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Gun-control crowd keeping silent these days
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gun-control crowd keeping silent these days
T his isn't the way gun-control advocates expected the 2002 campaign to go when they were out on the streets gathering petition signatures 18 months ago.
Coming up
Saturday: Read Stacey Range's Capitol Notebook.
Monday: Read about the week's action in the Legislature in the Capitol Report.
Angered by the Legislature's decision to make it easier for folks to get concealed weapons permits, they turned in hundreds of thousands of signatures aimed at blocking the law until the Nov. 5 election.
And when a Michigan Supreme Court ruling thwarted that effort, they vowed to launch a second petition drive. It never materialized.
And now? Well, we're not hearing a lot from the gun-control crowd these days. And for the most part, candidates are more concerned with attracting the gun-rights vote than they are turning off the opposition.
Democrat Jennifer Granholm, who collected signatures in church to put the question on the ballot, comes close to admitting that was a mistake. She says she'll take a wait-and-see attitude on whether the law needs changing.
When she selected Senate Minority Leader John Cherry of Clio as her running mate, his National Rifle Association links were considered a political plus.
Republican Dick Posthumus is an unabashed supporter of gun rights. He'll take part in a roundtable discussion at the Chief Okemos Sportsmen's Club in Dimondale tonight.
So what happened? In part, it's what didn't happen. The Dodge City scenarios that concealed-weapons law critics warned of haven't come to pass.
Sept. 11 may factor in as well, with growing concerns about homeland security and personal safety.
Lansing pollster Ed Sarpolus says Democrats risk turning off Democratic white men if they push too hard on the gun issue.
Chris Walker, a Grand Ledge resident active in the Million Mom March organization, says the Ingham County chapter is gathering information from candidates that it is passing on to the national Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
She said they remain enthusiastic about Granholm.
"There are some very reasonable people on both sides. There really is a space in the middle where we could meet," Walker said. "She's the kind of personality who would have the courage to bring everybody to the table," Walker said.
Gun-rights groups like the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership, aren't remotely satisfied with Granholm's shift in position.
Warns their Web site: "If we do not get off our duffs and vote for Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus for governor in the November 5th election, we will end up with a governor who is not our friend and who will be around for at least four long years."
Justices clear way
It's worth noting that the Republican Supreme Court justices aren't quite the partisan lapdogs that some critics have suggested.
GOP Justices Maura Corrigan, Clifford Taylor, Stephen Markman and Robert Young Jr. took a heap of criticism when they booted the concealed weapons law challenge off the ballot in June 2001. They ruled that the law wasn't subject to a referendum because it contained a spending provision.
Last week, the court unanimously cleared the way for a ballot proposal changing how Michigan spends money from a tobacco lawsuit settlement. It's a measure Engler bitterly opposes.
Michigan Politics is a weekly column written by State Journal political editor Chris Andrews. It runs Wednesdays. To reach Andrews, call 377-1054 or fax him at 377-1298 or send email to candrews@lsj.com. For previous columns, visit www.lsj.com/columnists.
http://www.lsj.com/columnists/andrews/020918_polcol_2b.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
T his isn't the way gun-control advocates expected the 2002 campaign to go when they were out on the streets gathering petition signatures 18 months ago.
Coming up
Saturday: Read Stacey Range's Capitol Notebook.
Monday: Read about the week's action in the Legislature in the Capitol Report.
Angered by the Legislature's decision to make it easier for folks to get concealed weapons permits, they turned in hundreds of thousands of signatures aimed at blocking the law until the Nov. 5 election.
And when a Michigan Supreme Court ruling thwarted that effort, they vowed to launch a second petition drive. It never materialized.
And now? Well, we're not hearing a lot from the gun-control crowd these days. And for the most part, candidates are more concerned with attracting the gun-rights vote than they are turning off the opposition.
Democrat Jennifer Granholm, who collected signatures in church to put the question on the ballot, comes close to admitting that was a mistake. She says she'll take a wait-and-see attitude on whether the law needs changing.
When she selected Senate Minority Leader John Cherry of Clio as her running mate, his National Rifle Association links were considered a political plus.
Republican Dick Posthumus is an unabashed supporter of gun rights. He'll take part in a roundtable discussion at the Chief Okemos Sportsmen's Club in Dimondale tonight.
So what happened? In part, it's what didn't happen. The Dodge City scenarios that concealed-weapons law critics warned of haven't come to pass.
Sept. 11 may factor in as well, with growing concerns about homeland security and personal safety.
Lansing pollster Ed Sarpolus says Democrats risk turning off Democratic white men if they push too hard on the gun issue.
Chris Walker, a Grand Ledge resident active in the Million Mom March organization, says the Ingham County chapter is gathering information from candidates that it is passing on to the national Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
She said they remain enthusiastic about Granholm.
"There are some very reasonable people on both sides. There really is a space in the middle where we could meet," Walker said. "She's the kind of personality who would have the courage to bring everybody to the table," Walker said.
Gun-rights groups like the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership, aren't remotely satisfied with Granholm's shift in position.
Warns their Web site: "If we do not get off our duffs and vote for Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus for governor in the November 5th election, we will end up with a governor who is not our friend and who will be around for at least four long years."
Justices clear way
It's worth noting that the Republican Supreme Court justices aren't quite the partisan lapdogs that some critics have suggested.
GOP Justices Maura Corrigan, Clifford Taylor, Stephen Markman and Robert Young Jr. took a heap of criticism when they booted the concealed weapons law challenge off the ballot in June 2001. They ruled that the law wasn't subject to a referendum because it contained a spending provision.
Last week, the court unanimously cleared the way for a ballot proposal changing how Michigan spends money from a tobacco lawsuit settlement. It's a measure Engler bitterly opposes.
Michigan Politics is a weekly column written by State Journal political editor Chris Andrews. It runs Wednesdays. To reach Andrews, call 377-1054 or fax him at 377-1298 or send email to candrews@lsj.com. For previous columns, visit www.lsj.com/columnists.
http://www.lsj.com/columnists/andrews/020918_polcol_2b.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878