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The legislative scorecard has now been completed, with all of the anti-Constitution measures failing and most of the pro-freedom measure joining them. Pretty much as expected. Now that it’s all over but the shouting, it’s time to tally up the results in Washington’s game. So let’s check our tote board and reveal gun control’s Top Ten Winners and Losers . . .

Losers

7. Michael Bloomberg: The political process is fickle. After a stunning triumph of cash over common sense in Colorado, New York’s billionaire Mayor drew a blank in D.C., getting nothing for his $12 million dollars and losing prestige in the process. He’s now perceived as a meddler, a nanny with money to burn, America’s George Soros. Bloomberg is the perfect enemy, the wealthy puppet-master pulling the strings with his checkbook. If there was no Mike Bloomberg, the NRA would have to invent him.

6. Gabrielle Giffords: A Jennny-come-lately to the world of gun-grabbing, she thought she had it made. With her star power and victim cred, a new career loomed that would be even more lucrative than her last. But she stumbled right out of the gate when her lummox of a husband got caught in a clumsy attempt at grandstanding and straw-purchasing. Her irritability at losing the votes on her pet bills was even more unbecoming. She now joins Sarah Brady and Diane Feinstein on the list of the perpetually cranky and obnoxious.

5. Pat Toomey: He pissed away his NRA “A” rating and perhaps pissed off the voters of Western Pennsylvania by taking the position as lead Republican collaborator. The only saving grace for Toomey is that he voted against the Feinstein and Lautenberg amendments banning so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines.

4. Joe Manchin: According to Manchin himself, the Manchin-Toomey amendment was the West Virginian’s “coming out party.” What he meant is that his proposed bill represented the first time during his Senate tenure that he’d taken point on anything. What his constituents may take away from M-T is that it was Manchin’s coming out as a gun-grabber. He voted “no” on the Feinstein and Lautenberg amendments, but that’s probably too little, too late.

3. The Mainstream Media: The talking heads of television and their media mogul bosses have spent over six years deifying Barack Obama, so they jumped on the civilian disarmament bandwagon with both feet. After running what was, in essence, a Democrat Party, anti-Constitution telethon, their pet proposals flopped like reruns of “My Mother, the Car.” The MSM looks foolish and peevish, leading viewers by the millions to turn away (even more) from traditional media. Every blog in America should thank them.

2. Alan Gottleib: Long the darling of Second Amendment supporters, Gottleib threw the support of SAF and the CCRKBA behind the ill-fated Manchin-Toomey amendment. He should have checked with his constituents first and maybe also with his banker, because 2A stalwarts hated M-T. On the eve of the vote, he withdrew his support, but the damage was done. Gottleib’s credibility, built up over decades of faithful service to the gun culture, is now shot. It will take him years to overcome this blow, and it will take the gun rights movement years to overcome the loss of one of its staunchest advocates.

1. Barack Obama: Gun control and immigration were to be the two centerpieces of his second term. However, Obama’s status as a lame duck with minimal political capital was made official when he lost the political battle that he – and no one else – personally initiated. It was a huge political overreach. And his image as a petulant man, swollen with hubris was made obvious by his sullen, mean-spirited acknowledgment of defeat. It’s now out there for all to see — the leftist idol has feet of clay.

Winners

3. The Republican Party Leadership: The old guys politically outfoxed the Senate Democrats and POTUS. Believing that he could bend everything and everyone to his almighty will, Obama demanded a vote. He got one that he’ll never forget. By allowing all the anti-Constitution bills to come to a vote, as the Democrats demanded, and then defeating them, the Republicans have ripped away the myth of Obama’s legislative invincibility for good. Plus, they made the Democrats look dumb.

2. Ted Cruz: Compare his cultured debate behavior to the boorish actions of Chuck Schumer (channeling his inner Joe Biden) and it’s obvious how Cruz dominated the proceedings. Articulate and young, he always came across as the smartest guy in the room and a very likeable one at that. Democrats will have a lot of problems trying portray him as evil incarnate. To say nothing of the fact that he’s a top Constitutional lawyer.

1. The NRA: The largest of gun rights organizations was assailed internally by radicals for being Old Fudds and by Old Fudds for being too radical. It was demonized by the Democrats, marginalized by the mainstream media and blamed for a heinous mass murder. Nevertheless, the NRA steered the Second Amendment to spectacular wins – while gaining as many as a million new members in the process. While the CCRKBA nearly folded, the NRA doubled down and won. It’s no wonder the Democrats hate the NRA. What’s amazing is that every gun owner isn’t a member.

