Posted on 08/25/2004 2:09:41 PM PDT by yonif
Declaring "the front line of the war against terror once again involves the citizens," Republican Alan Keyes said Tuesday he believes the U.S. Constitution grants properly trained private individuals the right to own and carry machine guns.
"You're not talking about giving citizens access to atom bombs and other things," the former presidential candidate said. "That's ridiculous."
But the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate argued the founding fathers intended the Second Amendment to allow people to carry the types of weapons "customarily carried in those days by ordinary infantry soldiers."
"And, yes, does that mean that in this day and age people would have the right to have access to the kind of the weapons our ordinary infantry people have access to? With proper training and so forth to make sure that they could handle them successfully, that's exactly what was meant."
Keyes made the remarks at a news conference he called to attack the "ideological extremism" of his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barack Obama.
The Republican lit into Obama for voting against a bill in Springfield earlier this year that would have allowed people who use handguns to fend off home invaders or attackers to argue self-defense as a possible legal defense against prosecution for violating any local anti-firearm possession ordinances.
The measure passed the Legislature with bi-partisan support, but Gov. Blagojevich vetoed it last week.
Keyes called Obama's vote against the measure an "appalling . . . lack of common sense."
"This seems to be a man who is absolutely determined to make the world safe for criminals, while making sure that law-abiding citizens have no opportunity to defend themselves against the criminals," Keyes said.
Keyes said he supports a system in which guns would be treated similarly to automobiles, with people being required to undergo different levels of training before they would be allowed to own and carry various sorts of weapons.
"I always remind -- even people who support the Second Amendment -- that it has two parts: the right to keep and bear" arms, Keyes said. " 'Bear' means to carry, to carry around. . . . I think it has been proven empirically that . . . allowing law-abiding citizens this access to conceal-carry actually reduces crime."
Keyes said he owns two firearms himself: a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol and a .38-caliber "six-shooter." But he said he does not keep them at his new home in Calumet City.
Keyes only indirectly answered a reporter's question about whether he would "be comfortable if the entire society was walking around with Uzis, as long as they were properly trained."
"Have you ever been to Israel?" Keyes asked the reporter. "Because if you've ever been to Israel, you wouldn't ask that question. And in the midst of terrifying dangers, you walk around the streets of Israel and you see every other person carrying arms and Uzis and so forth and so on, and believe me, you do not feel less safe on that account."
Machine guns, or fully automatic weapons, are firearms that fire multiple shots with a single pull of the trigger.
Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for the Chicago division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said private individuals can only own such weapons if they apply with the bureau and clear a series of hurdles, including a background check, fingerprinting and the OK of local law enforcement officials. Additional paperwork is required any time the weapon is to be transported.
"It is heavily regulated," Ahern said.
A spokesman for Obama defended the Democrat's record on guns.
"Certainly he believes in the Second Amendment, but he also believes in common-sense gun safety laws, such as the federal ban on military-style assault weapons." said spokesman Robert Gibbs. "If Alan Keyes truly was concerned about public safety, that would be his position, as well."
Keyes is never going to get a break from the media, and he knows it. But he also knows that his opponent is going to tend to overconfidence, especially if the media continues to paint Keyes as a nutcase, and Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ.
If and when the debates come -- and it is by no measn certain that Obama will agree to televised debates -- Keyes natural oratorical skills will be on full display. He gets to talk directly to the people, and bypass the media. I think that with the possibility of low turnout in the city, and big downstate and suburban Republican voter turnout, there is the longshot but real possibility of a Keyes win.
You had it right the first time ;0)
Are you a Keyes supporter?
I know. Sad.
Big surprise there, eh? But Keyes would have us all believe that the answer is "more government"...
Where have we heard THAT before?
To the contrary, it would appear to me he is proposing LESS government (it's clear that whatever Keyes' words mean, they mean something less than what most liberal jurisdictions already have on the books) - just not AS MUCH LESS as you apparently want. A valid complaint, perhaps, but you ought to state it with less hyperbole.
I am a true believer in the Second Amendment. I make my living in the firearms industry.
I think that Alan Keyes supports the original intent of the founding fathers when they first drafted our Constitution more than any other politician on the national stage.
I sure wish I could vote for him.
On the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is in jeopardy these days--dangerously so. The purpose of the Second Amendment is to ensure that we will remain an armed people, able to defend our liberty.
In our defense of firearm rights, we must emphasize this fundamental purpose of the amendment. If we leave the impression that we think that the right to keep and bear arms concerns hunting and sports shooting, and making sure Americans have the right to entertain themselves with guns, we will actually contribute to the false view that the Second Amendment is an historical curiosity, hardly deserving the effort it would take to officially remove it from the Constitution.
The right to keep and bear arms derives from our duty to retain the basic means necessary to defend our country and our liberty. Certainly it is true that the actual defense of our national borders is normally delegated to the professional military. But we must never think that this revocable delegation of responsibility for national defense is a transfer of ultimate responsibility. We, the people, are responsible for the defense of country and liberty, and the Second Amendment is crucial to our performance of that duty.
'States rights' bumpkin.
I agree with everything you copied from his site in this post, but I still have concerns about what he was quoted as saying in the interview today.
I will email him and ask, I guess. If I hear anything I'll let you know.
Well, if (and I guess hthis is debatable) he wants the government to train and license people (like with cars) then it's going to require a whole lot of new government "workers" to run it.
That was what I meant.
I hope you are right, too, because I hate the idea of having to get government permission to exercise a constitutional right... If he didn't mean that, then great - if he did, it's a valid issue...
bttt!
J MHO, if I could get Alcee Hastings out of office, I wouldn't take a long time checking the adress of the man running against him. Now, if the "carpetbagger" was in a primary against another candidate who could get that job done, then by all means I'd go with the local boy...but in a Keyes' like situation - i'd be dancing in the streets if Hastings went down. And not give a rip if the one who beat him was from Mars.
Chad, you have got to patch a flat tire before you put air into it. He is getting the issue out where it can do the most good. There are some serious issues which have been ignored for too long in this country, and talking about them is the first step toward fixing what has gone wrong.
We did not get into this mess overnight, and it will not be fixed overnight. I honestly believe that Alan Keyes, more so than any other politician of which I am aware, is dedicated to restoring this country to its original basis.
Ummmm........riiiiiiiiiiiight.
The problem is, no matter what a poli says to get elected, as soon as he's in office, he's kow-towing to the social security folks, the unwed mothers, and the illegal immigrants.
It's lowest common denominator stuff.
Which, unfortunately, makes him virtually unelectable... Too many people in this country who want rights without responsibilities, handouts without effort, and the like are allowed to vote...
ping me on it too... still have not heard anything via the phone or fax... am waiting.
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