THE LOYAL OPPOSITION
By Sean Delonas
ous consequence. It is what has steeled resis- tance among those who might otherwise look for common ground. “I would agree to
some more reasonable restrictions,” says Greg Block, licensed gun instructor and owner of Self-Defense Fire- arms Training, “with the understanding that they would stop there forever. But they won’t. If we give them one thing, next they are going to take another. So we have put our heels in the ground, and we are dug-in. I have no problem with background checks for law abiding citizens . . . but because they won’t stop there, I refuse to give in.” As for the political end-game, this much is clear: Taking on the NRA, an organization that spent an estimated $20 million on politi- cal campaigns in the 2012 cycle, won’t be an easy lift. Major- ity Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who himself boasts a “B” NRA rating, has voiced reluc- tance to take a symbolic vote that would hurt his members’ chances
side from the fl oor as an amendment. As soon as Reid has the 51 votes needed to pass that measure, he will release the more vul- nerable members of the caucus to cast symbolic votes against Fein- stein’s anti-gun bill, in order to save their political hides. That way, the red-
state senators would have political deniabil- ity if opponents later
for re-election, unless the votes are there to get a measure through the GOP-controlled House as well. Democratic senators like Joe Manchin, Max Baucus, and Mark Begich, who hail from states with strong pro-gun cultures, will need plenty of political cover. Reid must have their help getting the 60 votes necessary to break a GOP fi libus- ter. But he will only ask them to support a much more modest pro- posal, perhaps one calling for bet- ter instant-check databases and mental-health reporting. Once the bill clears the fi libus-
ter hurdle, Feinstein will then off er her much stronger anti-gun broad-
charge they allowed Feinstein’s restrictions to go forward. Once the Senate passes legisla-
tion, the House would come under intense pressure to at least do something. But Baker, the NRA’s veteran of hard-fought legislative battles, says the closer the mem- bers of Congress get to the mid- term election, the more they will focus on what they have to do to win re-election. “We are going to be letting our
Something has happened to our values. Back in the 1940s and ’50s, in New York City, they had shooting clubs at the high
schools. Kids would carry their rifles on the subways to compete after school in contests to try to win scholarships. Parents would give a 14-year-old a .22 rifle as a birthday gift. For a very long time, you used to be able to buy a gun through a mail-order house — just send your money to Sears and they will mail you a gun, or you’d go to the
Sears store. And there was far less murder and violence at that time. It wasn’t because of strong gun control. People had access to guns quite easily.”
— Walter E. Williams conservative economist, college professor, syndicated columnist, author 60 NEWSMAX | MARCH 2013
members know around the coun- try, in those states that those sen- ators represent and others, that some of the proposals that are being put forward — specifi cally the semi-automatic fi rearms ban and the magazine limitation ban and others — are anathema to gun owners and the Second Amend- ment,” he says. And that, Keene tells Newsmax, is the real secret of the NRA’s power. “It’s not the NRA,” Keene
explains. “It’s the people we repre- sent. They keep talking about how powerful we are. “It’s not us; it’s the people of
this country who understand the Constitution, value the Second Amendment, and are very jealous of the rights that they have.”
© 2013 NEWSMAX MEDIA
WILLIAMS/AP IMAGES
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