The 95th General Assembly Might Have Other Ideas
KOLR-CBS-10 Springfield:
(Springfield, MO) — The economy may be sinking, but gun sales are up significantly. Part of that has to do with deer hunting season beginning in a few days.
But there’s another group of consumers buying up guns in droves. Gun stores have seen their sales spike since the election.
A lot of those consumers say they’re worried about a Democratically-controlled government taking away their right to buy and carry guns. So they’re jumping the gun, before the next administration takes office.
That’s a common canard in the media. While I think it’s partly true, I tend to avoid monocasual explanations for sociocultural phenomenon. I think a better, but more taboo, explanation (though it does not automatically mean that the fear of new Federal legislation is not a cause) is that whites are fearing a gradual increase in arrogance-driven black-on-white hate crimes and wildings, based on the “we’z takin’ over honkey” mentality, with one of their own about to become President.
Some say they’re also worried Governor-Elect Jay Nixon may try to repeal Missouri’s conceal and carry legislation. That law allows people above a certain age to carry a concealed weapon for protection, if they’ve gone through certification training.
Don’t worry about that. Even if for nothing else, Nixon wants a second term as Governor, which hasn’t happened in this state for awhile, and knows that that 58.4% of the vote he received would plummet to dangerously low levels if he tried. Though he opposed CCW at the time, then-AG Jay Nixon vowed to enforce the CCW law that passed in 2003, both in letter and in spirit, and, AFAIK, he did just that.
However, the Senate is now 23-to-11 Republicans, meaning a vetoproof majority, and the House is in Republican hands again, though three seats flipped from R to D. There’s no chance in hell that the General Assembly would take up a repeal or dimunition of CCW. What I think they would do (and should do) is go in the other direction — vote to eliminate certain restrictions on CCW, perhaps reducing the permit fee, eliminating the “One Term” Bob Holden’s executive order prohibiting CCW in state-owned buildings, or any number of things. If Nixon vetoes them, the Senate can overturn the veto, just as the Senate did in 2003 to get CCW in the first place.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- But He Likes Their Business
- The Exception « Matthew Ausderan