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National Journal: “Collins is unusual among Republicans in stating outright that she supports some types of weapons bans. Other Republican senators either ran away from reporters or waffled when peppered with questions about it on Tuesday.”
Outgoing Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is now in favor of a federal assault-weapons ban, but he likely won’t vote on any gun congressional measures.
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Here's some interesting data that EVERYONE can use regarding NRA and their contributions to our politicians:
https://data.sunlightlabs.com/dataset/NRA-house-updated1218/wwhw-aenp
https://data.sunlightlabs.com/dataset/NRA-Sen-Career-final/ys26-9qre
This is the website:
https://data.sunlightlabs.com/
From ESPN's Rick Reilly...
You know who's as heartsick as you at the thought of a classroom full of murdered first-graders in Newtown, Conn.?
Hunters.
Target shooters.
NRA members.
Some of them look at photos of the Bushmaster .223 semiautomatic rifle Adam Lanza used to leave 26 students and staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in pools of blood -- the kind anybody could buy at many stores for less than $900 -- and it twists their stomachs.
"A gun like that is not for deer hunting," says Stephen Czaja of Tarpon Springs, Fla., an NRA member. "That looks like a gun Schwarzenegger would carry, not a hunter."
Doug Goodman, another hunter from Cicero, Ind., became an NRA member at age 12, but quit. He doesn't want the NRA protecting assault weapons in the name of his favorite sport.
"I hear this [NRA CEO and executive vice president Wayne] LaPierre talking about how government wants to come and take our firearms," Goodman says. "That's insane. These are weapons of war they're talking about right now. These are mass killing weapons. If I get three pulls of the trigger at a pheasant and I can't hit it, the pheasant wins."
Jeff Johnson of St. Paul, Minn., hunts waterfowl with a semiautomatic shotgun, but he'd gladly give it up to end this parade of caskets.
"Put the picture of [murdered first grader] Emilie Parker next to my semiauto shotgun and pick one," he writes. "Put [murdered 6-year old] Benjamin Wheeler's hopes and dreams against me not having to move my forearm six inches and pick one."
Hunters, target shooters, NRA members: I'm happy for you to keep your single-shot rifles and revolvers. But your right to get thrills by firing off Halo-style rounds ends at my mall, my cineplex, my local schools.
Nearly every double-digit mass murder in this country was made easier by semiautomatic guns that use high-capacity clips: Columbine (13), the Washington D.C. sniper (10), Virginia Tech (32), Aurora (12), and now Newtown (27), just to name a few.
Enough.
Both Dwyane Wade and LeBron James of the Miami Heat wrote, "Newtown, CT" on their shoes for a recent game against the Wizards. Each of them has a 5-year old. Honoring the dead is noble. Making laws to protect the living is better.
There was a moment of silence at every NFL game this weekend. That's fine. But speaking up for gun sanity would be even better.
Something has to change, and that includes the mindset of some people in Newtown itself.
For one thing, it's the home of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the second-largest pro-gun lobbying agency in America -- behind the NRA -- and a tireless fighter for your right to hunt with assault weapons and high-cap magazines. It's easy to find. It's three miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School. (The foundation did not return my calls.)
For another, Newtown has two shooting ranges. Problem is, there's a waiting list to use them. That's probably why, in the past year, a bunch of unofficial shooting ranges have popped up on private property in the area, where gun fans have been firing away at targets with semiautomatic weapons. There are reports of people firing at propane tanks, just to watch them explode, according to The New York Times.
Yet when the noise complaints went way up, along with the terrified calls to 911, the town ordinance committee had hearings about it this summer, and a crowd including a spokesman from the NSSF showed up to squash any new ordinances. In the minutes of that meeting report, the NSSF spokesman said: "No safety concerns exist."
Didn't turn out safe for a 52-year-old Newtown mother of two named Nancy Lanza, who had a collection of guns, including a Bushmaster semi. She loved taking her son, Adam, to the ranges to practice, according to friends. Then on Friday, Adam turned one of her own guns on her, according to police, killing her in her own bed.
So Newtown will have to wait for the next meeting to try again. Me, I'm sick of waiting.
The day of the Columbine shootings, I waited to hear if the three kids of three of my softball buddies were still alive. We played on the field right next to that high school. It was dinnertime before we knew they'd sprinted to safety.
The day of the Aurora shootings, I waited for three hours to hear if my son, Kellen, was still alive. He works in Aurora. My God, what if he was there? My fingers trembled reading the text, "I'm fine!"
The day of the Newtown shootings, I waited to hear if the daughter of my main feature producer at ESPN was all right. Turns out she goes to a different school.
My nerves are frayed, my patience gauze-thin. It's changed me. It's changed the country. And I'm sick of waiting for the laws to change.
Look, there will always be madmen. But why do we insist on making mass murder so easy for them? Adam Lanza killed every person he aimed at but two, and in an estimated eight minutes or less. We'll never stop people from going crazy, but we need to make it harder for them to murder rooms full of our kids when they do.
I know you love hunting and target shooting. But don't you see?
The hunted -- the targets -- have become us.
We'll never stop people from going crazy, but we need to make it harder for them to murder rooms full of our kids when they do.
That sentence sums it all up, for me.
So lets put armed guards in the schools. Sidwell school has 12 armed guards. At least we should have ONE!!!! My children are precious also.
I have friends that I have had this argument with before about assault rifles and high capacity magazines. They refused to accept the logic that these guns were not really designed for hunting but rather for killing massive numbers of people in a short amount of time and insisted that it was their second amendment right to have them.
I can only hope they see the obvious now and change their minds, but unfortunately, I doubt it.
