While some of our friends on the other side of the gun violence prevention issue can be forgiven some, er, irrational exuberance over yesterday’s election results, the reality is a little more mundane.

For better or worse, guns didn’t play a prominent role in the outcomes of any of the four high-profile races yesterday — Virginia Governor, New York-23, New Jersey Governor, and New York City Mayor.  By almost all accounts, the bad economy and high unemployment were the key ballot-box issues.

Further, all these races played out on the home turf of either side of the gun violence prevention debate.  NRA-endorsed Bob McDonnell won the governor’s election in the NRA’s home state of Virginia.  Meanwhile, NRA-endorsed Dede Scozzafava couldn’t even make it to Election Day in the conservative NY-23rd Congressional district — which a Democrat won for the first time since the Civil War era.

On the other hand, Brady Campaign-endorsed Michael Bloomberg won a historic third term as New York City mayor, while Brady-endorsed Jon Corzine lost his bid for re-election as New Jersey governor to gun control supporter Chris Christie.

In short, NRA and Brady each went 1-1 in yesterday’s big races.

While the NRA will surely trumpet its candidate’s win in Virginia, observers will remember how NRA’s TV ads told McDonnell supporters to vote on the wrong day, while in another TV advertisement they “reinforced defaming stereotypes” of Italian-Americans.

And, finally, for all their storied “power,” the special Congressional election in New York state showed NRA leaders unable to even keep their candidate in the race — much less push her to victory.

For all the drama, yesterday’s elections — while saying a lot about the state of the economy today — said little about the state of the gun violence prevention issue in America.

No one in the gun violence prevention movement has any illusions about the ultimate winner of the special Congressional election in the conservative NY-23 district somehow becoming a champion for our cause.

Yet as we now know, Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava — the NRA’s endorsed candidate — has dropped out of that race.

The most recent Siena poll put her in a distant third.

Many observers, however, raised expectations for the NRA endorsement in this right-wing bloodbath.

Stu Rothenberg said that notwithstanding her moderate stances on some issues:

[Scozzafava] received the endorsement from the National Rifle Association, and it could be important in fashioning her appeal to right-wing voters in the district.

Newt Gingrich said:

I endorsed the Republican who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association….

Even the UK’s Telegraph, covering the high-profile race, reported:

She has the backing of the powerful National Rifle Association….

Yet without a vote being cast, the “powerful” National Rifle Association has already failed to elect an endorsed candidate for office in this election cycle — in a conservative district where one would think their endorsement means the most.

Republican candidate Bob McDonnell must be really happy that the NRA is spending over a half-million dollars on TV ads that tell his supporters to vote on the wrong day in November.

(Hint: It’s not “November 2nd.”)

Click the image below to watch:

Looks sort of like a cross between Stanley Kubrick and Mel Brooks.

Recall, however, that this comes from the folks who spent more than $13 million to elect President McCain; who so effectively bullied Senators on the nomination of Justice Sotomayor that the Senate confirmed her with 68 votes — including 12 NRA ‘A’ rated votes; who failed to intimidate the Senate into forcing states to accept out-of-state concealed carry permits; and who — so far in Virginia — have managed to not only foul up the correct date of the election, but also “reinforce defaming stereotypes” of Italian-Americans in their campaign ads for Bob McDonnell.

But you know, aside from that, the NRA sure is a scary political machine.

For a gang that can’t shoot straight.

(H/T Ben Smith at Politico.)

[Update below.]

Apparently, National Rifle Association leaders thought they could bully the hundreds of mayors who have joined a coalition called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

It looks like the bully brought a boomerang to a political gunfight.

The NRA sent postcards to its members around the country in typically hysterical fashion, calling the Mayors group every name but American.  (Remember their literature last year against President Obama found to be “intentionally dishonest” and “pants on fire wrong” by PolitiFact?  Same thing.)

Yet America’s mayors, law enforcement officers and community voices — rather than ask the NRA how high they should jump — are telling NRA leaders to go jump in the lake.

