Hillary Clinton has quite a poker face, but she won’t be able to keep it up much longer. Having listened to the rabid anti-gun sloganeering of the media elites and her political cronies, she has unwisely chained herself to a cause that just might sink her presidential ambitions—if gun owners get motivated enough. Recent polls continue to indicate that Americans dislike gun control and intend to vote for candidates who share their views on the topic. But there’s no turning back for Clinton now, and it looks like she’s going to double down on the anti-gun bluster.
Signs that Hillary might struggle over the gun issue emerged as soon as her mega-funded campaign—a beneficiary of the Citizens United decision that she claims to despise—began losing ground to a crotchety socialist with little money and a marginally less extreme anti-gun stance. Seeking to wound Bernie Sanders, Hillary began making outrageous claims that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act—which Sanders supported—allows firearm manufacturers and dealers alike to be “totally free of liability.” She even continued to repeat this bald-faced lie after NPR and CNN—hardly pro-gun sources—forcefully debunked it. Even some devout anti-gunners within the Democratic party are questioning whether Clinton is on the right path in being so vocal about firearms.
Even some devout anti-gunners within the Democratic party are questioning whether Clinton is on the right path in being so vocal about firearms. “I don’t feel like any Democrat needs to run on gun control as a primary concern,” one anonymous strategist told The Hill. “… I don’t think it’s great ground for any Democratic candidate to be spending their time on.” Even rabidly anti-gun California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom implied a measure of dismay: “I think she’s taking a big risk here … [gun control has] not been very successful for presidential candidates.”
So what has Hillary been doing lately? Well, there was the ad—a TV spot that carefully avoided any concrete discussion of policy and instead tried to browbeat voters: “We’re better than this … How many people need to die before we actually act—before we come together as a nation?” The belief that support for the Second Amendment equates with a callous disregard for human life appears to be very meaningful for the ignorant minority that holds it. Hopefully most Americans are better informed than that.
Then there was the meeting with the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown—a textbook example of the anti-gunner strategy of exploiting widespread grief over tragic deaths without honestly examining their causes. With such irrational appeals to emotion, Hillary is preaching to the choir. But will that choir be large enough to hand her the presidency?
Here’s the problem for Hillary Clinton: The best bluffing in the world sometimes won’t help if the other players know for a fact that you’ve drawn an inferior hand. If those who believe in our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms become complacent and leave the work of electing a pro-gun president to others, we could see a second Clinton administration ripping and tearing at our freedoms. But if freedom lovers mobilize now and work hard through Election Day next November, we can send Clinton, and her presidential aspirations, packing—hopefully for the last time.
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