by Politicians need reminders on who “brung them to the dance” lest they start believing they did it all on their own. A sparkling personality and a impressive résumé can only take you so far. Effective outside help should always be appreciated.
Paul Valone, President of Grass Roots North Carolina, realizes this. He just issued two open letters: one to Speaker Tim Moore of the NC House and one to Sen. Phil Berger, President Pro Tem of the NC Senate. The only difference in the letters is that the Republicans received a supermajority in the State Senate while falling one short in the House.
The letters (see an example below) remind Moore and Berger of both the efforts and the results from the independent expenditures made by the GRNC-PVF and the Judicial Fairness Project. 34 races were targeted and 27 wins recorded or nearly an 80% win rate.
They are then told of the legislative priorities for GRNC in the next session. These include permitless carry, getting rid of the pistol purchase permit, eliminating the “church carry loophole”, and protecting shooting on private property. Vetoes by Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) negated the wins in the last session which sought to eliminate the pistol purchase permit and allowing churches with schools to permit carry during non-school hours. Neither veto was overridden. With the supermajority in the Senate and the near supermajority in the House, chances are that a veto could be overridden this time. The letter concludes by saying Valone is confident that the Republicans will advance the rights of Second Amendment supporters.
This is one of the reasons that it’s so important for rights supporters to be involved in elections. Not only do we have the potential to make sure the best people are elected (or at least that the worst people don’t get a majority), it also provides access and leverage for the next legislative session.
Too many just want to sit on the sidelines and complain. When we fail to be a significant force in elections, we lose the opportunity to hold politicians accountable.
Paul does it right.
In most states we are an insignificant force at anything beyond (at best) local or county elections. This has to do with the mendacity and expediency of politicians as well as the gullibility with voters. Oh yeah, the Republicans are the party of personal liberty and fiscal responsibility- just ask Mitch McConnell
Democrats don’t need to be reminded. They always deliver for their supporters. Republicans, on the other hand, need to be reminded and will probably ignore the reminder.
I remember the days when there was actually such a thing as a pro-gun Democrat. The effectiveness of the left in the Democrat primaries has mostly eliminated them for not being sufficiently leftist. When we had pro-gun Democrats, the Republicans could not ignore gun owners quite so readily. They were forced to back up their promises or else.
Even those Democrats in the NC General Assembly who might vote for gun rights every now and then – and there are a few – think it is more important for them to uphold Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of bills that advance gun rights. We would have seen the Jim Crow relic of the pistol purchase permit eliminated as well as seeing churches with private schools attached protected otherwise.