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Let Freedom Ring,
Posted on 02/09/2005 4:40:27 AM PST by pop-aye
(CNSNews.com) - U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy implied Tuesday that congressional colleagues who do not share his support for a failed gun ban being reintroduced in the House are mentally ill. The Rhode Island Democrat also accused lawmakers who oppose the anti-gun legislation of not caring about police safety.
Kennedy is the son of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, both of whom were shot to death.
The younger Kennedy made the comments at a Capitol Hill press conference to promote the reintroduction of the "50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Reduction Act." The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), would ban the manufacture of such rifles and severely limit the sale or transfer of existing .50 BMG rifles except for those owned by the military or civilian law enforcement agencies.
"Any policy maker who, on the one hand, says that they are for combating terrorism but, on the other hand, will not back this legislation, backed by Representative Moran, to me has a lot of explaining to do," Kennedy said "In fact, I think it would be the definition of insanity to say that."
In addition to challenging his opponents' mental stability, Kennedy also questioned whether his fellow lawmakers could claim to support police while opposing the gun ban.
"If we don't pass this legislation, this Congress, implicitly, is saying that they do not care about the welfare of our law enforcement community," Kennedy said.
John Burtt - chairman of the Fifty Caliber Institute, the education and advocacy arm of the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association - told Cybercast News Service that Moran, Kennedy and their colleagues are trying to create "backdoor legislation to ban all firearms in this country.
"What they're doing is using hyperbole to create anxiety on the part of the uninformed public that these guns are dangerous, that they are a threat to national security," Burtt said, "but they are not."
Burtt said there has not been a single instance of terrorists using the .50 BMG in an attack on U.S. soil. A handout provided to the media at Moran's press conference listed 12 instances in which a .50 caliber rifle was used, threatened or intended for use in a criminal act. But Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, reviewed the list and questioned the nature of the examples.
"It's usually people who were prohibited from owning any kind of firearm to begin with and, as a result, should have been prohibited from owning a .50 caliber already," Gottlieb said. "There's no need to have a new law. They ought to just enforce the existing laws."
Moran believes, however, that there is no legitimate reason for civilians to own the rifles.
"It serves no purpose for hunting, whatsoever," Moran claimed. "If you went hunting with this, you would not have any trophy. All you'd have left would be some pieces of fur and hoof."
Burtt refuted Moran's assertion.
"I know a lot of people who hunt with the .50 BMG," Burtt said, noting that many people pursue elk, bear and other large game animals with the rifles. "When a .50 caliber round hits a large animal like that, it has tremendous knock-down power. But, it does nothing more than put a half-inch hole into the animal and knock it down.
"This is just somebody who, obviously, has no knowledge, whatsoever, about the hunting capabilities of these firearms making statements that are completely inaccurate," Burtt added.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), whose husband was murdered and son wounded by a gunman on a Long Island commuter train in 1993, contributed to Moran's "no legitimate use" argument.
"This has nothing to do with the Second Amendment. This has nothing to do with taking away the right of someone to have a gun to protect themselves [sic]," McCarthy said.
Gottlieb disagreed.
"As far as Carolyn McCarthy is concerned, the Second Amendment doesn't protect any firearm," Gottlieb said. "If she had her wishes, she'd classify every firearm under a foot long as a 'Saturday Night Special,' and ban it, and characterize every gun over a foot long as an 'assault weapon,' and ban it also."
McCarthy and her anti-gun colleagues are using a "divide and conquer" strategy, according to Gottlieb, to disarm law-abiding Americans.
"If you pick on one type of gun at a time and say, 'the Second Amendment doesn't protect it,' most gun owners who don't own that kind of gun won't get upset and she might get her legislation passed," Gottlieb explained. "Then, lo and behold, she'll come back for another gun the next time and another gun the next time until there are no guns left."
McCarthy's comments seemed to support Gottlieb's assessment as she attempted to further demonize the .50 caliber.
"Look at this thing," McCarthy urged. "Do you want this in your home? Do you want your children to play with this?"
Burtt said McCarthy's comment betrays her ignorance of firearms and their safe handling.
"I don't want any children 'playing' with firearms, and they shouldn't even be touching them without the supervision of an adult," Burtt said. "I can't believe a representative of our Congress would make a statement like that."
Gottlieb, however, said he was not surprised by McCarthy's comments.
"Nobody said that the opponents of gun ownership are intellectually honest," Gottlieb said. "As far as these members of Congress are concerned, there's no such thing as a good gun."
Any time a firearms-related thread is created on FreeRepublic, please be sure to add the "banglist" keyword to it so that interested FReepers don't miss it.
Let Freedom Ring,
My guns have killed less people than Ted Kennedys car did.
Ban Buicks drivin by drunken womanizing senators....
Patches Kennedy sure knows a thing or two about insanity --- and pushing old women around too.
I appreciate the irony, though. Being lectured by egalitarian fanatics about insanity is really neat.
Oh yes, Patches Kennedy - the weakest link in a very thin, rusty chain...
As for Mrs. McCarthy - Has she ever considered that had one citizen on that chain been able to own and carry a concealed weapon that her husband might well be alive today and Colin Ferguson dead?
All he's got to do is look at his bloated, fat, alcoholic uncle, to see who's mentally-ill.
Reminder to Kennedy, McCarthy, et. al.
IT'S . . . NOT . . . ABOUT . . . HUNTING!
"Resistance is FUTILE, You will be absorbed...."
Once elected to congress she refused to support a ban on partial birth abortion.
This woman is a puppet to the special interests who fund her campaigns.
On the one hand, they say that the .50 Cal has military uses and is a threat to law enforcement. On the other hand, they say the .50 Cal has nothing to do with the Second Amendment.
What do they think the Second Amendment is about? Hunting ducks?
There ya go wanting to ban Buicks , when it was an Oldsmobile that carried Fat Ted off the bridge.
Peter Griffin would be a more lucid, and effective member of Congress than this fellow.
Regards, Ivan
It always frosts my ass when these terrorist sympathizer RATs try to use the war on terror (which they otherwise oppose) to chip away at our 2A rights.
Think about this.....the old Soviet Union put people in psycho wards because they had to be insane to criticize the 'worker's paradise'. Little Kennedy says those who oppose his .50 cal ban are insane. Is there any doubt about what would happen to all who oppose him on ANY issue if he had hold of the reins of power?
"If we don't pass this legislation, this Congress, implicitly, is saying that they do not care about the welfare of our law enforcement community," Kennedy said.
Cry me a river... On the other hand, He'd be the first to shout Police Brutality.
I see, so thats why they took Oldsmobiles off the market.
we are sooooo up to here with these Kennedys.....
Someone should ask Patrick the halfwit how he feels about drugs and law enforcement.
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