Thune Concealed-Carry Amendment Shows More GOP Hypocrisy

Hat tip to the Hog House Blog!

If you love the smell of Republican hypocrisy in the morning, breathe deeply: Senator John Thune is sponsoring an amendment (A. Amdt. 1618) to the defense authorization bill (S. 1390) to require states to recognize each others' concealed weapons premits.

The hypocrisy:

1. The GOP will invoke states' rights up and down when they want to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage licenses from those commie states like Massachusetts and Iowa, but when yahoo states want to impose their concealed-carry rules on the rest of the country, that's fine. Mr. Woodring at Constant Conservative suggests this is a fair protection of the Second Amendment; so when will the GOP advocate similar federal protections of Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights on questions of marriage licenses and abortion?
   
2. The GOP hates it when Democrats tack unrelated riders, like the federal assistance for hate crimes prosecutions that Thune voted against, onto the defense authorization bill. But when Republicans use the same tactic to promote their agenda, they're being good patriots. Right.
   

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jay Bookman focuses on the states' rights sham, but his words apply equally well to the defense rider tactic: Thune's Amendment 1618 typifies the "philosophical frauds that conservatives wave around to oppose things they dislike, but conveniently ignore when pursuing goals they desire."

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Update 2009.07.22 10:05 CDT: Former Virginia Congressman Tom Davis, a Republican conceal and carry supporter, calls Thune's amendment pro-criminal policy:

Usurping states’ rights to set the lowest common denominator for standards for concealed carry permits is literally granting a license to kill. The Thune amendment would empower these criminals and endanger the rest of us [Tom Davis, "John Thune's Pro-Criminal Gun Amendment," Politico.com, 2009.07.22].

Update 14:10 CDT: And the amendment is toast. It pulled a 58-39 vote, but needed 60 to pass. Whew! Note that Senator Tim Johnson sided with his South Dakota colleague on this one, but all for naught. And now back to your regularly scheduled states' rights.

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Update 2009.07.29 08:25 CDT: Reviewing the blogs, I find State Senator and GOP gubernatorial candidate Dave Knudson praising the failed Thune Amendment and engaging in some servile NRA butt-kissing. Blech!