The NRA's "Bully" Pulpit, and Alabama's Gun Tragedy

Even by the standards of the Conservative Political Action Committee event where he recently spoke, the NRA's Wayne LaPierre was over the top.

He explained to all of us in America that "the guys with the guns make the rules."

Most of us believe that in a democracy, the voters make the rules.

Two days ago, a deranged man in Alabama killed 10, including women and children, before taking his own life. He had the firepower of assault weapons to execute his plan of mass carnage.

Americans who have lost loved ones to gun violence are tired of the guys with the guns making the rules.

Comments

[ProGunAmerican]

Its already too late for the Brady's to push gun laws, America has armed itself to the teeth, courtesy of Obama, he's an awesome gun salesman. The trend is continuing, not leveling off. Most manufacturers are severely backordered on semi-auto rifles, primers, gun-powder, and ammunition.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D977SAJG0.htm

I think the real motive behind a new AWB has nothing to do with crime, its about control. I believe the far leftist's in Congress fear millions of Americans being in possession of AR's and AK's, therefore they want to ban them. If this is the case, then I say good, this is what keeps a government in check. All throughout history, civilian disarmament is followed by tryanny.

[ProGunAmerican]

I see the Brady's finally mentioned the shootings on Oakland California, as well as the most recent shooting in North Carolina, at the nursing home. They haven't blasted North Carolina for their weak gun laws, but they will. Will the Brady's advocate more laws for California? Lol at that. Outside of an outright gun ban, there aren't many more laws California can write, they pretty much have the wish list already on the books. IT DOES NOT WORK! Now they're getting upset that Congress is ignoring them, they should ignore them, they won't suffer any consequences by giving them the stiff-arm. Congress has learned the hard way, that angering the gun owner consituency does not bode well for their political futures. Our constituency outnumbers theirs by at least 3:1.

By the way Brady Campaign, the reason you're having so much difficulty right out of the gate with the new Congress, 3 words.....­Blue Dog Democrat! These guys aren't going to vote for you're crap.

[Tao21Zen]

(2nd Posting Attempt)

Breaking news:

23 year old man recently "released from jail after serving time on a gun charge" attacked three sisters with a knife, at the 5 year old sisters birthday party. Like Paul suggests, a call was made to the police during the attack. Miraculously, they did arrive in time to shoot him dead as he was stabbing his 9 year old sister.

However, they weren't there just prior to this when he stabbed him 17 year sister to death and then beheaded his 5 year old sister.

And this all in Milton Massachusetts (just outside of Boston), one of the states with the strictest gun control laws.

Not having a gun didn't prevent this guy from committing unspeakable violence. Quite simply, this guy was a criminal that shouldn't have been released from incarceration.

Is this the kind of "gun free" world Paul wants to force all of us to live in?

source:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25261752-5001028,00.html

[ProGunAmerican]

dcaven, I stand corrected then. The AWB is gaining zero traction in Congress, even Hillary mentioned that it will be a "heavy lift" to get it moving. I'm not worried about it, the Brady's are talking to a wall, nobody is listening to them, because they know its a joke of a solution. The homeland security deputy secretary, didn't think gun laws were part of the solution, in testimony yesterday.

I watched the little video clip Helmke has on his website, there is one blatant lie that I noticed. Helmke says that someone can go into a gun dealer and "fill a truck full of AK-47's", no questions asked. This is false. Anytime someone buys more than one gun in a 5 day period, special paperwork must be filled out and submitted to the ATF. A truckload of AK-47's will bring the ATF right to that gun dealer pronto, guarantee'd. Besides, if someone is straw buying for the drug lords, those guns will be traced back to him, that person should do a minimum 15 year prison sentence. The gun dealers are not knowingly supplying the drug lords, that would result in their business being shut down and them going to jail, you think they want that? The last thing a gun dealer wants, is the ATF breathing down their neck. By the way, X-Caliber guns in Pheonix, the dealer the Brady's crucified for supplying Mexican drug lords, was aquitted of all charges recently.

