Clinton/Gore's All-out Assault on Gun Owners
April 4, 2000
In the past few weeks I've been feeling more and more anxious about the future of private gun ownership in the United States. Claiming to be motivated by increasing violent crime, the Executive branch of the U.S. government has decided to short-circuit the checks and balances of the legislative process and resort to a proven method of getting results that appeals to those of criminal bent: extortion.
That's right, I said extortion. What other name could apply, when a privately-owned company being threatened with crippling (though based on flawed logic) lawsuits is approached by top-level government officials, who offer (partial) amnesty in exchange for certain provisions? Extortion, blackmail, call it what you will. It all reeks with the same offensive odor.
Consider, if you will, a President of the United States of America who will stoop so low as to use the murder of a little girl to advance his political agenda. A President who, already an acknowledged and well-known liar, tries to use the tragedy of shootings on school grounds to solidify a strong anti-gun position. A President who, with Vice-President at his side, spouts outright lies about gun owners and the NRA on national television. Kinda makes the stomach turn, doesn't it? But it also helps bring this extortion issue into focus. It's not the lowest they'll go, by any means.
Opportunistic Distortion, Outright Lies
America's most vociferous and strongest pro-gun force, the National Rifle Association (NRA), was recently berated by Bill Clinton and Al Gore on NBC's Today Show. Attempting to play on U.S. citizens' emotions regarding children and guns, Clinton said the NRA is "basically against anything that requires anybody to do anything as a member of society that makes it safer." Lying seems to come awfully easily to our nation's "leader."
The fact is, in the past five years alone, the NRA (which includes myself) has spent twenty million dollars on gun safety, while Bill Clinton and his fellow anti-gunners haven't spent a dime! In fact, thanks to the efforts of the NRA (again, including members like myself), children's firearms accidents are at the lowest levels ever recorded in U.S. history.
I've heard it said that figures never lie, but liars sometimes figure. The latter is obviously the case when the largest part of the number cited by Clinton as "children who die from guns" actually represents gang violence and other crimes committed by violent juveniles up to 20 years old! These are the "children who die from guns?" Would trigger locks stop this?
Danger!
One of the most alarming laws being put forth for passage (other than gun registration) is the push for the locking up of guns in one's home. Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a fantasy world where we could ask home invaders for a time-out while we unlocked and loaded our guns, to better defend ourselves against them?
On the heels of this supreme lack of logic comes another issue: enforcement. Although we're seeing a marked lack of enforcement of existing gun laws, if a trigger lock or registration law were passed, I'll bet the farm that enforcement of that law (which would by necessity include unlawful search and seizure, yet another Constitutional Amendment gutted) would proceed in earnest.
Next Page - Non-Enforcement of Existing Laws; Intended Results; What You Can Do
