Democrats Using Connecticut Tragedy To Ban Guns
Even though the killer did not use an assault weapon to carry out his evil in Newtown Connecticut, the left wants to use this tragedy to go after so-called assault weapons.
Rahm Emanuel, present Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010, once said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
It is apparent that liberal politicians are taking that to heart.
Among those leading the charge was one of Capitol Hill’s strongest gun-control advocates, nine-term New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.
She reminded the White House on Friday that “the gloves are off” if President Barack Obama did not work to toughen the nation’s gun laws.
“I want to talk to the White House,” McCarthy told Politico. “I know that they can’t give me an answer tonight, but I want to know what they’re going to do. I need to know what they’re going to do.”
McCarthy’s husband was killed and son severely injured in a 1993 mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in New York.
Meanwhile, her Democratic House colleague, Jim Himes, whose Connecticut district ends abuts Newtown, said, “I hope and pray that the flood of sympathy and condolences offered to the victims and survivors of this unspeakable crime will ignite the dedication and ingenuity of our nation to end this scourge of violence.”
And the blogosphere lit up with comments from gun-control advocates of all stripes.
“It's time 2 act to control access 2 handguns,” Minnesota Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards said on Twitter. “This not about ducks & deer."
For his part, President Obama, in a tearful speech later Friday afternoon, vowed that "it is time to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics" - insinuating that he would ban guns in his next term.
Of course anti-American film maker Michael Moore said on his Twitter page, “The way to honor these dead children is to demand strict gun control, free mental health care, and an end to violence as public policy.”
It's not surprising that Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein of California, who is as ardent an anti-gun advocate as you'll get, said Monday she will introduce a new assault weapons bill in January to stop the sale of more than 100 types of assault weapons.
"On the first day of the new Congress, I intend to introduce a bill stopping the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of assault weapons as well as large ammunition magazines, strips and drums that hold more than 10 rounds," Feinstein said. "I am in the process of gathering support for the bill in the Senate and House."
The previous assault weapons ban lasted from 1994 through 2004. It defined an assault weapon as any gun that was:
- semi automatic, meaning one round is fired per each pull of the trigger
- used a detachable magazine
And featured any two of the following attributes:
- a folding or telescopic stock
- a pistol grip
- a bayonet mount
- a flash suppressor
- a grenade launcher
Many gun rights supporters rightfully say they are no more deadly than some other guns that use a larger and heavier bullet. And since they are semi-automatic, they should not be called or confused with the fully automatic military version. Nor should a gun used by millions be outlawed because of the actions of a single mentally ill young man.
The National Rifle Association and most groups were keeping silent on the day that 28 people were shot dead. But some organizations spoke out, including Gun Owners of America, which has about 300,000 members and headquartered in Springfield, Virginia.
“Gun-control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands,” Larry Pratt, the group’s executive director, said. “Federal and state laws combined to insure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun at the Newtown school where the children were murdered.
“This tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones,” he added. “The only thing accomplished by gun-free zones is to ensure that mass murderers can slay more before they are finally confronted by someone with a gun."
Gun Owners of America called for state and federal lawmakers to immediately overturn bans on guns in schools.
And Washington GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the incoming chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, urged caution in rushing to enact tougher gun laws.
"We need to find out what happened and what drove this individual to this place," McMorris Rodgers told C-SPAN in an interview to air on Sunday, the Hill reports. "We have to be careful about suggesting new gun laws.
“We need to look at what drives a crazy person to do these kinds of actions and make sure that we’re enforcing the laws that are currently on the books,” McMorris Rodgers added. “And yes, definitely, we need to do everything possible to make sure that something like this never happens again."
Ari Adler, a spokesman for the Michigan State House Republican Caucus, said on Facebook that the Newtown shooting was unrelated to legislation passed on Thursday that would allow guns in that state’s schools.
“Regarding the school shooting in Connecticut, our first concern is thinking about the families and the tragedy they have suffered at the hands of a criminal bent on spreading evil,” Adler said, according to The Atlantic.
“What happened in Connecticut, however, is not because of nor related in any way to actions taken by the Michigan House yesterday in approving Senate Bill 59.”
