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St. Petersburg councilman wants to ban assault rifles in city, urges state and US to follow
WFTS (Tampa, Fla.) ^ | 05/30/2011 | Don Germaise

Posted on 05/31/2011 11:39:12 AM PDT by neverdem

Will seek weapons ban at city council meeting

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - There is no room for assault rifles in St. Petersburg, city council member Steve Kornell said. He wants the semi-automatic and automatic weapons banned.

Kornell will ask fellow city council members at a meeting this week to ban assault weapons in the city. Kornell also wants a resolution asking the state and federal government to follow suit. "I think it's an issue whose time has come," said Kornell. "I think most people get why you can't have military assault weapons."

The proposal comes after three St. Petersburg police officers have been shot dead this year, none with an assault weapon. However in 2009, eight-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton was accidentally killed when her home was sprayed with more than 50 rounds from assault weapons. Police say the gunmen were after someone else in the home.

"I believe in the Constitution and this is not about taking away anybody's rights," said Kornell. "But people do not have a right to own a personal military assault weapon."

St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon agrees. "Assault rifles are meant basically to kill human beings," said Harmon. "There are no other uses for them."

Gun owners like Earl Rhodes agree with the chief, but still want to own assault weapons. "If I'm in a situation where I need to protect my family, I don't want a single shot shotgun when I can have an assault weapon to do it with," said Rhodes. Rhodes owns two SKS assault rifles.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: awb; banglist; donttreadonme; fl; florida; guncontrol; shallnotbeinfringed
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To: neverdem; longtermmemmory; JulieRNR21; kinganamort; katherineisgreat; floriduh voter; summer; ...
Like the compulsive control-freaks they are, the lefties running the Sunshine State's cities can't help themselves from regurgitating these sorts of municipal bans, fully knowing they are preempted by state law (see FReeper longtermmemmory's post #32).

As usual: Scratch a liberal, find a fascist.


41 posted on 05/31/2011 12:07:28 PM PDT by Joe Brower (Sheep have three speeds: "graze", "stampede" and "cower".)
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To: neverdem
St. Petersburg Police Chief [Political Appointee] Chuck Harmon agrees.
42 posted on 05/31/2011 12:09:30 PM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Republican Extremist

There is an infinite supply of ignorance, although some people are doing their best to use it all up.


43 posted on 05/31/2011 12:10:58 PM PDT by Cheburashka (Democratic Underground: The Hogwarts of stupid.)
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To: redgolum
They smell an obama victory, and want to lay the ground work of a weapons ban. Though this is really close to the election cycle for this kind of thing.

I disagree 100 %, especially when Gun Walker is likely to blow up in their face during next year or sooner. Please see comment# 31. If I had to bet money, they have polls showing that Daffy Duck can beat Obama.

44 posted on 05/31/2011 12:17:48 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: Cheburashka

if a councilman is this stupid about the law, why i he on the city council? who is profiting financially? me thinks I smell a real estate agent.


45 posted on 05/31/2011 12:17:53 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: neverdem
"... However in 2009, eight-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton was accidentally killed when her home was sprayed with more than 50 rounds from assault weapons. Police say the gunmen were after someone else in the home."

Perhaps it was any one of the guest book signers at Paris' obituary site:

January 15, 2011 happy bday paris i miss u so much paris just cuz u not here on earth wit us u wit god we still celebrate yo life much love paris ~ whitley thomas,

PARIS IM MISS U SO MUCH I WISH THaT YUO WAS STILL HERE WITH ME TO EXPERIENCE ALL THE STUFF THAT IM DOIN RIGHT NOW BUT U IS IN A BETTER PALCE LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU ALWAYS BE ON MY MINE .PS ALIYAH ~ ALIYAH HOPKINS

Look America: We know who's getting shot and who is doing the shooting in the vast majority of unjustified firearms-related homicides. We get that, and it's understood that society has been conditioned to dare not speak it.

What legislators don't get is that banning so-called "Assault Weapons" isn't going to stop murders any more than taking away Facebook and Internet-enabled mobile phones is going to stop riotous and larcenous "flash mobs" or violent holiday weekend gatherings of urban youths --- and I remind you that this article was posted in Tampa Florida newspaper that evidently had just that kind of problem this last Memorial Day weekend.

The fact is that this sort of violence is functionally and fundamentally endemic to that particular societal subculture. America is conditioned to ignore this behavior in the same way that society has been conditioned not to distinguish the perpetrators.

Proof of this concept is shown when a murderous incident is perpetrated by someone who is *not* a member of that particular subculture (e.g. Gerald Loughner) and then it becomes 'news' because it's so unusual. Meanwhile, an incident of inner city violent crime can take place where just as many people die as did in the Arizona shooting, yet it barely makes national news -- and surely Nancy Grace or Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz or Dr. Phil won't be devoting any air time to it.

