Edward Kennedy: A Lion In The Fight Against Gun Violence

As President Obama said this morning, America has lost a great leader.

In addition to his many other causes, Senator Edward Kennedy also understood the pain of gun violence, a tragedy that, sadly, he could share with hundreds of thousands of his fellow Americans.

He lost one brother, President John F. Kennedy, to an assassin's gunfire in November 1963. Then he lost a second brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, to the gunfire of yet another armed assassin in June of 1968.

What few recall, however, is that Edward Kennedy was also a potential target of the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 -- a shooting that wounded Reagan, a Secret Service officer, a Washington, DC police officer, and President Reagan's Press Secretary, Jim Brady.

About a month before the assassination attempt in March, Reagan's would-be killer visited Senator Kennedy's Capitol Hill Office for the second time. "With his gun in his pocket he waited for him, but he never saw Kennedy," reads the chilling account in Jim Brady's biography.

Having been confronted with the horrific effects of gun violence in his own life, Senator Kennedy became a champion for gun violence prevention in his political career. He was one of the first senators Sarah Brady visited on Capitol Hill as she launched the fight to pass the Brady Bill.

"At first, I was absolutely awestruck," Sarah recalled in 2002. "But even though he seems bigger than life, he is incredibly humble. Through every fight we waged over the years, Senator Kennedy was always working behind the scenes, lobbying his colleagues on our behalf... yet he never wanted any credit for his efforts."

The Brady Campaign, and all survivors of gun violence and the families who support them, will miss Senator Kennedy's giant presence on the national stage, his good humor, and his tireless advocacy to prevent another family from having to endure the excruciating pain of gun violence that he had to endure.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Senator Kennedy's wife Vicki today, and the entire Kennedy family.

(Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.)

Comments

[djcrsn]

DW--there is a big reason why Mike will not have to write up anything for the gun banners like the BC/VPC is while the proRKBA people may have made mistakes (you claimed that the 39 to 1 individual rights rulings by SCOTUS was a lie, whether the correct ratio is 10:1, 20:1 or 100:1--that would be a mistake--but the take home message was correct (namely the Supreme Court has uniformly supported the INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS reading of the 2nd amendment). In terms of your complaints about us being rude--take the Sears tower out of your eye before worrying about what is in my eye

[djcrsn]

To finish the last post--MIke won't have to write anything to support the gun banners is because the lies are on the gun banners side

[benEzra]

The U.S. Department of Justice has just released the Uniform Crime Reports figures for 2008.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/data/table_20.html

Murder declined another 4.4%. Murders involving rifles, including "assault weapons", declined 16% in absolute numbers, from 450 to 375. As a percentage of total murders, rifles decreased from 3.0% in 2007 to 2.6% in 2008.

Looks like protruding rifle handgrips and magazines still aren't the threat the the corporate media wishes to to make them out to be.

[djcrsn]

2nd posting--D­reamweaver­--I have a request for you--read the Heller decision and the associated briefs (and read as many of the cited cases as you can before the legalese drives you crazy). Also look up what Eugene Volokh and Lawrence Tribe (who does support gun control) to see what a couple of noted constitutional lawyer have to say about the 2nd amendment. After evaluating that info--get back to us and let me know which side has a better grasp of the issue--the pro RKBA people or the gun banners. Also, I am looking for a good reason why the 2nd amendment should not be treated precisely the same way the rest of the BOR

[djcrsn]

Also Dreamweaver--I am still waiting for you to prove a single lie by my side of this discussion, and also why the gun control supporters are any different than the Southerners who passed the black codes after the War of Southern Rebellion

[twogunmojo]

mike102 I'm a Fan of mike102 I'm a fan of this user 11 fans permalink

Actually, it' "Ground contol to Major Tom", Kelli.

Don't mess with Bowie fans.
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:11 PM on 09/01/2009
- + DreamWeaver1940 I'm a Fan of DreamWeaver1940 I'm a fan of this user 33 fans permalink
photo

I know Bowie -- I said "earth" on purpose. Get it?.......­..........­.......
no wonder we can't agree on anything....i think the song is actually titled "space oddity"...

[Ohio9]

Hey Jadengold, here is IANSA in support of a TOTAL GUN BAN in Brazil:

http://www.iansa.org/regions/samerica/jody-williams.htm

The law, which failed overwhelmingly (rejected by 63% of voters), would have banned the sale of all guns and ammo to civilians, including hunting rifle.

You still think IANSA doesn't support gun bans?

