Thursday, March 31, 2005

Gun Rights -- How Congress votes

Last Congress, the GOP attempted to pass a bill exempting gun manufacturers from civil liabilities in connection with the criminal use of handguns by persons to whom they eventually were distributed, in the chain of commerce. Democrats responded by attaching a renewal of the assault weapons ban to that bill, a procedural tactic which, ultimately, scuttled the greater, anti-product liability measures. And, germane to this discussion, the breakdown of the actual vote, on the amendment under which the assault weapons ban would have been extended, was as follows:

41 = Republicans against the extension of that firearms ban (80% of the then-current GOP caucus).

42 = Democrats in favor of banning �assault weapons� (86% of the then-current Democrat caucus, including Jeffords).

If you want fewer gun restrictions in this country, allowing modern-day Democrats to win major political offices simply will not advance that agenda.

(From Poli Pundit)






Arizona: Murder charge in shooting tossed out: "A judge today threw out the murder charge against a Valley man who shot to death a hiker during a confrontation over the hiker's dogs in southeastern Coconino County. Coconino County Superior Court Judge Mark Moran's ruling will give Harold Fish another chance before a grand jury if prosecutors choose to take the case back to the grand jury. Last summer, the grand jury indicted Fish, a retired teacher, on a count of second-degree murder in the May 11 killing of Grant Kuenzli, who was camped in the forest with his three dogs."


Gun control: Politics without reason: "We see that hoplophobes want government to be as well armed as possible, and private citizens to be as poorly armed as possible. I like to define gun control as the doctrine resting on the principle that humanity will be safe if the most effective murderer of the 20th century controls all weapons. Yes, governments kill people - lots of people as it turns out. Can antigun nuts really be ignorant of this fact? I think that most Americans with at least some high school education must know that the German government murdered its own subjects as recently as 1945, and anybody who watches or reads any news knows of recent government organized massacres in Kosovo and Iraq (obviously there have been many more murderous regimes, but these seem to have received the most press as of late)."


Gun banners shooting themselves in foot: "For the second time in two weeks, a criminal thug steals weapons from a cop and then goes on a shooting rampage. First there was Brian Nichols who, after stealing a gun from a deputy in an Atlanta court house, killed four people. Then, a 16-year-old teenager in Minnesota stole guns from his grandfather -- who was a cop -- and used one of the weapons to kill several students and adults at a Minnesota high school. Although the guns in question were stolen from the police in both cases, the gun control lobby still insists upon punishing law-abiding Americans -- even though gun control would have done nothing to keep guns out of the bad guys' hands."

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