The Second Amendment: Comparing the Fred Thompson and Ron Paul Track Records
September 17th, 2007 by Steve
Since Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson has jumped out of the starting gate running on Second Amendment issues, perhaps we should look at Thompson’s actual voting record with regard to the right to keep and bear arms.
Before we get to the voting record, I should add that I’ve been hearing persistent rumors that the Thompson campaign is buying exclusive rights to gun shows in the southeast in order to ensure that the competition has no voice in this debate. While legal and perhaps effective, this tactic doesn’t smack of the openness most Americans desire from their political representatives. Additionally, this Thompson tactic is no longer a rumor, as the Miami Herald has provided some confirmation:
Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign has hit a conservative bull’s eye: The exclusive rights to advertise at some of Florida’s largest gun shows.
Pasco County Republican chairman Bill Bunting said he has engineered the deal for the former Tennessee senator and Law & Order star because he’s the best person to trust when it comes to the right to buy, sell and own guns.
In a state with 435,000 concealed-weapons permit holders, the arrangement all but guarantees that thousands of voters who care deeply about the issue could identify Thompson as their man heading into the Jan. 29 primary, in which the other Republican candidates’ gun-toting credentials are viewed as suspect by many. [snip]
GOP campaign guru David ”DJ” Johnson, who’s not connected to the Thompson campaign, said the deal is ”huge.” He should know. Bunting made the same arrangement for Charlie Crist’s successful governor’s race last year, flummoxing Johnson’s candidate, Tom Gallagher. Gallagher even tried to get some gun-show promoters to allow him to pass out fliers, but he was rejected.
”There are people who vote guns and only guns, and they’re Republicans,” Johnson said. “These are the people you see at the polls.”
The state’s biggest gun-show promoter, Victor Bean, of the Florida and the Southern Gun and Knife shows, said he has 11 shows left until the primaries and estimates that 11,000 people will see Thompson’s signs.
In addition, he said he has an e-mail list of 70,000 politically active gun owners he plans to contact on Thompson’s behalf.
On the other hand, plenty of Ron Paul supporters (video link here) are showing at Florida gun shows. Florida’s Ledger reports:
Campaign aides and supporters ignored or simply glared at a handful of supporters for Ron Paul, a former Libertarian Party candidate for president and former Republican congressman who now is running for the GOP nomination. They waved Paul signs and passed out leaflets implying Thompson wasn’t as pro-gun as he claims to be.
“How rude you are,” one well-dressed older woman said to a Paul supporter clad in a T-shirt and shorts.
“Fred Thompson is the only presidential candidate ever to attend a gun show in Florida. (Gov.) Charlie Crist goes to them all the time, but Fred is the first presidential candidate,” said Bill Bunting, chairman of the Pasco County Republican Party and a member of the 2nd Amendment Association and the National Rifle Association.
Bunting’s comment that Thompson is “the only presidential candidate” to attend Florida gun shows is more than a bit disingenuous, as Dr. Paul won’t even be allowed to attend the same events. Now that we’ve examined some of the tactics Thompson is using, let’s compare the track records of the two candidates on the issue.
To begin, an assessment of Ron Paul at the Gun Owners of America website provides:
Ron Paul has represented areas near Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has the reputation of the paramount defender of the Constitution and seeks to follow it in casting every one of his votes.
Ron Paul has been a leader in the fight to defend and restore the Second Amendment. He has sponsored legislation to repeal the following:
- the Brady law;
- the requirement to lock up your safety (guns);
- the law permitting the US to be part of the UN (which, among other attacks on American freedoms, seeks to ban privately transfered firearms);
- participation in UNESCO — which has been used to dumb down US education standards;
- the federal prohibition on importation of guns on a sporting basis test;
- federal prohibitions on any pilot wishing to carry a handgun to and in his cockpit; and,
- the so-called “assault weapons” ban (prior to its sunsetting in 2004).
Paul also has sponsored legislation requiring states to treat the concealed carry permit of one state the same as they do that state’s driver’s license.
Paul has viewed his opposition to a national ID card as a protection for gun owners. A national ID card would most likely identify the bearer as a gun owner, among other things of interest to government officials.
Here is what the same site has to say about Thompson:
He is in his own words “against gun control, generally.”2 And his voting record shows that to be true, generally. When he voted anti-gun, it was usually to expand federal authority. This is unfortunately consistent with his being a “law and order” conservative (pardon the pun). A complete report on each individual vote is appended below.
