The Morning Call:
Coopersburg resident Mary Ann Nord was looking for reassurance when one of her senators, Republican Pat Toomey, headed to the microphone Wednesday during a gun-safety advocacy event in downtown Washington.
Nord, a member of the Philadelphia chapter of Moms Demand Action, a nonpartisan group created after the elementary school shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., is quick to praise Toomey’s work on his 2013 background check bill that stalled in the Senate.
Crafting and pushing that legislation took courage, Nord said. She recalled being in Toomey’s office and hearing the phones ringing with angry callers. But more recently, she’s been underwhelmed by his actions on the issue.
“Since then, it’s not been as clear if he was going to continue to be that kind of an advocate for the cause,” said Nord, who spent Wednesday lobbying Pennsylvania legislators and their staffs. “We have been a little bit discouraged that he hasn’t been more vocal.”
The Lehigh Valley senator told her and others gathered at the Grand Hyatt that he and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — his cosponsor on the measure to extend background checks to gun show sales and online purchases — still support the bill and finding a path through Congress.
“We have not been successful yet, but my determination has not diminished and one day we’re going to succeed on this bill,” Toomey told the reception crowd, drawing applause.
The event was part of a two-day summit organized by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Americans for Responsible Solutions, a group founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was severely injured in a 2011 shooting.
Giffords’ group endorsed Toomey during his tightly contested re-election fight due to his efforts on the 2013 gun background check bill. A gun-control advocacy group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg aired pro-Toomey ads, highlighting an issue the senator emphasized as he sought to win over moderate, suburban voters.
He took criticism from gun-rights advocates as a result of the background check bill, and his A rating from the National Rifle Association dropped to a C last year.
His rating should have dropped to F. He should have never had the A rating to begin with, and that was a function of bad judgment by the NRA, something we see time and again.
This goes a long way back with Toomey and Manchin, as it did with Eric Cantor and as it also does with Paul Ryan. The fact that Ryan is House speaker tells us all we need to know about the judgment of other members of the House who supported Ryan’s candidacy for said position.
The gun controllers will never give up, and neither can we. I’m not saying that it’s impossible to truly change, because God can save fallen men. But the reliance on the state for safety and security is a demonstrable indicia of statism and thus fallen and pagan thinking. Men live like the die, and they die like they live. The thief on the cross was a stark exception, but he was just that – an exception.
Toomey and Manchin apparently are the standard, not the exception. Fight them with all your breath, with every ounce of energy, with every cell of your body, and with every prayer in your soul.
