By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
The Washington Examiner is reporting that senior congressional Republicans are concerned that turmoil within the National Rifle Association could “sharply curtail the group’s participation in the 2020 campaign,” but a spokesperson for the 5-million-member association is saying not-so-fast.
Democrat “Beto” O’Rourke’s comment about confiscating semi-auto rifles may have changed the political landscape immensely. (Screen snip, YouTube, MSNBC)
The recent debate outburst from former Congressman Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke about gun confiscation could energize gun owners and give a valuable momentum recharge to the embattled NRA, the report acknowledged. NRA is currently being investigated by the New York Attorney General’s office, and internal conflict between some members and NRA leadership.
But in the backdrop of all the internal battles, the 2020 presidential and congressional elections have cast a shadow. Gun owners have seen the Donald Trump administration come through on the campaign pledge to restore balance to the federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. The president is also cool to some gun control recommendations coming from congressional Democrats, and conservatives are uniformly seething at renewed efforts to displace Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh from the high court.
Nothing may underscore liberal angst over the Supreme Court than efforts in New York City to get the court to dismiss a challenge to its now-changed restrictive handgun control law. The court accepted a case being pursued by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association against the city’s extreme gun law that prohibited transport of privately owned and licensed handguns outside the city.
When the court accepted that case for review several months ago, New York City officials began scrambling to change the law. Many believe it is because those officials knew all along the law would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and if the court strikes it down—as many expect will happen—anti-gunners fear it will open the floodgates for challenges of other restrictive municipal and state gun control laws.
But in order to keep Congress and the White House, the GOP reportedly understands the importance of a strong and unified NRA.
The Washington Examiner quoted Steven Law, a “close confidant of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the chief strategist behind the Kentucky Republican’s affiliated super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund.
“We would love to have the company,” Law stated. “But we’re preparing to shoulder as much of the work in 2020 as possible.”
The story noted that NRA “has been a key ally of the Republican Party, mobilizing critical support for President Trump in 2016.” While some gun rights activists have less than stellar things to say about Trump on gun rights, they also understand that gun rights will be in serious jeopardy if Democrats re-take control on Capitol Hill and managed to capture the White House next year.
NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter told the newspaper, “The NRA is stronger today than we have been heading into any election cycle. In fact, we have significantly higher membership numbers compared to the lead-up to 2016. The entire gun rights movement has also been galvanized at unprecedented levels by the radical rhetoric coming out of the anti-gun camp. We have momentum on our side.”
According to the Washington Examiner story, “NRA is raising money from small grassroots donors at a healthy clip — $6.7 million through July 31 — suggesting that it has the robust support of its approximately 5.5 million activist members.”
That may only get more active in the wake of O’Rourke’s emotional outburst when he told the debate audience, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR15, your AK-47.”
The remark, vowed gun rights leaders including Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, will come back to haunt Democrats for years to come. O’Rourke’s candor completely overshadowed Democrat efforts to push their gun control agenda now that Congress is back in session. What had looked like a dismal fall season for gun owners has taken on a new complexion, because many in the rights movement are using O’Rourke’s comment to declare all Democrats have always wanted gun confiscation as their end-game. Even Democrat Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware acknowledged that O’Rourke’s comment set his party’s gun control effort back.
Beltway Democrats have long carried the reputation as being “the party of gun control.” O’Rourke’s remark only reinforced that impression among millions of gun owners, especially those who own modern sporting rifles that the gun prohibition lobby and its allies on Capitol Hill have erroneously labeled as “assault weapons” and “weapons of war.”