For years I've been calling for The Brady Campaign or the Violence Policy Center to publish yearly a giant 'yearbook style' coffee table book containing pictures (or mug shots when available) of every single person in America who is killed in a firearms-related homicide, and maybe a line or two about how they met their fate. Let's not just be content with the gun control crowd's abstract figure of those who die from guns each year because the American people are too conditioned to ignore numbers; if Americans don't care about a $14,000,000,000,000 debt ceiling, they sure aren't going to think very much of some comparatively measly number like 12,000 people dying to gunfire each year.

I challenge the gun control proponents to produce a book like that, to let us all take a look at who's getting shot to death in America each year. I know that they wouldn't dare. Too much of a risk in having the overwhelming majority of Americans read the book and come to the conclusion that: 1) "I'm seeing a trend here...", and 2) "Almost all of these people look like someone who I'd expect to get shot to death", and 3) "Damn, I better go get a gun of my own to protect my family if there are hundreds of thousands of violent criminals like this walking the streets."

46 posted on 05/31/2011 12:27:33 PM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: neverdem

Is this from the 1970s?


47 posted on 05/31/2011 12:36:07 PM PDT by School of Rational Thought (Tough enough to have survived the end of the world)
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To: neverdem
Florida Law allows the ownership of legally registered machine guns, silencers, short-barreled rifles/shotguns. I think I'll skip the assualt rifle and just mount an M-2 on the Willys. ( Don't I wish this was in my driveway)

48 posted on 05/31/2011 12:40:32 PM PDT by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
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To: neverdem

Leningrad or Florida?


49 posted on 05/31/2011 12:41:45 PM PDT by colonialhk (Elect Veterans not Lawyers)
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To: neverdem

“Gun owners like Rhodes...” SURPRISE!!!! The media found a gun owning leftist who wants to take YOUR weapons, but keep his OWN!!!!!


50 posted on 05/31/2011 12:41:59 PM PDT by Oldpuppymax
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To: neverdem

Ban Kornell. He’s a danger to your freedom.


51 posted on 05/31/2011 12:44:05 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: neverdem
The proposal comes after three St. Petersburg police officers have been shot dead this year, none with an assault weapon. However in 2009, eight-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton was accidentally killed when her home was sprayed with more than 50 rounds from assault weapons. Police say the gunmen were after someone else in the home.

Yes...the media is that STUPID!!!! Luckily, we are not!

52 posted on 05/31/2011 12:55:48 PM PDT by Niteranger68 (Jared Lee Loughner - Disciple of Michael Moore)
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To: Niteranger68
Googled him...open homo.
53 posted on 05/31/2011 12:58:01 PM PDT by Niteranger68 (Jared Lee Loughner - Disciple of Michael Moore)
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To: neverdem
military assault weapon

Ohhhh… sounds scary doesn’t it?

Isn’t the term ‘assault weapon’ redundant Anyways? By definition:

A weapon is something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Wouldn’t using something to injure, defeat, or destroy be considered an assault?

‘Assault weapon’ is like saying weapon weapon or club club or gun gun, etc.

By this kind of “Logic” [using that term loosely here] any type of object that could be used to attack someone else could be considered an Assault weapon or weapon for assault.

54 posted on 05/31/2011 12:58:16 PM PDT by BerserkPatriot (There are no 1st Amendment rights without 2nd Amendment Rights)
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To: neverdem

Ultimately the second amendment is there to guarantee our ability to kill people if necessary to preserve freedom. It’s got nothing to do with hunting


55 posted on 05/31/2011 1:16:21 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing an idiot)
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To: SoldierDad
Gun owners like Earl Rhodes agree with the chief, but still want to own assault weapons.

*****************

Huh???

The police chief's comment, however slanted, was factually correct. ALL modern firearms are derived from weapons that were designed to kill humans. It's the "there are no other uses for them" argument that's the mark of a political opportunist or a piss-stained hoplophobe (but I repeat myself).

56 posted on 05/31/2011 1:20:59 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: Red Badger

Why doesn’t Obama “crack down” on THIS big-city abuse of Constitutional Rights? But NOOOOOooooo! Good thing Florida has PRE-EMPTION!!


57 posted on 05/31/2011 1:25:38 PM PDT by 2harddrive
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To: neverdem

If they really wanted to save lives, they would propose banning Hip-Hop and Rap instead.


58 posted on 05/31/2011 1:28:43 PM PDT by sjmjax (Politicans are like bananas - they start out green, turn yellow, then rot.)
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To: neverdem
'.....St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon agrees. "Assault rifles are meant basically to kill human beings," said Harmon. "There are no other uses for them." ...."

And as evidenced by the Pima County, Arizona SWAT team, the police do it so well.

59 posted on 05/31/2011 1:34:41 PM PDT by sport
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To: RandallFlagg
What a gigantic pain it is to get these things!!!

Suppressors: not that big a deal (yes, it is an RKBA violation) so long as you can get the CLEO signoff.

Full auto: dawned on me the big issue there is that it's really about buying/selling the RIGHT to own one. You're not so much paying for the item, but for the transferable "right to keep". (A perspective which could make for an interesting move on reprehensible 922(o).)

60 posted on 05/31/2011 1:36:13 PM PDT by ctdonath2
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