Anti-Gun Rights people are using this incident to push for any sort of gun ban. They say these are high-power weapons, capable of firing multiple rounds quickly, and are too dangerous since their high velocity rounds can pierce most body armor and their magazines allow for mass shootings.
Of course they don't know what they are talking about, but they won't let their ignorance stop them from going after guns.
Fact is that statistics show, unlike handguns or shotguns, rifles account for only a fraction of homicides in the United States. Of 12,664 murder victims last year, only 323 were killed with rifles, according to the FBI.
Also, it should be noted that both the Paducah, Kentucky, and Columbine, Colorado, mass school killings occurred during the 10-year ban. In Paducah, the killer used a .22 caliber long rifle, 12 gauge pump-action shotgun and a Ruger MK II .22-caliber pistol.
In Columbine, the shooters used 99 explosive devices, a 12 gauge pump action shotgun. Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm carbine, a 9 mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, and a 12-gauge Stevens 311D double-barreled sawed-off shotgun.
In 2007, the Virginia Tech shooter used a Glock and Walther handgun to kill 32 and wounded 17. Like what just took place in Newtown, no rifle of any kind was used in Virginia Tech massacre.
More recently, AR-15s were used in the Colorado movie theater shooting, one last week in a Portland, Oregon, mall. But in Newtown, things were different, police said they found that Adam Lanza had left a rifle in his mother's car in the parking lot.
I believe that Lanza knew that he'd never get into the school with a rifle and that's why he didn't take it with him. Security worked in deterring him from taking in a rifle or shotgun, but I beleive he had an easier time getting into the school because he was known as a son of one of their teachers.
Legislation is not going to stop murderers. It never has. As I said in my piece the other day, it didn't stop Lanza just as hasn't stopped what's going on in China with men attacking kindergartners there with knives and kitchen cleavers.
There are those who don't care about the law. Laws mean nothing to them. They have no respect of what is right and wrong behavior. They do things like this because they feel they can.
For me, I believe that part of the problem is that America does not teach morality to children in schools. Because of this, I believe that kids are getting their value systems from Hollywood movie violence along with ultra-violent video games.
Former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee took it one step further when he told Fox News that any debate should focus on the lack of religious instruction in public schools.
“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools,” the former Republican presidential candidate told Fox. “Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?
“We've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability — that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment,” Huckabee said. “If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that.”
Public Sentiment - Gun Sales Explode After Connecticut School Massacre
The prospect of a renewed assault weapons ban in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre has set of a round of buying, as thousands of Americans head to their local gun store to secure the popular AR-15 -- the model used by the school gunman -- before potential government prohibitions on their purchase.
They are also buying the .223 ammunition used by the AR-15 and the type of high-capacity magazines covered under the last federal assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire without renewing.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says it set a new record for single-day background check submittals this past weekend.
In San Diego, Northwest Armory gun store owner Karl Durkheimer said Saturday "was the biggest day we've seen in 20 years. Sunday will probably eclipse that."
In southwest Ohio, from dawn to dusk a Cincinnati gun show had a line of 400 waiting to get in, said Joe Eaton of the Buckeye Firearms Association.
"Sales were through the roof on Saturday," said Eaton. "People were buying everything they could out of fear the president would try to ban certain guns and high-capacity magazines."
The deluge of buyers had officials working overtime. Background checks that normally took 15 minutes in California took more than four hours, Durkheimer said. In Colorado, background checks that normally take minutes turned into wait times of more than 12 hours, said CBI spokeswoman Susan Medina.
"We had to call in extra staff," Medina said. "The wait times were high."
The CBI says it processed more than 4,200 background checks on Saturday, the day after the Newtown, Conn., shooting. That surpassed the previous high of 4,028. Nationwide, FBI data shows 16.4 million background checks were run in 2011. An agency spokesman said Monday it did not keep daily numbers and would not have figures for December until early January.
The Connecticut gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, killed his mother before taking her car and her rifle and two handguns and driving to the Sandy Hook Elementary School. There he killed 20 children and six adults before taking his own life.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Democratic lawmakers have argued there is a need for new gun measures, and President Obama has seemed to move in that direction without voicing support for specific legislation.
