On weapons ban, Nugent’s unsupportable timeline (FL-05 Candidate Rich Nugent supported weapons ban)

In the summer of 2004, the 10-year “assault weapons” ban passed during the Clinton administration was only months from expiration. Gun control activists, frantic to gain an extension, recruited law enforcement officials to sign petitions indicating their support for the ban. Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent, lately a Republican seeking Florida’s District 5 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was among the signatories.

Asked during Wednesdy night’s debate at the Groves Golf and Country Club about his endorsement of the ban then, and what he thinks now, Nugent explained that he is now pretty much a Second Amendment purist. But understand, he said, the petition came to him “in the emotional aftermath” of Hank Earl Carr’s murderous rampage, which began in Tampa and reached its bloody conclusion in a convenience store just off Interstate 75 in Hernando County. Two Tampa cops and a Florida Highway Patrolman were among his victims.

Carr’s weaponry included a Glock he wrestled from a Tampa detective and, Nugent noted, an assault rifle. What he failed to mention is that Carr retrieved it from the trunk of the police car in which he was briefly a passenger. Clearly, whatever the merits of a national ban on assault weapons, unless the prohibition were to extend to law enforcement, it would have made no difference on this particular day.

Speaking of which, the infamous day of Carr’s killing spree was May 19 ... 1998, fully six years before Nugent inked the petition.

The video of Sheriff Rich Nugent explaining his position on the Clinton era “Assault Weapons Ban” is on YouTube, “Sager - Nugent Debate Part 4 of 6.”

The inconsistencies abound here.

“That was right after Hank Earl Carr.” “Right after”=6 years after
“He was using a SKS assault rifle... We signed it (the petition to continue the ban) because we were abssolutely livid that this guy could have a weapon like that...” Two things here, the SKS wasn't a “banned assault weapon.” Any law abiding citizen could purchase one in 2004, or even in 1998 when the Hank Earl Carr incident happened. And ...
Sheriff Rich Nugent neglected to mention that Hank Earl Carr got his weapon from the trunk of a police car that he stole after killing the detectives that were assigned to that car. The police were never banned from having “assault weapons,” only law abiding citizens were barred from getting these weapons. Criminals can always get weapons, and even the police can’t always prevent criminals from getting their weapons.
“At that point in time (2004, when he signed the petition) it was more of an emotional issue for us.” The sheriff was still emotional, 6 years after the fact, to the point where he would have you believe that his judgment was impaired by his emotions and he expressed support for the ban. Now, after another 6 years, he's finally over that emotional hump and thinking logically, so he supports the second amendment.

Of course, there is an alternative explanation:

Sheriff Rich Nugent is full of --it and will say anything to get elected today in a conservative district that believes in the 2nd amendent.

My favorite quote from the article:

Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent, lately a Republican

Honestly, Mr. Jackson, I'm not so sure.

Sheriff Richard B. Rich Nugent for Congress

I stand with Jason Sager in Florida's 5th Congressional District.

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