It's kind of like how the Brady Bunch doesn't claim to support handgun bans, yet they defended Washington's handgun ban all the way to the bitter end. Makes perfect sense. I write legal briefs for causes I "don't support" all the time also.

[Glocksf21]

The whole problem with gun laws, they dont stop crime.

[molonlabe]

You really do have a point. Look at how convoluted the gun debate it. Assault weapons, individual v. militia, The Children(tm), Big boomers, Planes, trains, and chemical plants, open carry, concealed carry, Harry Carey, JIm Carey, gun pushers, bullet hoses, sniper rfles, etc....

All you really need to do is ask yourself one question: Has gun control in the US, or any other country which has implemented it to some degree, reduced the rate of violent crime?

And we ALL know the answer. Everything else is just fluff designed to keep lobbyists in operation, and to garner votes for politicians.

[LtBromhead]

Dreamweaver, it's plain to see that you harbor a great deal of animosity for law-abiding gun owners.

I was wondering how you feel about severe punishment for people who actually commit crimes with guns? Say, a mandatory 20 years, without parole.

[Glocksf21]

wow what a novel idea, go after the criminals that are breaking our laws!!!

[Thirdpower]

The US accounts for approximately 40% of civilian firearm ownership in the world. Since it's regularly claimed that guns cause crime, one would then expect the US to have 40% of the worlds firearm homicides or deaths.

IANSA states that there are about 1000 firearm deaths/day, 250 of which are of a military nature. The remainder are homicides (560), suicides (140), and unintentional (50).

So let's do some crunching.

US firearm homicides/day (34)/World firearm homicides/day (560)= 6.1%

A discrepancy of 33.9% if guns cause crime.

US firearm suicides/day (~46.5)/World firearm suicides (140) = 33.3%

A discrepancy of 6.7% if guns cause suicide.

US firearm unintentional and unknown deaths/day (2.77)/ World unintentional firearm deaths/day (50) = 5.5%

A discrepancy of 34.5%.

So the US is missing about 190 homicides, 10 suicides, and 17 unintentional deaths by firearm/ day according to the anti's own numbers. So while the US does have a higher number of suicides by firearm than many nations, it does not have higher suicides overall nor does it equal the percentage of ownership. The US also only accounts for about 1/20th of the firearm homicides and accidents when the anti logic says it should be 8x higher.

[mike102]

And how about the 80,000 defensive uses af firearms (FBI) yearly in the US? Why do they never mention that, 219 times a day, someone uses a gun for defensive purposes?

[OldSFMJT]

Third,
I just posted some info related to this down-thread.

Old SF MJT

[markqfumble]

Thirdpower:

You ignore all the people maimed by gun violence every year-the cost of caring for victims of gun violence in this country is huge-just think of the physical and psychoological care of a person rendered paraplegic by a bullet. I propose an extra levy should be added to every gun sale (like we dio with tobacco) to help pay for the care of gun violence victims.

[Thirdpower]

No I don't. I just understand the demographics of who is committing the majority of shootings and who the majority of victims are. Criminals involved in criminal activity.

And if you think those taxes added onto tobacco actually go into the health care system, I've got some prime beachfront property in Arizona I'ld like to sell you.

[OdinsEye]

BTW, firearms and ammo are already subject to extra tax when they are made and when ever they they are transfered up through the first point of commercial retail sale.

[OdinsEye]

I don't quite know what is up with dw. She started out at least pretending to listen and to look at the information we presented. Maybe it was too much, too fast for her, but she appears to have gone into complete denial/dismissal mode and has begun resorting to ad hominems and insults while trying to paint her cause as the more noble. She attempts portray us as the haters when we keep offering her information, knowledge, facts, and trying to engage her in discussion and she is the one who refuses to even consider what we have to say and instead strikes out at us. I know it really stuck in her craw when it was explained to her that the order of the Amendments to the Constitution have no bearing on their importance­/precedenc­e. Maybe that was the straw that broke the camel's back?

[Thirdpower]

In the debate between Rebecca Peters of IANSA and Wayne Lapierre of the NRA, Wayne claimed that IANSA wanted to restrict longarms to one that could fire less than 100 meters.

Would someone really make such an inane statement?

Yep.

civilians should not have sniper rifles, or rifles that they can kill someone at 100 meters distance, for example. -Rebecca Peters, CNN Oct. 23 2002

In the debate, she specifically says:

"I think Americans who hunt -- and who prove that they can hunt -- should have single shot rifles suitable for hunting whatever they"re hunting. I mean American citizens should be like any other citizens of the world. "

So single shot rifles w/ a range of less than 300 feet registered only to those who 'prove' they have a 'need' to hunt will all that would be allowed.

