Here’s some straight talk on the second amendment

In a recent video he posted lamenting the erosion of our second amendment rights, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave Westlake noted that gun owners, children who want to learn to shoot guns, and gun dealers have been demonized, and Westlake goes on to say gun dealers and outdoor sportsmen “are some of the most responsible people in this state.”

Dave Westlake may believe gun dealers are “some of the most responsible people in this state,” but clearly, he hasn’t spent much time paying attention to what’s been going on here in the Milwaukee metro area. However, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted shortly after the shooting of two Milwaukee police officers last year, one gun dealer – Badger Guns in West Milwaukee – was the sole supplier of each and every gun used to wound six Milwaukee police officers in two years. What’s more, nine of 10 straw buyers prosecuted since 2007 made their purchases at Badger Guns or its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, and in the past five years, the store accounted for 21 of the 27 straw buying cases prosecuted. The folks who own and operate Badger Guns hardly seem like “some of the most responsible people in this state,” but perhaps Dave Westlake and I have a different definition of what it means to be responsible when it comes to guns.

Putting aside Westlake’s statement about gun dealers being some of the most responsible people in the state, Jim Arndt of Pretty Important Politics notes our second amendment rights aren’t being eroded as much as Westlake would have us believe:

The problem is our second amendment rights are not being eroded. The Supreme Court threw out a decades-old handgun ban in Washington DC. The assault weapon ban expired in 2004 and Senator Feingold does not support a new one. Using “the-government-wants-to-take-your-guns” line is campaigning to the lowest common denominator and a shameful tactic.

And as the illusory tenant points out, Dave Weslake might want to consider supporting Sen. Russ Feingold if he’s concerned about the erosion of our second amendment rights, since Sen. Feingold has been a fairly consistent supporter of the second amendment during his time in the U.S. Senate.