by …and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. 1, Reason in Common Sense
Democrats in the US House of Representatives are struggling to find the final votes needed to pass HR 1808, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021. While the bill does have 212 co-sponsors, it needs 218 votes to pass. As Politico notes, they are still trying to find the final votes needed to pass the bill. They might get a vote or two from Republicans like Rep. Adam Kinzinger (RINO-IL) and Rep. Chris Jacobs (RINO-NY) both of whom are retiring after this session. Even if it does pass the House, it will go nowhere in the Senate.
The last time Congress passed an assault weapons ban, the Democrats lost the both houses of Congress. The Republicans picked up 8 seats in the Senate and 54 seats in the House. Even House Speaker Tom Foley (D-WA) lost his seat.
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), a six-term congressman who just lost his primary to extreme leftist, anti-gun, Liz Warren-endorsed Jamie McLeod-Skinner, did remember what happened after passage of the ’94 AWB. Moreover, it is not like Schrader is even remotely pro-gun.
“This is a bill that destroyed the Democrats in ‘94. I guess, do we really have a death wish list as Democrats?” said Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), who will not be on the ballot in November as he has already lost his primary.
The Oregonian centrist is one of more than a half-dozen Democrats either opposed to or undecided on the legislation, many from rural districts where gun safety laws are more contentious. Part of Schrader’s argument: Democrats would risk stomping on their latest bipartisan gun bill by passing something that goes further but will not become law: “It undermines what we already did and reemphasizes to all the people in America that are not hardcore urban Democrats that our party’s out of touch.”
The Republicans have long been referred to as “the stupid party” for their propensity to snatch defeat out of the mouth of victory. This time it looks like the Democrats are well on their way to being the stupid party. But, then again, as the Instapundit always says, “Don’t get cocky”.
UPDATE: The National Shooting Sports Foundation updated their estimate of modern sporting rifles in circulation. It is now over 24 million. That certainly meets the “in common use” standard.
Below is their chart showing a year-by-year estimate of the number produced, imported, and exported.
EstMSR1990_2020
Dem leadership seems to be willing to take the short-term sacrifice to advance their long-term goals. The only reason that the 94-04 AWB is gone is because of the sunset that was included in the bill to get it passed. The Dems won’t make that mistake again, and if they manage to pass the bill I really doubt the feckless Republicans would repeal it.
As of right now, I believe that the Democrats are down one man, with Patrick Leahy having fallen, and broken his hip. So does that not make the count in the Republicans favor , 49-50?
Not a lawyer, of course, so just tossing this out there. And if there is any way for the Republicans to screw things up, you know that you can always count on them to do it.
Exactly, white RINOs charging off a cliff.
Why do the Democrats act so self-destructively? Why do the Democrats act in such seeming ignorance of past results? Why leap like lemmings off that anti-gun cliff again?
Distilling the complex answer into a simplified solution, I’d say the Democratic Party of 2022 is very different from the Democratic Party of 1995. There are a lot fewer Democratic Party elected officeholders today than in 1993, among all levels of government. Today’s Party is much more Left Wing.
So today’s Democrats really believe their own anti-gun propaganda. They really believe that draconian gun-control is not only good for public safety, they also believe it is politically popular too. They wouldn’t be entirely wrong either about popularity. Draconian gun-control is popular among the electorate of a few States and some big cities. But residents of those regions only account for about one quarter of the entire United States population.
The witch-hunting and scapegoating aspect of gun-control advocacy is a vital element too.
I think they take neo-Puritan pleasure from persecuting the so-called “deplorables”, whom the Democrats despise as reactionary heretics. It’s an ugly business that could lead to an ugly conclusion.
While nearly all democrats cannot do basic math when it comes to economics, they can all count votes. They know they will get their asses handed to them this fall, and recognize this may be their last chance for many years to pass a bill of this nature. I hope it does pass, because not only will it help remove dems from power, it will also help out the Rs that vote for it, too. Dems are fired up over abortion & guns rulings out of the Supreme Court, the Rs are complacent because they got what they wanted; we could use a “good” loss before Nov to help ensure more of congress is removed for good. Should it pass, the Bruen decision has already negated much of this bill, and provided the framework to kill the rest.
Well, they HAVE been jumping up and down on that third rail of politics for the last year, so why stop now… They know it may be a generation before they can get back in power.
Their attempt in house to pass a ban on semiauto guns is purely political. Their pollsters and strategists see a way to make political hay out of this issue. I am not naive enough to think this is just about solving “gun violence, or about falling in their swords to pass “good” or “righteous” or even “common sense” policy. It’s cold and calculated political strategy (the logic of which is admittedly poorly understood by most of us).
Likewise, the support of that “bipartisan” gun control bill by the likes of McConnell and Cornyn was purely political as well.