 

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101 COMMENTS

        • From Blacks4Barack…ACTION TIME !!!!!!!!! Demand To DNC: Kick Hillary Out NOW ! Insinuates That Obama Could Be ASSASSINATED ! Now, things have gone way too far. Yesterday, in an aanaprepce in South Dakota, Hillary Clinton justified her reason for staying in the campaign by referring to the fact that presidential hopeful ‘Robert Kennedy was assasinated in June’…implying that the same could occur to Senator Obama. THIS IS SICK !!! Regardless of how the pundits try to spin this as just another misspeak, the statement speaks for itself and displays the diobolical mentality of Hillary Clinton. It is unclear as to whether she is actually hoping that Obama would be killed, therefore giving her an open path to the Democratic nomination, or if she may be signaling her desire to some sick, warp minded homicidal maniac. Whichever be the case, her statement is automatic grounds for the Democratic National Committee headed by Howard Dean to demand that she remove herself from the race. If he does not, American Democrats should demand HIS stepping down ! This can not be tolerated!!! Regardless of who you are a supporter of, Hillary, Obama or McCain, ANYONE who would wish the death of another human being in order to win a political position is sick, dangerous, maniacal, deranged and totally mentally and morally unfit for any political position, particularly President or V.P. of the United States. CONTACT THE DNC…. HILLARY MUST BE EXPELLED OUT NOW !!!! FLOOD THE PHONE LINES…CALL THE DNC TODAY !!! CALL DNC: 202-863-8000 HILLARY MUST BE KICKED OUT NOW !!!! SEND THIS EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!!!! Visit: http://www.Blacks4Barack.org A Multi-Racial, Grassroots Org….Dedicated To Truth !

    • I think she should be on the winners list. Winner of the ugliest, most vile Senator ever to grace the halls.

    • Good point! As someone who is unfortunate enough to have her as a Senator I think The Wicked Witch Of The West deserves special recognition for her ceaseless efforts to f_ck with our right to keep and bear. What a total B’itch.

      Definition of Schadenfreude – Watching the Feinstein amendment go down in flames yesterday.

  4. Do not pop the corks or consider the problem solved just yet. The funny thing about the vigilance of our socialist adversaries is the fickle nature of the human condition. There will be problems in the future, and those blood soaked shirts will wave again. Stand ready and demand the same of those WE elect.

  5. I joined the NRA. Tomorrow, I will join my state organization AND send a check to my local sheriff’s auxiliary group. I’m looking forward to slapping that shield on the back of my car and defending the Constitution from all enemies….

    • I’ve funded the NRA and the SAF this year (and last), and I don’t regret a dime of it.

      Despite Gottleib’s screwup, I think he’s a solid 2A citizen. When I think of Heller and McDonald, I think of The Cato Institute and the Second Amendment Foundation. I’m not giving up on the SAF.

      As for the NRA, it’s exceeded my expectations. From Mr.ColionNoir to the recent votes, they’ve delivered. Complain as we did (and as we will) about Wayne, he knows how to work the system for us.

    • Thanks for joining! We need all the good 2nd Amendment believing folks we can get. The fight is not over and we should have 80 million members to fight the likes of Obama, Bloomberg, Feinstein, Pelosi, etc. The more we have, the heavier the pressure we can bring to bear.

        • He deserves probation, not forgiveness. Let him do his thing, but keep a very close on eye on him and don’t hesitate to grab him by the neck and throw him to the ground if he goes crazy again.

        • I don’t believe he understood the support he had & was making the best deal he could based on that. I’m not giving up on him either, Randy

  7. Oh, so now the turncoat 16 are cunning masterminds who “outfoxed” Obama? Hah, McCain and Graham, Ayotte and the rest of the Turncoat 16 are going to be rehabilitated by Karl Rove types?

    Funny stuff. The GOP “old guard” are the cancer within the GOP. Vote out the closet leftists like McCain, Graham and the other Turncoats who are going to try to ride the wave of success when they tried to undermine it with compromise.

    • They outfoxed the Democrats — and apparently, they outfoxed you, too. They voted to bring the bills to the Senate floor because they can count.

      As for the Republicans who voted for any of the amendments, they can all go to hell as far as I’m concerned.

      • Was it because they can count or because they wanted the President to get a whack at the RKBA pinata? It’s hard to tell with these clowns.

        • It’s probably pretty easy to tell by looking how they voted. Or did they want it to pass but didn’t vote so they could stay in the “leftist closet”

  9. Well written and very perceptive. I think you may be a little too hard on Gottlieb and Toomey, I think they were really trying to make some gains from the good parts of the bill – and there were some – but without the safeguards it simply became a no-go. The real kamikaze was Manchin, he’s going to have a really tough time – not so much for the merits of the bill – but playing the part of Obama’s lapdog (like Christie). Not good. Thanks again.

  10. I feel that the GOA deserves to be on the Winners list as well, they really emerged as a force to be reckoned with and the group that keeps the NRA in check. Having a hardline no compromise mandate, they keep the NRA on their toes. The GOA was definitely a big winner in this.