Gun owners aren't just afraid of losing their right to buy certain guns. Jeff Serdy, owner of AJI Sporting Goods in Apache Junction, Ariz., said his buyers were buying ammunition.
"I am selling a ton of ammunition," Serdy said. "My people figure it is easier for the president to ban ammunition sales than to get a gun bill through Congress."
Other countries have tried limiting the sale of ammunition as an easier alternative to banning guns. Mexico for example, bans any "military cartridge." In the U.S., the AR-15 and M-16 ammunition use the same bullet, the .223 and NATO 5.56 mm round.
Serdy said he was out of the cheaper $700 to $800 versions of the AR-15 but still had some priced at $1100 and up. The AR-15 is the civilian semi-automatic version of the military's M-16 and M-4.
In surveys, about 50 percent of buyers say they own AR-15s for target practice; 30 percent for hunting and the rest for personal protection.
Despite often being called a fringe gun by critics, the AR-15 is the most popular gun sold in the US today, according to gun dealers. Roughly 220,000 were sold in 2010, after peaking at more than 300,000 immediately following Obama's election.
Gun owners know that Obama and the Democrats in Washington will use this senseless tragedy to ban guns.
As Rahm Emanuel, present Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010, once said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
Gun owners understand the way the left thinks. We understand the nature of our enemy. And don't kid yourself, the left is our enemy - especially when it comes to trying to take away our Constitutional Rights.
By buying guns and ammo now while they still can, and getting behind Gun Rights Advocates, gun owners are trying to preempt the attack on their gun rights before Obama and the Left can act.
Story by Tom Correa
Even though the killer did not use an assault weapon to carry out his evil in Newtown Connecticut, the left wants to use this tragedy to go after so-called assault weapons.
Rahm Emanuel, present Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010, once said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
It is apparent that liberal politicians are taking that to heart.
Among those leading the charge was one of Capitol Hill’s strongest gun-control advocates, nine-term New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.
She reminded the White House on Friday that “the gloves are off” if President Barack Obama did not work to toughen the nation’s gun laws.
“I want to talk to the White House,” McCarthy told Politico. “I know that they can’t give me an answer tonight, but I want to know what they’re going to do. I need to know what they’re going to do.”
McCarthy’s husband was killed and son severely injured in a 1993 mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in New York.
Meanwhile, her Democratic House colleague, Jim Himes, whose Connecticut district ends abuts Newtown, said, “I hope and pray that the flood of sympathy and condolences offered to the victims and survivors of this unspeakable crime will ignite the dedication and ingenuity of our nation to end this scourge of violence.”
And the blogosphere lit up with comments from gun-control advocates of all stripes.
“It's time 2 act to control access 2 handguns,” Minnesota Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards said on Twitter. “This not about ducks & deer."
For his part, President Obama, in a tearful speech later Friday afternoon, vowed that "it is time to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics" - insinuating that he would ban guns in his next term.
Of course anti-American film maker Michael Moore said on his Twitter page, “The way to honor these dead children is to demand strict gun control, free mental health care, and an end to violence as public policy.”
It's not surprising that Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein of California, who is as ardent an anti-gun advocate as you'll get, said Monday she will introduce a new assault weapons bill in January to stop the sale of more than 100 types of assault weapons.
"On the first day of the new Congress, I intend to introduce a bill stopping the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of assault weapons as well as large ammunition magazines, strips and drums that hold more than 10 rounds," Feinstein said. "I am in the process of gathering support for the bill in the Senate and House."
The previous assault weapons ban lasted from 1994 through 2004. It defined an assault weapon as any gun that was:
- semi automatic, meaning one round is fired per each pull of the trigger
- used a detachable magazine
And featured any two of the following attributes:
- a folding or telescopic stock
- a pistol grip
- a bayonet mount
- a flash suppressor
- a grenade launcher
Many gun rights supporters rightfully say they are no more deadly than some other guns that use a larger and heavier bullet. And since they are semi-automatic, they should not be called or confused with the fully automatic military version. Nor should a gun used by millions be outlawed because of the actions of a single mentally ill young man.
