Posted on 02/27/2007 11:33:50 PM PST by NormsRevenge
A little-noticed oddity of the 2008 presidential election field is that the three leading candidates for the Republican nomination have, at one time or another, gone to war with the NRA and its allies on the gun issue.
After six years of thumb-twiddling boredom – the issue has been off the radar in elections and in Congress – the gun lobby must have been a bit shocked when they realized what they faced: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, all once proud champions of sensible gun laws, are the odds-on favorites to carry the GOP banner.
Consider their histories:
McCain was the lead sponsor of federal legislation to close the gun show loophole. In 2000, he appeared in television ads in Colorado urging voters to pass a ballot initiative closing the loophole there.
Romney signed a state ban on assault weapons into law as Governor of Massachusetts. And as the Boston Globe has reported, he said during a debate in 2002 that he supported his state’s tough gun laws and vowed that he would not “chip away at them” because they “protect us and provide for our safety”
Giuliani aggressively went after illegal gun traffickers when he was mayor, and he filed a lawsuit against a bunch of major gun manufactures and dealers. He’s on record supporting tougher gun laws, including the assault weapons ban.
Now, the gun lobby is not subtle in responding to perceived threats. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre gave a speech six months after 9-11 comparing our old organization, Americans for Gun Safety, to al Qaeda and our founder to Osama bin Laden. LaPierre concluded, not without some hyperbole, that we were “a far greater threat to your freedom than any foreign force”.
So it’s no surprise that the NRA responded to this problem with overwhelming firepower.
First, they attacked John McCain, slathering his caricature on their magazine covers and calling him “one of the premier flag-carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment.” McCain buckled like he was gut-shot – he has stopped talking about guns (despite the fact that the gun show loophole remains open in most states), and he just brought on James Jay Baker, once the NRA’s lead man in Washington, as a strategist for his “kitchen cabinet.”
Then they took on Mitt Romney. After getting peppered with criticism for his gun positions, Romney, who does not own a gun, now calls himself a “proud” NRA member. He even toured a gun show with the NRA’s chief lobbyist Chris Cox, (the guy who took over for McCain’s kitchen-mate Baker).
Most recently, they trained their sights on Rudy Giuliani. In a press release this week, an NRA ally called the National Shooting Sports Federation warned: “Giuliani No Friend to Gun Owners.”
How Giuliani will respond is not yet clear – as the NSSF notes, there are conflicting signals out of his camp about where he stands today on guns.
But if Rudy Giuliani is anything, he’s tough. We hope that he treats these thugs the way he treated them back when he was cleaning up New York one turnstile-jumper at a time.
Our advice to Rudy: tell the NRA and its minions that you will not be cowed, and stick to your guns: you are a strong supporter of the rights of law-abiding citizens to own firearms. But rights come with responsibilities. And anyone who isn’t responsible about owning, selling, or using their guns should lose those rights.
or Obama?
That's the question. Maybe.
I respect your opionion and have the highest regard for Duncan Hunter and others of his character. I agree with you on most issues, however, the facts are the facts.... the polls show that the only candidate .... at this point.... that can beat Hillary is Rudy. Well, I won't belabour all the other reasons that Rudy is what we need at this time in history.
Philosophically I am closer to Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Ronald Reagan, and my very favorite is Richard Cheney. However, they aren't running or can't win. Send someone who can beat Hillary and I'll reconsider. Don't give me Fred Thompson. He wimped out as Chairman of the committee to John Glenn during the Asiagate campaign finance hearings.
Thompson so far seems like the best candidate, in terms of both intelligence, character, and electability. Romney the lover of socialized healthcare, McCain the narcissist, and Rudy the Rockefeller Republican are a pretty sad lot.
prosecutors always go for a higher sentence and then compromise. same with his approach to gun control.
the 10mm large clip handgun with body armor peircing rounds was a big problem becuase they were killing police officers and prevalent in gun busts at an alarming rate.
i know first hand nypd officers who are glad that people can't drive to virginia and buy one of these suckers with a high school bus pass anymore. it wasn't as big a problem before the higher caliber handguns were mass produced and marketed.
you can get a carry permit in nyc still, you just need to apply and show need.
anyone who would compare these weapons to 18th century technology or circumstances and can't see the difference is not fit to vote.
Remember Rudy had to do something with a 95% liberal opposition.
Yeah sure, a mega-RINO is what we need. Right. /s
One of my father's old sayings fits Greasy Rudy to a tee: "His alligator mouth runs away with his chicken a-s." Yeah, REALLY tough to go after squeegee men, turn away Yassir Arafat in the most Jewish city outside of Tel Aviv, and make a glorified stump speech on a mound of smouldering rubble and call that "leadership."
Your fellow law abiding citizens, that owned them and might of carried them for protection absolutely did not pose any problem, or danger to LEOs. Also, the armor piecing BS, is just that -BS! forgot the name of that electronics tech that was repeatedly subject to armed robbery there, and finally decided to effectively defend himself. He was prosecuted for shooting the thugs that tried to stick a screwdriver in him. That's what Giuliani's about. Don't matter that he wasn't the prosecutor. That's what he stands for, and promotes. Him and his country club supporters wouldn't give a plug nickel for anyone else's rights.