  11. Endowment member NRA, Life member Gun Owners of America and a member of Rocky Mtn Gun owners. Think I’m going to join Jews for the Preservation of Firearms (just read you don’t have to be Jewish to join).

    Rules for a gun fight:
    Bring a gun.
    Bring at least 2 guns.
    BRING ALL YOUR FRIENDS WHO HAVE GUNS!

  12. I am still inclined to think Gottleib knew what he was doing. Yes, he lost capital personally, but his support poisoned Manchin Toomey for the antis.

  16. It will be interesting to see whether individual States will be winners or losers as a result, to the extent that it matters at all. There has been talk of pushing for a referendum on the background checks in at least one State if they were to fail on the federal level – I wonder if that may have been one reason Alan was so keen on them.

    Perhaps the failure will lead to redoubled efforts in some States, perhaps it will take the wind out of some bills. Too early to tell, it could play out differently in different States. Could also be of little relevance anywhere – I don’t have much of a “feel” of how this may go, perhaps others here have a better sense.

  17. I take exception with your remark on Toomey. It isn’t just western Pennsylvania that’s pissed at him; we here in eastern Pennsylvania are plenty pissed at him too!

    • I was on such a high after the Senate wins (and seeing a double rainbow out my window as the final votes came in (true story)) I decided last night to open my last box of .22 that I’ve been saving since December. I counted out a mere thirty rounds and put them in my range bag last night. Well this morning I stopped by the LGS and low-behold they had over 100 boxes of 9mm and a dozen of .22! I think the drought is about to break.
      Added a newb to the range trip to celebrate my good fortune!

  19. You guys were just bashing the NRA a few weeks ago and calling out their leader. GOA is where it is at. Or, did you all forget that?

  20. Honestly, I think Alan G made a good gamble with the M-T. There being a voice of reason willing to try an olive branch was more symbolic than actually effective but I look at it like this:

    If he hadn’t hedged a bet behind Senators with an idea, the senate (Schumer in particular) wouldn’t have had any limit of asinine things to come to the floor. The M-T deal set a precedent that limited dumb ideas and by its own writing cancelled out many ridiculous amendments by the way it was written. It failed because it was cruelly gutted and it being gutted (or the simple 100% likelihood of it) was a rallying cry to the GOA who never trusted it and clearly painted who the enemy was for members of other organizations to see without appearing paranoid. Was Alan caught in the crossfire? Yes. Do I think it could have turned out better had he not taken one for the team? No.

    Alan made a fool out of everyone who went with and raped his bill. Knowing it would die cruelly, it sent up enough red flags on both sides to basically be the tipping point for now and show what both sides are capable of united.

    Political climate of judgemental foolishness was bound to kill gun rights bills at this point but gun control backfired largely cuz of the fallout from the AWB first and M-T as the lesser evil and still good idea. That’s what it looks like to me.

    It makes Alan a loser but it did exactly what he needed to do. So, well played even in “defeat” is only half of it.

  21. Come now, gentlefolk. As some have hinted, you don’t keep score during a war. Get inside the OODA loop and keep the opponents off balance. Why is there no version of the M-T bill ready with actual safeguards built in? Written by professional pro-2A attorneys and not in consultation with Brady and Bloomberg.

    That way, we can say – you want the M-T bill, here it is. You claim no registries will be established – then you can’t complain about the ironclad civil penalties, criminal penalties with no statute of limitations, [and perhaps forfeiture of federal pensions] we included. You want more access to mental-health records. So do we. But as a sign you can be trusted, let’s define mental health precisely – so that, for example, veterans are not designated as incompetent simply because they can’t handle the confusion of veterans benefits any better, or worse, than the current Secretary of the Treasury could handle the tax code.

    What, you don’t agree? What are you? Child-hating cannibals? We’re giving you everything you claim you wanted.

    As in all combat, you only rest to catch your breath as necessary, and as minimally as possible.

    • I did not nominate the Republican Party as one of the winners. Nor did I nominate the Democrat Party as one of the losers. But McConnell and Cornyn, along with young Turks like Cruz and Paul, clearly outplayed Reid and Durban.

    • Shawn, I wish you’d reconsider. Take a longer view. Don’t make the issue whether one party or the other is perfect on 2A. Consider what will happen to 2A in PA over time if things go one way versus the other.

  24. Would have liked Cornyn’s Constitutional Amend. to have gone fwd. but it was a no go. The ol’ OK Corral scenario in Times Square scares too many Libs.

    Also the Vets Amend. would have at least kept a process in place so their not blacklisted permanently.

    Otherwise I was proud the traitorous usurping senators lost. Although McCain voted for the high cap mag ban. Remember that folks in AZ.
    Ashamed I voted for him.

