What have the Republicans actually done for the 2nd Amendment?

D

Dust Monkey

New member
What have the Republicans actually done for the 2nd Amendment? In the years they controlled the Congress, 1995 to 2006, I am having a hard time finding one, just one, Pro 2A piece of Legislation that the entire Republican Party rallied behind and tried to pass. That is sad, especially since we view the Republican party as the 2A party, and we vote for them primarily because the Democrats ARE anti gun. I am not here to argue Republican vs. Democrats with regards to the 2A. I am here wondering why is the only thing the Republicans can say that they did, which was not really PRO gun, was letting the AWB sunset. I for one am tired of voting just to keep the status quo.

(I do not want to hear from all the Ron Paul worshipers. The man is a kook, and has not a snowball's chance of being President, even on an Independent ticket the only victory he would insure is a Democrat in the Oval Office.)

The Democrats victory in 2006 was a stone against the window for the Republican party, an irritant. Republicans need a wake up call. A message loud and clear to spell out what we, the people who put them in office, expect of them. I have no idea how to do this, since I firmly believe that writing, calling, faxing and emailing your congress critter does not help at all. Only the fear of losing their job seems to help, and that is only during an election year. Once elected, its back to business of ignoring the American People.

I fear that apathy has set in with the American People, who IMO only care about next weeks Idol program or shoes that light up when you walk. I can not remember any pro 2A protests in the past, so it is doubtful that any organized protests will be held in the future. Reason being, IMO, we as gun owners are far to worried about losing what we have, even though all the we have is system where we must ask permission to exercise our constitutional right. .

With this in mind I ask you chime in with your opinion. To recap:

1.Republicans are not friendly to the 2nd Amendment
2.Republicans have not produced 1 Pro Gun Bill/Legislation
3.Republicans could have produced Pro Gun Legislation in the almost 12 years that they controlled Congress.
4.Contacting, by any means, your congress critter does little or no good at all.
5.Apathy of the People.

I realize that more important issues have priority, Iraq, immigration/amnesty and such, but come on, out of 12 years, not 1 pro gun bill passed, not even 1 pro gun fight to get it passed.


What pro gun bills would you like to see passed? What gun bills would you like to see repealed. How can we hold our elected officials feet to the fire? Share your thoughts.

PARKER v DC will hopefully bring about some positive 2A outcomes. Hopefully, if SCOTUS accepts an appeal in 9/07, any opinion will likely come out in late spring early summer 08, right before an election.

Dust Monkey
 
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1. I don't have the real numbers, but I suspect there are more Republicans than Democrats supporting various states’ "shall issue" CCW laws.

2. The Republicans allowed the AWB to expire. Please don’t try and tell me it would have expired with Democrat control of the House, Senate, and Presidency.

3. They have installed two new Supreme Court Justices who are much more likely to support RKBA than the justices they replaced.

4. The Senate vote on the Gun Industry Shield was voted on two years ago, and I count Rs and Ds as follows:

Voting Republicans in favor of the Shield:
50 to 2, or 96.15%.

Voting Democrats in favor of the Shield:
14 to 29, or 32.56%.

5. More recently, only 16 senators voted against H.R. 5013 to prohibit the confiscation of firearms (ala New Oreleans):

(D-HI), Boxer (D-CA), Clinton (D-NY), Dodd (D-CT), Durbin, (D-IL), Feinstein (D-CA), Harkin (D-IA), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Levin (D-MI), Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Schumer (D-NY).

Do you Detect a pattern ?

6. Even more than what the Republicans have done for us, consider what the Democrats have done. This post comes from Bartholomew Roberts over on The High Road:



How many gun rights have you lost under the Democrats?
Quite a few actually...

1934 National Firearms Act - Passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by a Democratic President

1968 Gun Control Act - Passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by a Democratic President

1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act - Signed by a Republican Preisdent. Passed by a Democrat House/Republican Senate. The one anti-gun measure in the whole bill (closing the NFA registry) added in the House by Democrats.

1994 Brady Bill - Democratic Congress and President
1994 Lautenberg Act - Democratic Congress and President
1994 Assault Weapon Ban - Democratic Congress and President

2000 Democratic Presidential candidate runs on increased gun control, including licensing and registration of all handguns

2004 Democratic Presidential candidate voted to ban all centerfire rifle ammo, end CMP, and ban semi-autos (including the Remington 1187 he was later photographed with on the campaign trails)

And progunner1957 has already shared legislation that Ted Kennedy wanted to co-sponsor in 1994 and explained what that legislation does. If we haven't lost more gun rights to Democrats, it sure isn't from lack of them trying...

