Liberals ask how they lost gun, Guantanamo votes
Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can’t manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep new gun-rights laws from passing.
After all, President Barack Obama pledged to shut down the military detention center on Cubafor suspected terrorists. And Democratic control of the governmentwould suggest that any gun legislation leads to tighter controls onweapons, not expanded use.
Even as they grouse,however, liberal lawmakers acknowledge that no one factor explains lastweek’s disappointing back-to-back votes in Congress.
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“We’ll probably end up passing more gun bills” that expand owners’rights “than we did during the Republican administration,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a leading gun control advocate. “That is what surprises me.”
She placed less blame on the White House than on ordinary Americans and advocacy groups that are consistently outflanked by gun owners’ groups, especially the National Rifle Association.
“Untilthe American people say enough is enough, and get active in it,”Democratic control of Congress and the White House will not be enoughto turn the tide, said McCarthy, whose husband was killed by a gunmanin 1993.
Two votes in Congress last Wednesdaydismayed many liberals and exposed the limits of their influence evenwith Obama as president and Democrats holding solid majorities in bothhouses.