Posted on 07/24/2008 7:08:45 AM PDT by neverdem
The National Rifle Association is putting the election-year squeeze on conservative Democrats, demanding that they buck their leadership to support a bill to erase more of the District of Columbia’s gun laws.
Democratic gun rights supporters will risk losing their A-plus rating if they don’t sign a discharge petition to be filed Wednesday bringing the gun-rights bill directly to the floor.
It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the NRA has “scored” a discharge petition in determining the grades it gives lawmakers before the November election, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
“We’re making this a priority. We’ll put resources into this,” Arulanandam said. “Our members don’t want lawmakers to just pay lip service to the Second Amendment, they want to make sure these members vote to support it.”
The vote could put vulnerable Democrats, many of them freshmen elected in 2006 from conservative rural districts, in a bind.
Supporters, building on their historic Supreme Court victory on gun rights in June, think they have a good chance of getting the bill to the floor because 250 House members signed an amicus curiae brief to the high court calling for repeal of the handgun ban, including 65 Democratic members. The bill, by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), has 247 co-sponsors, including 56 Democrats.
But Democratic leadership aides say they’re not concerned because many of those supporters have a policy of not signing discharge petitions. They are also betting that gun issues won’t gain much traction with voters more worried about the souring economy.
“Republican procedural tactics in Washington don’t have much impact back home,” said Nick Papas, spokesman for House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill).
Still, leadership aides said Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and John Tanner (D-Tenn.) are trying to work with members and the NRA to try to forge a compromise on the issue.
A Tanner spokesman described the situation as “very fluid.” A Dingell spokesman denied any involvement, saying Dingell is “not working with the NRA on any discharge petitions and does not know of any discharge petitions on gun-related matters currently in the House.”
Since losing West Virginia and Southern states like Tennessee in the 2000 presidential election, Democrats have been gun-shy when it comes to firearms issues. In the 2006 election, Democrats won many conservative districts where voters are at odds with traditional big-city Democrats who support gun control.
In Congress, Democratic leaders have tried to stay away from big floor fights on guns.
In March 2007, Democrats withdrew a bill granting voting rights to the District rather than allow Republicans a vote on attaching a similar gun bill, for fear that the attempt would pass.
Democratic leaders deflected political fallout from the Supreme Court decision by muting their reaction. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the decision “left a lot of room to run” for local governments. Presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he agreed that the Constitution gives people the right to own guns, but said they’re still subject to regulation.
There have been 13 discharge petitions filed since Democrats took control of the House in 2007. None have succeeded and only one – an immigration bill that emphasizes enforcement – is well-known.
Ten Democrats have signed onto that petition.
The Republican discharge effort on guns is a follow-up to the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in June that threw out the District’s decades-old ban on handguns.
Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) believes that the District government has been flouting the Supreme Court ruling. Souder spokesman Martin Green said the city has simply created a new exemption in its registration rules to allow for handguns in the home rather than repealing the ban. Among other problems, D.C. law, he said, still bans many pistols by deeming them to be machine guns.
“What the mayor and council is doing is not adhering to the majority opinion,” Green said. “They’re still trying to ban an entire class of firearms.”
So Souder earlier this month started taking the steps necessary to file a discharge petition, which allows a bill to go to the floor if 218 members sign on.
The bill, introduced last year by Ross and Souder, would eliminate gun registration, allow some handguns that are still banned and end criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm. But it’s never gotten out of committee.
Gun control advocates say Republicans and the NRA are overreaching to get more political mileage out of the Supreme Court decision.
“The other side has said it’s about gun bans, and taking away your guns,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “They no longer need to do that because the court said it’s an individual right.”
The last time the NRA scored a discharge petition was in 1986, when the House passed legislation by Rep. Harold Volkmer (D-Mo.) and Sen. James McClure (R-Idaho) to loosen a range of federal gun laws.
Many of the NRA’s 4 million members use the rankings, distributed in NRA magazines in October, to decide their vote. They’re done as letter grades, and are published in copies of the NRA’s different publications.
They are also used by the NRA’s political action committee in deciding which candidates to endorse. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said she will urge members to reject the discharge petition, since District officials are working to comply with the ban.
“It’s tragic to see Congress take any time on a local gun matter already under the jurisdiction of the federal courts because some can’t wait to get more guns in our city,” Norton said in a statement.
District officials say they’re not familiar with the discharge petition, but see little reason to be concerned.
“We’re confident that Congress will leave local laws in the hands of local governments,” said Dena Iverson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian Fenty.
It’s high time these “conservative” Dems from Republican districts have to put up or shut up this election season. They are “conservative” at home, and vote with Nancy Pelosi whenever she snaps her fingers.
And by the way, why don’t GOP House members bring out the Discharge Petition to force Pelosi to bring the “Drill Now” energy bill to the floor for a vote, which would also flush out those “conservative” Dems?
