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(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Michael Steele is the new party chairman.
What does this mean for gun owners?
Q: Should people have access to buy assault weapons?
A: Society should draw lines. What do you need an assault weapon for, if you're going hunting? That's overkill. But I don't think that means you go to a total ban for those who want to use gun for skeet shooting or hunting or things like that But what's the point of passing gun laws if we're not going to enforce them? If you want to talk about gun control, that's where you need to start. We've got 300 gun laws on the books right now. At the end of the day, it's about how we enforce the law.
It means once more the Republicans have abandoned their core constituency to chase after the false promise of moderation as the path to relevance. Say, how did that work out for John McCain and the rest of the party last November?
It won't work, of course. Even now, Democrat sympathizers are attacking Steele as a "dirty trickster." And "progressives" dismiss his appointment as cynical racial exploitation.
This is a familiar mantra. The point is, ceding to the left doesn't win you any friends among them--they just step up the attacks. And the Republican Party seems bound and determined to drive away the friends it has always been able to count on in the hopes of appealing to a broader base.
Why would I support a broader base that wants to ban semi-autos? Why would I support a broader base that wants to enforce unconstitutional citizen disarmament edicts instead of repealing them? Why would you?
Some of us could see this coming. Some of us wonder why so few voices in the gun rights community raised warning flags on Steele at the outset.
Some of us wonder why so few voices in the gun rights community urged gun owners to make their voices heard.
Some of us wonder why so few voices in the gun rights community pressed the candidates for an unequivocal statement of where they stand on the Second Amendment.
Some of us wonder why so few voices in the gun rights community demanded a direct answer on something so basic and essential.
Some of us wonder why so few voices in the gun rights community did not respond with outrage when the debate moderators lobbed a softball instead, to give the illusion of gun owner support without requiring the candidates to actually reveal their position on gun rights. That was the republican party disrespecting us, in case you were wondering.
Some of us wonder why, even now, so few voices in the gun rights community are decrying Steele's selection as yet another betrayal. Perhaps former Republican National Committee Chair, the late Lee Atwater, was right in the question attributed to him about taking gun owners for granted: Who else are they going to vote for?
Of course, some of us wonder why all those Republican senators voted to pass Eric Holder's nomination on to the Senate floor, why so many Republican senators enthusiastically support Holder, and why no Republican senators have even attempted to block the confirmation.
What some of us don't wonder, based on all of the above--is why gun owners are continually manipulated by the Republicans. It actually seems pretty obvious.
The riddle of Steele is no riddle at all.
Check out the latest from other Gun Rights Examiners: Austin: Brady Campaign to prevent democracy? (Part 2) Charlotte: 'Ammunition Accountability' is a fraud Cleveland: What is the Tiahrt Amendment?
DC: Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds sells out gun owners, fools gun banners Los Angeles: Congratulations to RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Permission to speak frankly, Sir. Milwaukee: Time to change our attitude about guns St. Louis: Upcoming events for shooters, gun rights activists
Comments
As I said over at Mike's:
"NRA and Republican Party are in a race for complete irrelevancy..."
A moderate slips in under the radar.....
Steele is a good neocon brownshirt and that is all that's important for the establishment. The entire congress except for Ron Paul is a den of vipers-they're all worthless swine, unfit to rule over beasts of the field, much less men. A plague on them.
Just one more reason I find I am identifying more as a Conservative and less and less as a Republican.
As the saying goes, I didn't leave my party, my party left me.
I'm sorry, but I think this post might be missing something, namely a relation to the quote (or even a correct interpretation of it). Though Steele may make a slight gaff in his "assault rifle for hunting" line that strays close to liberal, he brings it back to GOP territory with his closing statements. How is saying that current gun laws should be enforced before introducing new gun control anti-NRA? I'm a gun-toting republican, and I find no threat with Steele. I welcome his leadership and look forward to what he can do to bring the GOP back to its glory days.
thinkgibson, this is NOT about "hunting" in the slightest. If Steele doesn't know that, he's been in coma for the last 20 years.
And no, none of the "laws" prohibiting or "regulating" guns have any real purpose but to disarm as many of us as possible. It isn't about safety, it's about control of honest people.
There are already plenty of laws against murder, rape and theft. How about if we ALL "enforce" those laws instead?
thinkgibson wrote: "he brings it back to GOP territory with his closing statements."
