Posted on 01/11/2011 12:40:55 PM PST by neverdem
Reacting to the assassination attempt on one of their own, two House members on Monday said they will introduce legislation that would ban certain ammunition clips and make it illegal to threaten a federal official, both of which they say contributed to the mass casualties in a shooting rampage in Tuscson over the weekend.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., plans to introduce a bill that would ban high-capacity ammunition clips like the one used by Jared Loughner, the gunman accused of killing 6 and injuring 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., as they gathered at a “Congress on Your Corner” event.
And Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., will introduce legislation that would make it illegal to uses threatening words or symbols or incite violence against a lawmaker or federal official.
Among the symbols Brady seeks to ban was one posted on the Internet by former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin that showed Democratic congressional districts, including Giffords’, with the crosshairs of a rifle scope superimposed over them.
“I want to protect our congresspeople in a way that they can’t put a crosshair on us, they can’t put a bullseye on us, no matter who does it,” Brady said Monday on Fox News.
McCarthy’s bill would target the 30-round clip Loughner used in a Glock 19 handgun. The high-capacity clips were once banned by the federal Assault Weapon Ban, which expired in 2004 and was never renewed by Congress because of intense partisan politics and lawmakers’ reluctance to take up gun restrictions when facing reelection.
But McCarthy aides say that while she wants to ban the larger clips, McCarthy is not insisting that gun clips be limited to the 10-bullet limit imposed by the Assault Weapon Ban.
“We are not married to the previous limit,” her spokesman, Shams Tarek, told The Washington Examiner. “We are working on language that is reasonable and makes sense and has a possibility of passing.”
While gun control issues are virtually impossible to push through Congress, McCarthy, whose husband was killed in a 1993 mass shooting on the Long Island Railroad, had some success when, in 2007, she passed a measure beefing up criminal background checks for some gun buyers.
That bill passed just after the mass shooting at Virginia Tech that left 32 people dead. Gun control advocates are hoping momentum from the Tucson shooting will help pass her new proposal.
“It’s going to be critical to take these things up very quickly,” said Ladd Everitt, spokesman for Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “It’s very possible Republicans would like to run out the clock on this, but this is not going to leave the news and it is not going to leave the hearts and minds of America. We are hoping that will generate action.”
Gun-rights groups said they believe McCarthy’s bill is unlikely to pass in a House controlled by Republicans.
“These reactions are as predictable as vultures circling carrion,” Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said of McCarthy’s bill.
I’m sure you are right. I stand corrected.
Sadly they are not thinking that far ahead. YET they may get a clue but you will literally have to call them & insist in the strongest of polite terms that using this incident as a Reichstag Fire moment will not be viewed by the citizens kindly.
Here is an idea, whenever you are paying for a child’s education, housing, and food, the college your child goes to is OBLIGATED to report any disciplinary actions or contacts with campus police because of your child’s behavior to the parents, regardless of the child’s age.
“McCarthy’s bill would target the 30-round clip Loughner used in a Glock 19 handgun. ... while she wants to ban the larger clips, McCarthy is not insisting that gun clips be limited to the 10-bullet limit imposed by the Assault Weapon Ban.”
Lessee here...
Giffords was what, the first person shot? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? Sixth? Seventh? Eighth? Ninth? Tenth? Eleventh? Twelfth? ...
How, Ms. McCarthy, is this limitation relevant to that which allegedly initiates it?
As for the other limitation: uh, isn’t it already illegal to shoot, well, anyone?
“Jared’s My Space was taken down but it exists in some files as screenshots.”
In the hours after the event, people like you found a huge amount of info about this maniac, copied it, and has it available if you look or ask.
To the opposite of your lead comment, never before could common folk find such information so fast and so complete about a crazed loon. Instead of waiting for an investigation’s sanitized report, FReepers are, over and over, on the forefront of digging up info, writings, and connections long before normal reporters and investigators can find the same. Go thru the threads posted within the first few hours on FR: it’s one exclusive report and finding after another.
Yes, sanitization follows. Myspace takes down his site - not out of malice, but out of overloading traffic and bad publicity. Contact info is delisted - the living don’t want thousands of yahoos filling their inboxes. Spin is spun - and then unspun as we who do know can speak up loud and fast.
If not for us peons and the Internet, he would be a confirmed rightwing operative. Instead we proved, unstoppably, he was a left leaning crazed loon.
I know that you are absolutely right about the bloggers on Free Republic. I’m just at a loss to understand how public information, posted news articles and all manner of of information can be “scrubbed” in such short order or how “puplic” information can suddenly become “secret”. I suppose I don’t understand that because I’m not a lawyer.
Perhaps I’m overreacting and being too Orwellian. How tedious to have to sort through a bunch of garbage only to find out that the official looking document you are looking at has been faked! We have our finger in the dyke now. How long can we continue before the dam breaks? The enemies of free speech get more cunning every day.
That shouldn’t have made me laugh until I cried but it did!
Thanks! :) (I think I’m overstressed) (”)
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