IMO, there's a couple of real nuggets in these posts.
First, an observation: Many of these politicians are lawyers--and as such, they have been trained (better-trained than many of us non-lawyers) in the use of logic in our language. So, with careful parsing of their words, the President and his henchmen (Rahm et.al.) can state that there is no (new or reinstated) AWB in the wings. So far, I have seen little lying from our national leaders about this topic--but plenty of disingenous statements.
Secondly, as the impact of Heller comes into play (the
new DC registration rules / laws, and the larger incorporation discussion)
the new thrust of antigun legislation clearly must be for more onerous requirements for legal guns.
So--and back to the point at hand:
1. New antigun legislation will be for onerous registration and access to AWs--remember, that an 'Assault Weapon" is a political term, not one of the firearms standard lexicon.
2. That registration will include invasive personal qualifications for mental health, (domestic) violence, and the like.
3. It will not come until the water-carriers--safe antigun politicians, ABC, The Brady Bumch, the mass media/mass murders--generate the foment needed for political demonstration of "populist" will.
The ABC programs are designed to generate new talking points: for the uniformed general voter, they concretely demonstrate "the gunshow loophole." For the selective / hunter shooter, they reinforce ASHA tenants. All of these points are designed to peel away support for conservative 2nd Amendment positions.
Another AWB isn't going to happen--but far more sophisticated legislation will be proposed. HR45 sits there as a diversion, IMO. It's a stalking horse that helps placate the gun-hater wing of the Party.
Getting in front of this kind of agenda is difficult, as rbernie suggests. With the NRA being the only big "mouthpiece" our side has--although the SSA might be helpful--it's hard to generate a set of talking points for the general public to respond to. For the moment, the only one I see as possibly fruitful is the Examiner Blogs that are cropping up--largely progun.
Ideas for putting together a national attempt at building a positive perspective by pro-gun forces probably belong in activism. For the moment, we--the progun forces--are riding only on twenty-plus years of 'conservative' thought about smaller government, and that was largely dissipated by the previous Republican administration.
Jim H.