Posted on 12/03/2007 5:09:53 AM PST by KeyLargo
Republican pols pander to People of the Gun
December 3, 2007 LAURA WASHINGTON LauraSWashington@aol.com
The gun carnage in America may soon overtake the maelstrom in Iraq. Every day, pop, pop, pop, and another victim is condemned to the nightmarish plague of handguns gone wild: Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, 24, is shot to death in a home invasion. Amadou Cisse, 28, a Senegalese chemistry doctoral student at the University of Chicago, is gunned down near Hyde Park. On the Southwest Side, Howard Long, a 22-year-old security guard at Get M Girlz Apparel, is popped for a change of outfit.
The stakes are high. There are solutions. As Rudy Giuliani once said, if you need a license to drive a car, why can't we require a person to register a gun? The People of the Gun have our politicians bamboozled. Instead of Republicans promising a chicken in every pot, they should be calling for a handgun in every holster. Have you heard any politicians talking lately about handgun violence?
These days they are all pandering to the People of the Gun. "It's a beautiful day in paradise," chortled Fred Thompson recently as he paraded his law-and-order ministry through the aisles at the Land of the Sky Gun Show in South Carolina.
The Republican presidential field is hoisting the Second Amendment above their well-coiffed heads. Now the New Rudy and Mitt Romney are squabbling while Thompson and Mike Huckabee are packing heat. Next thing you know, they'll all form a posse and head out after the handgun control advocates.
Not to worry -- fortunately these pols couldn't hit a tin cup at 10 paces.
Speaking of tin cups, the gun lovers have plenty of poster children who stand ready to kick their can down the road. Take former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Tank Johnson. He has the answer to today's overworked and anxious individuals. "If you're stressed-out, rent a gun at the range and shoot two clips out," Tank was quoted as saying in ESPN the Magazine. "You'll be feeling pretty good." You might recall that last year his house was raided by police, who reportedly found six guns and 500 rounds of ammunition -- with two young children present.
Everybody needs a little "protection" at home, right?
There is no study that will prove that claim, writes David Hemenway in his 2004 book, Private Guns, Public Health.
"Instead, states and counties with more guns have more burglaries when someone is at home," reports Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in an unintentional shooting than to injure or kill in self-defense, according to a 1998 study published in the Journal of Trauma, a medical journal. I'm more worried about children getting hold of guns in the home than encounters with lead paint on Thomas the Tank Engine toys. Let's get real and get our priorities straight.
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court took on a firecracker of a case: It agreed to consider whether a handgun ban in Washington, D.C., is a violation of the Second Amendment, the Holy Grail of gun lovers everywhere.
The court will hear arguments next spring and may issue an opinion in the summer, smack dab in the heat of the 2008 presidential contest.
It's probably naive to think that Republican-Roberts-dominated Supremes will rule in favor of gun control. But then I still believe in Santa Claus.
People of the gun?
Hey they are talking about us!!!!
90% of America has guns. Can you “pander” to the majority or are the Chicago leftist just having another hissy-fit.
Laura probably carries but just doesn’t tell anyone.
More proof the surge is working.
Hmm. I like the sound of it.
ping
By all means. Wearing an empty holster is so not...
“In 1985 Washington was appointed deputy press secretary to Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor.”
Source: Laura Washington bio.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/bio-washington.article
Gee, a Democrat columnist. Who would have thought!
” Have you heard any politicians talking lately about handgun violence?”
....no, and you’re not going to either....pols have learned that speaking in favor of gun control is the kiss of death....the last numbers I saw showed hand gun sales on the increase....especially among women....I myself got a concealed carry permit last year and am glad I did.
This woman is insane.
I would have thought that doctor-patient confidentiality would have prevented the publication of her creative-writing therapy sessions.
And Democratic pols pander to people against the gun. Plus, I also understand that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Exactly my thoughts -
“every day, pop, pop, pop - people are sentenced to death because some liberal judges made it easy for dangerous criminals to be released amongst the innocent population.”
“liberals” are “people of the criminal”
“...It’s probably naive to think that Republican-Roberts-dominated Supremes will rule in favor of gun control. But then I still believe in Santa Claus.”
I am certain that the Justices will carefully consider the case on a constructionist basis. I am just as certain that the author of this article does not believe in Santa Claus.
(And he wonders why he finds little lumps of coal around his house after December 25th)
Liberalism is the application of childish emotion to adult issues.
Liberalism is the application of childish emotion to adult issues.
Liberalism is the application of childish emotion to adult issues.
Liberalism is the application of childish emotion to adult issues.
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