U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) voted NO on National Reciprocity. She was one of a handful of RINOS that went against her own citizens, for reasons unknown. She is retiring and I guess somebody must have approached her with promises of a cute and rewarding life outside politics to make her vote the way she did.

But what makes her special is that during almost all her years in congress, she got the votes of South Florida Gun Owners. Her timing was impeccable: she got elected for the first time after the AWB when the tide turned against gun control and she was smart enough to ride the wave without having to go too deep into the wave.

I was fooled as much as anybody else, specially since there was a mutual acquaintance that worked closely for her and was also involved in the South Florida gun culture and there was even campaigning for her from gun people. The only good thing is that she was not in my district so I did not waste either time or money on her.

Some years ago, a local public range where we shoot regularly was in dire need of reconditioning and remodeling so we ask her help to find funding and help rebuild the place. The shooters that did the most noise and lobbying with the local government where the action shooting clubs and the shooting schools. We only wanted three miserable bays for shooting o the move and the place had more than enough available land so Long Range Shooters, Sporting Clay enthusiasts and regular folk could enjoy their particular predilection without stepping on each other’s bags.

So the  money was found, a design agreed on and the range was closed for months so it could be upgraded. Finally came the day to be re-opened and we were even asked to give a demonstration of what IDPA was about. Much to our surprise, every single discipline had now a very nice and upgraded range… except action shooting and the schools.  We got fucked at both levels of government.

Oh, we were promised that for sure at the next budget meeting, monies would be available for the bays, and not to fret. That was over 5 years ago IIRC and the bays are still MIA.

That day I figured out Ros-Lehtinen was a lying sack of shit politician, (but I repeat myself) and made clear I did not want to do shit with her and so were many of my fellow shooters, some louder than others. I know the effort that some people put into getting those three bays and it pissed me off that they got nothing but fucking aggravation and sore asses for their work.

So i do hope Ms. Ros-Lehtinen finds karma on her civilian life and that I can do a Schadenfreude report sometime in the near future.