Gun owners should also be aware that Thompson unabashedly favors the odious McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act. This legislation, characterized by its proponents as campaign finance reform, severely limits the abilities of groups like GOA to inform the public about the gun rights voting records of politicians already in office. In many cases, it becomes illegal to even mention a politician’s name in on-air advertising the month before an election. Thompson — having voted in favor of the restrictions several times — thinks doing so is “not a non-conservative position, although I agree that a lot of people have interpreted it that way.”3
Gun Owners of America points out that of the 33 firearm-related votes cast while Thompson was in the Senate, Thompson voted against the Second Amendment almost half (42.4 percent) of the time. His likely excuse:
The timing was such that many of his “gun votes” on Capitol Hill came during the hysteria following the Columbine tragedy in 1999. It seemed that everyone in the country (except GOA supporters) considered it a foregone conclusion that something regarding gun control had to pass Congress that summer.
The Republican Leadership, especially in the Senate, adopted a “Gun Control Lite” strategy — hoping to preclude major gun bans by passing specific and less onerous restrictions that were largely extensions of current law.
Happily, GOA supporters rose up in truly Herculean fashion that summer, and when the smoke cleared no new gun control at all had made it to the President’s desk. Thompson’s actions at that time were somewhat haphazard (he voted both for and against the “Lite” strategy at different points, while voting against most, but not all, anti-gun amendments brought by other Senators).
In other words, he didn’t take the principled approach — and the Second Amendment won anyway.
Any supporter of the Second Amendment can readily dismiss the rest of the GOP frontrunners (as well as the Democratic frontrunners) based on their track records concerning the right to keep and bear arms. With Fred Thompson jumping into the race, it’s important place his track record under the same scrutiny we would for the other candidates.
Thompson has already shown a disdain for the First Amendment. His Second Amendment track record shows little improvement. I’ll probably not approach the Third Amendment, as we haven’t been faced with issues of quartering soldiers in private homes lately. I’ll be looking at how Thompson supports the rest of the Bill of Rights, though.
In the mean time, Thompson recently stated the following about his support of the Second Amendment, “You check my record. You’ll find I’m pretty consistent on that issue.”
I checked his record, found it filled with inconsistencies, and was generally underwhelmed.
5 Responses to “The Second Amendment: Comparing the Fred Thompson and Ron Paul Track Records”
Leave a Reply
About
Archives
Categories
- Alabama Politics (138)
- Articles (12)
- Bad Democrats (50)
- Bad Media (25)
- Bad Republicans (128)
- Bob Barr (14)
- Civil Liberties (68)
- Culture (43)
- Economic Policy (14)
- Election Reform (10)
- Fiscal Responsibility (30)
- Foreign Policy (21)
- Graphics (1)
- Health Care (17)
- History (3)
- Housekeeping (12)
- In the News (13)
- It's a Southern Thang (56)
- Judicial Issues (1)
- Just for Fun (37)
- Libertarian Movement (208)
- Libertarian Party (81)
- National Politics (279)
- Other places I blog (1)
- Prohibition Mentality (10)
- Regulatory Burden (5)
- Ron Paul (186)
- Satire (25)
- Sex and Politics (15)
- Supreme Court (2)
- Taxes (20)
- Tech (11)
- The Media (2)
- Travel (7)
- Wasteful Spending (29)
- Zero Tolerance (7)
Meta
Don wrote on 09/17/07 at 4:00 pm :
I don’t intend to be snide or disrespectful of Thompson, but judging from the video of his visit to the gun show, he might well benefit if he could find a training bra that would fit someone of his size.
paul wrote on 09/18/07 at 2:02 pm :
“I’ll probably not approach the Third Amendment, as we haven’t been faced with issues of quartering soldiers in private homes lately.”
Speaking of which, any new developments in John Sophocleus’ court case?
Tip wrote on 09/20/07 at 11:06 am :
“Thompson voted against the Second Amendment almost half, (42.4%), of the time. His likely excuse:”
Blah blah blah……..
Come on guy, if you know Thompsons motives, and can document your knowledge, then by all means share it. If your guessing or dealing in baffling BS, then take it outside with the dogs.
Men like Thompson are elected partly because editors and authors are too weak to deal in truth and facts. Clearly the money and the votes are found in media inuendp and lies.
Paul wrote on 09/20/07 at 11:14 pm :
How can a person buy exclusive rights to a gun show? I thought anyone could buy a table. If you buy a table you can sell guns and stuff, and put out Ron Paul leaflets, or even leaflets explaining how Thompson has tried to exclude other candidate workers from the gunshow. Or Ron Paul workers could hand out leaflets on the public streets in front of the show. I don’t see how he could effectively exclude others.
pypeSqueeds wrote on 11/1/07 at 1:38 am :
ONLINE - DRUGSTORE!
PRICES of ALL MEDICINES!
FIND THAT NECESSARY…
VIAGRA, CIALIS, PHENTERMINE, SOMA… and other pills!
Welcome please: pills-prices.blogspot.com
NEW INFORMATION ABOUT PAYDAY LOANS!
Welcome please: payday-d-loans.blogspot.com
GOOD LUCK!