"Happiness is a warm gun."
Posted on 04/17/2005 9:39:42 AM PDT by holymoly
Majority leader urges diplomacy toward advocates of gun control
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, under attack in Washington in recent weeks, spoke to friends Saturday night at the National Rifle Association annual convention.
"Thank you very much for the warm welcome. I hope the national media saw that," said DeLay, who has been accused of ethics violations and criticized for threatening the federal judges who refused to intervene in the case of a brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed.
Speaking to a crowd of about 3,000 NRA members, DeLay said guns are imperative for a free society but encouraged gun supporters not to personally attack gun-control advocates.
"Political discourse tends to get so heated that it's not only policies but motives that get questioned," the Sugar Land Republican said.
Just because people want to destroy the Second Amendment, DeLay said, "that doesn't mean our opponents are bad people."
People who grew up around guns "tend to see guns as a normal part of life like fishing or watching football," he said. "Unfortunately too many of our fellow countrymen don't share our touchstone."
"Law-abiding citizens carrying guns are actually a deterrent to crime," DeLay said.
DeLay, who said addressing the convention was the highlight of his career, was presented an antique-style flintlock rifle by the NRA. He hoisted the gun over his head.
Officials said that since ethics rules prohibit DeLay from accepting the gun, it would be displayed at the NRA's museum in Virginia.
About 200 people gathered outside the event to protest DeLay, who has partially apologized for his recent comments that the federal judges in the Terri Schiavo case would be "held responsible."
Jaci Elliott, who lives in DeLay's district in Missouri City, held a sign reading, "The Constitution is not a cockroach."
DeLay is as an exterminator by profession.
"Every time you turn around, there's something questionable about his behavior," Elliott said.
Others held signs reading "DeLay messed with Texas" and "Don't DeLay, indict today."
Inside the banquet hall at the Hilton Americas Hotel, President Bush addressed the NRA members via a taped video.
"The best way to prevent crimes committed with firearms is to go after the violent criminals themselves and not law-abiding gun owners," he said.
Bush said he supports protecting hunting land and an NRA-backed bill that would shield the weapons industry from most lawsuits.
NRA Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre said, after Bush's speech, "Isn't it great to have a friend of freedom in the White House?"
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison invoked one of the crowd's favorite enemies.
"The French government has raised its terror alert from 'run' to 'hide,'" she joked, bringing a round of laughter. "The only higher levels in France are 'surrender' and 'collaborate.'"
Delay is wrong. Anyone trying to take away our fundamental rights is evil. That's defintionally true.
I agree with you (holymoly, not Mr. Delay). The ignorant swine that continually and knowingly lie about the effects of guns in our society deserve no respect whatsoever.
I had in mind those who are actively and persistently opposing our freedoms. Lawyers and City politiicans suing the gun manufacturers speciously, UN and its NGO's, VPC, Million Moms - that's who I think our opponents are - and they are just pure rotten evil. Facts won't work for them, only for those newly wandering into the issue.
Like it would matter?
"Happiness is a warm gun."
BullSh!t!! He DID NOT apologize for his comments. He apologized for the way he said it. I can't believe the Houston Chronicle would promote such an inaccurate statement.
Let's back up and review, shall we?
Rep DeLay originally said
...that federal judges in the Schiavo case had "thumbed their nose at Congress and the President" by not ordering the reinsertion of a feeding tube to the severely brain-damaged Florida woman. "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," DeLay said.And here's his apology
"I sometimes get a little more passionate, particularly during the moment and the day that Terri Schiavo was starved to death," DeLay told reporters yesterday. "Emotions were flowing. I said something in an inartful way and I shouldn't have said it that way, and I apologize for saying it that way."Note that he DID NOT apologize for what he said (which is what the Houston Chronicle, to their discredit, and the LSM would have you believe), he apologized for the WAY he said it. BIG difference
Some of them are bad people, such as Chuckie Schumer, Teddy Kennedy, Hillary, Diane Feinstein and others of their ilk. Most are simply useful idiots who swallow the party line hook, line and sinker. The latter just need to be educated.
