That is a good piece, Stephen. It explains the salient facts about the faux “assault weapons” ban except for two things, one big and one small.
Big thing – Connecticut state has a copy of the expired Federal “assault weapons” ban as state law – which did nothing about the Newtown tragedy for all the reasons stated in the piece.
Small thing – in the section on grandfathering, the author fails to mention one other reason why it was not feasible to force all owners of the banned rifles and magazines to turn them and confiscate them. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution would require the Federal government to cough up billions of dollars in compensation for that “taking”.
By the way, I think it’s safe to ignore the Feinstein bill. It’s terrifying, but there’s no way it would pass, and no way it can get past the SC unless the Obama administration were to kill three or four SC Justices and appoint a rubber-stamp court.
That bill is just a stalking horse for what they’re actually going to try to pass–a bill that prohibits private sales.
this is the roberts court. they brought you kelo, obamacare and several other travesties. hell, roberts himself rewrote obamacare to make it legal. you think a little thing like the feinstein bill can’t pass?
Kontra basically gets it right, but a partial dissection is in order:
Early on he says both sides try to use it (a tragic incident) for political gain. Since when is defense of individual rights, one of which is articulated in the 2nd amendment, mean a gain for one side against the other. Everyone benefits when rights are not infringed. The wrong side wants to restrict freedoms and the other side says give me liberty or, please, at the least shut the f*** up and crawl back into your hole (to paraphrase a better man than me).
He also takes several swipes at the NRA, at one point saying it continues to stoke the flames of fear, then goes on to claim that Obama (who is lying when his lips move) really is a good guy when it comes defending gun rights. But Kontra himself, towards the end, after describing some of the Brady Campaign’s lies, confesses: “It is intentional deceptions like this that have peaceful, gun-loving folks like myself looking over our political shoulders all the time.” Conclusion: NRA, paranoiac; me, I’m a thinking leftist.
To be fair, the NRA does fan fears a bit to keep the membership engaged and motivated. Not that they’re necessarily wrong as the left is proving lately.
Actually the raised bleating of people like Feinstien and Cuomo have actually motivated me to join the NRA for the first time, even though I don’t own a gun and don’t really have a serious intention to start.
Is it wishful thinking to hope that all the gun control talk will work against the Libs in the next election cycle?
That is a good piece, Stephen. It explains the salient facts about the faux “assault weapons” ban except for two things, one big and one small.
Big thing – Connecticut state has a copy of the expired Federal “assault weapons” ban as state law – which did nothing about the Newtown tragedy for all the reasons stated in the piece.
Small thing – in the section on grandfathering, the author fails to mention one other reason why it was not feasible to force all owners of the banned rifles and magazines to turn them and confiscate them. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution would require the Federal government to cough up billions of dollars in compensation for that “taking”.
By the way, I think it’s safe to ignore the Feinstein bill. It’s terrifying, but there’s no way it would pass, and no way it can get past the SC unless the Obama administration were to kill three or four SC Justices and appoint a rubber-stamp court.
That bill is just a stalking horse for what they’re actually going to try to pass–a bill that prohibits private sales.
this is the roberts court. they brought you kelo, obamacare and several other travesties. hell, roberts himself rewrote obamacare to make it legal. you think a little thing like the feinstein bill can’t pass?
The Roberts court also gave us Heller.
excellent point, but i don’t trust the roberts court after kelo and obamacare.
Kontra basically gets it right, but a partial dissection is in order:
Early on he says both sides try to use it (a tragic incident) for political gain. Since when is defense of individual rights, one of which is articulated in the 2nd amendment, mean a gain for one side against the other. Everyone benefits when rights are not infringed. The wrong side wants to restrict freedoms and the other side says give me liberty or, please, at the least shut the f*** up and crawl back into your hole (to paraphrase a better man than me).
He also takes several swipes at the NRA, at one point saying it continues to stoke the flames of fear, then goes on to claim that Obama (who is lying when his lips move) really is a good guy when it comes defending gun rights. But Kontra himself, towards the end, after describing some of the Brady Campaign’s lies, confesses: “It is intentional deceptions like this that have peaceful, gun-loving folks like myself looking over our political shoulders all the time.” Conclusion: NRA, paranoiac; me, I’m a thinking leftist.
Cheers from Barcelona,
Henry Cybulski
To be fair, the NRA does fan fears a bit to keep the membership engaged and motivated. Not that they’re necessarily wrong as the left is proving lately.
Actually the raised bleating of people like Feinstien and Cuomo have actually motivated me to join the NRA for the first time, even though I don’t own a gun and don’t really have a serious intention to start.
Is it wishful thinking to hope that all the gun control talk will work against the Libs in the next election cycle?