Shotgun Wedding: Could Debt Ceiling and Gun Ban Get Married?

[fickman]

The fiscal cliff bill solved almost nothing. Taxes went up on everybody (payroll). The debt ceiling and sequestration cuts got kicked down the road.

My first thought was positive:
Maybe there will be an unintended (or intended) side effect that the Democrats will be so busy on financial entanglements that the gun issue never gets into focus.

My immediate next thought was a nightmare:
Both sides are desperate for leverage. The left is unlikely to get a standalone gun bill through both houses. However, the GOP is hungry for major spending cuts and will try to use the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to force BHO's hand. What if the left "gives in". . . but with tighter gun restrictions riding along as part of the spending cut bill?

After the way the fiscal cliff vote went, nothing would surprise me now.

[The Annoyed Man]

The same GOP which was called on to defend the budget from Obama and instead sold the nation's fiscal future down the river, is the same GOP which will be called on to defend the 2nd Amendment from Diane Feinstein.

They are so weak-sauce as to be pathetic.

[jdhz28]

My immediate next thought was a nightmare:
Both sides are desperate for leverage. The left is unlikely to get a standalone gun bill through both houses. However, the GOP is hungry for major spending cuts and will try to use the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to force BHO's hand. What if the left "gives in". . . but with tighter gun restrictions riding along as part of the spending cut bill?

After the way the fiscal cliff vote went, nothing would surprise me now.

I've thought about this myself, and prepared as best as I could...I only wish I would have done more. I don't expect the worse case scenario, I am waiting on it. I do hope that I am pleasantly surprised and wake up one day to find that enough of our elected officials had a moment of clarity, where they showed that they had the stones to say no to anything infringing upon our rights. I would rather be broke and well armed than be broke and unarmed.

[fickman]

I've had two moments of hope:

1. Lindsey Graham on Fox News Sunday was reasonable, well spoken, thoughtful, and direct. He said he owns an AR-15 and will oppose Feinstein's bill. He said it to her face in a very polite exchange. Hopefully he will embolden others to stand strong. . . and it can be done without bombastic language. Senators are typically more reserved in this way.

2. When I remembered that the NRA supported Harry Reid in his tightly contested 2010 reelection, despite the kicking and screaming we did (me included) around here. I pray they knew what they were doing, and I pray it pays dividends now.

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I feel compelled to add that the scope of this "hope' is limited to hope for our country, it's Constitution, and our way of life. My current political despair does not dampen my true hope. America may fail, but Christ will reign forever! In the meantime, I'll do everything I can to ensure our country endures as long as possible.

[Heartland Patriot]

I'm hoping the exact opposite of the Republicans caving for cuts will happen. What I hope (because that's all I've got right now) is that the negative blow-back from their constituency on this fiscal mess will cause them to do something to "shore up their base". And hopefully standing firm on gun-control because it is such an obvious thing to show their "backbone" on will be what they choose to do the shoring with...at least, those that want to survive primaries.

[bayouhazard]

Imagine if parents threatened to ground a teen for misbehaving.

Now magine the teen willfully misbehaves and instead of grounding him, they negotiate a compromise where the teen gets an extended curfew and a car, instead of being grounded. The parents do this to look like cool parents to their teens friends.

During the past couple of days, the Republican Party made them look like responsible parents.

[SQLGeek]

John Cornyn is getting lit up like a Christmas tree on his Facebook right now. $41 in taxes for every $1 cut in spending. Good grief.

[fickman]

John Cornyn is getting lit up like a Christmas tree on his Facebook right now. $41 in taxes for every $1 cut in spending. Good grief.

It takes me back to the hypothetical questions from the media during the primary. . .

"Would you support a bill that increased taxes if it was 25:1 budget cuts : revenues?"

I wish the answer had been a universal, "Let's see this bill you speak of! Send it over!"

Instead, we're getting:
- backdoor taxed (limiting deductions, including flexible spending accounts being cut in half for single-income families at all levels),
- indirect taxed (where will the medical supply companies get their money for the new taxes? Oh yeah, like all companies. . . from customers), and
- directly taxed (the rates didn't go up, but the payroll tax just did. On everybody!)

The only thing the GOP got in this deal was the elevation from $250,00 to $400,000. And they get to avoid Obama fixing the cliff with a new round of Bush tax cus that would be renamed the Obama tax cuts.

That's why I'm afraid the current maneuvering by BHO and the left can back the pro-gun folks into a corner. BHO came out on New Year's Eve to spike the football and mock the Republicans before the deal was even settled. He was already throwing barbs for the next battle. A lot of tough language with nothing to back it up with. . . and yet the Republicans were cowering in the corner. The House could have added major spending cuts and dared the Senate or the President to kill the bill, but they didn't. Why? My guess is that the Tea Partiers weren't going to vote for anything with a rate increase regardless, so this bill was crafted to pass with a majority so that the stalwart conservatives could remain "pure" with their voting record. If they'd risen up to add the pay cuts, they would've stained their "I'll never vote for any rate increase" record, so they passively let this one go as is.

Obama is brazen enough to try anything right now. He hasn't been forced to budge on anything. He'll willingly put gun control anywhere he thinks he can opportunistically get it through.

I'm hoping for a sweeping midterm season, but I'm terrified to see how much damage will be done before we get there.