What we'll get is a hard core anti with the clear support of the voters. This will put the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches in alignment against guns. What do you think that will get us?
And some Dems had to support him last time, or do you really think the Reps have enough votes in this state to elect a governor without some Dem support. So yes, some Dems will support him over a Dem candidate.
There is no doubt the Legislature could have acted but the bills put forward did not have the support necessary to do so.
I'm getting sick and tired of the uniformed saying the Governor "had the power to" act against the AG. He does NOT. If you think he does, please cite it. Could he have spoken out more aggressively against it? Not if he wanted even a small chance at reelection, and it wouldn't have done any good anyway. He wrote a letter questioning it, so he's on record questioning it. He could not demand it be withdrawn, that is outside his authority.
The Legislature could have acted. They have the authority. That's where efforts need to focus. But that's a lot harder.
Yes, Gov. Baker's ability to act directly against the AG is limited, at best. The most he
might be able to do, if he truly opposed Healy's action, would be to cut/reduce AGO funding in his submitted budget, or possibly line-item veto them on the other side. That would probably be a symbolic gesture at best, given legislative leadership support for Healy's actions.
What sticks in my craw is Faker clearly supported her ruling when it first came out (
Gov. Charlie Baker: AG Maura Healey has authority to clarify assault weapons ban)'s, and his subsequent "questioning" of the ruling
is simply a request for clarification, not any opposition to the actual ruling itself. The bottom line is he fundamentally supports a full assault weapon ban, in contrast to his statements as candidate Baker where he questioned the utility of the federal AWB. I knew he wasn't great on 2A, but his prior statements also gave little evidence that he support more gun control. Even his stated support for the changes in the law signed by Cadillac were mostly around the positive crumbs we got tossed in that update. I feel we got baited and switched, and I'll remember that.
If and who I vote for in the next gubernatorial election depends entirely on who is running. I absolutely will not support Faker at the primary level. For the general election, I'll rate Faker as an E on gun control, and vote (or not) accordingly. It pains me to admit this, but there are Democrat politicians in MA who are better, some much better, than Faker on gun control. I realize it's unlikely any of them would make it as the MA Democrat gubernatorial candidates, but I think it slightly more likely than us getting a better Republican candidate this time around. If they do ... then hell might freeze over and the earth stand still on November 6, 2018.