"i know first hand nypd officers who are glad that people can't drive to virginia and buy one of these suckers with a high school bus pass anymore."
Did they tell you that? They lied flat out then. It's illegal to sell a handgun to an out of State resident, anywhere in the US, until 21. HS bus pass my ass. The gun has to be transfered to an FFL in the State of residence, and no FFL is going to break the law. These clowns are probabaly happy too, that their fellow citizens are disarmed and subject to the same criminal action they are. Like the politically connected, they're special, so they're allowed effective self defense.
" it wasn't as big a problem before the higher caliber handguns were mass produced and marketed. "
BS. They're not much different than any of the older guns that were mass produced. Like the 45, from 1911.
"you can get a carry permit in nyc still, you just need to apply and show need. "
You can apply and be denied, as all the peons are. Need? Why the hell should any American have to show need to defend their life and property? Why? The stinking NYCPD tells people that's not good enough. You got a be a politically connected country clubber safeguarding your piles of cash. BS, the NYCPD and Giuliani can KMA!
"anyone who would compare these weapons to 18th century technology or circumstances and can't see the difference is not fit to vote."
Americans always had state of the art arms. It was due to the fact that this was a Free country. Tell me again there were no scumbags back then! Not fit to vote? You're not fit to be called an American! Got it grabber. Good.
"Remember Rudy had to do something with a 95% liberal opposition."
He is a liberal that thinks he's fit to rule America, so what's the point? He fits right in with them.
Thanks for the insult. Thanks for outing yourself too.
Duncan Hunter for President '08
Putting Rudy in the White House will be just the same as having Hillary there
Apparently a few people here forgot that Nazi Germany grabbed everyone's guns very early on.
"i'll be blaming your types when Hillary wins and totally screws us. '
Sorry, you got it wrong, very wrong. Truth is, if you nominate Rudy, you'll have no one to blame but yourself...
Dear RINO Rudy Supporters,
I want to thank you for your wonderful support in helping to get me elected POTUS. Bill and I are so thrilled to be back in the White House again. Your support for Rudy, and helping him to get nominated, was the key to me winning. Without your help Bill and I would not be here today.
Affectionately Yours,
President Hillary Rodman
P.S. I plan to nominate Rudy to the Supreme Court as soon as there is a vacancy. He will help us tilt the court back in our favor to assure that millions more unborn babies will never see the light of day. After all, it's every woman's right!
P.P.S. As you may recall, my campaign slogan was, "We're Going to Take Things Away From You on Behalf of the Common Good". ALL YOUR POSSESIONS ARE BELONG TO ME---YEEHAAAA!!!!
Bluedressmom, check out post 114 for the photograph of what you're describing. It's a perfect depiction of hoplophobia in action.
>>the 10mm large clip handgun with body armor peircing rounds was a big problem becuase they were killing police officers and prevalent in gun busts at an alarming rate.
Smells like B.S. from here.
Do you have anything to support that wild statement?
>>you can get a carry permit in nyc still, you just need to apply and show need.
More B.S. The reality is you *may* be able to get one, if you're politically connected. The small businessperson who may have considerable cash receipts - it probably isn't happening, or the bureaucratic hurdles make it effectively impossible. Go read the forums on packing.org
I think you should be restricted to 18th Century communications technologies. The First Amendment doesn't protect posting on the Internet. < /s>
There seems to be a number of anti-2nd "conservatives" on this thread.
You seem to have mistaken me for someone who cares what a RUDY LICKER thinks.
The actual assault weapons" the army uses offer "select fire" capability which means they fire multiple bullets with a single pull of the trigger. These are HIGHLY restricted for civilians in the US. The weapons that look similar to actual "assault rifles" aren't really assault rifles, just semiautomatic rifles with similar trigger and barrel designs. And I state this plainly because I don't want you to misunderstand... they may look the same, but they absolutely are not. they cannot be easily modified to fire select fire, and it is illegal for someone to modify them to operate in select fire mode even if they have the know how to make the complex changes. The firearms being sold to civilians and are being mistakenly called by that name because of a media that loves to hyperbolize things. Another example would be that they often call hollow point bullets "cop killers" and imply that they slide right through a bullet proof vest when the exact opposite is true.
You shouldn't make snap judgments about what's going on the gun owning community until you learn something about the technology of firearms. The media flaps their gums first, and learns the facts later. IMHO, you should aspire to know more about it than that.
It's not a choice between Rudy and Hillary. Rudy is not the only person who can beat her. I don't know how to say it any plainer than that.
Thank president Bush for that. Liberals not able to attack gun owners is a good kind of boredom.
The only people who are effected by gun bans are the people who in reality you would probably prefer to have armed. The law abiding citizen is totally shut down when a gun ban is implemented, and that makes it easier for the criminal because he knows his victim can't fight back.
The criminal knows he's got a gun... ban or no ... (he just drove 5 hours to Vermont to get one) and thanks to the gun ban he knows that he's the only one who does.
Even if you aren't in favor of the right to bear arms as a matter of constitutional policy, it makes nothing but sense in terms of law enforcement as well.
The smart thing to do in terms of incentives, is to arm as many law abiding people as possible, and then if one of them commits a crime with a gun.... any crime...you bring the holy wrath of god down on their head and throw away the key.
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