by Tanya Metaksa
By the time you read this article, there will have been many articles on the 2014 mid-term election results.
On Nov.5 the New York Daily News cover had a picture of President Obama with “NOPE” across the bottom, while the NY Post under a headline “Midterm Tsunami” had a picture of the President naked with a barrel as clothing and a banner across the middle of the page yelling “STRIPPED!” Although Obama during his press conference that day refused to acknowledge that his policies had been rebuked, those two headlines told the story.
Now that the dust has settled, how did gunowners do in 2014? The answer is Very Well-with two exceptions.
First let’s cover the exceptions or shall we say the disappointing results. The number one disappointment was the Washington state referendum results. The gun control proposal, I-594, thanks to massive funding from left-leaning billionaires, passed with 59% of the vote, while the pro gun initiative, I-591, lost with 54% voting “No.”
Although the proponents framed the I-594 initiative as a “gun safety” measure, on Nov. 5 the backers held a press conference where they admitted that this proposal was only the first step to more gun control.
According to the Seattle P-I.com, Sandy Brown, the president of the Center for Gun Responsibility, stated, “Yesterday’s victory is just the beginning.
He added that “We are here this morning to announce that we are not packing up our tents.”
In fact, a I-594 supporter, State Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-Seattle) stated she would be reintroducing last year’s bill to make it a crime when a person leaves or stores a loaded gun where a child might find it. She added, “I really do think the vote last night will make people more comfortable with the reasonable need for more gun-safety laws.”
Already, gun rights activists are planning a demonstration at the State Capitol in Olympia to protest I-594 and deliberately violate one of its key provisions, the transfer of firearms back and forth without background checks. Ostensibly, this will be used to demonstrate that the law is unenforceable.
The other exceptions are the Governors’ races in Connecticut and Colorado. Mountain State Gov. John Hickenlooper, who played pool with President Obama in October, took advice from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the 2013 legislative session and was opposed by the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, retained his seat with 48% of the vote to challenger Bob Beauprez’s 46%. This, despite the fact that during the campaign he apologized to the Colorado Sheriffs Association for ignoring their request for a meeting prior to the passage of the gun law.
Likewise, the two Colorado State Senate seats that were gained by Republicans last year when a pair of anti-gun Democrats were recalled over their votes on the gun issue were lost back to Democrats.
During 2014 there were several ballot issues at the state level. In an Aug. 5 referendum Missouri citizens passed SJR-36, a constitutional amendment to strengthen the Missouri right to keep and bear arms, with 69% approval. On Aug. 19 the voters in Castle Rock, CO, held two referenda concerning firearms: Referendum A, prohibiting the town manager from banning the open carry of firearms in town parks, passed by a margin of 50.8%. Referendum B, requiring a vote of the town before a change of gun laws in Castle Rock, won by 78%. On Election day several states other than Washington held referenda.
Alabama had two ballot items: Amendment 3 providing “that every citizens has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to strict scrutiny, passed by 72% of the vote; Amendment 5, the right to hunt and fish amendment, passed with 79% of the vote.
Maine voters defeated Question 1, prohibiting the taking of bears by baiting, trapping and with dogs, 53-46%.
Amendment 1, a Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment, protecting wildlife, promoting conservation and ensuring the right to hunt and fish for future generations, passed in Mississippi by an overwhelming 88% of the vote.
Despite the loss in Washington and the reelection of Malloy in Connecticut and Hickenlooper in Colorado, the BuzzPo headline that read “Second Amendment Crushes Gun Control Candidates” pretty much told the story. That article summed it up, “Yesterday was a tremendous victory for conservative American gunowners…Our voices told Barack Obama, Michael Bloomberg, Gabby Giffords, and Shannon Watts with her ‘Mad Moms’ to go pound sand.”
Gunowners were very much in the forefront of the Republican takeover of the US Senate. NRA-endorsed senatorial candidates won in the pivotal states of Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.
In governors’ races we elected new pro-gun candidates in Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, and Texas while retaining pro-gun governors in Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The only states that retained anti-gun governors were California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon.
According to Real Clear Politics, “The GOP now controls 68 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers—the highest number in the history of the party.” They added that in 23 states Republicans control both the governorship and both houses of the legislature.
The article also blamed “President Obama’s lackluster job approval” for hurting Democrat candidates at every level. In Nevada, for example, where Gov. Sandoval won reelection with 70%, his coattails helped in putting pro-gun Republicans in control of the Senate.
Overall, Nov. 4 was a wonderful election—it reminded me of the 1994 election wave that came on the heels of the passage of the Clinton gun ban.
In the next few years it will be incumbent upon gunowners to encourage the new pro-gun majorities to work to consolidate laws that ensure the Right-to-Carry across the country as well as working to repeal gun bans, universal background checks and ridiculous “smart gun” laws.