Leave them free to blow off the discharge petition as a way for them to show their true colors, then nail them or praise them for the choice they make. Else they'll get the one signature and a grudge against them for the coercion.
This is really stupid on the part of the NRA.
The NRA has to score “discharge petitions” for the first time because this congress is the most dictatorial congress in history. The leadership will not allow ANY votes they can’t control.
So they simply have not allowed any votes on gun measures. They won’t allow votes on oil drilling either.
The NRA does not exist to elect Republicans. They exist to fight for gun rights.
They are using their “scoring” to push legislation they want to pass. That’s the whole point of scoring, not to punish people, but in the end to get them to vote how you want them to vote.
A Persistent Threat to Second Amendment Rights
The D.C. City Council has imposed a very burdensome system of gun registration. Only a handful of states have any registration and none has a system as complicated as that of the District. There is a solution to this tyranny. Congress can pass H.R. 1399, the "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act." The bill, which is supported by the NRA and has 247 co-sponsors, would repeal the D.C. handgun ban and the storage requirement which prohibits keeping a firearm ready for self-defense in the home, two of the provisions found to be unconstitutional in the Heller decision. Moreover, it would repeal the D.C. registration system, which is burdensome in its own right and serves as a vehicle for even more restrictions and skewed definitions. H.R. 1399 would restrict the D.C. Council's authority to impose undue restrictions upon residents' Second Amendment right. It also would repeal the ban upon semi-automatic firearms, conforming the District's law to federal legislation. It would repeal various restrictions on ammunition and the District's "Strict Liability Act," which allows manufacturers of certain types of guns "to be held strictly liable in tort, without regard to fault or proof of defect."
Thanks for the ping!
Conservative DEMOCRATS???.. Where be those critters?..
Heck its real hard to find a conservative republican these days..
This article must be talking about democrat antique gun collectors..
Then read my post again, because that was what it was about.
The National Rifle Association is putting the election-year squeeze on conservative Democrats, demanding that they buck their leadership to support a bill to erase more of the District of Columbia's gun laws. Democratic gun rights supporters will risk losing their A-plus rating if they don't sign a discharge petition to be filed Wednesday bringing the gun-rights bill directly to the floor... The vote could put vulnerable Democrats, many of them freshmen elected in 2006 from conservative rural districts, in a bind. Supporters, building on their historic Supreme Court victory on gun rights in June, think they have a good chance of getting the bill to the floor because 250 House members signed an amicus curiae brief to the high court calling for repeal of the handgun ban, including 65 Democratic members. The bill, by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), has 247 co-sponsors, including 56 Democrats.Thanks neverdem!
NRA Benefactor Ping
It realy steams me that after a Supreme Court decision afirming an individual right to ‘Bear Arms’; The DC gov’t wants people to dissasemble their guns IN THEIR HOMES!
Not to mention, banning semi-autos has NO basis either!
They are IGNORING the Constitution, and the SUPREME COURT!
GET THE PITCHFORKS.........
The RATs will loose a lot more than just their NRA ratings if they don’t vote for drilling here and now.
“...GET THE PITCHFORKS.........”
Pitchforks, Like hell. Get US Federal Marshalls to ENFORCE THE DAMN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW and frog march Fenty and his thugs, Nutter and his thugs, Bloomberg, and the entire New Orleans political thug machine off in manacles and orange jumpsuits.
Enough is enough.
EVERY State ratified the Constitution; they are BOUND by it. It the LAW OF THE LAND. Where is the US Justice Department?
Don’t forget it was the gunnies and not hanging chads that sank Algore.
barbra ann
—thanks for the ping-
But Democratic leadership aides say they’re not concerned because many of those supporters have a policy of not signing discharge petitions. They are also betting that gun issues won’t gain much traction with voters more worried about the souring economy.Exsqueeze me but aren't we told by the Dems and Criminal Rights Groups that during times like a 'souring economy' that crime rises? (If only Tyrone, Juan, whomever, had a job as a V.P. with a nice office he wouldn't have to stick up liquor stores for baby food money)
So I'd think that 'gun issues' would gain traction in this election. It's a matter of self defense from the rising crime like muggings, armed robberies, car jacking, and home invasions that comes with a 'souring economy' .
Ergo, the worse things get (add terrorism into the mix), the more we all need firearms. And easier access to them, not draconian laws making it more difficult for law abiding citizens to even buy ammo (see CA).
Those are the "Blue Dog" Democrats. Basically, they are Democrats who ran as Conservatives. Despite that, they normally vote as San Fran Nan tells them to vote.
Since most democrats are women does that make Blue Dog democrats, "bitches"?..
Actually I thought it did better in that regard when Tanya Metaska was head of the Institute for Legislative Action. But perhaps after the victory at the Supreme Court, in case that the NRA had nothing to do with bringing (although they did file amicus briefs in both the DC Circuit and the Supreme Court, good ones too).
I love it when things begin to snowball *for* our side for a change.
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