Pryor (D - Arkansas) wears opposition to gun control as badge of honor

[Eugene]

Source: CBS News

By JAKE MILLER / CBS NEWS/ May 31, 2013, 10:46 AM

Pryor wears opposition to gun control as badge of honor

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., considered among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents up for reelection in 2014, released the first ad of his reelection campaign on Thursday, touting his vote against a recent gun control measure as evidence that he's looking out for Arkansans' interests.

The ad specifically mentioned New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, along with his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), has become something of a gun control bogeyman among Second Amendment advocates. Bloomberg's group has been running ads against Pryor criticizing his vote against the gun control measure, which would have expanded background checks for gun buyers, and Pryor, in his own ad, wore Bloomberg's attacks as a badge of honor.

"The mayor of New York City is running ads against me because I opposed President Obama's gun control legislation," Pryor said, looking directly into the camera. "Nothing in the Obama plan would have prevented tragedies like Newtown, Aurora, Tucson or even Jonesboro. I'm committed to finding real solutions to gun violence while protecting our Second Amendment rights."

"No one from New York or Washington tells me what to do. I listen to Arkansas," he added.

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Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57587051/pryor-wears-opposition-to-gun-control-as-badge-of-honor/

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I removed myself from his email list. Told his office I would not be

contributing a dime this time around.

[premium]

2. Smart move going after Bloomberg and MAIG

When MAIG ran that gun control ad appox a month or so ago, it generated a lot of resentment here in NV.
NV has a long gun culture history and an fiercely independent streak and we don't like people like Bloomberg and MAIG coming in and telling us how to vote, it backfired badly here.

[CokeMachine]

5. More regional bigotry from you -- please say it isn't so!!

If Pryor loses his seat to a repuke it will be do to elitists like you and the loony Bloomy.

Bless Your Heart!

[premium]

6. I was going to say the same damn thing,

but, I figured, what's the use?

[CokeMachine]

12. Looks like someone alerted and it got hidden.

I was going to alert but didn't want to waste my time.

[premium]

13. I quit alerting,

just not worth my time.

[sarisataka]

7. Today's word is:

stereotype (ˈstɛrɪəˌtaɪp, ˈstɪər-)

— n
1. a. a method of producing cast-metal printing plates from a mould made from a forme of type matter in papier-mâché or some other material
b. the plate so made
2. another word for stereotypy
3. an idea, trait, convention, etc, that has grown stale through fixed usage
4. sociol a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly

we will also meet stereotype's friends bigotry, narrow-mindedness, bias and discrimination.

[CokeMachine]

9. Great post -- Thank you!!

[Arkansas Granny]

4. Here's the reply I got to my email telling him how disappointed I was with his vote.

Thank you for contacting me regarding gun legislation. I appreciate hearing from you.


The recent school shooting in Newto w n, Connecticut has focused national efforts on preventing this tragedy and others like it from ever happening again. On April 17, 2013 , the Senate considered S. 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. Most discussion during the debate pinpointed on the Manchin-Toomey amendment, which would have expanded the current background check system on private and individual sales. Additional amendments were offered to ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.


I voted against these amendments because I thought they were too broad, unworkable, and would not have adequately addressed the primary cause of gun violence. Instead, I voted for the Grassley amendment, which would help improve the enforcement of the laws we already have on the books and protect the rights of law-abiding Arkansans by focusing more resources on mental health issues.


Again, thank you for contacting me. I value your input. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my office regarding this or any other matter of concern to you.


Sincerely,

Mark Pryor
United States Senate

[spin]

11. Better enforcement of existing gun laws makes good sense.

Improvements to our current laws or new laws deserve careful consideration.

All too often laws are proposed that sound good but would be ineffective or have unintended consequences.

I feel we can improve our current gun laws if both sides of the debate simply sit down together and compromise. Unfortunately compromise is a lost art in our nation today. Consequently we make no headway in reducing gun violence and our suicide rate involving firearms.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. They're already running TV ads against him for voting for 'Obama-care'. I'll

have to pay enough attention to find out which tea party/GOP group is paying for them.

One of them is from Club for Growth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/02/28/club-for-growth-ties-mark-pryor-to-obama-in-new-ad/

The other is from Senate Conservatives Action.

Weaver disclosed the plans shortly after a Republican group said it would begin airing television ads in the Little Rock and Fort Smith markets. The 30-second spot by Senate Conservatives Action features several conservative activists calling Pryor too liberal and criticizes the lawmaker for supporting the federal health care law in 2010.

[ileus]

10. Now that's a true 2A progressive.

We could dominate the south if not for our regressive backwards stance on 2A freedoms.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

14. And if we supported Jim Crow, segregation, a ban on abortion, right-to-work, no minimum wage

and opposed gay rights, unions, any and all government spending, and reasonable gun control we would totally own it for generations!

They deserve the government they vote for. I see no reason to follow the regressive party to the bottom of a deep, dark pit in order to secure the votes of the most back-wards people in the industrialized world.

The last thing this country needs is two republican parties.

[gejohnston]

15. that south is dead

for a number of reasons including a more enlightened younger generation. Most of the people in Florida, for example, are either first or second generation transplants from the rust belt or NE. The area I live is Queens/Long Island South. Not that the north or west, including California, were any better. They weren't and still are not. The only difference is that the south used the power of the State. In New York, it was "just the way it was."
history lesson
During those days, the south had stricter gun laws than the rest of the US. NC passed a purchase permit for handgun laws in 1919. Georgia banned many handguns in the 1830s but was overturned seven years later. Texas banned open carry in 1860, Florida did in 1893. Texas also apparently required handgun licenses in the 1890s, which went to the US supreme court, which maintained its pre incorporation stance. The people who passed those laws were a lot of things, but progressive and tolerant are not words I would use to describe them.
Gun laws come and go. Same with knife laws.
Movies like Rebel Without a Cause and High School Confidential caused a panic that people pushed for switchblade bans. Texas and Kansas, IIRC, recently repealed theirs.
BTW, how do you define reasonable since it is one of the most meaningless words in the English language.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

16. No, that south is still very much alive. The elected officials from those states bare this out.

Every southern state, save for Kentucky (if that's considered southern) is a right to work state. Every southern state offers little to no legal protection for its GLBT citizens. The southern states tend to have the lowest average incomes, and lowest levels of advanced education. Any research of past elections shows that the vast majority of the southern electorate has a high tolerance for far right politics. Changing our stance on one issue, when there are so many more hurdles to overcome, will not reverse this. It's going to take demographic changes.

Also, mandatory background checks are the bare minimum of what I consider reasonable. In fact, a majority of Arkansas voters agree with me:

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/05/red-states-strongly-support-background-checks.html


http://www.projectnewamerica.com/sites/projectnewamerica.com/files/Memo%20PNA%20AR%20FINAL_2.pdf?nid=730

[gejohnston]

17. I was talking specifically about race.

Much of the country isn't that great on those other issues either unfortunately.
I also support universal background checks. I like the system Michigan has had since the 1960s, or at least a system based on it.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

18. I agree with all that. n/t