't
sell it to anyone.
Unless Tompkins virtually gives the company to its remaining
employees -- and that includes some mighty good folks -- S&W is
clearly going down the tubes.