But that's not a 'ban' on guns just like only allowing wine to people over 75 who 'prove' they 'need' it wouldn't be a ban on alcohol.

[Jadegold]

Thirdpower repeats a myth often promulgated by NRA types such as Dave Kopel. The problem for Kopel is that Ms. Peters never claimed rifles should be limited to a 100 m range.

It should also be pointed out that Rebecca Peters is Australian and represents not a US group, but a UN group (IANSA). One can easily find IANSA's position paper on civilian firearms--which, unsurprisingly, says nothing about 100m range firearms.

[OdinsEye]

When Wayne LaPierre accused her "From your own words, here you are in a CNN interview in October 2003. You want to ban every rifle that can shoot over 100 meters. . That’s a football field for people back in the US." and the moderator asked her if that was true, she did not deny it.

[OdinsEye]

And her words in that interview were:

"We need to have fewer guns, but the guns that are in societies need to be under better control. And that means that civilians should not have sniper rifles, or rifles that they can kill someone at 100 meters distance, for example."

[OdinsEye]

Here is the transcript:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/23/i_qaa.01.html

[OdinsEye]

That's two quotes from Peters that Jade has fibbed about.

[Thirdpower]

So her public statements , made as president of IANSA, are not on what the organization has as goals?

Is the US a member of the UN? What does this statement mean Jade? "American citizens should be like any other citizens of the world."

Why don't you describe how a bullet is no longer potentially lethal after it's traveled a certain distance? What would it's range be to only be lethal out to 300 feet?

Educate us.

[mike102]

I have a slingshot that will launch a .36 steel ball-bearing 225 yards. Does that count as a sniper rifle?

[djcrsn]

definitely--so would any bow close to comparable to a battle longbow

[Jadegold]

Karlitos: It isn't a false assumption that gun control equals crime control. It's immutable fact.

Today we in the US "enjoy" gun violence rates that equal many third world countries. Certainly, this is nothing for the wealthiest and most powerful nation in history to be proud of. We can easily look at international comparisons and see that those countries with gun control also have very low rates of gun violence.

OTOH, it is a false assumption to pretend gun control means a complete ban on firearms. But it's a false assumption you seem to have swallowed hook, line, and sinker. In fact, there is no gun control organization that has ever existed in the US that advocates or has advocated a complete ban on firearms.

[PavePusher]

I have never commited any crimes, and neither have my guns.

Why do you wish to control me?

Do you have your 'Freedom To Exercise The First Amendment' Licence yet? If not, please stop posting...

[Jadegold]

PP: If you've not committed any crimes--as you assert--you should have no problem demonstrating this fact. Of course, I find it ironic that some "law-abiding" citizens are reluctant to demonstrate their lawful status or to take any responsibility for their firearms.

[djcrsn]

Jade--you forget the BC is member of IANSA which does advocate complete civilian disarmament--in fact Rebecca Peters (leader of IANSA) flat out stated that target shooters (including Olympic shooters) should find another sport--try telling the truth

[Jadegold]

Per usual, you are factually challenged.


Here is Ms. Peters in a debate with Wayne LaPierre:

" Gun control, we’re not talking about banning all guns. We know that guns are not going to be banned outright, but “moderate gun control” means people who own guns should have to have a license. Guns should be registered. It means ensuring that certain categories of guns are not available to private citizens or to people who haven’t had particular training and who are not subject to military or official discipline. "



and

"We recognise that hunting, for example, plays an important role in many cultures. You do not need a semiautomatic firearm; you do not need a handgun to kill a deer, to go hunting. We recognise that target shooting is also a sport in many countries. One of the concerns that was raised with the reform of the gun laws in Australia was that this would affect our Olympic performance. Actually in that same year Australia did very well in the shooting at the Olympics. You can be a sporting nation without semiautomatic rifles or handguns."

[mike102]

"Karlitos: It isn't a false assumption that gun control equals crime control. It's immutable fact"

Fine. Go tell them in Chicago and Washington DC.

As usual, your 'facts' are anything but.

[Jadegold]

Sadly, you seem to believe all crime is resident in DC and Chicago.

Of course--as always--you ignore the fact cities like New Orleans and Miami, with little gun regulation, enjoy far higher rates of crime.

