Originally posted by Eghad
Quote:
|
Some politicians just introduce this stuff to show their political base they are still aligned with them. Even when the Dem Party had the majority and The White House from 2009-2010 they didn't do anything. That's because even though a state put a Dem in Congress he was a very conservative pro 2A Dem. So even with a majority in both Houses of Congress the Dems could not manage any anti-gun legislation.
|
Exactly. A huge part of the Democrats' strategy when they took congress in 2006 was to run "Blue Dog" Democrats who, while Democrat in name, were politically moderate or conservative and thus able to win election in moderate and conservative districts. Because of this, senior party members such as Feinstein, Schumer, McCarthy, Rush, Kennedy and others who wanted gun control couldn't get enough votes to go anywhere with new gun control legislation because the "Blue Dogs" knew that it would be politiclal suicide. As I said before, gun control has been a poison issue for the Democratic party for nearly 20 years and they haven't forgotten it. There is a very good reason that, apart from the "usual suspects" pandering to their bases, the majority of the Democrat Party doesn't want to touch the gun issue with a ten foot pole, at least not directly anyway.
Originally posted by Odd
Quote:
|
Theoretically, if the AWB were resurrected, could individual states choose to override it? (Something along the lines of Arizona's immigration law and medical marijuana in some of the states.)
|
That's very doubtful. The states have not been able to get around other Federal gun laws like the NFA, '68 GCA, or even the original '94 AWB, so I don't see how they could get around a new AWB unless that provision were specifically written in. As I recall, one of the western states tried this a few years ago by arguing that firearms made and sold entirely within their state were not subject to federal law, but I don't think it went anywhere. Were the AWB ressurected, about the only recourse I could see the states having in the matter would be to file suit and take it before the courts in hopes of having it declared unconstitutional just as they tried (and failed) recently with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).