EDITORIAL: No Hope for Gun Grabbers

THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Tuesday, March 1, 2011


The left has permanently lost the argument on gun control.
Despite their best efforts to take advantage of the tragic shooting
in Arizona to promote pointless restrictions on things like the size
of handgun magazines, the propaganda campaign is unlikely to go
anywhere.

Instead, the right to keep and bear arms continues to gain steam
as state lawmakers around the country are enacting measures that
would have been unthinkable not so long ago.

On Monday, Wyoming lawmakers sent Gov. Matt Mead a “castle doctrine” bill
that recognizes the right of residents to use a gun to protect themselves
from home invasion or carjacking without fear of civil or criminal prosecution.

A spokesman for Mr. Mead said the governor would review the proposal today,
along with a second bill granting residents the ability to carry concealed weapons
without a license. The lawmakers also proposed a constitutional amendment
recognizing the perpetual right to hunt, fish and trap.

No less should be expected from a place calling itself “The
Cowboy State,” but even swing states are open to the idea of
ditching obsolete relics of an anti-gun past. A Pennsylvania Senate
committee held a hearing yesterday on a castle doctrine bill.
The General Assembly has adopted similar legislation in the past
only to be thwarted by the veto pen of then-Gov. Ed Rendell.
Voters have since replaced the Democratic party chieftain with
Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who promised, “I would sign it”
during the campaign.

The North Carolina Senate passed its own castle doctrine bill Monday.
In Arizona, where laws are already gun-friendly, the House last week
endorsed a proposal that would prevent overzealous homeowners
associations from denying residents their constitutionally protected
right to own firearms. The legislature’s Democratic and Republican
caucuses likewise support a Senate bill that would prevent university
administrators from denying students with concealed carry licenses
from bringing weapons on campus.

Whenever the left is defeated at the statehouse and ballot box, it
turns to the courts. The Supreme Court shot down most of these
efforts with the District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v.
City of Chicago rulings reviving judicial recognition of the Second
Amendment. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe received legislation on
Monday that forbids local governments from attempting to file
liability lawsuits against manufacturers of guns and ammunition.
The same bill also prohibits localities from passing any sort
of “emergency ordinance” to seize Americans’ firearms as
happened in New Orleans during the Katrina hurricane.

Passage of these NRA-backed measures also reflects
the growing realization among many Democratic lawmakers
that they’ve lost gun control as a political issue