U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Well, the 2018 midterm elections are in the books. In some ways, they went very well – the GOP took out four Democrats who voted against Donald Trump’s pro-Second Amendment judicial nominees, while confirming anti-Second Amendment judges selected by Barack Obama. In governor’s races, some previously pro-Second Amendment governorships went the other way due to retirements, and the loss of Scott Walker is a devastating blow in the Badger State.
The House of Representatives, though, was an unmitigated disaster. The nightmare of Jerry Nadler running the House Judiciary Committee is happening. You’re not dreaming. The House of Representatives will now be debating and voting on whether to punish millions of law-abiding gun owners for shootings they never committed. What do we learn from this?
Sometimes Other Issues Prevail
Many of the House races were not centered on the Second Amendment. Some were decided on local issues, but in many cases, it was either health care or the tone of President Trump that dominated. There isn’t a lot that can be done, except to encourage more of the fence-sitters you know to make a failure to support the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens a deal-breaker.
Bloomberg’s Billions Count
While those who exercise their Second Amendment rights are far more engaged, Michael Bloomberg is swamping us with money. The passage of I-1639 is one example, but so is the fact that several Senators who were strongly anti-Second Amendment survived in states where Trump won. House seats also went the other way, and Bloomberg’s ability to drop millions is one factor.
Showing Up Matters
Bloomberg’s billions allow him to take the fight to any location of his choosing. Sadly, too many of the established Second Amendment groups, including the NRA, have been focused on solidifying the base, and not enough on outreach in the suburbs and urban areas. This has to change, and the best way to do that is for Second Amendment supporters to find ways to get involved in their communities, and they may need to keep that support in the closet initially, until people get to know them.
The Future Battlefield is Being Shaped
We see this in Florida, where the passage of Amendment 4 will put as many as a million convicted felons on the voter rolls. This will have an effect of future elections in that state. Nadler chairing House Judiciary Committee will have effects as well, especially when hearings are called on Second Amendment issues.
A Fighting Spirit Matters
When Beto O’Rourke defended the anthem kneelers, he inspired nationwide enthusiasm. He did not win the Senate seat in Texas, but he arguably helped take out some pro-Second Amendment representatives with coattails. Similarly, the GOP Senate’s decision to stand up for Kavanaugh probably was a big reason that Heitkamp, Donnelly, Nelson, and McCaskill will be polishing their resumes – and it is to be determined if Tester will also have to do that.
Races Down-Ticket Matter
The loss of various state attorney general races will have an effect on Second Amendment rights. These state officials can find ways to attack our Second Amendment rights, whether via shenanigans on referendums (see I-1639) or by attacking pro-Second Amendment groups (it will not just be the province of governors like Andrew Cuomo).
The Best and Worst is Yet to Come
We can expect to see pro-Second Amendment judges (and Supreme Court justices, should openings occur) sail through the Senate. This will have an effect, especially as the NRA’s case against Cuomo moves forward. That said, we will see the House of Representatives used as a means to attack the Second Amendment and to create new issues.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
HUHM, I am quite pleased the Dems took over and we can now get moving on getting rid of Our illegitimate president who is owned by China, Putin, and The Saudis. The NRA?? Really? This group funnels 30 million Kremlin dollars to the GOP and you want to support this fascist organization?? I don’t understand how anyone is supporting any organization in bed with the Russian Oligarchs and Putin. Have we all gone mad? This is a forum on gun control? best look at priorities
It may be a little early for lessons learned.
I’ll try again to get a comment published here. There were no lessons learned in Oregon for we re-elected Kate Brown and now have a Democrat super majority in the State House. I can only foresee anti-gun, anti-due process laws inacted without the vote of the public. I feel like selling all, ALL my wordly possessions and hitting the road.
Jim believe it or not I feel the same way down here in Texas where the demographics are changing rapidly. Texas will be a blue state in the near future because of the cities.
