National Reciprocity – A step forward

/ hsoi

Looks like amendment 1618 to S.1390, the national reciprocity effort of Sen. John Thune, passed the US Senate with a 58-39 majority. Obviously that’s bipartisan.

Good news.

Updated…. oh wait, I misread that. No, it didn’t pass. It needed 60 votes to pass, but the vote still demonstrated a majority. Hopefully this will enter into NRA grades for the upcoming elections. Shows you who is on what side of the fence for sure.

CNN article.

While it didn’t happen, I still think it’s a step forward. It still shows where the US Senators stand on such issues. It still shows that a majority can be had.

9 thoughts on “National Reciprocity – A step forward”

  1. Pingback: National Reciprocity « Stuff From Hsoi

  2. While I had a few concerns about states rights and this bill, I am still at a loss as to why any sort of permit or license is needed for an unalienable right.

    I did note however, that those that I call “the usual suspects” were all about states rights this time…

    • People do tend to forget that “the right to keep and bear arms” is a God-given right. All 2A does is tell the Federal Government they’re not allowed to infringe upon it (i.e. 2A doesn’t grant any right). This isn’t a privilege like driving or marriage.

      But, this is the state we’re in, so I look at this as baby steps back in the right direction.

      And while I do tend to agree with you, I have found some advantage to a concealed handgun license. For instance, because of the level of work involved in obtaining one, to have one (and keep one) gives you some small notion about the person you’re dealing with. They have the nickname “the ‘I’m a Good Guy’ card” for a reason. You come up on someone that you’ve never met. What can you know about them? If that person produces a concealed handgun permit, now there’s some things you can know about them, and it’s all positive stuff. I don’t think this outweighs other issues, but I’m just pointing out that it’s not all bad to have these things.

      As for “the usual suspects”, someone mentioned to me their strategy for the next election is to just vote for the not-incumbent. Find the person with the best chance of unseating the incumbent and vote for them… just get the incumbents out of office. I’m getting more and more tempted to try that approach.

  3. The very fact that this bill made it to the floor of the SEnate alone is amazing… that the bill also managed to receive a majority of the Senators’ votes is flat-out mind-boggling.

    Yeah, it does suck that an inalienable right is being treated as a government-licensed privilege, but at least getting that privilege extended to the whole nation is a step in the right direction.

    • Well, we do have to remember it only made it this way because Thune took a different strategy… his stand-alone bill wasn’t happening, so he “forced” the issue by making it an amendment. Still, seeing 58 yea votes is a welcome thing.

      I get the feeling that some folks in Congress are worried about keeping their jobs. Obama hasn’t lived up to expectations and the citizens are getting restless. With things like the NRA grade looming, and there’s no question that grade affects elections, I suspect some are doing what they can to stay in the good graces to get re-elected.

      Anyway… baby steps. Slow progress is still progress.

  4. Actually, I was flabbergasted that 58 Senators voted for it. If, and it’s a very big if at this stage; the Supreme Court does in fact rule that the Second Amendment covers all citizens regardless of which state they live in? That will be a giant step. Baby steps in the mean time are still steps and any progress is progress.

    • Well check this out:

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR2009072203282.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

      Seems some of those Senators knew what they were up against… not the law so much as their NRA grade and ability to get re-elected. Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) apparently poked his head in at the start of the vote and voted nay… but then right at the end, after conferring and realizing the vote wouldn’t pass, changed his vote to a yea so it would be recorded thusly. IMHO, that’s double-scummy.

      But it still points out that Sen. Pryor knows what butters his bread, but due to his actions I hope the NRA takes that into account when figuring their grades.

      Anyway… baby steps are OK by me.

    • Mark Twain said it best:

      Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

Comments are closed.