Posted on 03/29/2009 9:21:14 AM PDT by SmithL
If there's one lesson to be learned from the tragedy in Oakland, it's that there should be no debate about taking assault weapons off the streets.
There is no civil liberties issue here. There is no justification for an AK-47 in private hands. Period.
There used to be a nationwide ban on assault rifles, until it expired in 2004. We should bring it back.
As for what to do in high-crime neighborhoods, I've been there, and the only answer is to be tough.
Public safety cannot be subjected to popularity. You've got to execute on the basis of what you believe will make it safe, and you've got to be prepared to take the heat.
Police departments are paramilitary organizations. They can't be made up of social workers. Officers risk their lives every day, and you've got to back them.
If there's an incident like the BART police shooting of Oscar Grant, you have to be decisive as well. Investigations have to be quick and they have to be thorough.
But regardless of the rhetoric you hear in some street protests, this is not the '60s.
In the '60s, African Americans didn't have all the protections we have now.
We didn't have power in the cities, with people like Elihu Harris or myself as mayors. We didn't have Eric Holder as attorney general. We didn't have Barack Obama as president.
We're past the time when people weren't being served at lunch counters because they were black.
It's a new day and we should be living in it, not always looking back.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
He is partly correct; assault weapons should remain off the streets and in safe storage until we need them to take the nation back. That may be rather soon.
I’m always amused by this kind of rhetoric. Like passing a ban will actually keep bad people from getting assault weapons. Preposterous. About all it does is guarantee that only the bad guys will have assault weapons when they attack adults and children on the street, in the home, in school or in the workplace.
I think, but don’t quote me on this as I haven’t fully checked it out, that it is free membership for one year. The idea would be to sign up people and build their membership levels during this time of extreme, and I do mean extreme, danger to the 2nd amendment. The more members, the more votes are staring the demwits in the face for 2010.
I'd heard that the NRA was offering free memberships, and then after making that post I decided I might just post a vanity post about it. So I went to the NRA website and found the same thing that you did - a really well-done website with no mention of free memberships.
Which lead to another page offering one year for $25, two for $50, etc. I would link that page, but it produced an ID number associated with my own access of it --->https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp?CampaignID=[number here redacted by me]
Anyone thinking of joining the NRA could still get in under discounted membership dues, it appears.
The multi-tool might be handy to have. But for myself, I'd almost as soon just hand them some money to use for the cause, and let them save the costs, time, and trouble to send a magazine or some other form of wampum.
Never had much luck with multi-tools myself. I tried a couple and they never work like a real tool. If it helps membership, though...
Nothing particularly against the latter...I think that I'd like to have one of those combo's, if I could get just the right make & model. Trouble is, I don't recall which one exactly that is...
"There is no justification for an AK-47 in private hands urban police department to require a written statement from an officer any time he takes his pistol from the holster. Period.
Perhaps if those officers had not been discouraged by departmental policy from drawing their weapons they'd be alive today.
AK on the street = Road Hazard
There is no civil liberties issue here. There is no justification for an AK-47 in private hands. Period.
< spit!>
I honestly hope they are not giving memberships to just anyone. I had to work for mine so I expect others to do the same. No free lunches.
I don't have to justify my rights to you, asshole.
We didn't have Eric Holder as attorney general. We didn't have Barack Obama as president.
I see, the color of the skin is what makes all the difference. MLK Jr. might disagree.
We're past the time when people weren't being served at lunch counters because they were black.
Today, you might not make it to the lunch counter in places like Oakland without getting jacked, or worse.
I'm not sure why I didn't find or notice that the first time. It looks like they are offering with the membership a year's subscription to one of the three magazines.
If they would only limit the "spam" that would coming flooding in, from them, the NRA after joining --- to the electronic version, they could save themselves a ton of money on sending physical junk mail.
Spam is one thing...but endless supplementary requests for donations filling my P.O. Box I simply have no patience for. It's one reason why I dropped membership years ago. Since I wasn't sending extra funds, I didn't want to be just another drag on the resources. And no, I will not agree to offset that, by sending them more money to spend in the efforts of soliciting ever more money from their members. I don't want the magazines, either. Have no place to put them except a trash can (after reading them). What a waste...'cept for the fact they are a bit on the skinny side in the first place, which is good in many ways....
Sorry NRA. You drove me off, years ago.
Now, if they would sign me on, but HOLD THE MAGAZINES and ALL OTHER PHYSICAL mail, then they can "count me in".
Spam away (email versions only) I don't care. Just don't sell the info to other fund-raisers, or any other email mass spammers [string of imagined profanity here].
Thanks for letting me know I was right, if only by accident. If you’re not an NRA member I’d suggest getting in and bringing as many as you can with you. I’ve had my issues with the NRA too, but consider what will happen if no one stands up to them.
Willie Brown is an idiot. As long as the government has weapons, the people damn well had better have them as well. It's the only tool we really have to secure our freedom.
Of course, the left doesn't like weapons in the hands of the people because they don't like freedom.
I'm going to be "gone" from my only mailing address for months at a time for the next six to nine months. I do not need, do not want, cannot handle more junk mail.
P.O.Boxes are only so big. Even having the P.O. hold the mail in a separate place other than the small box itself, occupies valuable real estate. I do not want junk mail...
Once the NRA get's a a few "not at this address" returns, maybe they'll get a clue and quit wasting money sending pleas for funds?
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