The NRA won big on election day, and David Hogg and his would-be band of gun grabbers have taken it on the chin.
Leading into election day, the legacy media was priming the pump for anti-gun stories of wishful thinking as visions of buybacks, restrictions, and confiscations danced in their head. From The New York Times, we got “Bearing F’s From the N.R.A., Some Democrats Are Campaigning Openly on Guns.” Another to set the stage was “With NRA lying low, gun control groups seize new ground in midterms.” Only they didn’t.
After the school shooting at Parkland, Florida, student David Hogg emerged as the media’s favorite new pet, as his youth and recent traumatization made him a perfect vessel to advance their anti-gun agenda. Hogg then became a sort of de-facto leader of the social media gun control advocacy. He made it his mission in life to tell everyone how wrecked and ruined the careers of politicians who took NRA money or didn’t vote for more Second Amendment restrictions would be. Early election night, he re-tweeted a message celebrating Republican Virginia Congresswoman Barbara Comstock’s defeat. The NRA “A” rated Comstock lost to “F” rated Democrat Jennifer Wexler, who was the beneficiary of over a million dollars in spending by anti-gun groups.
Gunshine State
And then something happened on the way to heaven. Rick Scott is the sitting governor of Florida, but he ran this cycle for U.S. Senator. The NRA “A” rated Scott beat his opponent, the “F” rated incumbent Bill Nelson. Nelson is a common species, a politician who professes to understand how new gun control will save us while demonstrating a fundamental ignorance of the firearms and ammo he wishes to send others to prison for. Well, maybe he can use his free time and fat, taxpayer-funded pension to learn.
If Rick Scott is going to the Senate, who will sit in the Governor’s chair? That would be NRA “A” rated Ron DeSantis (R), who defeated his opponent, the “F” rated Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum on Tuesday. Gillum was a favorite of a troika of gun grabbing billionaires, as he racked up enormous donations from Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer, and, you guessed it, George Soros. In the weeks before the election, Bloomberg and his group, Everytown for Gun Safety, gave Gillum half a million dollars.
By the time the night was over, those headlines would read: 'Soul crushing': Trump wave bewilders Florida Democrats
While billionaire support is no doubt better than none, what about celebrity support? Could they help move the ball? What if they were a celebrity and a billionaire?
Two O’s Go Down In A-Town?
Georgia had two major races dominated by gun control. They were also both squeakers – photo-finishes with tiny margins of victory. For Governor, NRA “A” rated Republican Brian Kemp, so narrowly defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams, former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, that she has not conceded and is hoping the final numbers are so close that they trigger a recount. Good luck with that. For the time being, Peach State gun owners can put off worrying about forced confiscations for a few years.
That’s correct – not content with merely advocating a prohibition on new sales, Ms. Abrams supports legislation requiring confiscations from those who are legal firearms owners today. Her “F” rating was well earned.
While Governor-Elect Kemp enjoys his win by a few percentage points, Georgia’s U.S. House District No. 6 is another story. Lucy McBath, the Democratic candidate, appears to have it by a margin of just 0.7% -- a mere 2,145 votes. However, with the absentee votes yet to be counted, it's not quite a done deal. She entered politics to advance gun control after a man with a firearm murdered her son. McBath is akin to Carolyn McCarthy, a near single-issue, anti-gun candidate, while her Republican opponent, Karen Handel, has an “A” rating from the NRA.
McBath’s and Abrams’ campaigns received shots of pure adrenaline when both Barak Obama and Oprah Winfrey stumped for them. Former President Obama, who has argued for banning all handguns and most rifles, is surrounded at all times by an armed Secret Service detail. Winfrey, who travels with a private armed team, is similarly skeptical of others rights to have guns and wishes to see Americans disarmed.
The Senate Will Save US
Who knows what kind of gun-control legislation the new Democrat-controlled House of Representatives will come up with? In some practical sense, however, it does not matter. Across the rest of the country, NRA “A” rated candidate Ted Cruz fended off an “F” rated challenger, and at least two “F” rated sitting senators, Heidi Heitkamp(D-ND) and Claire McCaskill(D-MO), were benched by voters in favor of NRA “A” rated challengers.
The U.S. Senate is now decidedly more Second Amendment friendly than before the elections, and will likely become a very effective dam for the flood of gun grabbing attempts sure to come from the House.
The writer has been a member of the National Rifle Association.