Officials said that since ethics rules prohibit DeLay from accepting the gun, it would be displayed at the NRA's museum in Virginia.
That didn't seem to bother J F'n K when he accepted that shotgun during the presidential campaign.
If gun-control advocates were honest, debate might be possible. However, they all too often result to deception and bold-faced lies to support their anti-gun agenda.
Most of the people who support gun control are people who honestly and naïvely believe the stuff Brady, Schumer, et al. put forth. They are not bad people. That is not to say Schumer et al. aren't bad people--they are. But most of the followers are naïve, not evil.
Fundamentally, it is impossible to have a debate with someone whom you are calling evil. The goal of right-thinking people shouldn't be to dismiss everyone who disagrees with them, but rather to recognize that good people can be misled, and that it is consequently necessary to distinguish the good-but-misled people from the evil ones.
I agree. There's a difference between some ignorant, public-school indoctrinated, MTV-addled, Dem camp follower and the brazen hypocrites like the leaders of the organizations you mention. Typically, the Pols and professional leftist agitators travel around with security that is armed to the teeth - often with full-auto weapons, etc.
Such people are totalitarians - enemies of the constitution and of this nation. They should be given no quarter whatsoever. Talking to folks like Rosie is a waste of time - like casting pearls before swine.
Agreed ,the folks who wish to destroy the Second Amendment have an agenda that would result in the wholesale rape of the Bill of Rights & the questioning of the motives of these people should not be out of bounds.
Having watched the gun control debate since I can remember it (1968 or so...) and being old enough to have had my first .22 bought by my father from Sears BY MAIL ORDER, I have come to the conclusion that pro-gunners don't get it. They consistently don't understand that this is a street fight. You don't fight a street fight by Roberts Rules of Order. You pick up a garbage can and bash it over your opponent's head. You break off a bottle and grind it into their face. You "continue to kick and stomp until victim is subdued."
What the pro-gunners don't get is that the opposition uses EMOTION and they're using FACTS. Emotion and facts are completely dissimilar and they're like ships passing in the night. Emotion will almost always win with the uninformed. Pro-gunners should be SCARING THE S*** out of people, not citing statistics. Scaring the s*** out of a housewife who is already afraid of crime will be much more effective than telling her about the number of defensive uses of firearms that resulted in no crime being committed in 1999. Besides, pro-gunners can always fall back on facts, the anti-gunners don't have any facts, at least no facts that aren't completely fabricated.
Wake up and smell the coffee, folks. This is a street fight. Start fighting like your enemy does.
Hi,
You said:
"the folks who wish to destroy the Second Amendment have an agenda that would result in the wholesale rape of the Bill of Rights"
I don't want to destroy the 2nd amendment, but I have to admit I don't understand it. It's a little ungrammatical frankly.
The 2nd Amendment:
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
(And if dismantling the 2nd means "raping" the rest, about that 3rd amendment, which is crystal clear BTW, I hope the army guys quartered in my house are really cute.)
Who is the well-regulated militia? Where would one sign up for it? And does this mean that to bear arms you should be part of a well regulated militia? Who does the regulating? Does this mean proper gun licensing. If so, great! I'm all for it.
You have to register ownership and be a licensed user for what must the be the number one tool which causes untimely death (the CAR), so it makes sense to have some kind of regulation and license for another efficient tool of untimely death (the GUN).
BTW, I'm not anti-gun, I like shooting and one day I'll probably have a gun. I'm just agreeing with Tom DeLay that there are a lot of people out there who aren't anti-gun who think there should be some sensible limits on gun ownership, e.g. if you're a felon and can't vote, sensible enough you shouldn't have a legal gun instead.
If you're happy enough to let the government know where you live (property tax, voting, etc), how much you earn, what kind of library books you check out (Patriot Act), take a test for a driving license and register your car, what harm would a little extra registration, regulation and control on weapons do?
Honestly, I really don't understand the objection or why you think anyone who questions unfettered access to potentially dangerous objects is a bad person.
"& the questioning of the motives of these people should not be out of bounds."
Though you're more than welcome to question me on my motives.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.