From a press release issued yesterday, I learned that Gun Owners of America -- a group that's to the right of the NRA -- thinks the immigration bill is anti-gun:
... only 67 Senators -- three short of Chuck Schumer's 70-vote target -- voted to shut off debate on the anti-gun Hoeven-Corker-Leahy amnesty amendment....So, um, why is the immigration bill anti-gun?
The Chuck Schumers of the world did everything in their power to get the 70-vote threshold which they had predicted -- and which became a floor for the number of votes necessary in order for anti-gunners to avoid embarrassment....
By falling short of their 70-vote goal, Schumer & Co. in effect admitted that the bill would limp out of the Senate without any momentum going into the House. Coupled with our successful efforts to revitalize the Hastert Rule in the House, anti-gun immigration reform is on track to being dead for the year because House Speaker Boehner has said he will not pass it with largely Democratic support....
An earlier Gun Owners of America press release explains:
... if that bill were to be signed into law, it would add 8.4 million anti-gun voters to the rolls, and make gun registration, bans, and confiscation inevitable within 20 years....That's right: According to GOA, these people shouldn't have a path to citizenship because they'll support gun control. Citizenship is only for people who agree with what right-wingers want. So kill the bill!
I haven't seen this argument going mainstream yet on the right, but it may not have to -- it's in the mix. Getting a chunk of the gun-crazy community angry about the bill because of likely anti-gun consequences that only gunners can detect might increase the resistance of House Republicans that much more.
I wonder how the Gun Owners of America folks feel about the Supreme Court's decision on the Voting Rights Act. They're probably pretty psyched.