[dcaven]

I saw that about X-Caliber guns. The aquittal didn't stop the Brady's from using them as an example of evil gun dealers supplying Mexico. The Brady "report" about the flow of guns into Mexico from the US includes several paragraphs dedicated to X-Caliber. The "report" states the aquittal is just testimony to how gun dealers enjoy some special legal status and are almost exempt from prosecution.

David

[Thirdpower]

Funny. Since the evidence the authorities claimed to the media they had (ie such as taped conversations of the owner advising purchasers how to break the law by illegally transporting guns into Mexico) didn't appear during the trial.

[molonlabe]

If Paul attacked KNOWN recividist criminals/felons with the same fervor he attacks ALLEGED criminal gun dealers, he might start to gain some credibility.

[djkrlsn]

The fact that XCaliber was cleared shows that the feds did not have much of a case--and Paul did not even meet his own non existent burden of proof

[ProGunAmerican]

Also, I'm betting Russia or China would sell the Mexican drug lords all they AK's they want, money talks, these guys are swimming in it, and Russia's economy is in shambles. If an AWB is passed here, and it won't be, they will just find another source for the weapons. Its a symbolic, feel good, useless peice of legislation.

[HisXLNC]

I'm willing to bet that the US will sell the drug cartels guns as well... Via the Federales of course.

It's theorized that one of the reasons that the Mexican police refuse to share the serial numbers of the weapons they confiscate is because many of them are weapons the US government sold to the Federales, and via corruption and desertion, the weapons find their way to the cartels.

[ProGunAmerican]

Despite all the plea's from the Brady's, an AWB is not gonna happen. Hillary Clinton just spent 2 days in Mexico, she didn't mention it, Homeland Security secretary Janet Nepalitano was totally non-commital in a recent interview, when asked the question, and Obama has made no mention of it. I find all of this to be encouraging. An AWB won't do anything to curb the flow of weapons anyway, just like most gun control laws, it won't have any effect. A mexican drug kingpin will get these weapons, one way or the other. I do support the policy of flooding the border region with federal agents and I support putting the national guard down there, that will stem the flow of guns.

[dcaven]

ProGunAmerican,

Hillary did mention it the other night on Fox. It was an interview with Greta Van Sustern. She lamented the "automatic weapons" entering Mexico from the US. She then commented how these "automatic weapons" had been successfully controlled under the Clinton "assault weapons" ban. I thought I was going to puke.

David

[fishyjay]

The whole Hillary Clinton story is here:

A Gun Ban Gets Shot Down

http://www.newsweek.com/id/191414

[molonlabe]

Doug,

If the BC was only concerned about Dangerous people getting Dangerous Weapons(tm), why would Paul Helmke recommend "Mexico-style" gun laws??

http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2009/03/25/helmke-calls-for-sweeping-gun-bans/

Tough to hide that true agenda, isn't it?

[djkrlsn]

For a man that is involved in a large amount of deception concerning his agenda--Paul is poor at deception

[dcaven]

Maybe we should also consider a "Mexican-style" of government where the poor are continually oppressed and corruption is institutionalized. Don't get me wrong, I love Mexico, but it seems like a pretty poor example of how to model gun control. They are the ones experiencing the loss of control over the cartels and its attendant violence and they are the ones with the comprehensive gun control. Paul, what are you thinking?

David

[Thirdpower]

Does it hurt?

The bill banning private sales in Illinois (HB 48) goes down in flames.

[CrittersRTasty]

Just read an interesting link on Dr udge about an armed customer shooting and killi ng a robber in a Florida BK.
No mention on Huff?.....­.hmmmmm...­....

[Thirdpower]

Well obviously it didn't happen since noone can defend themselves w/ a firearm. They'll just have it taken away and used against them.

[djkrlsn]

Not unless they have the superpowers that come from pinning on an LEO badge

[molonlabe]

Reporting the truth about firearm ownership would possibly result in some sheeple straying form the herd.

Can't have that when your whole position is based on misrepresentation and ignorance.

[molonlabe]

Well, I found out why the BC hasn't mentioned the Oakland shootings yet. They're too busy "Educating the Masses(tm)" about the latest media frenzy that is "US Gun shows fueling Mexico's violence."