How in the world can that be a good thing? Seems to me that Steele is willing to ban so-called "assault weapons" and vigorously ENFORCE said ban.
This is the same sort of thinking that has lead to the purported wars on drugs, guns, terror, etc, along with the unconstitutional restrictions levied against the Bill of Rights.
Yeah - "enforcement" will likely mean illegal surveillance, breaking down doors, killing and jailing people to "enforce the laws."
If Steele's back in "GOP territory" with that statement count me as anything except a Republican.
I read that statement as another elected Quisling helping to dismantle what is left of liberty.
But thanks for helping me to understand Republican thinking.
Makes me glad to be a libertarian!
I have several Republican friends.
When we get together to shoot they always tell me that the party needs to be reformed from the inside, you know just like the NRA.
Me response is that they remind me of an abused spouse, "Yes, he hit me but I deserved it. He wants to change, just give him time.”
Get some professional help for your co-dependency. Wake up and realize that as long as you are in that relationship you will be abused!
The Second Amendment was written by people who rose up and fought the greatest army in the world over the issue of gun control.
Look up the story of April 19, 1775.
You know David, this actually surprised even me.
While I have had no illusions regarding how degenerated the GOP had become (the way the GOP reacted to Ron Paul should have made that clear to anyone), I did not realize just how incredibly far gone they truly were. After all, it was a GOP controlled Congress that allowed the damnable AWB to sunset. While the GOP gleefully destroyed the rest of the Bill of Rights, they at least had the sense to let that violation expire.
Now, they appear to have gone all the way down the road to being truly just the other side of the totalitarian, big government coin.
What is the difference, indeed.
If anyone out there thought they still had any chance of a political solution to the situation we find ourselves in, this should serve to put that delusion to rest. Claire Wolfe was right: it is too late to work within the system.
Ron Paul's candidacy was the last chance of ever getting the GOP back to any semblance of a constitutionalist party and, as we will soon see, was our last chance of a peaceful restoration of liberty in this country. But most "conservatives" including most gun owners - and I'll bet even most "three percenters"- rejected him.
Time to reap the whirlwind.
Stewart
Republican management treats gun owners exactly as Democrats treat African Americans...
I don't wonder. I know the answer. Force is the only thing that will settle this issue.
ugly, we don't want it, but we have trained them for years to believe they can keep pushing and we will never push back.
I speak for only me, but if I am pushed I will do more than just "push" back.
I'm pretty much out of hope that conscience, good will, duty, or humanitarianism can solve this, because the people who are attacking free Americans have none of those attributes
His doublespeak is interesting, but this was said pre-Heller. Would be nice to ask, what does he now say?
Great article Mr. Codrea, I couldn't agree with you more. As a matter of fact I do hunt with my .308 AR, chairman Steele.
I see Ted Nugent is having visions of becoming Pres. of the NRA. I'm all in for that!
Should I bother correcting the misuse of "assault weapons"? No, I think Examiner readers don't need any help there. And I do agree with Mr. Steele about society and lines. The thing is, society has already drawn them. Murder, assault, robbery and other forcible acts have been illegal for longer than any weapons restriction has existed. "Gun control" may be the most expensive fraud ever perpetrated on the public. Just think of the all the hours spent on the paperwork for licensure and transfers of a huge population; a population that is overwhelmingly peaceable and law-abiding. I can't even wrap my head around the amount of waste--and that's not even considering the contemporary big-budget failures, such as cosmetic "bans", gun rationing, ballistic databases and (the assuredly soon-to-be-abandoned) ammunition serializing. At this point, about the only line I want to draw is a big red one--from one side of a large red circle to the other--under which appear the words, "gun paranoia".
Mr. Steele may not be aware than my skeet gun is, in fact, an auto-loading shotgun that fires as fast as an auto-loading rifle. People have been using these types of shotguns for a century.
I certainly hope no progressive that I know has accused me of "racial exploitation". That would be unfortunate, because it would make the accuser look particularly stupid. I read about and participated in the RNC poll without actually seeing any of the candidates. I made my choice based on candidates' statements. See, I read, but I don't watch TV. I wasn't particularly surprised that both of the top choices were black because, honestly, I couldn't care less.
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