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Thompson Delights Pro-Gun Backers
The Tampa Tribune ^ | September 15, 2007 | William March

Posted on 09/15/2007 3:04:58 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

NEW PORT RICHEY - Fred Thompson got a strong endorsement from gun control opponent Bill Bunting, who's also chairman of the Pasco County Republican Party, during a campaign stop Friday.

Thompson spoke at the county party's Reagan Day fundraising dinner to a packed room at Spartan Manor in New Port Richey.

Thompson, just starting out as an announced candidate in the GOP primary, appears likely to find strong support in Pasco County, some local GOP leaders said.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Florida chairman for Thompson's competitor, Rudy Giuliani, was planned to be keynote speaker at the dinner for months, said state Committeewoman Shari Kotsch, who planned the dinner. After Thompson finally announced last week he'll be a candidate, though, Bunting and Kotsch, also a gun rights advocate, added Thompson to the agenda.

Both will support Thompson, generally considered the strongest gun rights supporter among the leaders in the Republican field, Bunting said.

"I'm a life member of the NRA" - National Rifle Association - "but he's an endowment member," Bunting said of Thompson.

Thompson will attend the Lakeland Gun Show today, at Bunting's behest, and he'll have banners and a table with campaign information there, Bunting said.

Bunting said he has arranged for Thompson to have exclusive rights to advertise and display campaign materials at gun shows in Florida run by the two companies that sponsor most of the shows, Southern Classic Gun Shows and Suncoast Gun Shows.

At the dinner, Thompson got an endorsement from John DiGaetano of Wesley Chapel, president of a Florida-based gun rights group, the Second Amendment Club of America.

Thompson said during his speech that when he was in the Senate, he "stood tall for the Second Amendment, when a lot of people wouldn't do that" - a line in his standard stump speech.

When Thompson visited Miami earlier in the day Friday, though, it turned out not to be the best day for his Second Amendment pitch. On Thursday, a Miami-Dade police officer was shot to death while making a traffic stop, and three other officers were wounded, by a man wearing body armor and firing an assault rifle.

Thompson didn't waiver from his stand when asked about the shooting.

"I do not think that abridging Second Amendment rights is the answer to street crime in America," he told reporters in Miami. "To disarm law-abiding citizens" won't help, he said.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Florida; US: Tennessee
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2ndamendment; banglist; conservatism; conservatives; election2008; electionpresident; elections; firearms; firstprinciples; fl2008; fred; fredthompson; gop; gunshows; gunvote; hunting; nra; republicans; rinorudy; rtkba; rudygiuliani; selfdefense; shootingsports; thompson
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1 posted on 09/15/2007 3:05:01 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Did you ever see a headline: “Giuliani delights anti-gun backers?”


2 posted on 09/15/2007 3:16:56 AM PDT by iowamark
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"When Thompson visited Miami earlier in the day Friday, though, it turned out not to be the best day for his Second Amendment pitch. On Thursday, a Miami-Dade police officer was shot to death while making a traffic stop, and three other officers were wounded, by a man wearing body armor and firing an assault rifle."

Well, the media would love to spin it as a "bad day" for Thompson to announce his support for the 2nd amendment, but I think it's a GOOD day. It underlines the importance of every citizens constitutional right to bear arms and protect themselves from the nut-bar Islamo-wacko cult the multi-cult(ure) liberals have opened the doors of this nation to.

It shows us all that we are only as safe as we make ourselves, and if that means strapping on a shoulder holster, buckling a rig around our waists, or a woman slipping a snubby in her purse, it's our RIGHT. It is NOT a right for every crook and terrorist in this country to feel safe knowing that the general public isn't capable of defending themselves, a dream only backwards thinking liberals think is a perfect world.

3 posted on 09/15/2007 3:20:23 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: iowamark
"Did you ever see a headline: “Giuliani delights anti-gun backers?”

No, but I could imagine one saying "Giuliani delights skipping about in heels and a pink summer dress" /s

4 posted on 09/15/2007 3:25:58 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Nathan Zachary
by a man wearing body armor and firing an assault rifle.

Isn't an assault rifle an illegal firearm?

I'm sure this guy is on Americas most wanted list! Criminals carrying illegal firearms have nothing to do with the 2nd. Or unregistered.

5 posted on 09/15/2007 3:58:05 AM PDT by madconserv (Jesus take the wheel- Dream ticket- Thompson\Hunter)
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To: Nathan Zachary
by a man wearing body armor and firing an assault rifle.

