There Is A Reason Congress Doesn't Vote In Secret

Yesterday the Washington Post ran an article about how the push for gun control measures is running out of steam in Congress. It seems that those of us who believe in Constitutional rights and the Second Amendment have been pushing back.

Among the people interviewed for this article was Matt Bennett of Third Way. This "think tank" tries to portray itself as centrist which might be true in DC but not elsewhere. It says it seeks "principled solutions and pragmatic compromise." Among the items on their agenda is more gun control or, as they call it, "gun safety laws."

Speaking of the progress on gun control since Senators went home to their states for the Easter break where they have been hearing from their constituents, Mr. Bennett had this to say:

“If there was a secret-ballot vote it would pass overwhelmingly, because from a substantive point of view most of these senators understand that this is the right thing to do,” said Matt Bennett, a gun-control advocate and senior vice president at Third Way, a centrist think tank. “What’s holding them back is pure politics.”

Yes, and if we had star chambers then all those who opposed so-called progressive laws would be in prison or worse.

Mr. Bennett is the Senior VP for Public Affairs for Third Way. Previously, he worked as an assistant to Al Gore and then Bill Clinton. He was the Director of Public Affairs fro 2001-2004 for the gun control group Americans for Gun Safety among other jobs post-Clinton.

It is rather appalling to read of the anti-democratic principles espoused by gun control proponents. It is all too easy for them to denigrate the voice of those of us in the hinterlands as "pure politics" if we disagree with their "prescriptions". They should remember that America is not some sort of technocratic autocracy where "our betters" rule. We still retain for now the vote and by God we will vote out those who think so little of our Second Amendment rights.