Dear Illinois Politicians:
Remember Debra Maggart?
Probably not.
She was the chairman of the Republican Caucus in the Tennessee House.
She stiffed gun owners in Tennessee.
She then met with the wrath of gun owners in her district the next primary election.
She lost.
Is your picture the next one to go up on that billboard?
Cordially,
Illinois Gun Owners.
(Washington Post) – As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association with an “A+” rating for her voting record in the Tennessee House of Representatives, Debra Maggart never imagined that her political career would end this way.
Maggart, who chaired the Republican caucus, killed an NRA-backed bill that would have permitted Tennesseans to keep firearms in their parked vehicles wherever they went — work, school or the neighborhood bar.
Months later, Maggart was stunned to see NRA-sponsored ads on billboards in her district. Her face was next to a picture of President Obama. The ads proclaimed: “Sure, Rep. Debra Maggart Says She Supports Your Gun Rights. Of Course, He Says the Same Thing.”
The NRA threw its support behind a newcomer in the Republican primary. By summer’s end, the woman who had been one of Tennessee’s most powerful Republicans and ardent supporters of gun rights was done in by hardball tactics.
“As a pro-Second Amendment person and a life member of the NRA, I was just shocked they did this to me,” Maggart said in an interview. “They did this to send a message: ‘If you don’t do what we want, we will annihilate you.’ ”
The message has not been lost on lawmakers across the nation, including those in the U.S. Senate, where a proposal to expand background checks for gun purchases died April 17 in the face of the NRA’s staunch opposition.
“I was just shocked they did this to me,” Maggart said in an interview. “
What? A one-issue organization (that 2nd Amendment) of millions of members does what their millions of members wants them to do… supports that one issue? And she’s shocked when she turns on us?
She may “have been” a supporter of constitutional rights, but when she stopped supporting them, she shouldn’t have been surprised that the NRA moved their backing to a more friendly candidate.
I suspect some Illinois politicians will also be shocked next election.
Does what membership wants them to do? So the majority of the NRA membership WANTS the NRA to argue AGAINST Constititional Carry here in Illinois and do EVERYTHING it possibly can to AVOID that happening? Wow, I guess I just learned something new about NRA membership.
How about the ISRA on that point? Hmmm. I turn to a poll the ISRA did recently demonstrating that participants – many of whom are members- opposed massively the licensing of the Second Amendment recognized rihhts.
I submit that there is something amiss and that the math isn’t adding up. For the ISRA is indeed supporting something that’s its own poll demonstrates people do NOT support. Care to comment on this crystal clear disparity.
I’m shocked that she was shocked.
Maybe she doesn’t realize that the inability to legally store your weapon in the locked trunk of your car automatically precludes a law abiding person from bringing their firearm out of the house when their destination is a place of business or learning that disallows it.
I’m shocked that your shocked that she was shocked. Shocking, isn’t it? Sorry but I couldn’t pass that up.
Nice one my friend. I needed that shocking chuckle.
In the gerrymandered system that we have degenerated to, primaries are our only shot at changing the makeup of the legislature.
For house and senate seats up for election in 2014, that means getting behind someone in a primary in your district THIS summer and fall; primary season will start in earnest by the end of 2013.
Keep that in mind.