Pennsylvania – -(AmmoLand.com)- Recently, you may have noticed a trend in the coverage of various gubernatorial and US Senate races. In the end, the article is noting that the better alternative is the Republican, even if that Republican has been disappointing. Well, one of the big reasons can be seen in the career of Senator Bob Casey.
When Casey started in the United States Senate after defeating the 2006 re-election bid of Rick Santorum, he was a friend to law-abiding gun owners. He used to support concealed carry reciprocity. He was also in opposition to the District of Columbia’s onerous gun laws. He even supported allowing people to have firearms for personal protection in national parks.
Sadly, though, Casey turned his back on gun owners in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. While he claimed to respect the Second Amendment, he supported a ban on certain semi-automatic firearms and an arbitrary limit on magazine capacity. It is a heartbreaking and infuriating betrayal.
It also made no sense whatsoever. Even with tragedies like those at Newtown, Las Vegas, Parkland, or Pittsburgh, Justice Department statistics show that a hammer or baseball bat is more likely to be used to kill someone than a rifle of any type, much less the AR-15 that is so constantly demonized. But the facts and logic didn’t matter.
Since then, if the likes of Michael Bloomberg, Chuck Schumer, and Dianne Feinstein had a position, Casey has become a reliable vote for them. When it came time to oppose the UN Arms Trade Treaty, Casey voted against prohibiting American entry into that treaty. He cast his votes for the semi-auto ban and the arbitrary magazine capacity limit. He also backed “universal” background checks. Perhaps the clearest sign that he had become a stooge of Schumer and Feinstein was his reversal on concealed carry reciprocity. Casey, it should be noted, also voted for anti-Second Amendment justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The sad fact is, Casey is not the first politician to turn his back on gun owners, and he will not be the last. All too often, some politicians will give, usually from pressure that comes from party leadership, donors, or the media. They forget that as long as they are loyal to law-abiding gun owners, law-abiding gun owners will have their backs.
There is a flip side to this as well. Those who have turned their backs on law-abiding gun owners need to be voted out, and the 2018 election is a good chance to hold Casey accountable for his decision to side with Schumer, Bloomberg, and Feinstein. They have a good candidate to replace him with in Lou Barletta.
Barletta has been a solid supporter of our Second Amendment rights. The passage of time has seen him remain very supportive of concealed-carry reciprocity, as well as standing up for the Second Amendment rights of our veterans. Barletta has also explicitly criticized Casey’s flip-flop on Second Amendment issues.
Casey may have dumped gun owners for Bloomberg, Feinstein, and Schumer, but he doesn’t get the last word in this matter. Second Amendment supporters have a chance to resolve the bad blood with Bob Casey on November 6.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.