Also considering that either Ted Kennedy or Pat Leahy will be Chairman of the Senate Judiciary (the Senate committee that hears gun legislation) if the Republicans lose the Senate, I think it is fair to point out Kennedy's desires to massively restrict gun control.
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Any more questions ?
 
Dust Monkey - Widen your field of view for a moment.

For starters, what they *didn't* do is more important than what they did. They didn't renew the AW ban. That is a big one, IMO.

Passing federal laws that you consider pro-2nd isn't really a good measure of Republicans commitment to the issue. Take a look at the state legislatures during the time period you suggested. More than twelve states liberalized their concealed carry laws. Republicans were the ones who were supporting this change much more so than Democrats.

For my money, the less that gets done in Washington, the better. Thanks to Ohio Republicans, I now have a CHL and the law has been changed for the better after only two years. We now also have statewide firearm law preemption so there's no more patchwork of local laws to worry about.

-Dave
 
what was once a right is now a privilege and people rejoice in ignorance and cheer on the progress:barf:

they could remove import laws and really need to ditch those executive orders and directives that would be a good start.

Current administration said it would sign the AWB if it hit his desk.
Current administration could have fixed the issue of 83,000 vets not getting there privilege restored due to VA turning over there info.
Was an appeal process for that didnt work for them.

Lots of laws they could have 76'ed for Liberty but thats not to popular these days. They would rather raid the treasury.
 
A more important question is, what are we Republicans doing to force our Represenatives and Senators into creating pro gun legislation? If not pushed by us, they will do nothing. Sitting back hoping they will dream up pro gun legislation that favors us is a dream.

Martyn
 
For starters, what they *didn't* do is more important than what they did. They didn't renew the AW ban. That is a big one, IMO.
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Quite. Sometimes the best you can hope for from politicians is that they don't do anything.
 
Entertaining watching the recent arrivals tell us all how bad the Repubs are while trying to pretend the Dems are anything but guaranteed destruction.

Here's a clue on how a lot of people see this, guys: When the Dems get right on the UN, abortion, taxes, guns, the military and nationalizing whole segments of the economy then they'll have a chance with us. Until then and as long as the Repubs are not actively destructive people will either vote Repub or stay home. The odds of voting Dem are somewhere between slim and not a friggin' chance.

As for Paul, his chances depend on whether people are actually dumb enough to believe he has no chance and fence-sitters enough to believe there is something kookish about knowing what one believes and standing for the Constitution.
 
Martyn hit the nail on the head. Republican senators need to be pushed into action. If they can be confident of our vote while sitting on the fence they will. This way they can play both sides you see. If they are forced to push pro gun legislation by us then they lose the other side. The fence is much better............but nothing gets fixed this way. Politicians main concern is re election. If their base complains enough to make them belief that their vote is in jeopardy they will respond. Until then its the fence.
 
Right offhand I'd say they passed legislation protecting firearms manufacturers from silly lawsuits by mayors (usually Democrats) claiming that gun manufacturers should be liable for criminal misuse of a firearm.

They've also passed legislation preventing funding for BATF trace data.

This Thread strikes me as another "bash the Republican Party" thread. Of course, Hillbama will work to protect your firearms, too. :rolleyes:
 
I for one am tired of voting just to keep the status quo.

(I do not want to hear from all the Ron Paul worshipers. The man is a kook, and has not a snowball's chance of being President, even on an Independent ticket the only victory he would insure is a Democrat in the Oval Office.)
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I could comment on the irony of those two statements directly next to each other...

The only reason why we won't ever get anything but what we got in the past is because people have come to think that a candidate who's actually taking a consistent pro-liberty position regardless of popular appeal is a "kook" who's unelectable.

I've come to think it may not be a bad idea to just get it over with an have a Democrat in the White House in 2008. At least the Republicans may get off their asses and stop taking the gun vote for granted, because "who else are they going to vote for?"
 
Fremmer said:
This Thread strikes me as another "bash the Republican Party" thread. Of course, Hillbama will work to protect your firearms, too.
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Not a bash at all. The OP, Dust Monkey, posed a legitimate question and you provided legtimate answers. I would have liked to see them fund the unfunded firearms disability law that is already on the books and repeal the Hughes amendment when they controlled everything.