When the 2nd Amendment was written firearms were single shot muzzle loaders. The accuracy of such weapons was terrible compared to today's weapons. There were no standing armies in America at the time and so they had to make provisions for self defence. We have a strong military to protect us today and our guns are far more accurate than they were 200 years ago. To demand that ALL firearms should be allowed under the 2nd Amendment is ludacris at best.
Like most people, I belive in the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. A shot gun, single shot rifle and a pistol for protection (not concealed) fully licensed should be no problem. We DO NOT need semi-automatic or automatic weapons for hunting or target practice or to protect our homes from invaders.
Either they want old west, shoot first and if you get around to it ask questions later, free for all shoot-outs because somebody dissed your old lady or they want to kick the can down the road and let somebody else make the tough decisions. Typical.....
Congressional cowards, owned body and soul by the NRA and right wing hysterical loons. How is that any sane person would be against control/ban of a weapon designed for one purpose and one purpose only. Hunting-really, shred Bambi into chop meat and a little hard metal fragments as a supplement to ones diet? How is a ban on these killing machines and the high capacity magazines an infringement on the 2nd Amend? No one is calling for a repeal of the 2nd Amend., no one is coming to take awy your guns, fuzzy thinking and mush for brains. What will it take to get through to these knuckleheads? Is it necessary to Break America's heart again and again? 20 dead children and 6 adults not enough for a wake-up call, if we do not do anything and the status quo stays the name of game, I guarantee there will be more mass killings with the Bushmaster type weapons.
Tax the h@ll out of the ammo from beginning to the end user, use those funds for mental health care and victims--congress has the power for such taxation, inclusive of imports. Enough, is enough.
America will never be the same, I don't think I will either, I weep for the families and my heart hurts.
Emotion is the anti-logic. You appear to only have an emotional response, full of hatred (an emotion). Hope and emotion are a terrible way to run a country, a business or a life. I suppose the thousands that have died over the past couple hundred years didn't matter? Only the emotion of the moment matters? Since you operate on emotion you must have found yourself, head in hand, lamenting the emotional response you made because it turned out wrong. If only I hadn't acted hastily, out of anger, and had a chance to think first.... That is why courts wait for trails and move them if needed. To avoid people like you.
The "Teabegger Congress" is never going to do anything concerning Gun Control. The "Bonehead Boehner Bunch," and "Crazy Cantor's Cronies" are very much 'funded' by the NRA. The GOP/RNC "Hoodlum's On The Hill" will never 'compromise' with the President on any issue. Look what is going on right now in the "Teabegger Congress" America! The Teabeggers are in a full political and economic revolt against "Bonehead Boehner!" The "Teabegger Congress" is politically backwards, economically broke, and very emotionally disturbed. This is the "Koch Brother's Congress" that is being run from behind by "Goofy Grover." Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! The Party of NO has got to go!
Money is more important to the NRA than anything, and in a round-about way, those murdered children's blood is on the NRA's hands/guns.
And the blood of the firefighters is on the hands of those who oppose capital punishment. That would be you!
The Second ammendment has nothing to do with hunting or target shooting and has everything to do with defense of ones person and the state........My AR-15 is exactly the right tool for those purposes and as such I will not be giving mine up........ I also will not give up my 30 rd mags to feed said rifle....... I hunt...with appropriate hunting rifles... and BTW the AR platform is a splendid hunting platform........ I really don't care if you don't like my choice of rifle....it is protected under the second and I shall hang onto it........ As an aside.......I do believe the U.S Army was established around 1775...I know for a fact the U.S Marine Corps came into being on 10 Nov. 1775 and the U.S. Navy right in there with them......... Constitution was ratified in 1787 well after the Revolutionary War had ended..... granted at the time of ratification we didn't need a standing Army since we were not at War, so The founders wisely made provisions for a fighting force...... and here is one more for you........ Why does every state that I am aware of still maintain militia clauses in their constitutions?
Rbshoots, I'm right there with you brother. Let this country do away with doctors who want to study these sickos after deeds as in Ct., or attorneys who want their 15 minures of fame for defending them. If there's no doubt as to who pulled the trigger in a capital crime, swift , and final justice should prevail. The criminal has no further use in society. No need to make the victim pay for for the crimnals actions. I pray for the families of all innocent souls lost because of some sicko. We need DETERANTS. This should be on the bargaining block.
It isn't about hunting or target shooting, it is about defense. And the military style weapons have the best sight and accessory options to enable a person to defend themselves. It should be noted that in many states, including mine, the .223 round that the AR15 fires is the LEAST POWERFUL round to hunt deer with that the law allows. Anything LESS powerful and the rifle is not powerful enough to legally hunt deer. So when people want to ban "assault rifles" and leave only rifles for hunting, they are (undoubtedly with great ignorance) arguing for only the MORE POWERFUL rifles to remain available to the crazies, many of which can be modifed to have military stocks/sights/accessory mounts. Therefore if the gun grabbers have their way, the weapons remaining after they ban "assault weapons" will be MORE deadly and MORE lethal. That's what happens when ignorance and emotions rule the day.
Here is a fresh idea for gun control: Let citizens have what the police have!! They face the same criminals we citizens face. They are not fighting in afghanistan either. So if they insist on carrying AR15s and high capacity handguns, that is what I call professional advice. You might say "but they rush into harms way" well the citizen who is the victim of the police response is already there. If your cops carry six-guns and a shot gun then that must be all we need in that town. But if you live in LA, Chicago or NY they carry much, much more. And this would also hopefully create a limiit to the militarization of our police force. If they need an assault vehicle (some counties have them!!) then it is time to call in the national guard! The police face the same criminals and situations we citizens do, so let us have what they demand. And this will always self-correct, no more needless emotional debates of contitutional rights after horrible incidents like this. Hope you like it!!