Weekly Check on the Bias...

"Our streets are going to be filled with AK47s and Uzis."

--Sarah Brady



"Once again, new guns such as the Tec-DC9 will flood our streets."

--Sen. Dianne Feinstein



"...these deadly killing machines, semi-automatic military-style assault weapons, will return to the streets of America..."

--Adrienne Bliss


"Too many pistol-packing politicians and gun-toting lobbyists shoot their mouths off before their brains are loaded, while blood flows down corridors and into our streets."

--SF Gate



"Unlike weapons firing single rounds, assault weapons are designed to spray many bullets into a single area"

--Rep. Carolyn McCarthy

"Let's Go Shopping!"

--Jeff Soyer

Seriously folks, the phony "assault weapons" ban expires one week from now. It's always dangerous to assume but I'm pretty confident that (thankfully) President Bush -- despite his stated support of -- is not going to force the issue. Republicans in Congress won't allow any last minute attempts by Sen. Dianne Feinstein to bring the extension of this silly legislation to a vote.

Now watch me go really far out on a limb and predict that while the usual suspects (Feinstein, Schumer, Maloney) will make a last ditch attempt to get the extension tacked-on to another bill, most Democrats -- watching their presidential candidate's poll numbers in free-fall -- won't have the stomach to make the AWB an issue right now. Kerry himself was busy last week showing once again that he really believes in the Second Amendment:

In Sen. John Kerry's alternate universe, the Second Amendment reads:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms -- but only for the sake of hunting and campaign photo-ops -- shall be heavily regulated by the state and federal governments, who will decide what is an appropriate firearm for servants and subjects of the government to own. All others should join the military."

Meanwhile, back in our reality, the liberal-dominated press is frothing at the mouth. In yesterday's Herald Bulletin (IN), Adrienne Bliss writes:

On Sept. 13, if the president and members of Congress do not act, the 10 year-old federal assault weapons ban will expire, and our children will once again be in great danger. If that happens, these deadly killing machines — semiautomatic military style assault weapons — will return to the streets of America, just as our children are returning to schools in their communities.

How can this be happening in a “first world” country that claims: “Our children are our future?” Opposition from President Bush and the NRA earlier this year kept a bill from passing that would have extended the ban; a bill the Senate has already voted in favor of renewing. A recent poll of 10 states by the Consumer Federation of America and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence found widespread and diverse support for the ban. Every major law enforcement organization and nearly 900 police chiefs from across the country support the ban. Educators, law enforcement, legislators and parents all support this ban, so — why doesn’t our president?

How to respond? First of all, your children are not and will not be in danger. See, the "assault weapons" ban only banned cosmetic features of firearms. The banned firearms actually operate no differently than any other ordinary semi-automatic gun. Semi-automatic doesn't mean, as one of my quotes above states, that the guns "spray" bullets around. They shoot one bullet for each trigger-pull. So! So there really is no difference between the banned firearms that will suddenly be available and the ones that always have been. Therefore, you're children will be in no greater danger next week than they are now.

Hang-on folks. They aren't in any great danger now. Nor have they been. School shootings receive a LOT of press but are actually very, very rare. The liberal press doesn't allow you to know that because anytime some RARE incident occurs, they blow it all out of proportion.

Now, I know that for you folks (such as this editorial writer, Bliss,) that doesn't seem good enough. So think of it this way:

According to the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) your child stands a much better chance of being killed in an accident or dying of cancer than being killed by a firearm. Now, that's not really comforting but it does put the issue into proportion. I wish NO child died of anything but I also recognize that we can't go around banning automobiles and swimming-pools (both regulated to death and both still huge contributors to child mortality) not can we really eliminate the death from childhood cancer.

There's a slogan among liberals that says that "one death is one too many." This may seem cruel and heartless but I have to disagree. Using that rational we would not be fighting terrorism here and elsewhere because even one death is not acceptable on our side.

"Freedom is not free" and liberty is expensive. Those are truisms. If we were to make this world (or at least our nation) totally child-proof there would be no swimming, skiing, skating, cars, amusement rides, vaccines, antibiotics, OBGYNs, medical procedures, playgrounds, television, store-bought food, stairs (no homes over one-story tall), homes built in high-risk weather areas (think Florida at the moment but consider the California coast as well), air-travel, baseball, football, soccer, or any other youth sport, boating, hanging at the beach, ... You begin to get the picture? A child-proof world -- that is, a world where children cannot possibly be harmed -- is an impossibility for an intelligent, freedom-loving, adventurous world. All innovation would come to a halt. No one would research medications, no one would build anything that could in some way be injurous to a child.