The National Rifle Association and most groups were keeping silent on the day that 28 people were shot dead. But some organizations spoke out, including Gun Owners of America, which has about 300,000 members and headquartered in Springfield, Virginia.
“Gun-control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands,” Larry Pratt, the group’s executive director, said. “Federal and state laws combined to insure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun at the Newtown school where the children were murdered.
“This tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones,” he added. “The only thing accomplished by gun-free zones is to ensure that mass murderers can slay more before they are finally confronted by someone with a gun."
Gun Owners of America called for state and federal lawmakers to immediately overturn bans on guns in schools.
And Washington GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the incoming chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, urged caution in rushing to enact tougher gun laws.
"We need to find out what happened and what drove this individual to this place," McMorris Rodgers told C-SPAN in an interview to air on Sunday, the Hill reports. "We have to be careful about suggesting new gun laws.
“We need to look at what drives a crazy person to do these kinds of actions and make sure that we’re enforcing the laws that are currently on the books,” McMorris Rodgers added. “And yes, definitely, we need to do everything possible to make sure that something like this never happens again."
Ari Adler, a spokesman for the Michigan State House Republican Caucus, said on Facebook that the Newtown shooting was unrelated to legislation passed on Thursday that would allow guns in that state’s schools.
“Regarding the school shooting in Connecticut, our first concern is thinking about the families and the tragedy they have suffered at the hands of a criminal bent on spreading evil,” Adler said, according to The Atlantic.
“What happened in Connecticut, however, is not because of nor related in any way to actions taken by the Michigan House yesterday in approving Senate Bill 59.”
Anti-Gun Rights people are using this incident to push for any sort of gun ban. They say these are high-power weapons, capable of firing multiple rounds quickly, and are too dangerous since their high velocity rounds can pierce most body armor and their magazines allow for mass shootings.
Of course they don't know what they are talking about, but they won't let their ignorance stop them from going after guns.
Fact is that statistics show, unlike handguns or shotguns, rifles account for only a fraction of homicides in the United States. Of 12,664 murder victims last year, only 323 were killed with rifles, according to the FBI.
Also, it should be noted that both the Paducah, Kentucky, and Columbine, Colorado, mass school killings occurred during the 10-year ban. In Paducah, the killer used a .22 caliber long rifle, 12 gauge pump-action shotgun and a Ruger MK II .22-caliber pistol.
In Columbine, the shooters used 99 explosive devices, a 12 gauge pump action shotgun. Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm carbine, a 9 mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, and a 12-gauge Stevens 311D double-barreled sawed-off shotgun.
In 2007, the Virginia Tech shooter used a Glock and Walther handgun to kill 32 and wounded 17. Like what just took place in Newtown, no rifle of any kind was used in Virginia Tech massacre.
More recently, AR-15s were used in the Colorado movie theater shooting, one last week in a Portland, Oregon, mall. But in Newtown, things were different, police said they found that Adam Lanza had left a rifle in his mother's car in the parking lot.
I believe that Lanza knew that he'd never get into the school with a rifle and that's why he didn't take it with him. Security worked in deterring him from taking in a rifle or shotgun, but I beleive he had an easier time getting into the school because he was known as a son of one of their teachers.
Legislation is not going to stop murderers. It never has. As I said in my piece the other day, it didn't stop Lanza just as hasn't stopped what's going on in China with men attacking kindergartners there with knives and kitchen cleavers.
There are those who don't care about the law. Laws mean nothing to them. They have no respect of what is right and wrong behavior. They do things like this because they feel they can.
For me, I believe that part of the problem is that America does not teach morality to children in schools. Because of this, I believe that kids are getting their value systems from Hollywood movie violence along with ultra-violent video games.
Former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee took it one step further when he told Fox News that any debate should focus on the lack of religious instruction in public schools.
“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools,” the former Republican presidential candidate told Fox. “Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?
“We've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability — that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment,” Huckabee said. “If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that.”
