You may remember Pennsylvania Senator Patrick J. Toomey as the other half of the post-Sandy Hook Manchin – Tumey Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. If passed and signed into law, that bill would have loosed “universal background checks” upon The Land of the Free. Toomey, a Republican, earned the eternal ire of pro-gun voters — reinforced after he talked of reviving the bill after the Charleston shooting. Well, maybe not eternal ire, as rollcall.com reports . . .
Despite his support for background checks, for many gun owners in Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Patrick J. Toomey might be “the lesser of two evils” in his race against Democrat Katie McGinty . . .
Gun rights groups in Pennsylvania are now forced to choose between Toomey, whom they see as a threat to the Second Amendment, and Democrat Katie McGinty, whom they see as a bigger threat.
David Sager, the president of Pennsylvanians for Self Protection, told The Associated Press that his group might not endorse Toomey, but will try to make it clear that he’s the “lesser of two evils” in the Senate race.
Meanwhile, the northeastern Pennsylvania-based American Gun Owners Alliance is encouraging its members to support McGinty to make a point to other Republicans.
Founder David Dalton told the AP that if McGinty wins, as a freshman, she would be less powerful than Toomey who would be going into his second term.
So the enemy of my worse enemy is my friend? If only it were that simple . . .
McGinty, has criticized Toomey’s gun control record, calling it “paper-thin.” But that record has earned the incumbent the support of the political action committees of former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg respectively. The daughter of the principal killed at Sandy Hook has appeared in an ad for Toomey.
And there you were thinking that voting for Trump would be a nose-holding affair. I mean, could you vote for the same politician supported by the nation’s most prominent gun control advocates?