The lies they tell
Pennsylvania is becoming the center of the gun control debate. Seems the antis are pushing their wares non-stop there:
Pennsylvania lawmakers held a special session on Tuesday to discuss 94 initiatives to tighten the state’s relatively loose gun controls in an effort to reduce gun crime.
The two-day meeting was attended by the mayors of New York and Trenton, New Jersey, who believe their cities’ crime rates are affected by the laxer rules in Pennsylvania. The state has one of the strongest pro-gun lobbies in the country.
“What happens in Pennsylvania or any other state doesn’t stay in Pennsylvania or any other state,” New York’s Michael Bloomberg told a news conference. “We can’t fight illegal guns from behind state lines.” He said 85 percent of the guns used by criminals in New York originated outside the city.
I think perhaps because of this battle in PA, we’re seeing the increase in anti-gun shilling, such as Saul Cornell’s book getting press. The Geek reports that none of the anti-gun bills have passed:
On the PA committee of the whole thing is that all gun control has been defeated, and that the planned multi thousand people demonstration against gun rights was sparsely attended. Well, “sparsely attended” being a generous description of “less than ten”.
Good! That combined with the vote by the house that passed on HR 5092 (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) Modernization and Reform Act) makes for some interesting times for gunnies and frustrating times for anti-gunnies. You can see the bill info here. That bill passed the house 277-131 and is headed to the senate. The NRA backed the bill and is all giddy:
Chris W. Cox, NRA-ILA Chief Lobbyist stated, “Today marks a great victory for law-abiding gun owners and retailers across the country. H.R. 5092 makes necessary improvements – and establishes new guidelines – for BATFE investigations. It will curb abuses and provide a streamlined process for all necessary parties.”
H.R. 5092 was drafted in large part to address recent, blatant BATFE abuses at Richmond, Virginia gun shows highlighted in hearings before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.
H.R. 5092, the “BATFE Modernization and Reform Act”, establishes a more efficient system of administrative penalties for licensed dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms. Prior to this bill, for most violations BATFE could only either give a federal firearms license (FFL) holder a warning or completely revoke their license.
With this stuff going on, it’s no wonder the antis are breaking out the usual claptrap, like this:
House sycophants of the National Rifle Association are aiming this week to hobble the federal government’s power to revoke the licenses of rogue gun dealers who arm the underworld. A shameless proposal would replace existing law with wrist-slapping penalties and an impossible definition of “willful intent” that would hamstring efforts to close lawless marketeers.
The rhetoric of the approaching debate will undoubtedly invoke sportsmen’s rights, but the real issue is the rights of sociopaths and terrorists to make future purchases at their friendly local AK-47 dealer. The House proposal, in fact, would have stopped federal agents from ever revoking the license of Lou’s Loans, the Pennsylvania dealer that sold battlefield weapons to one of the co-conspirators in the 1993 assault on the World Trade Center.
So many lies, so little time. There are no friendly local AK-47 dealers because AK-47s are illegal. The house proposal, in fact, would not necessarily have stopped revocation of this man’s license depending on the circumstances. This one is good too:
“Oh, God. Oh, God. This is bad. This is really bad.”
With those words, 16-year-old Jeremy O’Sullivan died of a gunshot to the chest in an Albany backyard at about 3 a.m. on July 1, another victim of the Second Amendment.
Meanwhile, what about victims of other amendments? Like me, who had the misfortune to read this horseshit. And this one:
Five months after hosting the first Mayors’ Summit on Illegal Guns at Gracie Mansion and fulfilling a promise made in his January State of the City address, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today traveled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to join Philadelphia Mayor John Street and other mayors from the state to call on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to toughen state gun laws and increase penalties for gun offenders. Mayor Bloomberg and Mayor Street were joined by Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski; Reading Mayor Thomas McMahon; Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan; York Mayor John Brenner; Scranton Mayor Christopher Doherty; Lancanster Mayor Rick Gray; Williamsport Mary B. Wolf; and Trenton, New Jersey Douglas Palmer. While in the Pennsylvania state capital, the Mayors met with both Senate Democratic and Senate Republican leadership to discuss the impact of illegal guns on their cities. The mayors in attendance today also had the opportunity to sign the Statement of Principles developed during the April Mayors’ Summit.
“The fight against illegal guns cannot be waged from behind state lines,” said Mayor Bloomberg.
Remember, kids, illegal guns in New York is probably any gun you have in your house right now. And I love when the Brady Bunch gets all crazy:
Congressmen Jim Gerlach and Mike Fitzpatrick must not have heard that many of their constituents were in the Pennsylvania state capitol of Harrisburg Tuesday, practically begging state lawmakers to do something to get illegal guns off the streets of Philadelphia.
Because they were in Washington D.C. voting with the extreme gun lobby and against the law enforcement community for a bill that will make it harder to fight illegal gun trafficking.
The United States House of Representatives today chose to pass special interest legislation that benefits the law-breaking gun pushers who make money by selling firearms that end up in the hands of killers, muggers and thieves. They ignored the concerns of our nation’s Mayors and law enforcement leaders who opposed this awful bill.
“One must ask the question: When does this end in our country? How many children and police officers must die before our elected members of Congress stop doing the bidding of the gun lobby?
The hyperbole would be amusing, were it not so pathetic.
September 27th, 2006 at 9:14 am
It should be noted whenever this “lax PA gun laws” nonsense is bandied about that PA has the same handgun registration system as MD (without the waiting period):
1) all transfers of handgun ownership must take place at a gun shop or state police station where the prospective owner must fill out paperwork for a state police background check (i.e., licensing)
then
2) if the background check comes back clean, the transfer is registered with the state police so it can go into their handgun owner database (i.e., registration).
So PA, like NYC/NY, MD, MA, and CA has handgun registration and owner licensing. Anti-gun-owners can put that in their pipes and smoke it.
September 27th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Oh, yeah, the stupid story about a “victim of the Second Amendment” is actually a LTE that inlcuded this tidbit about said “victim”:
September 27th, 2006 at 9:17 am
*rage*
GUNS ARE NOT TOBACCO. Nobody picked one up and got addicted and started winging the people around them. If you have a gun you want a gun, if you use a gun it is YOU who are responsible for the consequences, not the seller, not the manufacturer, and for Christ’s sake not the “gun lobby”.
I hate liars, worse than I hate indoor bugs. And I really hate indoor bugs.
September 27th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
“So many lies, so little time. There are no friendly local AK-47 dealers because AK-47s are illegal.”
Why are they still illegal now that the Assault Weapons Ban has lapsed? Are you talking about fully automatic AK-47s or the Semi-Auto variety?
September 27th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Because AK-47s are machine guns and have been banned from transfer to civilians since 1986.
September 27th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
k-romulous:
The database the state police are keeping was supposed to be illegal under state law. The State Supreme Court, in a twist of words, ruled that because it was a database of sales, and not a comprehensive registry of firearms, that it didn’t constitute a registry under the law. I talked to my rep about this when I was in Harrisburg yesterday, and he said there was a legislative remedy in the works that would put an end to the state police regist… err.. I mean database.
Pennsylvania does ban private transfers of handguns, but there was never supposed to be any registration, but we know how bureaucrats are.
September 27th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Five months after hosting the first Mayors’ Summit on Illegal Guns at Gracie Mansion.
Did you know that Mayors Group is funded by a $175,000 grant from the Joyce Foundation.