  25. I can’t speak for all Pennsylvanians, but toomey definitely lost my vote. I just wish there were more winners than losers in all of this.

    • Toomey may well be the biggest casualty. The left would never have voted for him regardless, and now he has betrayed and lost the votes of supporters like you. I never would have picked him to be the one that would turn on us.

      • I suspect Toomey’s SuperPACs got filled to the brim with untraceable Progressive cash over the last couple of weeks. I call Toomey the big winner.

  26. Everyone who has helped the cause should enjoy a cold frosty in celebration.

    Let’s also remember how much effort it took to prevent anything from being passed. We will have to keep up the fight so we can start winning offensive political victories. Additionally, gunnies should take this political lull to get fence-sitters out shooting and buying guns. I’m going to take some time this weekend and take a new gun owner and a non owner out shooting then to a gun show to help the one out on selecting his first purchase. You can rest assured I will take the opportunity to remind them how vulnerable our birthright is. Take this opportunity to swell our ranks so next time this comes up we have even more allies.

  28. I have to laugh…in the end, when all’s been said and done, what did Obama accomplish?

    He flooded America with more guns and ammo. There are now more guns than ever in citizen’s hands thanks to him. I love it.

    Good list, except I’d have to say that the decorum represented by Cruz as opposed to Schumer won’t sway anyone. People who value decency, decorum, and intelligence are already right-side voters. People who value petulance, snobbery, and baseless emotion are already left-side voters.

    Cruz for President. Keep religion subdued and abortion flexible and he’d be a shoo-in. It’s time the R ticket started running on a libertarian platform.

  29. So Reciprocity got more votes than all of the anti 2A stuff.
    That has got to mean something !
    One day we will have reciprocity !………..and we will always have 2A!

  32. Ummm…this article is overly optimistic. Why wasn’t the vote 99 against? It was less than half that against. Only six votes stopped an act designed to entrap Americans.

    The real losers are Americans since most of the Senate thinks it can pass any law it wants.

  33. Ralph,
    Appreciation extended for your interesting and well-expressed commentary.
    We do of course, naturally expect there will be more to follow, as you knew we would.

    Paraphrased Walpole with addition:
    A tragedy for those who feel, a comedy for those who think…and a fascinating study for those who recognize that, in actuality, it’s all self-explanatory.

  35. Gun owners and activists lose again, and continue to lose.

    We are winning on technicalities, not on principals. The People(tm) are not on our side. We have not “won over” anyone in power. Nobody looked at this debate, looked at the issues, and said “Hey, you know what? They’re right!”. We win because we’re louder and care and act more on this issue than the opponents. They simply aren’t invested in it.

    It’s a cultural conflict, and currently the demographics are against us. This culture is not growing, it is simply getting more entrenched. As the culture continues to shift, as the “uninvested” continue to grow, the interpretations will shift, and long term we will likely lose. Content to oil our 500 fps airsoft replicas stored at one of the 7 National Gun Ranges.

    The next steps are to challenge the multitude of state laws. If those are allowed to stand, we have lost even more, because then the 2A “doesn’t mean what you think it means”. People talk about the new state laws as if they’re some new thing, when California has been living under them for years now. The other states are catching up to CA, and CA is in the midst of crafting brand new, even worse legislation. If they are allowed to stand, then the Right will be whittled away to being eventually nonsense, regardless what it says or what “we” think it means. When “we” are marginalized, it doesn’t really matter what “we” think.

    The public perception of gun owners and 2A activists, is not a particularly good one. This was a lose-lose situation. Battle won, the War isn’t looking so good.

    • The Constitution is not a technicality. BTW, please don’t open your veins over this. It’s just soooo hard to get those blue stains out of the carpet.

    • “Battle won, the War isn’t looking so good.”

      I may be wrong about that, but I think it is inevitable that some day we’ll have more background checks. The key is to get something substantial in return. Hopefully, winning this battle sends the message that background checks have a hefty price tag on them.

  36. SAF you shot yourself in the foot, you have a good record , so get hard as nails SAF ,, lots more battles , the War is still on… and thanks NRA …

  37. Your comment about Ted Cruz is spot on, he is the smartest politician I have met and I have met a lot of them as a political activist. He won his seat with hard work and he is still working hard. I see him as some day being President.

  40. I would rather see Mark Kelly on the losers list in place of Gabby. She isn’t all there. She is just repeating what she has been told to say by Mark and it is pretty easy to tell, especially if you watch the video he put out about how it’s too easy to buy a gun. She is just parroting back what is said to her. Mark is using her as a puppet to further his own political goals and it sickens me. I see her as a victim in all this. Mark is the truly despicable one.

  41. I REALLY wanted Feinstein on that list……is it possible to update the story to include her as #8. PLEASE..the old harpy needs her face rubbed in her own mess.

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