Hearing Protection Act "Progress" Update

[CoalTrain49]

At least it sounds like he wasn't using a silencer... (hearing protection muzzle device) HPMD

 

[CoalTrain49]

deleted

 

[hdwhit]

barnbwt wrote:
...opposition to the silencer portions, leads me to believe that area will be a sacrificial canard...

Exactly.

The HPA has always been "red meat" for the pro-2A base that was never seriously going to be pushed by anyone. For it to become law, it has to attract enough support in the Senate to get to the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture. So, until it is important enough to the Republican leadership to do some "horse trading" to make sure that happens, nobody is going to spend political capital to advance the bill (or its contents if we're talking about its inclusion in a larger bill).

"More than 330,000 silencers were registered nationwide in the two years ending in February 2016,...

330,000 "cans" and the voters behind them are an all-but-irrelevant number in a nation of 330,000,000 people.

Until the HPA becomes enough of a political issue that more than a few Senators and Members of Congress can realistically expect a strong challenger in the Republican primary making an issue of support for the HPA, it is going nowhere.

 

[ilbob]

politics is a slow business. you cannot expect to change much in a short period of time. you have to keep after it for years and when you see a chance you go for it. that is just the way it is. blaming republicans or Democrats is a mistake. the system is designed to be slow and cumbersome.

 

[barnbwt]

-There are people who want meaningful reforms
-There are people afraid of success
-There are people who can see beyond what is immediately in front of them.

I'm happy if *any* of this bill passes, since it shows that gun rights are a winning issue (they actually are as evidenced by the last election, but congress is slower to react by design) and builds momentum for more movement. Politics isn't "slow" or a tug of war so much as a game of inertia, always moving.

HPA wasn't even in crackpot-territory a mere five-ten years ago, and now we add 50% to the total registered in two years? And tons of braces & SBRs? 20 years ago, network television promoted shows dedicated to openly mocking homosexuals (Will & Grace), now they enjoy ubiquitous respect on the same time slots in nearly every station despite being a tiny fraction of the population. Inertia.

TCB

 

[Elkins45]

-There are people who want meaningful reforms
-There are people afraid of success
-There are people who can see beyond what is immediately in front of them.

I'm happy if *any* of this bill passes, since it shows that gun rights are a winning issue (they actually are as evidenced by the last election, but congress is slower to react by design) and builds momentum for more movement. Politics isn't "slow" or a tug of war so much as a game of inertia, always moving.

HPA wasn't even in crackpot-territory a mere five-ten years ago, and now we add 50% to the total registered in two years? And tons of braces & SBRs? 20 years ago, network television promoted shows dedicated to openly mocking homosexuals (Will & Grace), now they enjoy ubiquitous respect on the same time slots in nearly every station despite being a tiny fraction of the population. Inertia.

TCB

Will and Grace didn't mock homosexuality, it normalized it. Good luck getting a TV show to normalize silencers. Maybe all the hunting shows should use silencers...

 

[BK]

a rather small/simple issue like the reclassification of silencers

Now that's funny!!

Truth is, if this were to ever hit the floor for a vote (swine might take wing first), we all will be hearing 24/7 about nothing else than the GOP's efforts to put uzi's in every baby crib.

Small issue... you crack me up!!

 

[hdwhit]

barnbwt wrote:
I'm happy if *any* of this bill passes, since it shows that gun rights are a winning issue (they actually are as evidenced by the last election, but congress is slower to react by design)

Gun rights may be a winning issue on the national scene, but as the saying goes, "All Politics is Local" and gun rights are not necessarily determinative of state, county and municipal elections. Yet, every Congressman and Senator runs a local election to get his/her seat.

If you want the HPA (or any of its components) to pass, you need to start working in your own community to ensure that the HPA is an issue in the next election and that if your current Member of Congress and Senators won't agree to support it, that you work to make sure there is a viable challenger for them in the primary.

 

[barnbwt]

Will and Grace didn't mock homosexuality, it normalized it. Good luck getting a TV show to normalize silencers. Maybe all the hunting shows should use silencers...