Just a few recent examples,

• Mayor Richard Ward, of Hurst, Texas: “You can be for the rights of law-abiding gun owners but also for common-sense policies to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”

• Mayor Pat Gerard of Largo, Florida: “I have no intention of quitting…. Certainly, I support people’s rights to own guns.  I’d like to keep our police officers safe while keeping guns out of the hands of the bad guys.”

• Mayor Robert Romano of Vineland, New Jersey: “The NRA is not being truthful.  They view this organization as a threat. And now they want to dismantle us.”

• Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski to Pennsylvania mayors: “As commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, I want to thank you for stepping forth and speaking out concerning this important issue, and to pledge my support for your efforts as you advance an agenda for common-sense reforms to reduce access to illegal guns across Pennsylvania”

• The Beaver County Times of Beaver, Pennsylvania: “Nobody in his right mind could oppose efforts to stem the flow of illegal guns into our communities, right? Well, we’ve never accused the National Rifle Association of being rational, have we?”

• InForum of Fargo, North Dakota: “A hearty hallelujah! to Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker for telling the National Rifle Association to shove off.”  Followed by this letter from a North Dakotan in agreement: “Anyway, hats off to Mayor Dennis Walaker. He has my support in standing up to the almighty NRA, which thinks it has power over everyone.”

• The Republican of Springfield, Massachusetts: “The Republican has and will continue to support the rights of gun owners, but sometimes we wish the NRA would focus more on promoting marksmanship and gun safety instead of badgering small town mayors. We’ve been shooting a little high and right lately, and we could use the NRA’s help. But when it comes to politics, we can think for ourselves.”

• Monica Yant Kinney of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “A funny thing happened amid all the fearmongering: Fourteen Pennsylvania mayors left the group, but 25 joined in spite of the pressure.”

• UPDATE:  This just in from the Orlando Sentinel: “The NRA has come out with guns blazing against the increasingly influential mayors’ group. It has waged a scandalous fear-mongering campaign to run mayors out of the coalition whose motives the NRA insists are nothing less than draconian gun control. However, the NRA is shooting with blanks.”

The NRA, with no respect for local politics or sensibilities, seems to have barged their way into alienating a lot of people rather than changing minds.

NRA’s political bomb is looking more like a boomerang every day.

BusinessWeek Magazine has published an investigative report — appearing on the cover of their September 21 issue — about the inner workings of Austrian gun maker Glock, Inc.

Read pieces in the series here, here and here.

There is a very Enron-like quality to revelations in the BW investigation, especially as they relate to Glock’s owner Gaston Glock who — like former Enron CEO Ken Lay — professes not to know the business of his own business.

While allegations against Glock, Inc. are still very much in dispute, the presence of so much smoke may be a good indicator of fire.  For one of many examples:

… (Former Glock exec. Peter) Manown went on to explain that he and (former Glock exec. Paul) Jannuzzo at times wrote checks on the Glock account to themselves and to their wives. Jannuzzo later “spread [some of the money] around [to] other people at Glock,” with the understanding that they would use the funds to make political contributions, Manown added. He kept a handwritten ledger of many of the withdrawals. A Nov. 1, 2000, entry shows $60,000 designated for “Bush election campaign per GG and PJ 4 RF.” GG apparently is Gaston Glock; PJ, Paul Jannuzzo; and RF, Richard Feldman, the lobbyist and consultant. The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on any “matters related to open cases.”

A review of federal campaign donations by Glock employees between 1991 and 2004, conducted for BusinessWeek by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, shows more than 100 individual donations worth a total of at least $80,000. Jannuzzo says many more contributions were made by Glock employees and associates for less than $200 apiece to avoid election-law reporting requirements. Among the recipients of Glock-affiliated campaign contributions were former Atlanta-area Republican congressman Bob Barr, and two current Republican members of Congress from Georgia, Representative Phil Gingrey and Senator Saxby Chambliss….

…Glock had a number of reasons to try to make an impression on Capitol Hill. Gun control proposals that could affect its business were being debated. The gun industry also lobbied for federal protection from liability lawsuits, culminating in the enactment of such a law in 2005….

[more]

We’ll follow this story for further developments.