Silver Bullet said:
That's what we had with Clinton. How'd you like the results ?
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The President is the last in line to defend our Constitution and our BoRs with the veto and Clinton didn't uphold his oath and protect our rights with that power but neither did Bush, Bush sr, or Reagan. It seems like it's getting to be a contest on who can bend the BoR's the most and get away with it and it's a relatively recent attitude. Think back to the 1934 NFA, why didn't they just ban mg's, cans and dd's instead of tax them? They were democrats controlling both the congress and in the wh. Or prohibition in the 20's? Because they knew it was illegal and against their oath of office to do so just like today's legislators know it but ignore it because we allow them to ignore it. It's not just Clinton, it's most of them. They have become do-gooders instead of defenders of what made this nation great.

The solution? I don't have a clue, it's so far gone now but I will vote for defenders whatever party they are from. Prime example in my district is Mel Martinez, a republican. He's a do-gooder not a defender. He's pushing hard for Bush's amnesty debacle. He needs to go. Same with Bill Nelson, a democrat. The only solution I remotely see helping is campaign finance reform so the incumbant isn't bought into the office and it'll have to be a constitutional amendment because they won't limit themselves, we already know that.

But I agree and most of us here agree, republicans usually are more so the defenders than the dems, who are usually the do-gooders, but these days it's getting really hard to tell the difference from the "ruling" parties. Know what I mean?

When I hear George Bush say, "My job is to protect the people", I go :barf: and that's not a bash that's constructive criticism. If you ignore cancer it only spreads.
 
Gotta love it.

This Thread strikes me as another "bash the Republican Party" thread. Of course, Hillbama will work to protect your firearms, too.
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I am pro republican. Never voted for a Democrat in my life.


I sill ask. What have the republicans done for the 2nd amendment?


AWB sunset, sure, but would it have happened if not an election year?
Lawsuit shield. That too.

What have the Republicans done that is PRO 2A? Right now we have a permission system, we ask, they give us permission to carry a gun. What have they accomplished. Anything pro gun.

From my original post:
What pro gun bills would you like to see passed? What gun bills would you like to see repealed. How can we hold our elected officials feet to the fire? Share your thoughts.
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That's what we had with Clinton. How'd you like the results ?
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If I had to choose between 8 more years of Bill Clinton or 8 more years of George Bush today. I think I would go with Clinton.
 
If I had to choose between 8 more years of Bill Clinton or 8 more years of George Bush today. I think I would go with Clinton.
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Not me. I like the two new Supreme Court Justices.

But that’s not really the point. Would you vote Obama or Hillary just to spite the Republicans ?
 
So do you like Bush's new Immigration Bill he wants to push through Congress? I didn't vote for Clinton either time but sometimes he did listen to what the citizens were saying. Bush on the other hand appears to be deaf to the wishes of the citizens most of the time.

I already did, I voted for Kerry in the last election. I voted for Bush the first time and simply couldn't stomach him and his administration any longer. Unless the Republicans come up with something new and improved I might do it a second time. So far the only guy I would vote for is Ron Paul say what you want he is consistent in his beliefs about the Constitution and votes so. If he doesn't get the nomination I just might vote for a Democrat for President. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.

The election is the republicans to win or lose....

You can thank President George Bush for that....

I believe the Second Amendment is important but there are other issues that are important too.
 
Dust Monkey,

I posted a response to your question in post #13, but somehow it
"disappeared".

I guess you have some sort of protected status. Congratulations.
 
I still was able to buy firearms during the Clinton Administration :eek: Nobody came to the house to get the ones I had...

If that happens, I guess we'll deserve the AWB we get.
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We had the shooting at VT and a strange thing happened we got a bill passed that was worked on by Democrats and the NRA and it passed in that part of Congress. Yes the AWB passed by a very slim margin with a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress after the next election it was a Democratic President and a Republican Congress. The folks who betrayed the NRA and changed their vote which would have defeated that AWB went bye-bye. I myself put no trust in politicians when it comes to the second Amendment. I prefer to put my trust in the citizens who support the Second Amendment and the organizations they support to keep the pressure on the politicians.
 
I posted a response to your question in post #13, but somehow it
"disappeared".

I guess you have some sort of protected status. Congratulations.
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SB, feel free to use the PM. I dont know about any protected status that I have. I do know if you attack someone (not saying you did) instead of the post, you get spanked.
 
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