Posted on 01/30/2013 7:11:30 PM PST by Kaslin
CAPITOL HILL -- During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill about how to prevent gun violence, Senior Fellow of the Independent Women’s Forum Gayle Trotter was loudly heckled by anti-gun advocates in the crowd after she suggested women need firearms to protect young children in their homes.
"An assault weapon in the hands of a young woman defending her babies at her home becomes a defense weapon,” Trotter said as jeers erupted. “Guns are the great equalizer during a violent confrontation.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse attempted to lecture Trotter about the type of gun she and women like her should use when defending their families.
Trotter was the only female on a panel of five witnesses who testified.
CATO Institute Policy Analyst and Denver University Professor David Kopel expressed a similar sentiment to Trotter in written testimony, pointing out higher violent crime rates in other countries with strict gun control laws, in particular against women.
“A woman in Great Britain is three times more likely to be raped than an American woman,” Kopel’s testimony reads. “Overall, the violent crime rate in England and Wales is far above the American rate. Using the standard definition for the four most common major violent crimes: homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.”
The hearing was expected to focus heavily on Senator Dianne Feinstein’s recently introduced assault weapons ban legislation, but instead, focus was shifted toward universal background checks and the lack of criminal prosecutions since 2006, specifically under the Obama Justice Department.
“Federal prosecutors declined 82 percent more cases,” Texas Senator John Cornyn said while suggesting a second look at the country’s background check system in order to see what needs updating.
Many Democrats, Mark Kelly, and Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson repeatedly pushed for universal background checks by citing a background check statistic throughout the hearing saying, “40 percent of all guns sold don’t go through a background check.” This is a statistic the Washington Post has even declared false.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy also claimed there is no federal punishment for straw purchasing, which isn’t true.
The federal government has promoted for decades a program called “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy,” which classifies the purchase of guns for criminals as a felony and includes the sever sentence of up to 10 years in prison for violators.
There was no shortage of Second Amendment mocking either. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin belittled the idea that the Second Amendment was put in place to protect against government tyranny. Chief Johnson said he found it “creepy.” The anti-gun crowd cheered them on and heckled at each mention of the Founding Fathers.
In terms of actual solutions to gun violence, Kopel suggested allowing teachers to carry weapons in schools using Utah as a model where schools have never been attacked. Kopal shot down a new assault weapons ban since it didn’t work the first time.
“In 2005 the National Institute of Justice study found that the 1994-2004 the manufacture or import of such magazines had no discernible benefit,” Kopel said. “Mandating universal background checks will only work with universal gun registration.”
Freshman Senator Ted Cruz cited the Clinton Justice Department in an argument against reinstating a law that didn’t work to reduce crime.
“Assault weapons ban failed to reduce the average number of victims of gun murder and incidents of multiple,” Cruz said citing Clinton’s DOJ. “Under it there has been no discernible reduction the lethality and injuriousness of violence.”
The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre suggested armed guards in schools to protect children from violent intruders, asked that violent criminals be thrown in jail instead of released by Holder’s DOJ and dismissed calls for a new assault weapons ban and universal background checks.
"Feinstein's bill is based on falsehoods that people not familiar with firearms don't understand,” LaPierre said, adding a universal background check system will only lead to a “universal nightmare.”
Editors note: a previous version of this post referred to James Johnson as the Baltimore Police Chief. He is the Baltimore County Police Chief.
...And heckled by anti-gun advocates posing as Senators as well. Senator Whitehouse (now there's a name that begs for a birth-certificate confirmation IMO) showed all the equanimity of one of the judges at an old Soviet Union show trial.
“An assault weapon in the hands of a young woman defending her babies at her home becomes a defense weapon,” Trotter said as jeers erupted.
I wish people like Gayle Trotter would stop taking the lefts bait by using terms like “assault weapon”.
He's very proud of that vote.
In a just world he'd not be in the Senate.
In a just worl, Leaky would be in Hell with his father ...
made me sick to my stomach when I saw him brag about that vote a few years ago when defending some obnoxious liberal stance in the WOT
So let me get this straight. The police have bullet proof vests, flash grenades, shields, helmets, helicopters, spot lights, armored vehicles, night vision goggles, and all the training they can get with automatic weapons to defend against criminals and we are limited with what we can use against the same criminals. Sounds about right for what our tyrannical leaders would do. Seeing as they give those weapons to the drug cartels to kill american border guards and possibly the citizens they are suppose to look out for. Yeh I have a lot of faith in our government.
Liberals love the first amendment (as long as the opinions offered agree with theirs) almost as much as they hate the 2nd.
I wonder how they would react to an attack on the 1st amendment, framed much as the current attack on the 2nd is framed?
Such as:
“Any political opinions are to be limited to 50 words or less. Why, who would need more than 50 words to get their point across, other than a politician?
“Anyone who wishes to espouse political thought must first register with the federal government.”
“Before opining on an issue, you must wait 30 days and undergo a thorough background check, to ensure your opinions are inline with “mainstream” thought.”
Of course none of these rules would apply to our elected officials.
Sadly enough, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see some idiot democrat propose restrictions similar to these.
I’m sure NBC will get right on this with another doctored video like they did with the father who they claimed was heckled.
The people in the crowd, utterly unable to control themselves with a basic level of decorum and behave as would be befitting the situation, pretty much made her point for her.
I’ve said it before: were it not for liberals, I wouldn’t understand the meaning of the word “hypocrite”.
Practice ... practice putting a .22 magnum through an eye socket at 100 yards.
What model revolver is that?
Not sure. Somebody around here should know.
It looks like a Chiappa.
Rhino?
lol Look at our posting times.
Well, Sheldon, if the military is going to have the little wymin wearing 30+ pounds of body armour, humping a ruck, and packing an M-4, my guess is she can handle the rifle without the ruck and the rest of the gear. (stupid chauvanist bunghole!)
Well, Dicky-boy, read Federalist 46 (the Federalist Papers) and you'll find out that protecting against Government tyranny was EXACTLY the reason for the 2nd Amendment. Putz.
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