NRA Launches Anti-AWB Website

NRA Institute for Legislative Action ^ | 1/23/04 | NRA-ILA

[xsrdx]

Newly elected President Bill Clinton wasted little time in seizing upon “assault weapons” as a political issue. Along with “midnight basketball” and the never-to-be-fulfilled promise of 100,000 new police officers, it quickly became part of an effort to transform concern for public safety into a political issue.

Clinton had barely finished moving into the White House when he proclaimed we “can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles.” Then, stringing together several whoppers in a single sentence, he announced, “I don’t believe that everybody in America needs to be able to buy a semi-automatic or fully-automatic weapon, built only for the purpose of killing people, in order to protect the right of Americans to hunt and practice marksmanship and to be secure.”

[xsrdx]

End The Clinton Gun Ban

[xsrdx]

SUNSET THE AW BAN

[Jonah Hex]

From the headline, I thought for a moment the NRA had it in for the Average White Band.

[Atlas Sneezed]

(needlessly excerpted article continued:)

Newly elected President Bill Clinton wasted little time in seizing upon “assault weapons” as a political issue. Along with “midnight basketball” and the never-to-be-fulfilled promise of 100,000 new police officers, it quickly became part of an effort to transform concern for public safety into a political issue.

Clinton had barely finished moving into the White House when he proclaimed we “can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles.” Then, stringing together several whoppers in a single sentence, he announced, “I don’t believe that everybody in America needs to be able to buy a semi-automatic or fully-automatic weapon, built only for the purpose of killing people, in order to protect the right of Americans to hunt and practice marksmanship and to be secure.”

Of course, not everybody in American can buy a firearm—felons, drug addicts, illegal aliens and fugitives from justice, for example, can not—and ownership of fully-automatic firearms has been heavily regulated by federal law since 1934. And, of course, semi-automatic firearms, which have been around for more than a century, are used by millions of Americans for hunting, self-defense, recreational target shooting and in formal marksmanship competitions such as the Olympics.

Like all firearms, except for fully-automatic machine guns, semi-automatics—including those defined as “assault weapons” by the Clinton ban—fire only once each time the trigger is pulled. They also use the same ammunition as other types of guns.

“Gun control” advocates claim that various military-style attachments—attachments that in their minds re-define semi-automatic firearms as “assault weapons”—provide advantages to criminals. But even the rabidly anti-gun Washington Post admits, “Assault weapons play a part in only a small percentage of crime.” Data from police experts must be deliberately avoided by those pushing "assault weapons" bills. A clear case in point is the internal memorandum to California Assistant Attorney General Patrick Kenady that warned: “Information on assault weapons would not be sought from forensics laboratories as it was unlikely to support the theses on which the “Assault Weapons” ban legislation would be based.”

Members of Congress who voted for the Clinton ban in 1994 disregarded hard evidence, pretending instead that BATF trace data “proved” widespread criminal “assault weapon” use. They ignored the Congressional Research Service’s finding that: “Firearms selected for tracing . . . cannot be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or of any subset of that universe. As a result, data from the tracing system may not be appropriate for drawing inferences such as which makes or models of firearms are used for illicit purposes.”

The American people eventually learned the truth, and it was not surprising then that pro-ban votes cost—by Bill Clinton’s count—at least 20 Democrats their seats in the next election. Nor was is surprising that less than two years after its passage, the House of Representatives voted 239 to 173 to repeal the Clinton gun ban.

A decade has passed, and both the facts and the goals of anti-gun politicians remain unchanged.

---

[xsrdx]

For your PING list...

[ml/nj]

midnight basketball

Every once in a while I wonder why we didn't see any follow-ups about "Midnight Basketball."

ML/NJ

[Shooter 2.5]

I was on another website and they were discussing this. One poster who seemed a little clueless mentioned he thought it was a little "too political". Some people don't get it.
During the last election, the NRA was correct when they said the politicians who were going to be voted in would be the ones who would be around to cast their support for or against the bill. Now is the time to remind those politicians we worked for as to why we put them there in the first place.
If we lose this thing and the dems get back into power, the dem voting deer hunters won't be able to save their sniper rifles they use to kill Bambi.

[Shooter 2.5]

I usually don't ping people unless it's the CCW threads but I think the Assault Weapons sunset is important.

[aomagrat]

The AWB extention will be attached to some unrelated bill and passed just prior to it's expiration.

[xsrdx]

The AWB extention will be attached to some unrelated bill and passed just prior to it's expiration.

Let's hope so. After all, Bush made such a huge stink about it in his SOU speech. Might as well fold up our tent, nothing to see here, just move along and vote for Kuchinich.

If it does sunset, I have a list of Freepers and a heaping pile of Crow.

[aomagrat]

If it sunsets, I will gladly eat my share!

[xsrdx]

Kuchinich=Kucinich? Does anybody care, anyway?

[xsrdx]

IYAOYAS

What's the "O"? Ordnance? Oriental? Orange?

[aomagrat]

Ordnance

[kcar]

As a libertarian turned Republican the last few election cycles, I'd have to hold the Republicans responsible for a renewal of the AWB. They have the Presidency and both houses of Congress. I'd vote Libertarian again (forever) if they did that.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

What the heck is "Midnight Basketball"?

[Shooter 2.5]

That's the same reason I'm not voting for the Libertarians. The votes aren't there.

What about not voting for the dems since they're the ones who introduced it, support it and are fighting against the sunset.

[ninenot]

At this time, in my alleged mind, your prognostication has about a 50/50 chance of being correct.

The anti's need another massacre someplace to make it happen. Wonder who they'll get to carry out the plan?

[Tijeras_Slim]

A crime fighting program for the inner city invented (really!) by Gore and Clinton. If the taxpayer coughs up for the homie's hoop-time, the little darlings won't be out re-distributing income without a license.