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April 28, 2015
Anti-Gun Professional Staffers Believe Hillary Clinton has a Shot
Putting aside the artifice, Hillary Clinton finally announced that she is running for President, making her the first Democrat to officially enter the 2016 race.
Mrs. Clinton has been a stalwart supporter of ineffective gun control measures, of course, and less than two weeks into her presidential campaign, the professional anti-gun lobbyists are starting to show up to collect a paycheck, in one case, or just to speak supportively of her campaign.
A former Everytown for Gun Safety staffer has come on board to run the Clinton grassroots efforts in Minnesota. Others may follow, the swinging door being what it is between advocacy groups and campaign staff.
Meanwhile, what the inside-the-Beltway gun control groups say has become predictable, generally using the evil opponent talking point that must test well in their focus groups, to wit: “We need a president in the White House (where else would he/she be, one is tempted to ask) who is willing to stand up to the gun lobby,” said Mark Prentice of Americans for Responsible Solutions in The Hill.
But let’s see how much Mrs. Clinton will really want to say on the campaign trail about advancing more gun laws. That talk doesn’t play well in many parts of these United States. Even she may realize that is bad strategy seen from her comfortable captain’s chair in the Scooby Van. Let’s recap:
- The recently re-reported Pew Research Center poll that shows increasing public support for gun rights.
- The then Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate that in April 2013 sequentially voted down a number of gun control measures.
- Two Colorado state senators were recalled, and another was forced to resign to avoid a recall election, after they championed tough gun measures that became law.
- In Arizona, Martha McSally beat incumbent Ron Barber to win Congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ former seat, even though Giffords’ group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, spent more than $2 million attacking McSally.
- And in the 2014 Congressional elections, overall, pro-Second-Amendment candidates fared very well. Generally pro-Second-Amendment Republicans gained control of the Senate and increased their margin of control in the House of Representatives.
No one has ever accused Hillary Clinton of not being a crafty career politician, so she may well steer clear of the issue, or at least keep her anti-gun utterances to a minimum in the months to come. Her core supporters may be anti-gun, but she needs broader appeal in both the primaries and then the general election.
As for the gun control professional lobbyists and staffers, well, they most likely won’t be able to control their single-issue proclivity to speak up. Second Amendment supporters are watching and listening.
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