Frist no friend of gun owners

WorldNetDaily ^ | Posted: December 23, 2002 | By Jon Dougherty

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Frist no friend of gun owners
Candidate for Senate leader has history of anti-firearms support

Posted: December 23, 2002
11:25 a.m. Eastern

By Jon Dougherty
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

More questions have arisen about the GOP senator most likely to replace Mississippi Republican Trent Lott as majority leader, this time from gun-rights groups who say he is no friend of the Second Amendment.

According to an analysis posted on firearms rights website KeepandBearArms.com Frist has a poor record of standing up for gun rights.

And Gun Owners of America, a 300,000-member group based in Springfield, Va., has given Frist the grade of "D" in regards to his record of votes regarding gun rights – despite his being a top recipient of donations from the National Rifle Association.

Among Frist's anti-gun votes, he:


• helped kill a filibuster on the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill that conservatives believe squelched the voice of pro-gun groups;


• voted against a filibuster and in favor of sending an anti-gun crime bill to a House-Senate crime committee;


• voted with Democrats to help pass the Lautenberg anti-gun crime bill;


• supported two other gun control proposals.

"Trent Lott has been an unprincipled disaster - the sooner he is made to fall on his sword, the better," wrote David Codrea, a co-founder of Citizens of America, a national gun-rights advertising campaign. "But Bill Frist is a completely unacceptable replacement. Republicans will elect him Senate majority leader at the risk of enraging and alienating the most reliable constituency they have ever had" – gun owners.

Lott resigned Friday, thanking his supporters.

"In the interest of pursuing the best possible agenda for the future of our country, I will not seek to remain as majority leader of the United States Senate for the 108th Congress effective Jan. 6, 2003," he said.

"To all those who offered me their friendship, support and prayers, I will be eternally grateful. I will continue to serve the people of Mississippi in the United States Senate," he added.

Bush praised Lott for his decision.

"It was a very difficult decision Trent made on behalf of the American people," said the president in a statement. "Trent is a valued friend and a man I respect. I am pleased he will continue to serve our nation in the Senate and look forward to working with him on our agenda to make America safer, stronger and better."

Lott faulted himself for the controversy. He said he had fallen into a "trap" set by his political enemies and had "only myself to blame."

The Washington Post reported Monday that Frist is poised to become the first majority leader "elected" by telephone.

Frist, an ally of Bush who is the Senate's only physician, also has a history of backing supporters of other controversial measures that are not palatable to most Republicans, like abortion and stem-cell research.

WorldNetDaily reported Friday that the junior Tennessee senator championed the nomination by President Clinton of former Surgeon General David Satcher, a fervent supporter of unrestricted abortion and someone who actually performed abortions.

And, Frist – a heart surgeon – once told National Public Radio that there are no absolute right, absolute wrong answers in medicine. During last year's stem-cell debate, he proposed using leftover embryos from in-vitro fertilization clinics for scientific research. The Weekly Standard also noted that Frist believes there is a moral imperative to use one unsalvageable life to save another.

Sen. Pete Dominici, R-N.M., threw his support to Frist last week, telling Fox News he wanted to move up a Jan. 6 Republican conference meeting to debate the party's fate and affirm Frist as the party leader.

Virginia's two Republican senators, John Warner and George Allen, backed Frist last week.

Over the weekend, other colleagues praised Frist and said they looked forward to his leadership.

"He personifies not just the rhetoric about idealism but as a life that has been lived," said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., on Fox News Sunday. "There are actually hands-on examples of how he will make a difference. And I think it's a very exciting prospect."

Frist will "be a different face than what we've had," added Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "I'm not criticizing what we've had, but I think Bill has a kind of a more moderate record and a more moderate approach toward things, and I think that it's going to be very difficult to criticize him."

Others predicted Lott's demise would be forgotten soon.

"In the long sweep of American history, this is going to be a blip," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

THIS article at WND

[RAT Patrol]

Politics is The Art Of The Possible.

No, politics is the art of the disguise. In other words, it is how well you can be perceived to be on all sides of issues at the same time. At least long enough to get voted into power.

[jjm2111]

What was the NRA ranking? GOA are bit players who never miss an opportunity to spit in the soup.

And the NRA gives "A" ratings to marginal characters who would have a hard time defending any gun rights position.

[Kaisersrsic]

The Courts, the courts, the courts, the courts. A conservative agenda is only possible with control of the courts. Any Senator who votes to confirm Bush's judges is doing his part.

[Poohbah]

Some people can't be bothered about the practical issues of actually accomplishing their goals.

[Dead Corpse]

Conservative agenda? Without conservative cross-over votes, there would be no need for conservative judges to over-turn un-Constitutional Laws.

