Mitch Daniels and Gun Rights

In case you hadn’t noticed, there is an election on in Indiana for the office of Governor.  Unless you’ve never read my blog before, it should be pretty obvious by now that I’m supporting Mitch Daniels for governor, especially since his opponent is the rather objectionable Jill Long Thompson.

I honestly think that Mitch has been good for the state of Indiana; and he’s been especially good for Hoosiers who are concerned about the right to keep and bear arms, which is what I’m going to focus on today.

There has been a lot of talk amongst conservatives about “staying home” during the election to “teach the Republicans a lesson”, since they insisted on running John “Col. Tighe” McCain instead of a conservative.  I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but we can’t afford to do that in Indiana, especially as gun owners.  I don’t want to run the risk of losing a pro-gun governor with a demonstrated track record of signing legislation that supports the right to keep and bear arms, just because I want to “teach the party a lesson”.

Leave national politics out of the equation for a moment, and look at this election as purely an Indiana issue – purely a gun rights issue.  Mitch signed two key pieces of pro-gun legislation during his term: park carry and lifetime permit laws.

Mitch signed the bill which would allow Hoosiers with carry permits to carry their legal firearms in Indiana’s state parks, so if you’re going backpacking at Turkey Run you don’t have to leave your .38 behind any longer.  He also signed the “lifetime permit” law – for my out of state readers, Indiana allows qualified individuals to get a lifetime carry permit.  I never have to go and renew my permit.  Does anyone think that Jill Long Thompson would sign similar laws if she got elected?

If you don’t like McCain, that’s fine.  I don’t like him very much either; but I’m not going to let my distaste for McCain keep me home in November, especially since I have an important local election.  I can’t force people to vote for McCain, if you’ve already made up your mind to not vote in the presidential race, that’s your decision.  All I can do is ask that if you’re an Indiana resident, you don’t let your dislike for McCain keep you from going to the polls come election time.  If we do end up with an anti-gun president and Congress, it becomes even more important that we keep our pro-gun governor in the state house in Indiana.

Keeping Mitch Daniels around for another 4 year term is one of my personal top priorities – he’s been great for Indiana in general, and especially for gun rights in Indiana.

6 Comments

  1. Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised when I moved to Indiana how relatively free we are regarding guns. I would not have thought of Indiana when the subject of gun friendly states came up. It seems that many things just have never been addressed by the govt like CC vs. OC and keeping a loaded rifle in your car. We need to work to keep it that way.

  2. Yeah, definitely. The last thing I want is Jill Thompson to bring her South Bend politics down to the statehouse and start banning guns and eliminating reciprocity.

  3. You guys have LIFETIME CCW?! How cool is THAT! I’m always dismayed by the actual state of Texas law re: firearms. It’s pretty good, I guess, but there are a lot of states with significantly better, pro-freedom statutes.

    We still prohibit campus carry, which I hope Gov. Rick Perry will address soon with the Legislature.

    I bought a Taurus Tracker 44 mag yesterday. I always like how the sales clerks react when I pull out my CHL along with my TX driver’s license…ususally big smiles and “oh, another easy one–sweet!” or ” ah, our kind of people…”
    It’s my first 44 mag revolver, haven’t shot it yet. I picked up a box of Winchester white box 44 mag, but also a box of Blazer 44 special, for comparison, if the 44 mag recoil is too unpleasant. Although the barrel is only 4 inches, at least it’s ported, and the grips seem pretty robust, so it should be alright. So far I’ve only ever shot .357 mags up to this point; in my 6 inch GP101, the .357 mag is fine; ditto my Uberti Cattleman’s single action. But in my Taurus 651 snub, .357 mag makes for very unpleasant shooting.

    The Tracker is obviously too big/powerful to conceal/carry, but it will make a fine coffee table gun (inside the drawers, that is, not on it)…something I can reach for quickly if someone busts in while I’m lounging on the couch watching the TV. My Uberti cattleman’s single action is serving in that capacity now, but I look forward to swapping them out, so I can have a double-action revolver at the ready versus a single action.

  4. Actually, I have a Taurus Tracker in .357, which I do carry from time to time. The 4 inch barrel version, of course.

    The grips are great, I don’t know about trying in .44, because it is an awfully light gun, but at the same time I think that .44 Special would be just the pill for self-defense with that gun. Galco makes a great carry holster for the Tracker series, I have one that I wear regularly.

  5. Curious. Did Taurus ever make a Tracker revolver in 10mm? I’ve only seen a picture of a Tracker with 10mm Auto marked on the barrel.

  6. I agree completely. There are too many important races out there that we can vote on. Maybe give a few seats in Congress back to the right people.

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