In the course of reading this subtly bitter (and thus subtly entertaining) story (via Instapundit) about the effective collapse of the anti-gun movement on the grassroots level, I came across this passage: “In November the Republican House approved a measure that would require states to respect concealed carry permits issued by other, less restrictive states; it now awaits action in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where its fate is uncertain.” This refers to HR 822, which passed in the House with bipartisan support and is now awaiting action from Judiciary in the Senate. As people reading this probably know, reciprocal respect of other states’ right-to-carry laws is a hot topic: it recently came to the forefront when a Tennessee woman got arrested for trying to check in her firearm at the 9/11 Ground Zero site. I should also note in passing that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (INDEPENDENT) attempt to smear said woman by claiming she was also in possession of cocaine backfired: the woman didn’t have any. But she’s still facing several years of jail time – no, really – for a ‘crime’ that more enlightened portions of the United States of America decriminalized some time ago*.

But that’s a different post – although conservative/Republican groups should take note that New York City is not a safe tourism/convention destination for their members under Mayor Bloomberg – the real question is what the Senate plans to do about restoring civil liberties. Particularly all those Senators from Shall-Issue states (i.e., states where firearm possession is a right to be exercised, and not a privilege to be granted).

• Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) is from Minnesota, which is a Shall-Issue state. Is Senator Klobuchar really comfortable with putting nursing students in jail for owning guns and taking them to NYC? Does that mean that she will continue to let gun-grabbers keep this bill in the Judiciary Committee?
• Senator Herb Kohl (D) is from Wisconsin, which has just become a Shall-Issue state; and, judging from the number of applications for CCW, it was a popular decision. Is Senator Kohl really comfortable with repressing civil liberties by not voting to move the Senate bill out of committee? And does he really want to make this an election year issue for the Democratic candidate that will be running for his seat?
• Senator Jim Webb (D) is from Virginia, which is a Shall-Issue state. Is he really going to retire from the Senate without having the courage to face this issue? Note that this question can also be asked of Senators Kent Conrad (D) of North Dakota, Jeff Bingaman (D) of New Mexico, and Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska.
• Senator Bill Nelson (D) is from Florida, which is a Shall-Issue state. Is he putting pressure on Kohl and Klobuchar to repair this assault on the Bill of Rights? If he isn’t, why isn’t he?
• Senator Debbie Stabenow (D) is from Michigan, which is a Shall-Issue state. What is she doing to redress this outrage? Does she even care?
• Senator Claire McCaskill (D) is from Missouri, which is a Shall-Issue state. Does she agree with the policies of that state on gun liberty? Or does she just want to duck the subject?
• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) may be from New York, which is obviously not a Shall-Issue state – but she’s from the upstate portion of it, which has a somewhat different take on the subject than does NYC. Is she putting pressure on fellow New Yorker Chuck Schumer to get this bill out of Judiciary and on the floor? If not, can we safely assume that New York City has two Senators and New York State has none?
• Senator Sherrod Brown (D) is from Ohio, which is a Shall-Issue state; and I believe that you’re getting the point by now.
• Senator Bob Casey (D) is from Pennsylvania, which is a Shall-Issue state.
• Senator Maria Cantwell (D) is from Washington, which is a Shall-Issue state.
• Senator Joe Manchin (D) is from West Virginia, which is a Shall-Issue state… and let’s drill down on this last one. Does any of this… bother… Manchin?

Yup. There are fourteen Democratic-held Senate seats from states that have Shall-Issue laws on firearms ownership. That is enough to win a cloture vote, even assuming that a certain Senator from Massachusetts continues to oppose HR 822 (the Ladies from Maine are a good deal more reliable on this subject); which would then put this issue on the President’s desk, all nice and stinking. Which is why none of the Democrats above want to talk about the issue; and why we should not allow them to get away with staying silent…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Reading those above articles…wow, New York politicians really don’t like tourists very much, do they? I mean, here we have a woman about to go to jail for years because NYC thinks that it can dictate Constitutional law, and Peter Vallone is going around calling the woman names and laughing at her. And he’s one of the people who wants to let her go.