Legal and Political Reality
Some are calling it a major victory for the 2nd Amendment. The WSJ describes the Senate gun compromise as “vindication” for the 2nd Amendment.
In a separate article, Kimberley Strassel (WSJ) lays out the failure of Democrats in what she calls “hyprocritial gun control measures.”
Gun Safety Compromise
Instead of addressing bans on certain weapons, the “overwhelming bulk of this ‘gun’ bill consists of provisions aimed at mental health, school safety and tougher prosecution of gun crimes—precisely where conservatives have insisted for years that the federal focus needs to be.”
AS KS notes, this is a notable political moment: even Democrats admit their standard prescriptions are nonstarters and made a deal anyway, “that’s a notable political moment.”
A Strongly Ingrained 2nd Amendment
Despite Democrats campaign to leverage mass shootings, if not gun bans, nothing like the 60 votes in the Senate for more gun control were in the offing, continues KS.
… that’s a reflection of just how deeply ingrained Second Amendment rights have become in recent decades—partly thanks to the Supreme Court. Despite the press using every mass shooting to highlight liberal states that respond with more gun laws, those states remain the distinct minority.
What Drove the Bipartisan Deal?
- Republicans had an obvious interest in moving beyond the gun debate and returning the midterm focus to inflation.
- The Democratic motivation is more complex. Party leaders wanted to show that Democrats can govern and to give vulnerable members something fresh to advertise to constituents.
… the decision to compromise was also an acceptance of political and legal reality. The notion that we’ll get more later’ is just rank bulls—,” an anonymous Democratic senator told Politico this week. “For the foreseeable future, I think this will be the high-water mark.”
