Texas CHL Blog

posted by Charles L. Cotton on Jan 31

The 2008 Presidential Election will not be a watershed event for gun owners. The contest is rapidly shaping up to be a battle between Republican Arizona Senator John McCain and New York Senator Hillary Clinton. True, neither of these candidates have yet clinched their Party’s nomination, but it is certainly their’s to loose.

While President George W. Bush didn’t go out of his way to help gun owners, at least he didn’t take affirmative steps to support new gun laws. In January, 2009, eight (8) years of relative peace at the federal level will come to an end. While both Senator McCain and Senator Clinton are trying to convince the public that they have changed their mind about guns, Sen. Clinton is making only a token effort. She knows that such a conversion is not going to sell well, so why waste much time on a transparent sham.

Sen. McCain is somewhat more of a question mark. He’s actively trying to convince people his diatribe against the NRA during Senate floor debate on the McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act was merely a moment’s loss of perspective. Now, he claims, he has seen the light and no longer supports any further federal gun laws. One must wonder if this includes renunciation of his long-standing call to close the gun show “loophole” and require background checks at gun shows.

Combine a dearth of choices in the Presidential elections with the very real likelihood Democrats will widen their majority in both the U.S. House and Senate and gun owners clearly have a reason to worry. So if eight (8) years of peace are coming to an end, does this mean full blown war is just around the corner? Perhaps it is, but it’s not a foregone conclusion. The Democrats still remember the colossal mistake they made in 1994 with the passage of the so-called assault weapons ban (a/k/a Clinton Gun Ban). Is this enough to keep them from resurrecting gun control in 2009? Perhaps for the short term, but it’s likely that some ultra anti-gunners like Sen. Schumer and Sen. Feinstein or Rep. McCarthy will test the waters. If our opposition to these trial runs is anything other than overwhelming, then yes, we will see a prolonged war over guns.

Chas.