Senate Begins Debate On Second Amendment Rights 

The Senate voted this morning to begin debate on legislation limiting Second Amendment rights. Big Media is breathlessly reporting that a breakthrough deal was reached on background checks, which allowed this debate to move forward. 

Most of the public and most of the Congress are in favor of preventing criminals, the mentally disturbed and other dangerous people from getting guns. But most of the legislative ideas being pushed by Obama/Reid/Pelosi would also make it harder for law-abiding Americans to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. In addition, many civil libertarians on the right and even the ACLU on the left are concerned that the government database being put together on gun ownership will lead to confiscation. 

Liberals in the Senate have supposedly agreed to destroy any records created by these background checks so that they could not be used for registration and confiscation. But there is plenty of reason to be skeptical. 

For example, state lawmakers in Missouri are trying to figure out how and why the state's database of concealed permit holders was twice turned over to the federal government in clear violation of state law. 

The Real Agenda 

The left is going to great lengths to reassure everyone that its goal is not to take away guns. Joe Biden recently mocked folks who worry about such concerns as "the black helicopter crowd." But the fact is there are those in Congress who would repeal the Second Amendment if they could. 

California Senator Dianne Feinstein once said, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them -- 'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in' -- I would have done it." 

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who isn't shy about wanting to ban handguns, says her side is "on a roll" and sees these current efforts to limit Second Amendment rights as just the beginning. 

Planned Parenthood Abortion Facility Closed 

A Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Delaware has been shut down after repeated medical emergencies. Now former workers at the facility have gone public with complaints about unsafe and unsanitary conditions. 

Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich, told a local ABC station, "I couldn't tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was." She said the abortionist often did not wear gloves. She told reporters "that a rush to get patients in and out left operating tables soiled and unclean." 

As is the case in many states, the ABC report notes that in Delaware "abortion clinics are not subject to routine inspections." 

Abortion is a procedure designed to result in the death of a baby -- even if everything goes "right." It can and does result in injury and even the death of the mother too. If you believe abortions should be safe for the mother if not the unborn child, in what world does is make sense not to subject such facilities to routine inspections? 

This is just one more example of the left's abortion-on-demand extremism that exploits women for profit. The left cannot think of even one abortion it would prevent. It wants nothing -- not even concerns about a woman's health -- to stand in the abortionist's way. 

The State Of Our Union 

I know many Americans are frustrated and disappointed with the state of our union today. My friends, do not give in to despair. The reports of the death of conservatism in America are premature.

According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Barack Obama's approval rating stands at 47%, while 48% of Americans disapprove. In addition, only 31% of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction. Sixty-one percent believe it is going in the wrong direction. 

One reason many Americans might feel the country is on the wrong track is the explosion of disability claims, many of them fraudulent, during the Obama years. You can read more about that issue in my latest column at The Daily Caller. 

Let me say this to Beltway elites fretting over values issues: The last thing you should be doing is sticking your finger in the eye of your best supporters. The last election was not a landslide for liberalism. As this poll indicates, the country remains deeply divided. 

The reason Republicans are competitive at all is that you have nearly half of the country solidly in your corner. But the impulse of the Beltway elites seems to be to dump a good portion of their base -- values voters -- in the vain hope of trying to pick up three or four percent more. It is simply not true that marriage, life and a dedication to constitutional rights is hurting the GOP. 

Why do I say that? A recent Gallup poll asked Americans what they most disliked about the GOP. Now, judging by the reaction of the party's leadership you might think the number one response was values issues, like same-sex marriage. 

So what percentage of the public cited "gay marriage" as their reason for not liking the GOP? 50%? Not even close. 25%? Nope. 10%? No, just a measly 1% said that the party's support for traditional marriage was why they did not like the Republican Party. 

So, of course, the "obvious conclusion" in Washington is that the party must offend the vast majority of its supporters in order to pander to the 1%. Sometimes the "Stupid Party" earns its name. 

By the way, far more Americans cited elements of the party's economic agenda, such as being "for the rich, not the middle class," for why they did not like the Republican Party. 

Reagan Wins Again 

Now let me leave you with this news as further evidence that conservatism is alive and well. A recent poll found that Ronald Reagan would trounce Barack Obama 58% to 42% if he were alive today! Even among younger voters, Reagan would still get 51%. 

So the most conservative president in modern American history would win overwhelmingly! 

Don't give up fighting for our values, my friends! We can once again make America a "shining city upon a hill!"