This is a pretty standard piece of NRA nonsense--they will point out how terrible crime is in places like DC and Chicago--while ignoring cities like NYC (relatively low crime) and New Orleans (extremely high crime).

[legaleagle 45]

"We can easily look at international comparisons and see that those countries with gun control also have very low rates of gun violence."

Irrelevant. We can pass laws which eliminate knives and then we would have low rates of knife violence in comparison to countries which do not have strict knife control laws. The issue is violence and whether controlling a preferred method of comitting violence will result in an overall decrease in violent crime, or whether other methods would be employed to achieve the same result.... unless of course you believe that a victim cares whether he is murdered by a gun or a knife.

Step 2. You correlation assumptions are subject to many variables, including cultural and economic factors, making international comparisons highly unreliable. However, if you wish to continue, try doing so without using the USA. Take countries within western Europe and compare them based upon violent crime and levels of gun control. If you are correct, then countries with lower crime rates should have stricter gun control laws...

more...

[legaleagle 45]

Continued...

I will even get you started on your research project:

Norway has one of Western Europe's highest household gun ownership rates, and also one of its lowest murder rates. Holland has the lowest gun ownership rate but its murder rate is 50% greater than Norway’s. Finland has a gun ownership rate 14 times greater than its neighbor Estonia, yet Estonia's murder rate is about seven times higher than Finland's and it has higher suicide rates as well.

“[N]o statistically significant relationship between guns and murder rates.” Jeffrey Miron, Violence, Guns, and Drugs: A Cross-Country Analysis, Journal of Law and Economics, October 2001, XLIV(2, pt. 2), 615-634.”[N]no significant correlations [of gunstock levels] with total suicide or homicide rates were found." Abstract to Martin Killias, et al., "Guns, Violent Crime, and Suicide in 21 Countries," 43 Canadian J. of Criminology 429-448 (2001). “[R]emoving an easy and favored method of suicide was not likely to affect substantially the overall suicide rate because other methods would be chosen.” World Health Organization, Changing Patterns in Suicide Behavior .

[Karlitos]

Mr. Helmke:

Senator Kennedy was a lion in the fight to infringe the right of Americans to bear arms for lawful purposes. On this issue, he consistently attempted to take away meaningful (if not fundamental) civil rights. Your praise of the man on this issue is sorely misguided.

What you must assume, to take your position, is that gun control equals crime control. That is almost certainly a false assumption. And that false assumption is leading to the irrelevancy of your organization. You masquerade as an organization that works to prevent violence ... but your actions belie the fact that you only wish to prevent guns.

What's next ... you guys going to try to un-invent fire?

[Ohio9]

Notice Paul conveniently neglects to mention that Ted Kennedy once had a bodyguard who was busted in Washington D. C, for trying to sneak into a handgun and two MACHINE GUNS into the capitol building.

The commoners must be disarmed and defenseless while Kennedy is guarded with military weapons. That was his true philosophy on gun politics.

[fishyjay]

While Senator Kennedy did some good things in office, I think that he did not always advance the cause of gun control as much as Pauls Helmke's headline would lead you to believe. For example, someone who advocated banning all guns would not advance the cause of gun control -- rather, such a person would give the NRA ammunition to oppose lesser gun control.

In the case of Senator Kennedy, one example (below) was his inclusion of 30-30 hunting ammo (a deer hunting cartridge of minimal power) in his attempt to ban "armor piercing" ammunition.

Senator Kennedy: "Another rifle caliber, the 30.30 caliber, was responsible for penetrating three officers' armor and killing them in 1993, 1996, and 2002. This ammunition is also capable of puncturing light-armored vehicles, ballistic or armored glass, armored limousines, even a 600-pound safe with 600 pounds of safe armor plating."

You can be sure that the NRA made every member aware that Senator Kennedy's proposal could ban one of the most popular hunting calibers in the US. Any such proposal would be doomed, as was the case here. (The real "armor piercing" ammunition was banned in 1986. The NRA withdrew its opposition after the bill was ammended to include ONLY "armor piercing" ammunition.)

[benEzra]

I have always wondered if a Republican fed him those talking points in order to intentionally make Dems look bad on the issue. Everything he says about the .30-30 Winchester is certainly true (and equally true of *all* hunting rifles, and practically all centerfire rifles in general), but my suspicion is that someone intentionally fed him or a staffer the anti-gun talking points. The "cop killer bullet" issue since 1986 has been a dihydrogen­-monoxide-­style scam anyway, but singling out the .30-30 was egregious.

[mike102]

Vaya con Dio, Ted.