John Nichols: Walker goes all in for NRA/ALEC ‘shoot first’ agenda(barf alert)

The Capital Times ^ | 17 April, 2012 | JOHN NICHOLS

[marktwain]

Appearing before the National Rifle Association, Mitt Romney was accorded the reception that might be expected for a Republican candidate who used to brag about how his positions on gun issues “don’t line up with the NRA” but now says, “If we are going to safeguard our Second Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes. I will.”

The response was relatively warm but more than a little bit skeptical.

The Los Angeles Times was gentle in its description, suggesting that the now all-but-certain Republican nominee “may not have been the sentimental favorite among the speakers at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention.”

So who did they love?

Scott Walker.

The Republican governor of Wisconsin was accorded a hero’s welcome when he appeared Friday before the NRA’s “Celebration of American Values” forum to accept the group’s “Defender of Freedom” award.

And he handed them raw meat. “I am proud to have a rifle, a shotgun and even a bow,” Walker told the crowd of 5,500 people in St. Louis.

But the real winning line was Walker’s absolute embrace of the state-based “kill at will” laws such as the castle doctrine measure he signed in Wisconsin and Florida’s “stand your ground” law. Such laws have become controversial since it was revealed that Florida’s “stand your ground” law had complicated the investigation and prosecution of the shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin. The castle doctrine and stand your ground create new levels of immunity for gunmen, complicating the work of police and prosecutors.

Walker, a longtime member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, which has worked with the NRA to promote castle doctrine and stand your ground laws, was honored for signing concealed carry and castle doctrine laws and then delivered a speech

[marktwain]

If the author thinks bashing the NRA and castle doctrine law will help recall Governor Walker, he is delusional.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The fact that blacks are 50% of murder victims and that 90% of their murderers are other blacks would indicate that it ain’t “white-Hispanics” who have the “shoot first” mentality.

[Indy Pendance]

I live here in WI. Walker is a HERO! He was just invited to speak at the Chamber of Commerce at the Illinois capital, Springfield to discuss how to reverse their course. Of course the unionistas were out there protesting, but, he got 3 standing O’s.

If you follow Wisconsin, look up the compare and contrast of WI vs IL. We cut, they taxed. Our 3.6 billion debt is paid, they owe almost 9 billion after increasing taxes 67%. There’s more. It’s a solid look at difference between liberalism vs conservatism.

[driftless2]

If Nichols thinks he can do the anti-gun thing in Wisconsin, he’s off his rocker. Wisconsin is a state where even many Dems own guns. Nichols is mostly speaking for the Madison area where the preponderance of nutty leftists reside. But I’ll even many Madison residents own firearms.