Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Rendell: Pennsylvania is a Lost Cause

The Philadelphia INquirer reports:

On Monday, Rendell defended his weekend veto of a bill expanding gun owners' self-defense rights - but declared his efforts to reduce gun violence through legislation "an abject failure."

"It's a lost cause in Pennsylvania," Rendell said in a conference call with reporters. He accused the General Assembly of kowtowing to the National Rifle Association.

"The legislature proved consistently in my eight years that they are scared to death to buck the NRA," he said. "It's incredibly frustrating, the hold the NRA has over the legislature. It's embarrassing."
Now that is a sorry state of affairs. And it's not only like that in Pennsylvania.  Politicians who would ordinarily agree with gun laws that would further the Common Good, which most of the voters want anyway, vote against them for fear of the NRA.

And gun owners who benefit from and support this corrupt lobbying and influence-peddling system wonder why we blame them for the mess.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

9 comments:

  1. It is much easier to blame the NRA than his constituents.

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  2. TS: Do you believe in unicorns?

    These are facts: most NRA members don't support NRA agenda items like making assault weapons legal. In fact, most NRA members support registration--something the NRA would gag on.

    It's all about $$$.

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  3. Jade, it sounds like you are the one who believes in unicorns- or MAG sponsored polls in this case. I have never seen a unicorn, and I have never met the mythical gun owner who wants to ban “assault weapons” (or wants all their guns registered). You may have had a tiny bit of support from duck hunters back in ‘94, but the cat is out of the bag now. They’re on to you.

    If the NRA doesn’t have voters behind them, why the hell would any politician be afraid of them? Does the NRA literally have a gun to their head? It can’t just be the measly $2-3 billion a year. Even the video game industry is ten times as big. Look at big tobacco- they have been getting shelled by congress for decades. But it is really about the $$$, huh?

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  4. "These are facts: most NRA members don't support NRA agenda items like making assault weapons legal. In fact, most NRA members support registration--something the NRA would gag on."

    What most people favor or don't favor is irrelevant unless you are advocating tyranny by a low information majority.

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  5. Jade,

    Fact: I asked those same questions to 10 random NRA members at the NRA Convention last year and all 10 said they did not want to ban assault weapons or look-alike assault weapons and zero wanted any registration.

    My poll was a random sample of bona fide NRA members.

    Yep, JADE is wrong yet again.

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  6. It filled me with a sense of pride to hear Fast Eddie say that stuff about us Pennsylvanians. Good riddance!

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  7. Yeah, I imagine his departure will be applauded by gun owners accross the state.

    Too bad for Pennsylvania. I was gonna say that's the most backwards northern state going, but then I remembered Indiana.

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  8. Yeah, I wish we could be as enlightened as the Peoples' Demokratik Republiks of New York, New Jersey and Maryland. I feel really safe when I visit NYC, Camden or Baltimore. To be fair, I don't feel particularly safe in many parts of Philly either, but at least I can legally have Mr. 9mm watching my back there.

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  9. Colin, It's an illusion that Mr. 9mm makes you safer. The situation would have to go down exactly right for you to be able to save the day with your gun, it would have to be practically choreographed, taylor made for you.

    Unless you're gonna draw the gun at every first indication of any potential problem, in other words, all the time, it'll be too late by the time you get it out.

    I really think you guys who carry guns have watched too many movies.

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