Substantiated with, you guessed it, another Brady Report.

I wonder if their report addresses the 150(k) members of the Mexican Army who have deserted in the past 6 years??

Doug?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/11/mexico.desertions/index.html

[HisXLNC]

I believe the reason they aren't dancing in the blood of the Oakland shootings is because it happened in their #1 ranked state. It literally stands as a testimony to the failure of their "common sense" gun control.

[Thirdpower]

Plus the fact that CA is #2 for 'supplying Mexican guns' even w/ licensing, registration, AWB's and waiting periods.

[djkrlsn]

Especially since the bahstahd who did this is a multiple violent felon released early from prison who not only murderd Oakland police but continued to rape kids/teenagers. What makes it worse is that Kelli wants to disarm us instead of keeping the Oakland rapist/murder of cops in prison

[molonlabe]

For Immediate Release:
03-11-2009

"Alabama killer Michael McLendon fired more than 200 rounds from his military-style semiautomatic assault weapons. He lived in a state that has pathetically weak guns laws: In the Brady Campaign’s recent state scorecards, Alabama earned a score of 15 out of 100. Assault weapons were banned under federal law until four years ago."

http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/release.php?release=1117

Notice how the tap dancing began a day after the Alabama shootings. However, it's going on about 3 days now since the Oakland shootings and not a peep. The difference? 64 points and 18 places on the Brady scorecard.

Sad.

[Ohio9]

Another thing to remember about the Oakland shooting is that California has an "assault weapons ban" which is way more strict then the original 1994-2004 one passed by the federal government. And yet that ban was unable to keep "assault weapons" out of the hands of a convicted felon who was barred by law from possessing ANY firearm.

[djkrlsn]

I was curious as to why Paul was so silent on the Kali shootings--and extremely stunned that he is not using the Alabama and Kali shootings as a fundraising ploy

[molonlabe]

Doug, Paul-

Like ProGunAmerican mentioned, those of us "who only think about guns all day" would like to know why you've been silent on the Oakland shootings? I know it's tough to regurgitate the same "weak gun laws blah blah blah" mantra when it happens in your A+ rated utopia and all, but maybe this is your chance to shed light on the real issue of lenient prison sentences and our judicial system's failure to keep criminals behind bars?

Or maybe not.......

[ProGunAmerican]

Lets rename the headline shall we? California's catch and release criminal justice system results in another trajedy, feel good, ineffective gun control laws were also contributors.

[djkrlsn]

Especially with the budget crisis--a whole bunch of felons are being released early to further increase our crime problem. And what makes it worse is that Paul/Kelli/Guy and Toon want to disarm the law abiding victims

[Toonadude]

Let's see.

Criticizing the Bush administration's abuses of the 4th and 2nd Amendments;
Criticizing the NRA's refusal to condemn Bush for the above-noted abuses after endorsing him twice;
Criticizing the new Republican (Christofa­scist-cont­rolled) party.

These three things make me, an owner of guns since 1967, an advocate of disarming law abiding citizens? You can connect these dots? Oh, I forgot ... in your world, refusal to participate in the Pavlovian response experiment which consists of lambasting on cue everything that Helmke / Shedances utter automatically makes one a liberal gun grabber. Black and white .... no gray .... how very, very simple it all is.

[ProGunAmerican]

The Brady's have yet to mention the Oakland CA shootings, where 3 police officers died, a horrific trajedy. Is it because California has very draconian gun laws in place, that the Brady's consider to be a model? The Brady's lambast Alabama for their lax gun laws allowing that shooting to happen, according to them, now what are they going to say, when it happens in a state with very stringent gun laws?

This episode also points to the blatant failure of the California AWB and gun control in general. The guy was a convicted felon is possession of an SKS, already illegal. California's myriad of model gun laws did exactly squat to stop this guy.

[ProGunAmerican]

A New Orleans police officer has been arrested on charges of burglary and false imprisonment. Apparently he broke into at least three homes. To protect and to serve right? The Brady's want to talk about civilians being irresponsible, lol! You want this guy carrying a gun?!?

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/man_impersonating_new_orleans.html