Chad’s Morning Brief: NRA vs. Bloomberg, Rand Paul Makes Case for Libertarian Republicans, & More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of March 25, 2013. Give Chad your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am.
1. NRA vs. Bloomberg (link)
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't ready to give up when it comes to taking guns away. Bloomberg plans on spending $12 million dollars in ads that are meant to pressure lawmakers into backing stricter gun control measures. The NRA is ready though.
Bloomberg's pro-gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns is launching the campaign in states where senators may be on the fence regarding a package of firearms proposals making its way to the Senate floor. As the push for that legislation appears to falter, President Obama plans to soon tour the country to talk about the need to reduce gun violence, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News. Bloomberg also confirmed Sunday that he plans to spend $12 million to run ads in at least 10 states, suggesting there could be a political price to pay for opposing the measures.
Making clear he intends to be a counterweight to the NRA, Bloomberg said he wants to make sure the powerful gun lobby is not "the only voice" in this debate. If he can achieve that, Bloomberg said, "then I think my money would be well spent."
LaPierre bristled at Bloomberg's comments.
"He can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public," LaPierre said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "He can't buy America."
Part of the purpose of the ad buy will be to rally support for comprehensive background checks.
LaPierre, though, said the existing system only serves as a "speed bump for the law-abiding" without catching the bad actors. LaPierre stressed that the NRA will continue to push for enhanced security in schools, better enforcement of existing federal gun laws, stricter penalties for straw purchases and illegal trafficking, and a system for making sure dealers can check gun purchases against a record of the mentally incompetent and dangerous.
"We're 5 million families. We're 80,000 law enforcement families. ... We want to make people safe. That's what the NRA does every day," LaPierre said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to include a universal background check provision in a gun control package he's preparing for the Senate floor. However, Republicans have so far been reluctant to back universal checks. Reid's office is leaving the door open for substituting the Democrat-backed measure with a compromise proposal, should one emerge.
At the same time, Reid announced this past week that a renewed ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would not be in the main bill, though it would be voted on as an amendment.
Amid these hurdles, Bloomberg announced the ad buy Saturday. He said they were meant to bring the "voices of Americans -- who overwhelmingly support comprehensive and enforceable background checks -- into the discussion to move senators to immediately take action to prevent gun violence."
Bloomberg defended the ad buy Sunday , speaking on the same program as LaPierre, saying it would be a "great tragedy" if the momentum for gun control generated after the Newtown mass shooting withered. At the same time, Bloomberg said "I think we are going to win this."
Bloomberg wants to use Newtown for gun control and he is panicking because he knows that the average American understands that what Democrats have come up with won't protect people. The NRA is right on this one. The measures that the Democrats will vote on will only hinder law-abiding citizens. Criminals won't submit to background checks.
2. Libertarian Republican (link)
Is the answer for the GOP Rand Paul and a more libertarian republican style? On Sunday Paul said his approach could grow the party.
Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that his "libertarian Republican approach" to politics could help win over young voters as well as moderates and independent voters.
"The Republican Party needs to figure out how to be bigger and I think I do bring some ideas to that. And so I talked with the Republican National Committee, the Republican National Committee chairman [Reince Priebus] about things I think we need to do to be competitive on the West Coast, to be competitive in New England and Illinois," the Republican senator from Kentucky said on "Fox News Sunday."
"Some of those ideas are more [of a] libertarian Republican approach to things and I think that a lot of young people are attracted to that and our party could grow if we accepted something more than the cookie cutter conservatives in the past."
The left-right political spectrum "doesn't always work for people," Paul said.
"We have a confusing spectrum," he added. "This left-right spectrum doesn't always work for people. But I think because of that confusion, it shows that someone like myself I think could appeal to young people, independents and moderates, because many of them do think it's a mistake to put people in jail for marijuana use and throw away the key."
"So I think there are people who would like a less aggressive foreign policy," he said. "There are all kinds of issues that don't neatly left in the left-right paradigm that I think would help because we're not doing very well in a lot of these states, these purple and blue states. So we need a candidate that would appeal across the left-right paradigm."
Thoughts?
3. Levelland ISD to Allow Teachers to Carry Guns
According to reports over the weekend, Levelland ISD's School Board approved trained teachers to carry firearms on campuses. The district also approved hiring more security guards as well.
I applaud the folks in Levelland for allowing teachers and staff to carry on campus. This move shows that Levelland ISD is serious about protecting students in the classroom. I hope that a teacher in Levelland is never put into a position of having to take down an active shooter, but you have to be prepared for the worst.
I wish the officials in Lubbock would look to Levelland for leadership on this issue. Lubbock ISD doesn't even want to entertain the idea of allowing teachers to carry on campus. Lubbock ISD, Frenship, and Lubbock-Cooper are all foolish when it comes to this matter.
Instead of allowing responsible adults with CHL's and training to carry on campus, they point to cameras and other security features that only provide a false sense of security.
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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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