What Happens When a Republican Congressman Challenges the NRA?

mlive.com reports

The National Rifle Association is accusing U.S Rep. Justin Amash of "lying" in seeking the group's support for his 2010 congressional bid.

Amash is firing back, describing the NRA's attack as an example of what happens when "a powerful special interest group is challenged by a Representative trying to defend the constitutional rights of the American people."

If the guy had any common sense and balls, he would have objected to this nonsense bill for the right reason. But, like many other gun-rights supporters, he opposes it because of the states' rights issue.

The fact is, allowing Arizona concealed carry permit holders, who have the least qualifications in the country, to do their thing in New York is ludicrous and in some cases dangerous. That's the reason for opposing this bill.

But, the NRA doesn't care about such subtleties. They demand lock-step obedience and blind support, or else. And the sad truth is they get it, at least for the most part.  Not only politicians, but even your average joe gun owner, takes his cues from the NRA.  How many times have we seen one of the pro-gun bloggers call someone a "liar" for their opinion?  The NRA, despicable organization that it is, taught them that.  And sycophantic weaklings that they are, they eat it up.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

More on the Bizarre HR-822

 via The New York Times op-ed by Gail Collins

Here’s an example of the way the House plan would work. California has very strict limits on who can get a permit to carry a concealed weapon, involving extensive background checks by local law enforcement. Utah, on the other hand, is really mellow about the whole thing. You don’t even have to live there to get a Utah permit. Just ask the 215,000 non-Utah folks who’ve gotten one. And, in Florida, “it is so easy that a staffer in one of our offices was able to complete the form in less than 30 minutes,” said Representative Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat. 

Under this bill, California’s strict rules on gun permits are now expanded to include anybody who drives into the state waving a Florida or Utah permission slip.

As I said before, I can't believe the gun-rights folks are pushing for this. It violates every possible notion of common sense and public safety. It's almost like cheating, first you can get a Utah or Florida license through the mail with practically no requirements then you can use it in any state you want? It's bizarre.

But, the most pathetic part is that the gun-rights folks who do oppose it, do so for the wrong reason. Some of them are so adamant about states' rights, that they oppose federal government interference even if it's something they want. It doesn't matter to any of them if this law would result in less gun safety than before.

What's your opinion? Do you think it has a chance of getting Senate approval? If so, would Obama veto it? What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

House Approves Concealed Carry Reciprosity

The New York Times reports on how the NRA and the gun manufacturers have bought and paid for enough of the Congress to achieve this incredible result.

The House passed legislation on Wednesday that would require states that issue concealed gun permits to recognize similar licenses from other states. The vote was 272 to 154.

What do you think about this?

Please leave a comment.

Josh Horwitz on HR-822

Josh Horwitz writing in the Huffington Post

Richard Poplawski. Omar Thornton. Paul Michael Merhige. Jason Hamilton. Nidal Malik Hasan. George Sodini. Christopher Speight.

What do these men have in common?

# 1: They all committed mass murder (three or more innocents killed) with guns.

# 2: They were all concealed handgun permit holders.

And they're not alone. Since 2007, at least 19 mass shootings have been perpetrated by individuals who had obtained permits to carry concealed handguns in public.

In the clearest one-sentence description of HR-822 I've seen yet, Josh sums it up like this?

The net result of the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act" is to make the weakest state laws in the nation the Law of the Land.

Is that what we want? I don't think so. The sad fact is some gun-rights folks are on our side, but for the wrong reason. They feel the hypocrisy of the supporters of this bill is not for them. The folks who want this reciprosity are generally against government interference, except when it comes to gun rights.  Then anything goes.

So the gun-rights folks are divided into two groups, one more pathetic than the other.  The supporters are hypocrites who accept big government when it suits.  The gun-rights folks in opposition of HR-822, feel the way they do, not because it makes sense or that it will save lives, but just because they hate the government so much that even when it would benefit them they can't accept it.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.