If The Most Right-Wing Democrat In Congress, Josh Gottheimer, Now Backs An Assault Weapons Ban, Why Can't Pelosi?

Yesterday, Rachel Bade reported that the House Judiciary Committee "will return to DC on Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. to markup gun bills banning high capacity ammunition magazines; instituting red flags and anti-hate legislation. The panel will hold a hearing on an assault weapons ban later in the month. The assault weapons ban hearing is, essentially, Dem leadership's olive branch to the left on the assault weapons ban. They don't think they have the votes to pass it & don't wanna try to force moderate members to vote on it."

Thank you, Ms. Bade for another reminder that careerist Democrats like Pelosi despise Democratic values. They do have the votes to pass Cicilline's bill to ban the sale of assault weapons-- if they wanted to. But they don't... because they are afraid to force moderate conservative members to vote on it. Funny how even these conservative members have started signing on as co-sponsors to Cicilline's bill just hours after the latest NRA massacres in El Paso, Gilroy and Dayton.

The chart up top shows the 10 worst Democrats in Congress. You might call them "moderates," but their records clearly and unambiguously define what they actually are: CONSERVATIVES. Anyway, the most conservative non-freshman Democrat in the House, Josh Gottheimer, who represents mostly suburban Bergen County in northern New Jersey, adamantly refused to sign onto Cicilline's bill when it was introduced on February 15. On August 6-- back in his district, where he was hearing from furious constituents-- he called Cicilline and said he had to be listed as a co-sponsor immediately, not after they got back from recess in September. In fact, 6 Democrats called Cicilline that day with the same request-- and two more-- New Dems Cindy Axne (IA) and Joaquin Castro (TX)-- called this past Tuesday asking to have their names on the co-sponsor list too.

I'm told that another 10-12 will sign on when they get back in a couple of weeks. And now there are some Republicans in suburban districts who say they will vote for the sales ban too. Mike Turner (R-OH) has already announced it publicly. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Brian Mast (R-FL) and John Katko (R-NY) are telling angry constituents that they'll vote for it too. Turner: "I will support legislation that prevents the sale of military-style weapons to civilians, a magazine limit, and red-flag legislation. The carnage these military-style weapons are able to produce when available to the wrong people is intolerable."

Suddenly the problem is Pelosi-- the concentration camp-funding Speaker who needs to be removed ASAP if anything is going to be accomplished din Congress. Pelosi's excuse is that she has to protect right-of-center freshmen in red districts, garbage members like Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ), Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC), Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY), Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK), Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT), Jared Golden (ME), Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA), Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)... So, the excuse for accomplishing NOTHING worthwhile that the public put the Democrats back in power to accomplish, is that if they do, some of the worst, most right-wing Republican-voting members may be defeated. Let them be defeated if they can't defend voting to ban the sale of assault weapons. I think it's more likely they'll be defeated for voting against banning the sales-- along with plenty of Republicans.

If Pelosi allowed a vote, it would be murderous for Republicans who stuck with the NRA, especially Republicans in suburban areas. Voting against Cicilline's bill would put these Republican incumbents in very grave jeopardy because of the urban and suburban women in their districts who are likely to vote on this one issue:

• Dave Schweikert (AZ)- 87.7% urban, 12.1% suburban
• Devin Nunes (CA)- 66.7% urban, 32.5% suburban
• Duncan Hunter (CA)- 89.6% suburban
• Ross Spano (FL)- 54.2% urban, 44.9% suburban
• Brian Mast (FL)- 54.3% suburban, 40.5% urban
• Mike Bost (IL)- 65.0% suburban, 7.7% urban
• Rodney Davis (IL)- 48.1% urban, 25.6% suburban
• Fred Upton (MI)- 36.1% urban, 34.2% suburban
• Ann Wagner (MO)- 96.7% suburban, 3.1% urban
• Don Bacon (NE)- 81.8% urban, 17.1% suburban
• Chris Smith (NJ)- 79.4% suburban, 20.6% urban
• Lee Zeldin (NY)- 99.9% suburban
• Peter King (NY)- 72.6% suburban, 27.4% urban
• John Katko (NY)- 53.0%, 31.0%
• Ted Budd (NC)- 43.5% urban, 39.9% suburban
• George Holding (NC)- 42.2% suburban, 26.8% urban
• Steve Chabot (OH)- 56.9% urban, 42.2% suburban
• Brian Fitzpatrick (PA)- 100% suburban
• Mike Kelly (PA)- 48.3% suburban, 19.5% urban
• Chip Roy (TX)- 70.0% urban, 15.3% suburban
• Michael McCaul (TX)- 50.7% suburban, 29.4% urban
• John Carter (TX)- 58.3% urban, 36.5% suburban
• Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA)- 54.7% urban, 25.6% suburban

And what about holding onto the red seats where incumbents have announced they're retiring? These 5 look like goners:

• GA-07 (Woodall)- 96.1% suburban
• IN-05 (Brooks)- 52.2% urban, 35.8% suburban
• TX-22 (Olson)- 64.7% suburban, 33.0% urban
• TX-23 (Hurd)- 61.3% urban, 7.3% suburban
• TX-24 (Marchant)- 53.9% suburban, 46.1% urban