It’s because of the influx of Californicators. Courting the Silicon Valley folks may not have been the best idea. But one would assume that they’d have learned their lessons after screwing up the Golden State. Unfortunately, they haven’t. I’m not a native Texan. I moved here from the Midwest over 36 years ago. I love this state! I love the people here – the natives and the naturalized Texans. It saddens me that the state is changing so rapidly to blue. Like you, I figure that in another five years or so, it’ll be mostly blue. About the only state… Read more »
Gram: Yes both CA & NY are driving their residents out TX & other states. // About 36 yrs. here as well, originally Lake Ontario / Adirondack farm boy (Upstate NY). Never acclimated to heat / humidity. Few states left like TX without state income tax & “reasonable” property taxes. Main idea IMO is to get away from cities no matter where you decide to go. NE Alabama is nice area. WY, SD, nw CO, NH, NC, ME are some of our other considerations but of course no perfect spot. The central bankers have made slaves of us all without… Read more »
hello from what used to be Nevada. keep your eye on the Prize…they want the 2nd amendment! if you look at Clark county and Washoe County the NP People took just enough so the communist, EU sell outs could win. dead people, unions and morons killed Nevada, guess they will do away with the state border. We should have had a civil war when we had the chance. now we march to the EU agenda, make America a brown, border less shite hole with no Constitution. slow, slow death by stupidity (infectous californious).7 November 2018. all part of the EU… Read more »
what do you mean it’s to late for a revolution???? if there ever was a time foe a Revolution the time is now!!!! the constitution’s second amendment was written for the purpose to give us rights to keep and bear arms for the purpose that if the government gets out of control., that we can get the government back under control! if “we the people” would rise up against the corruption in our government. IE revolution, our problem would be over!!!
Sir RE “..our problem would be over”: Unfortunately there is no organization for what would REPLACE whatever revolution ends up as. Seen it happen too many times. So it would be civilian anarchy inviting armed suppression with no resolution. Maybe ending in a balkanized county worse than what we have, open to foreign interference. But I agree there is no longer is a political solution. The only guy we’ve listened to (several times) that has the remaining non-violent solution is Edwin Vieira Jr. (“Purse and the Sword”). We have given out his DVDs but the lecture is generally too long… Read more »
We had a record mid-term voter turn out with a threat of a blue wave that did not happen. What did happen though, is that we have a president who got out and worked hard to stump targeted areas where the races were identified as close. As a result, we gained seats in the senate lost fewer seats in the house than what had been projected.
@Dubi Bailey, I can not disagree, but why is it that the party “in power” loses seats during the mid terms, in the first place? And to where have all the trolling propagandists that frequent this site gone?
The female vote is the problem. They are anti gun and anti male. it is not just suburban women. Throw into the mix brain dead union workers who do not understand that rich people invest and create employment not union bosses who feed money to the Democratic party, that is determined to disarm the working man including brain dead hunters who naively think ” ..diay ain’t gonna take my hunting rifle…” . What stupid men….. Take a look as Australia. First it was those nasty assault weapons now hunters have to hunt with blunt sticks. It now is almost too… Read more »
Spot on. The time is beyond simply solidifying the pro-gun base. We need to spread out into our communities and evangelize people who are on the fence for gun rights. Women have been indoctrinated into pro-feminist, anti conservative thinking. Young people have been “educated” into socialist anti-gun views. We can win them back, but it’s going to take work and we have to do it – or else.
Look forward to 2 years of endless investigations into Trump and his administration. Instead of legislators focusing on America they will spend their time trying to undermine the Trump agenda. I guess if you don’t have a job and have not realized the benefits of this administration it doesn’t matter, but if you are a taxpaying citizen like me I want more winning. congratulations to the lazy POS non voters. Enjoy the misery.
@Joe, If I were president: I would turn loose a Special Prosecutor every time a democrat committee chairman started a BS investigation. I would tell the dems in advance that I was willing to unleash a legion of Special Prosecutors, if they didn’t stop abusing their authority and get back to doing We the People’s work.
Reassign Rod Rosenstein to latrine duty.
Let the Russians enforce their warrant on George Soros.
Get that 14th Amendment citizenship meaning issue into a friendly fed ct. before the libtards get it into an unfriendly fed. ct.
And Build that wall.
Sounds familiar. Like, what they’ve been doing for the last 2 years. I saw blatant voting fraud on video and nobody is saying a thing. It happened in Alabama with Judge Roy Moore. There were 600,000 registered Republican voters that magically didn’t get counted, no military votes were counted and the Democrats destroyed the voting records early the next day. Guess what, all you hear from the people of Al and the news media is crickets. So, it may be that we could had a better turnout of pro 2nd voters but it’s not all their fault. The blame squarely… Read more »
@RP Another little bit of the swamp drained and a big impediment to investigating hillary out of the way.
@ Wild Bill I heard this morning that the democrats are going to investigate Trump’s firing of Jeff Sessions to see if it is connected to the Mueller witch hunt. The loss of productive time is just beginning and I am sure it will get worse. The only saving grace is that the house can’t pass laws without the senate vote, then the POTUS. Good thinking founders.