Public Sentiment - Gun Sales Explode After Connecticut School Massacre
The prospect of a renewed assault weapons ban in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre has set of a round of buying, as thousands of Americans head to their local gun store to secure the popular AR-15 -- the model used by the school gunman -- before potential government prohibitions on their purchase.
They are also buying the .223 ammunition used by the AR-15 and the type of high-capacity magazines covered under the last federal assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire without renewing.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says it set a new record for single-day background check submittals this past weekend.
In San Diego, Northwest Armory gun store owner Karl Durkheimer said Saturday "was the biggest day we've seen in 20 years. Sunday will probably eclipse that."
In southwest Ohio, from dawn to dusk a Cincinnati gun show had a line of 400 waiting to get in, said Joe Eaton of the Buckeye Firearms Association.
"Sales were through the roof on Saturday," said Eaton. "People were buying everything they could out of fear the president would try to ban certain guns and high-capacity magazines."
The deluge of buyers had officials working overtime. Background checks that normally took 15 minutes in California took more than four hours, Durkheimer said. In Colorado, background checks that normally take minutes turned into wait times of more than 12 hours, said CBI spokeswoman Susan Medina.
"We had to call in extra staff," Medina said. "The wait times were high."
The CBI says it processed more than 4,200 background checks on Saturday, the day after the Newtown, Conn., shooting. That surpassed the previous high of 4,028. Nationwide, FBI data shows 16.4 million background checks were run in 2011. An agency spokesman said Monday it did not keep daily numbers and would not have figures for December until early January.
The Connecticut gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, killed his mother before taking her car and her rifle and two handguns and driving to the Sandy Hook Elementary School. There he killed 20 children and six adults before taking his own life.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Democratic lawmakers have argued there is a need for new gun measures, and President Obama has seemed to move in that direction without voicing support for specific legislation.
Gun owners aren't just afraid of losing their right to buy certain guns. Jeff Serdy, owner of AJI Sporting Goods in Apache Junction, Ariz., said his buyers were buying ammunition.
"I am selling a ton of ammunition," Serdy said. "My people figure it is easier for the president to ban ammunition sales than to get a gun bill through Congress."
Other countries have tried limiting the sale of ammunition as an easier alternative to banning guns. Mexico for example, bans any "military cartridge." In the U.S., the AR-15 and M-16 ammunition use the same bullet, the .223 and NATO 5.56 mm round.
Serdy said he was out of the cheaper $700 to $800 versions of the AR-15 but still had some priced at $1100 and up. The AR-15 is the civilian semi-automatic version of the military's M-16 and M-4.
In surveys, about 50 percent of buyers say they own AR-15s for target practice; 30 percent for hunting and the rest for personal protection.
Despite often being called a fringe gun by critics, the AR-15 is the most popular gun sold in the US today, according to gun dealers. Roughly 220,000 were sold in 2010, after peaking at more than 300,000 immediately following Obama's election.
Gun owners know that Obama and the Democrats in Washington will use this senseless tragedy to ban guns.
As Rahm Emanuel, present Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010, once said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
Gun owners understand the way the left thinks. We understand the nature of our enemy. And don't kid yourself, the left is our enemy - especially when it comes to trying to take away our Constitutional Rights.
By buying guns and ammo now while they still can, and getting behind Gun Rights Advocates, gun owners are trying to preempt the attack on their gun rights before Obama and the Left can act.
Story by Tom Correa
Whenever I hear about a gun debate, I always have to consider the fact that maybe more can be done. But then again, this is coming from a guy who is pro-2nd Amendment. And since I happen to be pro-gun, I tend to piss off the ones who are not. But that's okay. Nobody's forcing them to like guns. And I agree with half of what they say. Don't arm the felons. Don't arm the mentally ill. Don't arm the criminals. But also don't hesitate. If you wait until it's too late to do something then more tragedy will strike. The lobbyists don't even know how to properly campaign when it comes to this sometimes. But I would like to think it has something to do with total control. If they can get their hands on the news and they can say as much as they want. Will we hear the end of it? Probably not. But only time will tell. I'll let you decide. For right now, I have other things to do. Good luck out there.
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