With Bush leading the way on increasing the Federal budget, keeping the borders wide open, and threatening to give away even more Social Security money to Mexico, I'm not too hopeful he'll be overly enthusiastic about restoring the full strength of the Second Amendment.

[krodriguesdc]

frist is an md and as such will do things that md types do...

you shouldn't be surprised...

[virgil]

I just like to shoot. Its fun. I just want the government to leave me alone so I can keep enjoying it.

[Remedy]

We just have to make it clear to him our position.

FIFTH CIRCUIT ,No. 99-10331

• The third model is simply that the Second Amendment recognizes the right of individuals to keep and bear arms. This is the view advanced by Emerson and adopted by the district court. None of our sister circuits has subscribed to this model, known by commentators as the individual rights model or the standard model. The individual rights view has enjoyed considerable academic endorsement, especially in the last two decades. See Scott Bursor, Toward a Functional Framework for Interpreting the Second Amendment, 74 Texas L. Rev. 1125 (1996); Robert J. Cottrol & Raymond T. Diamond, The Fifth Auxiliary Right, 104 Yale L. J. 995 (1995); Robert Dowlut, The Right to Arms: Does the Constitution or the Predilection of Judges Reign?, 36 Okla. L. Rev. 65 (1983); Stephen P. Halbrook, The Right of the People or the Power of the State: Bearing Arms, Arming Militias, and the Second Amendment, 26 Val. U. L. Rev. 131 (1991); Stephen P. Halbrook, What the Framers Intended: A Linguistic Analysis of the Right to "Bear Arms", 49 Law & Contemp. Probs. 151 (1986); Don B. Kates, Jr., The Second Amendment and the Ideology of Self-Protection, 9 Const. Comm. 87 (1992); Don B. Kates, Jr., Handgun Prohibition and the Original Meaning of the Second Amendment, 82 Mich. L. Rev. 204 (1983); Sanford Levinson, The Embarrassing Second Amendment, 99 Yale L. J. 637 (1989); Nelson Lund, The Ends of Second Amendment Jurisprudence: Firearms Disabilities and Domestic Violence Restraining Orders, 4 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 157 (1999); Nelson Lund, The Past and Future of the Individual's Right to Arms, 31 Ga. L. Rev. 1 (1996); Glenn H. Reynolds, A Critical Guide to the Second Amendment, 62 Tenn. L. Rev. 461 (1995); Robert E. Shalhope, The Ideological Origins of the Second Amendment, 69 J. Am. Hist. 599 (1982); William Van Alstyne, The Second Amendment and the Personal Right to Arms, 43 Duke L. J. 1236 (1994); Eugene Volokh, The Commonplace Second Amendment, 73 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 793 (1998).

[jim_trent]

No, acutally, the DU is against Frist for EXACTLY the same reason that some of the people here are against him -- he does not agree with the individual poster 100% on EVERYTHING.

[Shooter 2.5]

Can you show me the list of candidates from the NRA? I would like to see the complete list for myself.

[Shooter 2.5]

I would like to see the list of candidates with the NRA rankings for myself. NRA Link, please.

[marvlus]

JT, Independent parties look better all the time.

Go for it!!

[WRhine]

Let's face it, every Senator carries around baggage from years of back room dealing and double dealing. I think the GOP needs to find a SML that comes to the table with a clean slate. Someone that doesn't have a past that can be exploited by the opposition. Someone Like...........

[strela]

BUAHAHAHA!!!! What IS Peter Sellers doing these days (besides decomposing)?

[Shooter 2.5]

In order for a candidate to rate an "A" rating from the NRA, the candidate has to introduce pro-gun legislation and support the Second Amendment. Since she had stated on other occasions her willingness to register firearms, I doubt she received an "A" rating.
The last article I read of her, she said she didn't believe we needed any more laws. The NRA may have supported her in order to get the majority in the Senate but I haven't found anything on a rating.

[Stat-boy]

The garden is in fine shape.

[sneakypete]

All, Just another establishment picked "leader" as is Hastert, and was Lott. Peace and love, George.

You didn't really think Bubba-2 and his corporate commie buddies in the RNC would pick a actual conservative,did you?

[Jesse]

Oh, look at you, trying to inject facts into the argument:)


Of course Frist doesn't support gun rights...He is a compassionate conservative who pays lip service to conservative causes, but is in reality a RINO. With GWB as president, what would you expect. BTW, I think Lott is a moron,and needed to go. But I will be surprised if, in 6 months, conservatives aren't complaining about Frist being a cure worse than the disease.

[MissAmericanPie]

Can't wait to see what kind of "moderate" justices are appointed, can you?