Wednesday’s disclosure by Fox News that Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan will not run for re-election raises the grim specter for American gun owners that anti-gun Democrats will re-take control of the House, and that should cause Second Amendment activists to tell the GOP leadership to move now on pro-rights legislation that has been gathering dust on Capitol Hill.
Writing at Fox News, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich already weighed in with five recommendations for Republicans if they hope to retain House control:
- First, Republicans must evaluate what went wrong in Pennsylvania. This was an easily winnable district. Our candidate was not that much weaker than the Democrat…
- Second, Republicans must understand that if a wave is building, money loses its power to solve problems…
- Third, the only way to defeat a wave is by building a countervailing wave. Since the elite media is overwhelmingly anti-Republican and pro-Democrat, this is dramatically harder for Republicans to do…
- Fourth, the GOP must expand its base. The tax cuts give Republicans an enormous opportunity to reach out to minority small business owners and others to build a much broader party. Base mobilization in the end will not win if the base becomes too narrow.
- Fifth, President Trump must take some serious responsibility for the recent election results. If he continues to alienate people (especially women), no amount of policy effort will offset the decline in Republican enthusiasm and voting.
Expanding the base must include the nation’s gun owners, many of whom believe the GOP takes them for granted. At election time, Republicans make promises, but have they delivered? Is National Concealed Carry Reciprocity the law? Is the Hearing Protection Act now in effect?
One look at social media suggests that many gun owners wonder about Republicans. If gun owners sit out the mid-terms because they are frustrated by inaction on important legislation, Republicans are toast. And what will follow?
According to Gingrich, “Under Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi, there would be two years of investigations, fights over spending (to reduce defense and increase liberal dependency programs), efforts to undo President Trump’s deregulation achievements, and attempts to make new bureaucracies.”
And count on the hard push for more gun control.
According to the Washington Examiner, “Younger Americans have long told pollsters that they plan to vote and they are set to make good on that promise this fall in historic numbers. And when they do, it will be a wave favoring the Democrats, according to a new survey of voters aged 18-29 from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.”
Republicans will need more than fiery pro-gun rhetoric and pontifications about “support” for the Second Amendment. Gun owners want results. Republicans have until November to deliver.