Isn't an assault rifle an illegal firearm?

I'm sure this guy is on Americas most wanted list! Criminals carrying illegal firearms have nothing to do with the 2nd. Or unregistered.

6 posted on 09/15/2007 3:58:16 AM PDT by madconserv (Jesus take the wheel- Dream ticket- Thompson\Hunter)
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To: madconserv
Why this showed up twice I don’t know. Glitch?
7 posted on 09/15/2007 4:00:19 AM PDT by madconserv (Jesus take the wheel- Dream ticket- Thompson\Hunter)
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To: Nathan Zachary
Thompson didn't waiver from his stand when asked about the shooting. "I do not think that abridging Second Amendment rights is the answer to street crime in America," he told reporters in Miami. "To disarm law-abiding citizens" won't help, he said.

I agree with you, Nathan. When I see a story like this shooting in Miami, I do a mental inventory of my guns and ammunition, and wonder if it is enough, not whether it is too much.

Disarming the law abiding citizen is not going to help matters when the criminals pull out weapons and start blasting away.

8 posted on 09/15/2007 4:08:07 AM PDT by gridlock (I do not support Hillary Clinton because I am afraid of strong women)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"I'm a life member of the NRA" - National Rifle Association

- "but he's an endowment member," Bunting said of Thompson.

9 posted on 09/15/2007 4:52:17 AM PDT by TYVets (God so loved the world he didn't send a committee)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No no no, Fred once voted in a manner that might, out-of-context, be construed as an anti-Gun vote, so this article is obviously a complete frabrication. La la la I can’t hear you.


10 posted on 09/15/2007 4:57:08 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That’s our problem right there. We aren’t pro-gun. We are pro-Bill of Rights. No politician who can’t read a simple sentence and can’t comprehend it’s meaning doesn’t deserve the position of president and it’s complexities.


11 posted on 09/15/2007 5:20:49 AM PDT by Shooter 2.5 (NRA - Hunter '08)
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To: Shooter 2.5

Well said. The 2nd Amendment is as much about power and trust as it is about the right to arms. If you trust the people and believe they should have power to counterbalance the powers of the government, then you support an individual rights view of the 2nd. If you distrust the people and only want government employees to have power then you ignore the plain language of the Constitution to infringe on the people’s rights.


12 posted on 09/15/2007 5:59:34 AM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: madconserv
Isn't an assault rifle an illegal firearm?

The whole assault rifle thing is made up by anti-gunners to make people think that semi-automatic rifles are full-auto. Then the sheeple who are frightened of a .22 caliber revolver are terrified of these imaginary rifles that can fire 1,000 rounds a minute, hit a postage stamp a mile away and shoot down airliners.

13 posted on 09/15/2007 6:07:07 AM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: madconserv

“Isn’t an assault rifle an illegal firearm?”

No


14 posted on 09/15/2007 6:47:01 AM PDT by panaxanax (Ronald Reagan would vote for Duncan Hunter!)
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To: iowamark

I think maybe when he fell down the stairs.


15 posted on 09/15/2007 8:30:07 AM PDT by TheThirdRuffian
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To: iowamark
Thompson spoke at the county party's Reagan Day fundraising dinner to a packed room at Spartan Manor in New Port Richey.

LOL Yeah, I bet that room was packed alright.

16 posted on 09/15/2007 9:35:21 AM PDT by chaos_5 (... I'm just another angry white male ...)
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To: Wilhelm Tell
rifles that can fire 1,000 rounds a minute, hit a postage stamp a mile away and shoot down airliners.

oh,oh,oh I wan't one!! ☺

17 posted on 09/15/2007 9:42:12 AM PDT by chaos_5 (... I'm just another angry white male ...)
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To: jellybean; girlangler; KoRn; Shortstop7; Lunatic Fringe; Darnright; babygene; pitbully; granite; ...
PING!!!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

WARNING: If you wish to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.

18 posted on 09/15/2007 10:13:57 AM PDT by Politicalmom (Of the potential GOP front runners, FT has one of the better records on immigration.- NumbersUSA)
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To: agere_contra

Post #10 LOLOLOL


19 posted on 09/15/2007 10:16:05 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Coming soon: Stupidparty.com = Republican Party news, opinions, and blogs)
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To: Nathan Zachary
No, but I could imagine one saying "Giuliani delights skipping about in heels and a pink summer dress" /s

************

LOL!

20 posted on 09/15/2007 10:16:26 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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