Another push to ban 'assault weapons'--what will 'pro-gun' Kirsten Gillibrand do?

May 8, 4:29 AMSt. Louis Gun Rights ExaminerKurt Hofmann

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   Oleg Volk photo

When New York's Governor Paterson appointed  Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY, at that time a U.S. Representative) as Hillary Clinton's replacement in the U.S. Senate, rabidly anti-gun U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) was apoplectic.  The idea of an NRA "A" rated politician providing half of New York's Senate representation was too much for her to bear.

"I've spent 15 years trying to prevent gun violence in this country, and if he does pick her and if no one goes and primaries her, I will primary her," McCarthy said. "I will do that. I'm not going to give up on this. I'm not going to let New York State get represented by someone who gets a 100 percent rating from the NRA."

It has become increasingly clear that McCarthy had little to worry about.  Since her promotion, Gillibrand has moved into the citizen disarmament camp just as quickly as possible.  From vowing (at rabidly anti-gun Mayor Bloomberg's behest) to not support legislation that she had co-sponsored in the past (protecting firearms trace data), followed closely by her vote against a measure that would partially restore Second Amendment rights to Washington D.C. residents, to her active participation in Senator Lautenberg's attack on gun shows, she has not missed an opportunity to show her newfound devotion to the anti-gun cause.

Still, with the citizen disarmament extremists, every gun law is "a good first step"--there will never be enough gun laws--Senator Quisling  . . . er, Gillibrand will have to do more, if she wants to keep her new friends.  Here's the next installment of "more."

Since her appointment to the Senate, one-time NRA favorite Kirsten Gillibrand has passed just about every test on guns set by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy - but that might change next week.

As the junior senator from New York, the upstate Democrat has undergone a transformation, moving quickly in the past three months away from her House record that won the NRA's top rating while remaining a supporter of Second Amendment rights to gun ownership.

She even jumped ahead of McCarthy, who reintroduced her bill closing the gun-show loophole at a news conference Wednesday, by co-sponsoring the Senate version of that measure two weeks ago.

But McCarthy said that next week she plans to introduce an assault weapons ban - legislation that is anathema to the NRA and that could pose a problem for Gillibrand.

It will "pose a problem" for her, alright.  Her choices will be to a) utterly complete the job of declaring herself an enemy of liberty, by supporting what probably amounts to the most draconian (and the most hated, in the eyes of millions of gun rights advocates) anti-gun measure with any chance of passage; or b) alienate her new friends, who will drop her like a burning skunk if she doesn't continue to prove her loyalty to the citizen disarmament agenda.

"I think the assault weapons bill will be a test," McCarthy said Wednesday in an interview.

Indeed it will.  At the completion of the test, we will know if she is a successful turncoat, or only a failed aspirant.  I have to admit--I find her dilemma almost amusing enough to hope that a Senate version of McCarthy's bill is introduced, just to be absolutely certain she cannot dodge the issue.