Toomey's canned email response

[gghbi]

Do all those people who told me to vote for Toomey because he’s better for 2A than McGinty still believe that?

Yes, as bad as he is, Mcginty would have been even worse!

[ExFlyinguy]

Do all those people who told me to vote for Toomey because he’s better for 2A than McGinty still believe that?

Short answer- "YES"

Best solution as already mentioned - Primary election

[Scutter]

Yep: from U.S. Senator Pat Toomey
Inbox
x
Senator Pat Toomey <pat_noreply@toomey.senate.gov>

2:15 PM (7 hours ago)

to me
December 1, 2017


Dear K.C.,

Thank you for contacting me about the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (S. 446). I appreciate hearing from you.

Like many Pennsylvanians, I have long been a supporter of Second Amendment rights. They are of fundamental importance to our nation, and I believe that Americans have a personal, constitutional right to self-protection and to engage in recreational activities involving firearms.

That said, I also believe that firearms should be used responsibly and safely. People who use guns in an illegal manner or harm others with them should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Firearms should be kept out of the hands of convicted criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. That is why in April 2013, I introduced a bipartisan amendment to the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 (S. 649), along with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). Our amendment - which fell five votes short of being adopted - had a common sense approach. It largely took Pennsylvania's enhanced background check policies for commercial firearm sales and made them the federal standard. Such enhanced background checks are a constitutional, sensible way to improve public safety by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.

Specific to your concerns, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (S.446) on February 27, 2017. Among its provisions, S. 446 would require states to honor concealed weapons permits issued by another state unless they prohibit the carrying of a concealed firearm. I support concealed carry reciprocity, and was proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill last Congress.

S. 446 is currently pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. While I am not a member of this committee, please be assured that I will keep your views in mind as S. 446 progresses through the legislative process. Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Signature

Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

[internet troll]

Mcginty is worse.

Yes, as bad as he is, Mcginty would have been even worse!

Short answer- "YES"

Best solution as already mentioned - Primary election

What they said. I wish we had better than Toomey, but Toomey is light years ahead of Mcginty. Giving that 1/100th vote to Mcginty for 6 years would have repercussions that we would seriously regret over and over.

[sbmania]

But wouldn't it show Republicans that if they want our vote, they need to provide representatives that do what we want, not what they hope will get them more votes??

[internet troll]

But wouldn't it show Republicans that if they want our vote, they need to provide representatives that do what we want, not what they hope will get them more votes??

I wish it was that black and white. If it was 1 of the 435 votes in the house where a person runs every 2 years I could probably get on board with that theory and possibly give it a shot. (Though even then it would not be a sure thing we would get exactly what we want since we are probably a relatively small demographic in the large scheme of things.)

In a Senate where Republicans have a razor edge advantage, (sometimes depending on McCain and a few others), I could not justify risking six years (probably more years because of the incumbent reelection factor) of Mcginty with a 1/100th vote that could swing so much legislation against us. Especially since at the time of the last election there was a serious chance of Hilary getting in who would rubber stamp any anti legislation that got to her.

As others said, primary him out. Cutting off our nose to spite our face by letting a rabid anti get in hurts us bad. In 2013 Toomey did co sponsor and vote for the Manchin bill. I am still bitter about that. He also voted in favor of national reciprocity the same day as the Manchin vote. Do you honestly think Mcginty would do the same? We were 3 votes short that day.

Can you imagine pro gun legislation like that coming up where we need 60 votes and get 59 because we let Mcginty get in?

[KCJones]

Do all those people who told me to vote for Toomey because he’s better for 2A than McGinty still believe that?

Yep.

Would you rather lose an arm, or all your limbs?

There are such things as bad choices and the lesser of evils. You can say "I'm not voting on the lesser of evils basis!"... and then everyone else decides your limb-loss for you.

Near and dear as 2A is to my heart, and much as Toomey is weak on it, I can't be a single-issued voter in reality. Toomey's voted "the right way" on a lot of other issues. I'll even go so far as to say his voting record is BETTER than some other RINO jackholes like Murkowski, Collins & McCain.

McGinty would have voted absolutely the wrong way on 2A AND pretty much everything else.

Would I vote for Toomey over McGinty again? Hells yeah.

Would I love to vote for a better candidate in the next primary? Absolutely. Toomey is a tool. If a better candidate primaries him, I'll volunteer to work that campaign.

But here's another question to consider: Define "better" than Toomey? For me, part of "better" is "can they win it?" Would you sooner have a milquetoast Republican Senator in DC... Or a firebrand conservative who can't carry enough votes in the two big urban areas, so we end up losing and get another Demorat Senator in DC? It's like any other election lately: 45% are voting one way for sure. 45% are voting the other way for sure. It's the 10% 'swingers' that decide. (I made up the numbers, but think the gist is accurate). Whomever primaries Toomey has gotta be able to win the full race too. Part of that is simply charisma. But that also may, regrettably, mean some 'tempered' stances on touchstone issues (I'd like to see someone who's 'temperate' on issues other than 2A, myself).

I'm the first to understand "standing on principle." It gnaws at me any/every time I vote for someone just because they're "better-although-not-good" and I make the rational choice to lose an arm instead of all four limbs. And I surely hope we can get to a place where "I'm keeping all four, thank you very much!" is a realistic answer. I don't believe we are at that place, and I don't believe digging-heels-in 'on principle' by, say, withholding a vote from Toomey vs. McGinty is gonna help us get there.

[ItchyTick]

Do all those people who told me to vote for Toomey because he’s better for 2A than McGinty still believe that?

Go ahead and vote for McGinty then, see what happens.

[GeneCC]

Senator Casey is running for re-election next year. Any of us looking into what sort of Everytown RINO the GOP wants to inflict upon us next fall?

Giving Pat less friends to play Gun Control games with would do our cause a lot of good.

[Qtrborecrazy]

Lou Barletta is running. I hope he has a great game plan to beat Casey.