GregsOpinion.com

Finally, some good news, for a change. The voters may end up knocking some sense into the heads of Democratic politicians and operatives. Ultraliberal Gun control measures, generically speaking, are a "dog that just won't hunt" in much of the country. Safety measures, yes. More vigorous prosecution of gun-toting criminals, yes. The UltraLiberal anti-gun mentality, no.

However, the article that you highlight focuses on Dean, in addition to Reid. Remember how Dean went a little bit wobbly in the knees on 2nd Amendment Rights when John Kerry attacked him for abandoning gun control? Dean may even go left on this issue when he assumes the mantle of DNC Chairman. Even if Dean doesn't, he apparently has little difficulty in passing other Liberal cultural interest group litmus tests. After all, Dean is the darling of MovOn.Org, ACT, DAILKOS and every other hair-brained ultraliberal Blog in the country. Without them, he is nothing. Which is why he presumably went to such lengths to distance himself from his own centrist stewardship as former Vermont governor and his former New Democrat credentials and posed as the Gene McCarthy or George McGovern of 2004.

There were two interesting characterizations of Dean on the op-ed pages today. David Brooks mocked Dean and the Democratic Party by noting that Dean's selection as DNC Chairman will guarantee Democratic domination in Berkeley, CA, for the indefinite future. Liberals will denigrate this criticism as coming from a smarmy neo-Conservative. However, Brooks does rightly point out that one advantage that Dean had over his rivals was the money-raising prowess of Liberal Blogs and groups like MoveOn.Org and ACT, which is why I am sorry I gave any money at all to the last two groups. Colbert King, a Black Liberal member of the editorial board of the Washington Post, denigrates Dean at the end of today's column as an intemperate and polarizing figure. I agree with King. The Party needs dynamic, activist fighters in the Leadership. It doesn't need Dean.

By the way, I must praise you for continuing your negative critique of the Deaniac phenomenon, despite its continued ascendancy. I fear it is going to be tough going for Red State Democrats, cultural moderates and conservatives within the Party, and pro-Defense Democrats.

Scoop, let me give you a little insight from inside the legislative process.

Most legislative battles over guns do NOT involve efforts to implement some sort of wild-eyed gun-grabbing scheme. On the contrary, they usually involve efforts by a crackpot fringe to roll back even the modest safety regulations that do exist.

As a member of the NH House's Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee, I see this first-hand. Over the last few weeks, GO-NH, a gun group with some nasty right wing connections, has been pushing an effort to allow students to carry concealed weapons in schools; to remove any law enforcement say over the issuance of concealed carry permits; and, for some unfathomable reason, to repeal NH's hate crimes law; hey, GO-NH's lobbyist, Sixgun Sam Cohen testified on the bill. I can't make this stuff up.

Thank you. I will preface my response by saying that after the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King and RFK, I believed in gun control. I have since decided that it is politically impractical and that we have to seek the same ends through other means. Furthermore, I agree with your sentiments and am sure that your insights are most apt. In fact, I know that they are. I was raised in Ohio and my family still lives there. The same sorts of things have been going on in the Ohio legislature and right wingers have made a lot of headway in Ohio, unfortunately.

However, this is not the way campaigns, as opposed to legislative politics, play out. In elections, the Republicans constantly portray Democrats as wild-eyed Liberals who very much do want to take peoples' guns away. Being pro-2nd Amendment and backing away from Liberal gun control philosophies doesn't mean that Democrats have to buy into every crack pot, demagogic right wing Republican scheme.

Republicans here in Virginia, for example, sought to portray current Governor Mark Warner in his gubernatorial bid as somebody who wanted to take voters' guns away from them, including hunting rifles. Warner had to neutralize that demagoguery and it was not that difficult. He applied for the endorsement of the NRA and had the endorsements of hunters and sportsmen. In fact,he also had bumper stickers printed up, which threw Conservative Republicans off balance. Warner was true to his word. Yet, Warner has never found it necessary to back crazy legislation such as you describe and most certainly would oppose any such legislation, although he will be leaving office soon. I must say that I supported his approach and hope that Democratic Lt. Governor Tim Kaine is as politically astute as Warner.

As someone who lives near Washington, DC, I have witnessed how strict gun control laws have not worked as advertised. DC has the honor of having both some of the most strict gun laws and highest murder rates in the country. Somehow, the politicians and activists thought that banning guns would lower or stop the gun violence. They didn't plan on criminals leaving DC and going into Virginia and Maryland for guns.

The latest spin on the source of gun violence is video games. In order to stop children from re-enacting Grand Theft Auto video games, the mayor and 'community leaders' are proposing a law that carries a $10,000 fine for selling or renting violent video games to minors. The Washington Post quoted a Best Buy salesman that said they follow the game rating system and do not sell the violent games to children under 17. He also went on to say when the children are denied the game, most get a parent to buy it for them.

In the article, a 15 year-old student said parents should be held responsible for their child's behavior and banning games will not reduce violence. Unbelievable!

Very interesting. It is true that government efforts at social experimentation often are either easily circumvented or have unintended consequences.