Mocking turns stale & becomes normal; that's how comedy works. I remember the humor being quite unacceptable by today's standards, but mocking vs insulting (Kids in the Hall is another example)

 

[barnbwt]

Now that's funny!!

Truth is, if this were to ever hit the floor for a vote (swine might take wing first), we all will be hearing 24/7 about nothing else than the GOP's efforts to put uzi's in every baby crib.

Small issue... you crack me up!!

Small & simple in that it's a one page bill that's easily understood, not a 74-2000page contraption full of other stuff that may even be contradictory, that no one bothers to read.

 

[barnbwt]

Gun rights may be a winning issue on the national scene, but as the saying goes, "All Politics is Local" and gun rights are not necessarily determinative of state, county and municipal elections. Yet, every Congressman and Senator runs a local election to get his/her seat.

If you want the HPA (or any of its components) to pass, you need to start working in your own community to ensure that the HPA is an issue in the next election and that if your current Member of Congress and Senators won't agree to support it, that you work to make sure there is a viable challenger for them in the primary.

Yeah, my reps are firmly on board already (even Cornyn isn't opposed IIRC). TX just normalized cans here with respect to federal regs, so we no longer can be arrested while complying with the law. Not much left to do but pass a worthless RKBA Protection Act nullification that's preempted by federal law anyway.

Was gun control being successfully pursued in *any* of the states that went to Trump last year? Any parties achieving newfound statehouse majorities with promises of gun control *anywhere*? We may not be the #1 issue (economy), but we're #2 or #3 outside of the biggest metropolises. And even in those, being anti-gun is clearly high in the list of priorities for politicians.

 

[barnbwt]

Well, the House Committee is once again hearing bills...just not our bill (yet). I'm still not sure why Natural Resources is determining our gun rights as opposed to the forestry bill they heard today, but whatever.

Ping your reps, thank them for being strong in the face of adversity, the same adversity felt by unarmed victims of violent crime daily, or exhort them to show strength if they have not so far. Insist we citizens enjoy the same freedoms they do, whatever their course.

TCB

 

[stoky]

Small & simple in that it's a one page bill that's easily understood, not a 74-2000page contraption full of other stuff that may even be contradictory, that no one bothers to read.

where's the pork & grease?

 

[SilentStalker]

Here is what I don't get, we should be telling them, what we as the people want. They do work for us. I don't understand how we ever got to this point. The NFA among other things should have never been passed in the first place. I know I am going to get a lot of flak for this, but they work for us. Not the other way around. So, I don't get this asking for our ability to exercise our rights. I think we need to make a lot of noise and start demanding that they pass the HPA. Don't get me wrong, it's going the right way, I just find it ridiculous that we more or less have to bend over backwards to get things done. From the outside looking in with all of this asking to be able to do something, it seems more like a monarchy than a democratic republic!!!!!! If everyone would unify on this effort it would get done. Instead, we sit around and talk about how we hope things pass and nothing ever gets accomplished. We are starting to move to in the right direction but it seems awfully slow and an awful lot of work for something that shouldn't be.

 

[barnbwt]

No, they don't just "take orders" from us. Obviously. They act in self interest like the rest of us, but we have a system in place we can use to convince them to care about our issues...in order to further their self interest. It's more like hosting boarders you can only evict (but can't reward, or pay, or anything) yet still need to convince to behave as opposed to wrecking the joint

Our job isn't to 'force' anyone; that's the realm of revolutionaries, naturally. Our job is to show these shlubs in office that by playing ball with us, they 1) get to keep their phoney-baloney jobs, and 2) stand to gain power & esteem over their shlubby peers by doing so, and 3) stand to benefit financially by doing so. I've been emphasizing 1) the large numbers of people (voters) involved who stand to benefit, 2) how unprecedented this kind of legislation is, and what a unique opportunity it would be to be at the forefront of the centennial repeal of the Progressive Era gun infringements, and 3) the size of the gun & gun accessory industry, and how willing its customers are to toss money at those to whom they are loyal (imagine how much money could be made via 'legal' congressional insider-trading of RGR stock prior to HPA passage )

TCB