Republican pols pander to People of the Gun

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | December 3, 2007 | Laura Washington

[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.

[GregoTX]

"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?"

Hey Rudy, the difference is... Gun owneship a Right given to us by the US Constitution, and a Driver's License is a Privilege given to you by the State you reside in.

One is a Constitutional Right, the other is a State Privilege. One is an apple, the other is an airplane.

THAT IS WHY.

[HockeyPop]

What Ms Washington refers to “the people of the gun” is nothing but backhanded racism targeting white bedrock America. One hopes that gloves off letters to the editor come into the Sun Times fast and furiously.

[TLI]

and another victim is condemned to the nightmarish plague of handguns gone wild:

This one is waaaaay out in the dark...

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... 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.

Good grief, this silly whack job is STILL spouting that propaganda? And OMG! Firearms in the same house as CHILDREN! How dare he be such a thoughtless monster as to actually exercise his constitutional rights in the presence of The Almighty "Child!"

She must be catching up on a quota, there is more...

“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?”

uhhh, because cars are not specifically addressed in he Constitution of the United States? moron! Besides, Rooty is the “safe choice” for conservatives, right? CNN said so…

“Instead of Republicans promising a chicken in every pot, they should be calling for a handgun in every holster.”

Well, this is most often associated with Herbert Hoover. In fact, the phrase has its origins in seventeenth century France; Henry IV reputedly wished that each of his peasants would enjoy "a chicken in his pot every Sunday." Not surprising that this author refers to quotes that place American Citizen in the context of peasants.

“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.”

I don't know about the other guys but I bet Fred could zing that tin cup right out of her hand at a LOT further than 10 paces. And that really would be something to put on YouTube!

[JWinNC]

Does she have a license to write that article?

[Leisler]

"..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? "

Ah, What? License = registration?

Anyways, you don't 'need' a license to drive a car. The car drives perfectly fine without a piece of plastic with a picture on it. Furthermore, as we all know, drivers licenses are zero proof of competency. Not only that, people who have their state license taken by the state, continue to drive anyways.

Lastly and more importantly, license, registration, permits are not required. They are compelled by armed state power, at the penalty of your property and liberty. So, Rudy, Mitt, and others, just because state power is thumping our liberties on one subject, doesn't make it reasonable in another.

Finally, guns are to attack/defend against state power. So it would make sense for liberty's sake that the armed citizens and their weapons to be used against the state, be unknown to the state.

Guns in the 2nd Amendment are not about hunting. They are about war and power. Period. The fact that solons are so in the tank with the present totalitarian republic, that leaves no private space untouched, that they can not see the gun issue from other than a statest view.

[Civis Proeliator]

http://www.peopleofthegun.com/

Started in response to Laura’s September 25, 2007 article,
“Let’s Pry Open Those Cold, Dead Hands” in “In These Times”. Looks like she’s can’t help but continue her anti-constitutional tirade.

[HockeyPop]

“Stock up now on components. Prices are going up in Feb...again.
Commercial ammo prices are also going to go up, by 20% in some cases.”

I don’t know about that. I see prices coming down in the short term. But I can’t deny what I see as the demand and “limited supply” of certain calibers of ammo. Still, one would do well by buying replacement parts, mags and ammo more so than battery optics which, like all electronics, are subject to technological improvement.

[tom paine 2]

“Everybody needs a little “protection” at home, right?” Yeah. and I’ll be the one that decides not the government.

[dighton]

Every day, pop, pop, pop, and another victim is condemned to the nightmarish plague of handguns gone wild ...

Academia Gone Wild

[Leisler]

Judge Shopping in Firearm Lawsuits

Judge Jack Weinstein is getting some attention. Seems that plaintiffs like their chances in his Brooklyn courtroom when the defendants are tobacco or firearms manufacturers. From the New York Sun:....more"..

[USS Alaska]

She right, look at this handgun gone wild.

I've tried to teach it to be calm, but it was born to be wild.

Must have been a bad seed, it was such a good little water pistol, but it grew up liking that hip-hop stuff.

[A Strict Constructionist]

“6 year old? Hmmmmmm ?”

That was just his intellectual age.

[mrs. a]

Hey, I have a car. Cars kill more people than guns. Am I a “Person of the Car”?

Are there any more out there like me?

[Pistolshot]

We got word from one of our distributors that ammo was going up in Dec and again in Feb.

Component prices and materials to make the components are going up is the reason.

[woollyone]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=john+lott

...there’s a start for your months of cabin fever reading list!

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I wanted to post earlier but my Kimber .45 got out of it’s box and was running down the street, determined to shoot some innocent gang banger. Heck of a time catching the little varmint.

Got to keep your eyes on those pesky pieces of inanimate steel at all times. Mind of their own, you know.

[therut]

Oh my. ^ firarms and only 500 rounds of ammo and CHILDREN. Snicker. The writer is ignorant of the number of firearms and ammo owned by individuals in this country.

[Graybeard58]

“Who, after all,salivates at the thought of allowing ex prisoners the right to vote?”

As of May 10, 2007 all 50 states allow felons to vote. Restrictions
apply in some states.

The two most restrictive are Kentucky, where voting rights can be
restored only when the Governor approves an application for an
executive pardon for reinstatement of voting rights from an
individual after completion of his/her sentence.

Mississippi, where An individual, after completion of their sentence,
must go to his or her state representative and convince them to
personally author a bill reenfranchising that individual. Both houses
of the legislature must then pass the bill, and the governor must
sign it. Each year about 10 to 12 people are re-enfranchised in
Mississippi.

25 states allow felons to vote after serving their sentences and
parole or supervised release, 13 states allow felons to vote as soon
as they leave prison, 2 states, (Maine and Vermont) allow
incarcerated felons to vote.

The other 8 states allow felons to vote with less severe restrictions
such as applying to county boards or waiting 2 to 5 years after
completion of sentence.

http://www.felonvotingprocon.org/pop/StateLaws.htm

[snowsislander]

There is no study that will prove that claim, writes David Hemenway in his 2004 book, Private Guns, Public Health.

Florida State University's Dr. Gary Kleck has done many such studies, and written several books on the subject.

Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America

Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control

Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control

Since the first book is a very well-known piece of scholarship, I wonder why the author completely ignores it.

[ctdonath2]

if you need a license to drive a car

If the Founding Fathers knew travelling by vehicle would become a licensed priviledge, the act would have been added to the Bill Of Rights.

As it was an inconceivable notion at the time, they overlooked it - making fulfilled the prophecy that a bill of enumerated rights would be abused to oppress rights which were not explicitly enumerated.