Similar laws have passed this year in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Louisiana. In each of these states, local gun groups protested the laws arguing that they not only violate the Second Amendment but also of contradict the basic concept of “innocent until proven guilty.”
The groups also argue that these laws will not do very much to actually protect victims of domestic violence. In Vermont, only one domestic violence murder was committed with a firearm during the most recent year on record. In Minnesota, a state of nearly five and a half million people, there were only ten such crimes last year.
Despite this, all four of these laws passed easily in each state. And in each case, their passage was approved and aided by the least likely of organizations: the NRA.
Over the past year, the NRA has been quietly helping legislators pass this kind of domestic violence legislation, either by promising not to oppose the bills or by actively working with the bills’ liberal sponsors. After the Minnesota bill passed, Minnesota Democratic State Rep. Dan Schoen said: “The NRA has been really good to work with on this particular issue. It pains me to say, but they have been.”
It is not entirely clear why the NRA is doing this. Until recently, it strongly opposed this kind of legislation and was successful in preventing the passage of these laws. Perhaps its change of heart has something to do with its recent outreach to women, or maybe it is another one of its lame efforts to appear “bipartisan”.
Who knows?
Either way, the NRA shouldn’t be handing victories to the gun grabbers just to protect its own image.
