Seems like gun control isn't even popular with the registered Democrats these days.
"Bob Holden's veto last year got Missouri gun owners mad, and on Tuesday, gun owners got even,' [CCRKBA Chairman Alan] Gottlieb said. 'The governor's other leadership problems on education, the economy and social issues certainly crippled him, but his anti-gun philosophy was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back."
The gist is Missouri Governor Holden lost the primary. It is probable that his veto of a concealed carry bill caused him to lose his own party's nomination.
Seeing as it's more than a little uncommon for a sitting governor to lose his party's nomination short of some major scandal I'd say he had to do something really wrong. Vetoing a bill passed by both houses that would have removed some of Missoutri's stringent prohibitions on carrying weapons for self defense would qualify as really wrong. Now his veto of a CCW bill was not the only reason he's looking for work I'm sure, but the Right to Arms is too often underestimated as an election issue.
Democrats & Republicans spend a lot of time trying to convince everyone that the Right to Arms isn't that big of an issue to most voters, hoping it will cause the voters to not look at it as a big issue. But as soemtimes happens the politicians believe their own lie & suffer for it.
The Right to Arms was a major issue in every election since 1992. Perhaps not the biggest single issue for the majority of voters, but big enough to cause some surprises in election results.
I don't see that changing any time soon. Hopefully the politicians won't either.
Posted by Publicola at August 7, 2004 10:40 PM