Flip-Flop of the Century: Prominent Politician Goes Anti-Gun

2nd Amendment – R2KBA Authors Current Events S.H. Blannelberry This Week
Ted Strickland used to believe in the Second Amendment.  Then he sold out!

Ted Strickland used to believe in the Second Amendment. Then he sold out to the anti-gun contingent of the Democratic party!

(Editor’s note: This article was a submission from freelance writer Mike Doran)

Former Ohio governor and U.S. House representative Ted Strickland once proudly proclaimed himself to be a gun-rights supporter. But now Strickland, who is in a U.S. Senate Democratic primary race, has done an abrupt about-face and is calling for restrictions on the very gun rights he used to support.

It is a stunning reversal that shows what lengths career politicians will go to in order to win votes and one that reminds us of Barak Obama’s “evolution” on gay marriage–a move that Hillary Clinton quickly echoed in an effort to stay in line with the sentiments of her base.

These days gun control is the main focus of the left’s attack on individual rights, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that a Democrat moved left on the issue in order to win. But the real question is: will it help Strickland or hurt him?

Strickland’s record is something a pro-gun politician would be proud of. In 2010, then Gov. Strickland held a hunting rifle in a commercial while an announcer explained his record.

In 1993, when he was a U.S. House member, Strickland and 68 other House Democrats voted against the Brady Bill, which required a waiting period before anyone could buy a handgun and brought about the creation of the instant criminal background check system (NICS) for all gun purchases.

In 1994, Strickland voted against a bill aiming to ban the production and sale of 19 semiautomatic weapons, even going so far as to call the bill a “misdirected effort aimed at law-abiding citizens.”

The NRA had even given Strickland an A-plus rating.

But as David Bergstein, a spokesman of the governor, explained, “Ted’s views about gun violence and gun safety have been deeply influenced as a result of the multiple horrific incidents of gun violence that our country has suffered, and particularly after the Sandy Hook tragedy”

“Just like many Americans, after Sandy Hook, he called for a reassessment of laws in order to help keep Ohioans and all Americans safer,” Bergstein told The Dispatch.

Specifically, Strickland wanted to expand criminal background checks for buyers at gun shows and online, an effort that failed. These days Strickland wants to ban those on the terrorist “no-fly” list from buying guns, a dubious proposition as it raises serious concerns about violating one’s right to due process.

“[Strickland] believes that stopping the epidemic of gun violence is too important for any politician to try and play games with, and his most important priority will always be to keep Ohioans safe,” Bergstein explained.

In 2012, Strickland was also quoted in the Wooster Daily Record when he called for a commission to consider the nation’s gun laws.

“This country is facing a culture of violence that is intolerable and cannot just simply be accepted as a way of life,” Strickland said.

“I think the NRA, I think the entertainment industry, I think the political class all need to sit down, and we need to avoid the extremes,” adding that “there needs to be a recognition that we cannot continue to lose thousands and thousands of innocent people to gun violence.”

What happened to the “misdirected effort aimed at law-abiding citizens?”

Of course, the problem with a politician changing his mind on the big issue of the day is that it seems so disingenuous. Voters remember that he once proudly supported the thing he now condemns, and they may vote instead for the candidate that seems more authentic, regardless of his current stance.

We’ll just have to wait and see. Strickland and Cincinnati city councilman P.G. Sittenfeld will go head-to-head in March and the winner of the primary race will face Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, who will probably have the support of gun-rights organizations as well as the gun owners of the Buckeye state.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Andrew N. September 8, 2018, 12:19 am

    Funny how Sandy Hook is such a Anti-Gun rallying point. In Chicago EVERY year, there are at LEAST 500 gun related deaths, and we have never seen any investigation or any real national attention on mainstream media outlets. But let 20 upper-middle class White children get shot, and everyone, including the President get involved. Apparently, 20 White kids are worth WAY more than 500 Blacks, even with a Black President. It tells the story of their real agenda, taking guns away from the law abiding citizens of this Nation as opposed to actually addressing “Gun Violence”.

  • Jon W. January 11, 2016, 10:58 pm

    Vote for the politician who, in your mind, will do you the least harm rather than voting for the one who will do you the most good. All of them will draw blood. Vote for the one who will, at the very least, bandage your wound.

  • tiko January 4, 2016, 2:50 am

    Yeah……and we all know that it is the fault of law abiding American gun owners that politicians REFUSE to require that mental health issues be entered into the system. The blood is on their hands and not We, the People. The idiots wonder why Trump is wildly and widely popular. If the childish morons would finally grow up perhaps they would NOT have to march in lockstep to party platforms and mandates. The solution? Vote according to what is right and not as you are commanded to.

  • alex January 2, 2016, 11:27 pm

    just one more lying ,two faced jerkoff looking out for his own ass.

  • Larry January 2, 2016, 1:17 pm

    Strickland is a Democrat & a sell out at that. People, stop voting for these fools & you will eliminate lots of our problems with those who want to restrict or even curtail our Constitutional rights. “Gun control” is really nothing more than people control.

  • Charles Kimberl January 2, 2016, 10:38 am

    Come on Ohio. Cleanse thyself.

  • Tim Robinson January 2, 2016, 12:03 am

    “Prominent pro-gun politician sells out”

    Translation: Bloomberg’s check cleared

    Expect a lot more of it in the coming months. Our “esteemed” Senator (Joe Manchin) has done the same.

    • SGT-N January 4, 2016, 1:00 pm

      LARGE Bloomberg check!

