Moms Demand Pathetic Excuse for Demonstration in Nashville

All of my favorite blogs have posts about the Moms Demand Action so-called demonstration on Saturday during the NRA Annual Meeting.  My entire family went to Nashville so we took some time away from the Music City Center Saturday afternoon to take a walk down Broadway and get some ice cream at Mike's Ice Cream.  We must have missed the "protest" because we had walked all the way down to the river where it was held and there were no protesters at the time we were there but we passed four people with red Moms Demand t-shirts on our way back up Broadway. One of them had an arm full of t-shirts. Needless to say, according to folks who did see the dismal turnout, the crowd was much less than the 400 Moms Demand predicted.  My favorite photo though had to be the one that explained how Moms Demand made it look like there were more people than there actually were:

Bob Owens of Bearing Arms had this photo from the walking bridge above in comparison to one hallway at the Music City Center.

One photo is the entire @MomsDemand rally. The other is one hallway at #NRAAM2015 on a slow Friday morning. Hmmmm... pic.twitter.com/UZFNSE972F
— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) April 12, 2015

Bob also had this prediction:

PREDICTION: @MikeBloomberg is results oriented. @shannonrwatts is becoming a liability. She and @MomsDemand will be defunded within 2 years.
— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) April 12, 2015

Guns, Crime, and Bloomberg's Lies

Last week, Dr. John Lott and Fox News' John Stossel discussed the myth that crime committed with a firearm is increasing and other lies that Bloomberg and his affiliated groups spread.

Discontent Among Gun Groups Over Initiative 594

The Washington Post has a piece this morning on its GovBeat blog that says Washington State firearm advocates are asking where the NRA is in the battle to defeat Initiative 594, the ballot measure that would criminalize transfer of firearms between anyone, even at training sessions, that does not involve a background check:

“The NRA has really not been involved at all until very recently, and not in the area of spending significantly at all,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. “I have no idea why. We have a coalition made up of all the gun rights groups in Washington, and they are not participating. They’re doing their own thing.”

Barron Barnett, a pro-gun rights activist, asked in a recent blog post: “Where the F*** is the NRA?!” “[T]he NRA is more than happy to take my money but then is no where to be found when things actually go sideways,” Barnett wrote.

From what I can tell, NRA has been active getting the message out to defeat I-594. It was the cover story on this month's America's First Freedom. Cam Edwards has covered it a number of times on NRANews.com. But, it appears that some think that the NRA needs to match Billionaires Bill Gates, Mike Bloomberg, and others pushing the initiative dollar for dollar. NRA has been active in other ways too:

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the NRA in Virginia, said the group has had two full-time staff on the ground for months. He estimated that the NRA has spent a total of $300,000 to $400,000 so far against I-594, with that number likely to grow in the final two months before Election Day. That figure doesn’t include communications with members and those who receive the NRA’s magazines and publications, he said.

It's true that the pro-I594 forces have raised over $7 million. But, it doesn't serve our cause for pro-rights groups to complain that some are doing more than others to defeat the measure. And as Arulanandam told the Post, while money is important, the Milwaulkee County Sheriff's race proved the power of grassroots. That's where I-594 will be defeated. And the grassroots is the NRA's strength.

Comstock to Seek 10th Congressional District Seat

Virginia state delegate Barbara Comstock has made it official that she will seek the seat being vacated by Representative Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th District.  So far, she is the only serious candidate seeking the seat.  State Senator Richard "Dick" Black has set up an exploratory committee but has not made a decision to run.  The only other announced candidate on the GOP side is White House crasher Traeq Salahi.

Comstock is solid on the Second Amendment.  She earned an "A" rating from NRA in last year's election.  Among the pro-rights votes she has cast since her election in 2009 are the repeal of the ban on carrying concealed in restaurants and repeal of handgun rationing. 

Delegate Comstock won re-election by 422 votes last year, after former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg donated to her opponent late in the campaign.

More People Voted for Pro-Gun Governor Candidates than Voted for Anti-gun McAuliffe

Bloomberg and gun control groups were crowing yesterday after NRA "F" rated candidate Terry McAuliffe narrowly defeated Ken Cuccinelli and claiming that shows Virginia voters rejected the NRA.


But as this blog noted yesterday, some Democrats think that Bloomberg's entrance into the race may have contributed to some of the tightening in the race in the last two weeks of the campaign.  But U.S. News notes Bloomberg may be taking too much credit::

But Virginia's race wasn't all about guns. While gun control advocates and gun rights groups spent a combined $4 million on the gubernatorial matchup, much of the money was spent just weeks before Election Day and at a time when McAuliffe already had a strong leg up in the polls. The NRA estimates it spent upwards of $1 million on the race. Candidates focused on the economy, health care and women's rights, instead. Conversations about gun control were few and far between and didn't surface until late into the race.

It should also be noted that of the 67 House GOP members who won on Tuesday, 65 were endorsed by the NRA, two in Northern Virginia that were targeted by Bloomberg.  So, that kind of blows up Bloomberg's narrative.  Finally, here is a fact that I have not heard from anyone in the media yet:  There were two candidates running for Governor who were strongly pro-gun.  One of those candidates - Ken Cuccinelli - was endorsed by the NRA, and one - Robert Sarvis - responded to a questionnaire from another Virginia gun rights group and responded in a way that would be considered "very pro-gun."  Those two candidates combined received a total of 51.77% of the vote. Terry McAuliffe received a total of 47.74% of the vote.

So, it appears that a majority of Virginia's voters voted for a candidate that supports our Second Amendment rights.