An armed society is a polite society.
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."
Excuse me, but isn't Israel a country where EVERY Jew is required to do a stint in the military, followed by being in Reserve status until his forties? SO the restrictions would mainly only exclude Palestinians?
As Israel has mandatory national service, this doesn't seem to be too difficult a restriction to bypass.
... not that there's anything wrong with that.
By mentioning the use of Uzi's in Israel, He was able to go for the Jewish vote. There aren't that many Swiss in Illinois.
Believe me, there are a few places that might actually be better off, ya know?
" Excuse me, but isn't Israel a country where EVERY Jew is required to do a stint in the military, followed by being in Reserve status until his forties? SO the restrictions would mainly only exclude Palestinians?"
...how about emigrees?
I would consider moving there some day if I could own firearms.
Since I wouldn't be allowed, FORGET IT!
An armed society is a polite society.
Getting toward the dinner hour dear freepers, you know, beef, chicken, pork, pizza but not other freepers!!
Son-of-a-gun! A politician that actually interprets the meaning of the Constitution literally. No wonder he hasn't gotten very far in his political career. Its too bad he has never been allowed to finish a point during a debate, more poeple may have taken him more seriously. I've always liked the guy.
For crying out loud people! Why on Earth are you frightened to express what you believe?! Have we truly become so wish-washy?
I am of the express opinion that were voters really able to get a sense of the views of each of the candidates, they would choose Keyes. The media bias is an issue, but it is not insurmountable. Perhaps voters would be persuaded to read the article instead of just the headline if they weren't convinced by members of Keyes' own party that he can't win.
On the other hand, perhaps a headline like this is exactly what Keyes needs to get their attention. If that gets them to read, then perhaps it is not as damaging as you might think.
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
And you wonder why people get insulting right back at you? Do you like to go around starting fights all the time?
Oops - let me correct myself. Perhaps condescending is a better word than sarcastic.
Could it be the media's lousy?
I think that the IAF pilots who refused service in the Gaza Strip were the first, but there was a wave of "refuseniks" that came in their wake.
Personally, I feel that if it weren't for these obnoxious, communist, America-hating traitors like Adam Shapiro, this wouldn't be nearly as big a problem as it appears to be right now.
These terrorist-sympathizing groups like the ISM have been the catalyst-at least, in my opinion-for much of the movement currently organizing against the state of Israel. Especially, in light of the effective disintegration of the "Peace Now" movement and the infrastructure of the Labor/Mapai Party.
Keyes believes that people should be able to carry weapons around "as long as they are properly trained".
Trained by whom exactly?
Who gets to define what "properly trained" entails, and how do we separate those "properly trained" from those not "properly trained"?
Thus far, Keyes has come out in favor of reparations, and now seems to support government control of who gets to own and carry.
Some conservative...
ping.
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