Report here (PDF)
Commentary here (NPR)
I’m posting this for a few reasons.
First, when I voted for Barack Obama I said that I was concerned about his positions on gun control, but that was not going to be enough to stop me from voting for him. I asserted that he was going to be too preoccupied with the state of the economy and other things to worry about gun control. I was right.
Second, there was a general hue and cry among a significant number of gun owners that Obama was going to ask for legislation that restricted gun rights. Interestingly, that viewpoint holds even as some more vocal gun owners have (jokingly) declared Obama the NRA Firearms Salesman of the Year due to the huge increases in sales following his election. They were wrong.
Third, a short time into his term his Attorney general, Eric Holder, revived the idea of the Assault Weapons Ban. He has been notably quiet on the subject since, and other than the annual Congressional attempts at gun control bills nobody is talking about it.
Last, in the past year there have been some interesting developments, unexpected things from Obama with regard to guns. He signed the law allowing concealed carry in national parks based upon the laws of the state where the park exists, and he did not attempt to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment like he said he would. Also, the Thune Amendment narrowly failed to pass with a vote of 58-39, although he had nothing to do with that per se.
One other thing, which I have brought up before: McDonald v. Chicago is scheduled to be heard before the Supreme Court, and is likely to result in Incorporation of the 2nd Amendment.
So, does this year’s ambivalence towards gun control indicate that the Democrats and Obama in particular have no interest in pursuing it any longer? History has borne out that it is a loser for the Democrats, but that has not stopped them quite like this before. The Brady campaign has asserted that Obama is in the pocket of the NRA, something that I find to be completely implausible, so I’m writing that off as mere rhetoric.
Or, perhaps, once this health care debacle is over (say what you will, it has indeed been a debacle all around) the Democrats will revisit the subject? If (rather, when) the 2nd Amendment is incorporated, how much can be done in that regard? SCOTUS did not rule out regulation entirely in the Heller decision, but Incorporation might make it harder so it’s surprising that they’re not trying to push some regulations in under the McDonald wire.
The last few parts were mere speculation, just things that I’m putting up for debate in light of the Brady report. For my part, though, I’m not surprised that gun control was ignored this year. Per above, I rather suspected it would be. But the silence on this is deafening. It’s almost as if Obama put a gag order on the subject, and that is totally unexpected. Obama is a busy man, but surely sometime this year he might have addressed the topic, even in passing. I’m rather stunned that he didn’t, and that he so completely ignored the Brady Campaign. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.