  • normsw January 1, 2016, 11:06 pm

    Politicians are like dry leaves in the wind, blowing away from their former “truth!” Lowest form of life after criminals; oh, wait…they ARE criminals, generally speaking. Their law degrees make the impervious to justice, in most cases.

  • harry January 1, 2016, 10:52 pm

    So… He’s a Democrat? What else is new?

  • RYPJR January 1, 2016, 4:25 pm

    Never, never, trust a politician. A promise to a politician is lie in the making.

  • Rusd January 1, 2016, 3:53 pm

    The people who legally have guns and live in his district need to remember this idiot come re election. This is the most dangerous type of sheep. Get him out of office before he infects others.

  • D.K. January 1, 2016, 2:51 pm

    I guess some politicians will do anything to get elected. I wonder what that says about the voters that keep electing them into office.

    • Michael January 1, 2016, 4:33 pm

      I wonder how much he’s being paid to switch sides by someone like Bloomberg!

  • Lazlodog January 1, 2016, 2:33 pm

    Amen SuperG

  • Bruce Chinn January 1, 2016, 2:26 pm

    Amen Super G!!!!

  • A. Contreras January 1, 2016, 2:18 pm

    Would you write harshly had he converted the other way around? Newsflash: people form new opinions, and occasionally change their opinions, on the basis of thought and experience. It isn’t always about politics. Second newsflash: if the polls are correct, more and more Americans favor firearms, and I suspect that Ohio is already in that camp. So, still stand behind the political motivation line?

    • Larry January 2, 2016, 1:21 pm

      Yes, pretty much.
      I see that you are still standing for the leftist excuses & their ideals.

  • Didas Kalos January 1, 2016, 1:03 pm

    He’s always been a Statist and Big Government person. And by default that means he was and is Anti-Liberty and Anti-Self Defense. Only the military and police (re: government) should have guns and be able to kill people. Read this: SJW’s always lie. http://www.amazon.com/SJWs-Always-Lie-Taking-Thought/dp/9527065682/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451671169&sr=1-1&keywords=sjw+always+lie

  • Jondarmes January 1, 2016, 12:11 pm

    Just more lying power mad scum. Flush him, he’s full of it.

  • silvestris January 1, 2016, 11:37 am

    Ohio, like Boener, Strictland has evolved. It is up to the citizens of your State to find a true Constitutionalist to defeat Strictland and assist him in his evolution back into the citizen society.

    • nick January 1, 2016, 11:38 pm

      Sorry silvestris but like the SPINELESS COWARD Boener, Strictland has SOLD OUT!!

  • burrga January 1, 2016, 11:34 am

    I wouldn’t worry too much. Mr Strickland has a very good chance of remaining in the private sector.

  • setlock77 January 1, 2016, 10:01 am

    We need to stop blaming guns and take a responsible approach to mental illness in our society. Every one of the mass shootings, the prep was on some type of mood altering drug. Stop giving crazy people drugs and expect they will responsibly take them. Crazy people, like another part of our society do not follow laws and restrictions. They may be incapable to work, but seem to be smart enough to disobey the rules our society has. The two groups act as a cancer on the USA.

    • Doug Ray January 1, 2016, 12:06 pm

      I totally agree. In fact, if you read the backstories about the drugs they’re taking, you’ll learn that, the longer those drugs are taken, the greater the likelihood of a sudden and severe psychological meltdown. They work well for a while but, if taken long-term, they make the situation worse.

      The medical community is at a loss about how to effectively treat these young people who have personality disorders and, given their options, simply write a prescription and send them home. These kids are time bombs. Take the guns away and they will simply find another way to act out with disastrous consequences. Good parenting and effective treatment of these young people is the answer, not violating my rights as a responsible gun owner.

    • Mark J. January 1, 2016, 3:32 pm

      Yeah except the whole mental health profession is just one step above voodoo.

      Almost as big a mess as the no-fly list. Does anyone really think that list has integrity?

  • Ian January 1, 2016, 7:46 am

    Kristen Gillabrand did the same thing when she became a senator from NY. But the flip flopping is not an exclusive thing to the Dems. George Pataki and Mitt Romney both betrayed gun owners in NY and Ma by signing and supporting anti gun legislation. Trump and McCain also supported gun control and flip flopped when they started running for president. That’s why I don’t trust either parties to do right by gunowners.

  • Chuck Roast December 30, 2015, 7:30 pm

    These clowns take an oath of office to: “…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and those of this State” and then when the political winds shift, they kinda forget that the 2nd Amendment, in conjunction with Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution, and the 14th Amendment work together as the Supreme Law of the Land, to outlaw any of the stupid, ridiculous, useless and unlawful “…common sense gun regulations.” Heck, those Amendments and Articles absolutely outlaw any state from passing any law which, in ANY WAY, abridges any “right, privilege, power or immunity of any person.”
    So any politico who is even so much as discussing a “…common sense gun regulation” is in violation of his or her oath of office and should be impeached and voted to be removed by the Senate from office.

  • SuperG December 29, 2015, 12:06 pm

    Prostitutes and politicians always go where the money is, and we have the best politicians and whores that money can buy.

  • Mark N. December 29, 2015, 1:27 am

    Yes, there are innocent victims, but I have always wondered how many of those murdered with guns each year are hardly innocent, but rather members of earring gangs.

  • Mike December 28, 2015, 6:55 pm

    God Bless America. Now, go and vote this guy out of office. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

Send this to a friend