VPC Update

[Bud Helms]

VPC--Victory for Gun Control Advocates

Dear Violence Policy Center Action Network Member:

The "biggest election disaster in nearly 15 years."

That's the National Rifle Association's own description--in election materials that it distributed to its membership before November 7th--of the impact of a switch in the control of Congress. Already the NRA is warning of doom for its pro-gun agenda. According to a November 8th missive from the NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, "It's an ominous day: The enemy has occupied headquarters, control has fallen into their hands, and freedom is once again calling for her defenders."

As you know, this past Congress, like others, the VPC has been fighting to defend the federal gun laws already on the books that protect public safety--and we have been successful this Congress in blocking many of the gun lobby's top legislative goals. But in the new Congress, the NRA's hegemony over the agenda on Capitol Hill will end. Once again, the voices of those advocating measures to stop gun death and injury will be heard.

Click here to read the VPC's press release issued following the election:
http://www.vpc.org/press/0611elect.htm

And here to read my most recent column on The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/nra-the-biggest-electi_b_33723.html

Thank you, as always, for your time and energy in support of reducing gun death and injury.

Best,

Josh Sugarmann
Executive Director

***

 

[azredhawk44]

Renewing my lapsed membership in NRA, joining GOA and SAF for the first time.

They bring in a bunch of blue dogs, and they think they have a mandate to start gun-snatching again? <exasperated sigh>

 

[JLelli]

In addition to the House turnover, NRA-backed Senate candidates also lost in key races including Rick Santorum (R-PA), Jim Talent (R-MO), Mike Bouchard (R-MI), and Michael Steele (R-MD). In the two Senate races still too close to call, the NRA backed Republicans George Allen in Virginia and Conrad Burns in Montana.

What the fascist propagandists don't tell you is that Bob Casey, John Tester, and Jim Webb are all pro-gun Dems (Hell, Webb is a flippin' member of the NRA!), and Bouchard and Steele were challengers (so no gain from their defeats). The only actual gain the jackboots had in the Senate was the ouster of pro-gun Talent for anti-gun McCaskill. Chafee and DeWine were anti-gun Repubs anyway, so their defeat is no loss for the RKBA movement. So there you have it. The loss of one Senate seat. Hardly a "disastrous election". I'd imagine the new House Dems are of similar character.

 

[Greg Bell]

The real disaster was in the elevation of extremely anti-gun democrats to the head of various commities. Still, even the NRA found the election a mixed bag:

Change in Washington, D.C., will be very real. Extreme opponents of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms have been elevated to seats of power, especially in the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker and John Conyers is set to take over the powerful Judiciary Committee. Anti-gunners will also assume the chairs of important sub-committees. The power shift is balanced in part by the fact that Second Amendment champion, and former NRA Board Member John Dingell, the longest serving member in the House, is set to regain the reins of the Energy and Commerce Committee and will be a powerful voice for gun owners rights among his colleagues. Pro-gun Democrats will also chair some very relevant committees and sub-committees.