Posted on 06/02/2004 7:30:39 PM PDT by neverdem
As far as feel-good anti-crime measures go, the assault weapons ban is right up there with neighborhood peace marches. They both make people feel better even if they do little in the real fight against the bad guys.
So score one for the good guys in the Senate who fought back against a useless effort to expand the state's already broad assault weapons ban, and won passage of some common-sense gun licensing reforms at the same time.
Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) is picking up right where his legislative committee predecessor Sen. Cheryl Jacques left off as the lead sponsor of every brainless criminal justice scheme coming down the pike.
It's clear Barrios shares Jacques' view that good public relations can be passed off as good for public safety.
There was plenty of bipartisan support for re-authorizing the 1998 ban which mirrors a federal ban due to expire this fall, but then Barrios over-reached.
Amending his own bill to include weapons made before 1994 made for a good soundbite - Michael McDermott of Wakefield office-slaughter fame used an assault weapon manufactured in 1992 according to Barrios - but would do absolutely nothing to curb gun crime.
A madman bent on murder isn't going to abide by any ban, and law-abiding citizens ought not be forced to sell guns sometimes passed down for generations.
A bill reauthorizing the current ban did pass, although a sulking Barrios voted against it.
The House ought to quickly follow suit and go along with amendments including the creation of a seven-person review board which can overturn FID card denials for old misdemeanor convictions (excluding domestic violence offenses), a 90-day grace period for renewing the cards and gun licenses, and extending the license period from four to six years.
Yes, we think it's strange, too, that an assault weapons ban meant to protect the public has to be amended so it does less harm instead. Welcome to wonderland, Alice.
Seems the Boston Herald can't get together on this one.
40 Reasons for Gun Control
1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.
2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.
3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."
4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.
5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.
6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.
7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.
8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.
9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense -- give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p.125).
10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.
11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.
12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.
13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a "state" militia.
14. These phrases: "right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people" all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.
15. "The Constitution is strong and will never change." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.
16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.
17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles", because they are military weapons.
18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.
19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.
20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.
21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.
22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."
23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.
24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.
25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.
26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."
27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.
28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.
29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.
30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.
31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.
32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.
33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.
34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.
35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.
36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.
37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.
38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.
39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.
40. Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1130013/posts
Ah,Cheryl Jacques----did she get married on May 17th?
BANG
Arm yourself in more ways than one and fight. give them no quarter. the lies that keep us enslaved to the ever growing police state will die if exposed to enough daylight.
And gentlemen in england now abed
shall think themselves accursed they were not here
and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
that fought with us upon Saint Crispians Day.
Thanks for the verse from Henry V. One of my best friends can cite the whole verse from memory. He and his brother introduced me to firearms about forty years ago. Despite the fact that he was born so impaired from cerebral palsy that he needed surgery to cut spastic tendons, and the fact that he was twice struck by cars as a pedestrian such that he had to repeat two years of school, if I had a fight where I needed help, I would want that man with me. He is quite fearless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.