So which Democrats are refusing to get behind the sales ban? Overwhelmingly, foolish New Dems and Blue Dogs from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, men and women seriously miscalculating how intensely their own constituents feel about assault weapons, many of them persuaded by one of the dumbest and most incompetent Democrats that this is the correct approach for them-- asshole Cheri Bustos, the best ally the NRCC could ever hope for. This is the whole list of the idiots still not backing the sales ban, although the ones in italics are likely to flip with just a few constituent calls; some might take more than "just a few," but all the ones in italics are worth calling iff you live in their district:

• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Cheri Bustos (New Dem-IL)
• Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
• T.J. Cox (D-CA)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Pete DeFazio (D-OR)
• Abby Finkenauer (D-IA)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem-TX)
• Jared Golden (D-ME)
• Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX)
• Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)
• Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Andy Kim (D-NJ)
• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)
• Conor Lamb (D-PA)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)
• Greg Stanton (New Dem-AZ)
• Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)
• Mike Thompson (Blue Dog-CA)
• Lauren Underwood (D-IL)
• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Filemon Vela (Blue Dog-TX)

This was Gottheimer's OpEd after he flip-flopped and suddenly became a booster for a sales ban on assault weapons:

Just a few hours after the second mass shooting this past weekend, a parent I know said to me, stressing the futility of it all, “I guess we just can’t do anything.”

I refuse to accept that.

Last year, after the tragedy in Parkland, where we lost so many children, many of us in Congress came together, across party lines, and passed legislation that provided more resources for school safety, including more investment to support mental health and increased coordination among law enforcement agencies.

It was just a start, yet far from everything we must accomplish. But it was clear to me that, after decades of inaction, there was finally recognition that we could finally solve this problem plaguing our nation.

There is so much to do and it’s high time we finished our work. After all, in only the last 10 days, between the atrocities in Dayton, El Paso, and Gilroy, we’ve lost 34 lives, with scores more injured-- not to mention the more than 36,000 lives lost to guns every year. In 2019, so far, there have now been more mass shootings than days.

How many more times will we have to watch parents weeping at their child’s funeral?

Congress should immediately return to Washington for a special session to take practical steps to curb the epidemic of gun violence in our country, including many measures even the President and Republicans have supported: implementing red flag laws, banning military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and instituting background checks for all purchases, including at gun shows.

Gottheimer and Trump

This week, I also joined with fellow Democrats, including many of my New Jersey colleagues, to urge Sen. Mitch McConnell, to immediately pass these bills.

Over the longer term, we must also combat the broader culture of violence targeted at our children and communities, in online forums and social media, and in racially charged and anti-immigrant rhetoric spewed in our public discourse, at all levels. Not only is it directly counter to the very fabric of our nation, but it’s tearing apart our neighborhoods and fueling unprecedented violence.

This isn’t a partisan issue. More than 90 percent of Americans support background checks, including NRA members and our law enforcement community.

After all, this isn’t about taking away the right to hunt or to protect yourself. It’s just about taking sensible steps to keep weapons out of the hands of hate-filled criminals, gang members, terrorists, and those with mental illness. No one needs to fire 41 bullets in rapid succession. That’s exactly what the gunman in Dayton did on Sunday: killing nine people in thirty seconds.

Plus, if you can’t wait a few days to pass a simple background check, you shouldn’t have a gun. And no sportsman needs an AK-47 to hunt.

New Jersey has the second toughest gun safety laws in the nation, and, thankfully, one of the lowest gun death rates. Our children our safer, our police more secure, and my constituents can still hunt.

My colleague in the House, Brian Mast, a Republican veteran who lost both his legs in Afghanistan, and voted this year for background check legislation, said it best, “I know that my community, our schools and public gathering places are not made safer by any person having access to the best killing tool the Army could put in my hands. I cannot support the primary weapon I used to defend our people being used to kill children I swore to defend.”

That’s my whole point. Enough excuses; it’s time to act. No more fake arguments about why we can’t protect our schools, malls, and nights clubs from yet another deranged killer, racist, white supremacist, or lone wolf terrorist who wants to destroy another family.

It’s time we doubled down on this fight in the halls of Congress, put aside the partisan name calling, and actually got this done. I’ll sit down with anyone-- Democrats and Republicans-- to solve this problem. Let’s start today.

Mike Siegel is a principled progressive Democrat running for the TX-10 congressional seat. His opponent, Michael McCaul is a long time, lockstep NRA supporter. Siegel backs Cicilline's sales ban on assault rifles. I can image McCaul voting for a bill that allowed individuals to own mortars and tanks. "McCaul's support for the NRA is indefensible, and completely at odds with the majority of the Texas 10th Congressional District," said Siegel. "I hope Speaker Pelosi pushes this to a vote. In 2020, I'd happily run on common sense gun reform in the moderate Republican Houston suburbs of TX-10, where I could draw attention to McCaul's 'A' rating and tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from the gun lobby. For someone who likes to present himself as a 'domestic security expert,' his support for unlimited guns on American streets is a tragic contradiction." side from the tens of thousands of dollars the NRA has funneled into McCaul's career, he married into a the wealthy Hate Talk Radio family and is now one of the richest members of Congress. Mike Siegel can use some grassroots help for his campaign-- which is why that Blue America 2020 thermometer is on the right. Please consider chipping in what you can.