From Today’s Wall Street Journal:
Some Gun Rules We Can All Agree On
By MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG and THOMAS M. MENINO
June 30, 2008; Page A11
Finally. After decades of ideological debates over the meaning of every word and comma contained in the U.S. Constitution’s one-sentence Second Amendment, the Supreme Court has issued a ruling that should largely settle the matter.
Isn’t it funny how the gun-banners start this article out by pretending that an historic defeat for their side is really a “good thing?”
In District of Columbia v. Heller, the court found that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms, while also affirming the constitutionality of reasonable restrictions aimed at preserving public safety and deterring criminals from acquiring and using firearms. Now it’s time for all elected officials to start working together to enact creative new solutions to violent crime.
Because the old solutions aren’t working? Or because we aren’t keeping the killers and robbers and rapers in prison where they belong?
For years, shouting matches over the Second Amendment drowned out reasoned discussion of any middle ground. One side argued for a handgun ban, the other for repeal of an assault-weapons ban. It made for good political theater, but it prevented progress on common-sense proposals that would achieve what both sides say they want: keeping criminals from illegally purchasing and possessing guns.
So, already they have used the terms “reasonable restrictions” and “common sense.” Two of the gun-banners’ key catch phrases. When they trot those out, keep your hands on your guns. Well not everyone has the same level of common sense there buckaroos, and I decline to depend on your over-inflated ego to be able to rate your own “common sense” and “reasonableness” when it comes to infringing on MY rights.
Two years ago, a group of 15 mayors came together to begin reclaiming this middle ground and working to toughen enforcement of federal laws. Today, our coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns has more than 300 members from every region of the country and from both major political parties.
Criminals, by definition, obtain their “illegal guns” illegally! You could make laws from now until Aunt Martha kicks the bucket, and guess what? criminal will still obtain guns. Illegally.
Mayors – often the ones in charge of police departments – recognize that the constitutionally sound middle ground is large enough for all those who have a good-faith interest in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and protecting public safety.
You keep using that word (middleground) I do not think it means what you think it means…
Every day, 34 Americans are murdered with a firearm. That’s the equivalent of a Virginia Tech massacre. And like the Virginia Tech killer, most murderers purchase or possess their guns in violation of federal law. Our bipartisan coalition of mayors has identified four key reforms that would fix the federal government’s primary tool for preventing illegal gun sales: the background check system.
You just admitted (twice) that criminals violate laws to obtain guns. Can you honestly, and with a straight face, claim that more laws would solve the problem. “The criminals didn’t obey those laws over there, but these laws over here, they’ll obey these laws…” Or, are you saying “What we have been doing isn’t working, so we’ll just do it more and harder“…Dumbasses.
– Close the gun-show loophole. Currently, licensed gun dealers are required to run criminal background checks on all buyers, but a loophole in the law enables criminals to avoid these checks if they buy from “occasional sellers” who don’t have federal licenses. These unlicensed sellers, who often operate at gun shows, shoot a hole through the background-check system that allows criminals to purchase guns. That is why the major presidential candidates have called for this gun show loophole to be closed.
Liar. There is no “gun show loophole.” Federally licensed firearms dealers are required to perform background checks on all buyers of their inventory at gun shows just like they would if they were in their own retail establishments. That “occasional sellers” term that you just coined out of thin air really refers to individual citizens engaging in the sale and transfer of of private property. No different than if they were selling a gun to their neighbor while standing in their own living room. Why should a citizen have to adhere to a different set of rules that depend on where he is standing when he transfers ownership of a privately and legally owned item?
– End gun-dealer fire sales. If the federal government shuts down gun dealers for selling illegally, it nevertheless allows those dealers to sell off their inventory without conducting the background checks that it normally requires them to do. Imagine if a liquor store was shut down for selling to minors. Would anyone support a policy that would allow the owner to sell off all the remaining liquor without checking IDs? Of course not.
So, what are you going to do with the inventory? Oh. I already know the answer because you are socialists. You are going to confiscate it right? Are you planning on compensating the firearms dealer for his legally-owned inventory? And if so, does that mean taxpayer money is going to be used? And, please cite your statistics for how many gun dealers are “shut down” each year for “selling illegally.” How many is that? I know the BATFE harasses law-abiding gun dealers who sell guns legally, but I don’t hear much in the news about federal firearms-licensed dealers being “shut down.” I think you are really on the slippery slope of getting to your “one gun a month” proposal because, after all, that is “reasonable” and “common sense” “middle ground” isn’t it?
– Require gun dealers to do background checks on employees. Under the current law, if a person can’t buy guns – because he or she has a criminal or mental-illness record – that person cannot sell guns, either. But the law fails to require dealers to conduct background checks on their employees, even though they already have background-check machines in their stores.
Huh? Again, I would like to see your statistics that point out that this is a systemic problem…How many firearm retailers each year hire criminals or insane people? And what kind of person who sells expensive firearms would hire someone without doing a background check on them? Really…numbers please…
– Close the “terror gap.” If the federal government can prevent a potentially dangerous person from getting on a plane, shouldn’t it also be able to prevent that person from buying guns? Last year, the Bush administration endorsed a bill that will close the terror gap. Congress should make it law this year.
WTF!?!?!?! “Terror Gap?” “TERROR GAP?” What the freck do “terror” or “terrorists” or “terrorism” have to do with this issue? “Terror Gap?” You freely admit that the multitude of “gun laws” currently on the books at the city, state and federal level do not keep criminals from acquiring guns. From the dawn of time, men have found a way to acquire the tools to kill other men. The liberal mind-set that thinks “One more law will do it” is beyond me. Do you really think that someone who is willing to commit murder or rape is going to be detered from getting a gun because you made it illegaler? (See – I can make up words too)…..Your egos are showing gentlemen. Do you really think that your little coffee clutch of mayors has found a way to do what no one before you could? Keep guns out of criminals hands. “Terror Gap.” Heh.
Recently, our coalition of mayors commissioned a bipartisan public opinion poll to ask Americans what they thought of these four ideas. In each case, more than 80% of Americans – including more than 80% of gun owners – stated their support. This is the vast middle ground shared by mayors across the country, and now that the Supreme Court has swept aside the old ideological debate, the only question remaining is whether Congress has the courage to join us.
Bipartisan my ass. Why don’t you show us the survey? Let the public read the questions and how they were worded, phrased and slanted…Show us your statistically sound samples and the breakdown of who you talked to by age, race, gender, location and political affiliation. Tell us who conducted the poll and how they recorded, tabulated, crunched, interpreted and reported the data from their poll.
Because guess what? I just took a bipartisan poll of everyone named Curtis Lowe in this room, and that all agree 100% that you are a bunch of grandstanding, socialist pieces of shit. Scientifically speaking.
Mr. Bloomberg is the mayor of New York City. Mr. Menino is the mayor of Boston. They are the founding co-chairs of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (link removed – I won’t give them the traffic)
Curtis Lowe 