Silly, you say? I agree but when you look at the laws constantly being passed and what is happening in our schools you realize that the sick leftist agenda is taking hold in our country.

All right, enough editorializing by me. Let's get back to the issue at hand, the AWB ("assault weapons" ban.) Bliss says that a "measure passed" to extend the bill but she fails to mention that it was attached to legislation that would have given immunity from frivolous lawsuits against the makers and distributors of a legitimate, legal product, namely firearms. And for that reason, Congress and the NRA decided to scuttle the bill. Legislators wanted a clean bill and the liberal Democrats in Congress wouldn't give them one.

Let me move on already... Rhode Island has a friend in Officer.com which reports:

Saying there is no place for military-style assault weapons on city streets, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., on Thursday urged his Congressional colleagues to pass and President Bush to sign an extension of a federal law banning the firearms.

The ban expires on Sept. 13, a decade after it was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton.

Kennedy blames election year politics for the delay in renewing the ban, which bars the importation, manufacture and sale of the weapons.

"Homeland security does not only mean protecting the nation from terrorists abroad. It also means children can go to school and come back safely," he said.

Kennedy said there is no reason for these types of weapons, which include AK-47s, to be in neighborhoods.

"If the ban is allowed to expire, these weapons will once again circulate in greater numbers," Kennedy said.

At Thursday's event, Kennedy was flanked by mayors and police chiefs from several Rhode Island cities.

Excuse my cynicism here but has there ever been a Kennedy (when not raping women or allowing them to drown) who has supported the right of the law-abiding citizen the tools and rights to them to defend themselves from criminals (other than the Kennedys)? [Jeff! You are treading on pure controversy here... --ed.] [What the hell, they can only kill me once! --js] [And, why else are they reading me? --js]

Oh heck, let me dig a deeper hole: In rural areas you will mostly find that cops support the Second Amendment because they know they can't be everywhere and they need the help of the common citizen in fighting crime. But in urban areas, the liberal mindset of cops is that they really don't want to walk side-by-side with the commen man or women packing heat. That would (according to their mentality) diminish their "authority" and power. The gun is their reason for becoming a cop and how dare the subjects of theirs be equally armed.

I suspect that will draw some comments as well but folks, that's what I believe. There is a HUGE difference between rural and city cops in both their mentality and reason for becoming cops. Go ahead, trash me.

The Indianapolis Times-Mail chimes in:

The recent killing of Indianapolis police officer Jake Laird has pushed to the forefront the dangers created by the manufacturing and dissemination of assault weapons to civilians.

Kenneth Anderson killed Laird with an assault rifle after purchasing the military-style semiautomatic a year ago in what was defined as a legal transaction.

Anderson first killed his mother, then shot four officers who responded to the shooting spree.

Hey folks, I am not for seeing ANY cop or citizen killed by a gun. But this horrible murder could have been committed with ANY firearm. It wasn't the gun, it was the mutant who used it for evil. What if Anderson had used a revolver? Any gun can be an "assault weapon" as can a baseball bat or tire-iron. A car driven by a drunk becomes an "assault weapon" when it causes a deadly crash. It's not the car, or the gun, or the ski-slope for that matter that makes something deadly and dangerous; it's the mis-use of it by some criminal. GO AFTER THE CRIMINAL. Enforce the laws, make them stronger. Stop blaming an inanimate object. Blame the animate object, the criminal.

So how is the ban of the "assault weapons" ban going to effect me? I own two guns that accept hi-cap magazines and I already have them. My Marlin Camp-Carbine comes with (or should I say I have) three 30-round magazines plus 2 14 round magazines and lastly the 12 round magazine that came with it.

My Para-Ordnance P14-45 has two 14-round magazines and 1 15-round magazine. I'm not rushing out to buy more. I have what I need. And let me say this since one big complaint about the demise of the AWB is that hi-capacity magazines will again be available: The police say they don't want to be out-gunned by criminals with guns that have hi-cap magazines but the fact is that these mutants (criminals) will buy the magazines on the black-market and the cops should arm themselves accordingly. As a common subject of the government, I want the same ability to defend myself from these mutants. A phone call to 911 brings a response in about 20 minutes; I could be dead by then. I want the same Second-Amendment firepower as the criminals have.

A prediction!

The AWB will expire next week. While rare, some mutant will use one of the banned firearms to commit a crime and all the newspapers (the NY Times, WaPo, LA Times, et al) will use this as an excuse to decry the demise of the AWB and "how could Bush" let this happen? You wait and see...

Okay, this edition of the "Weekly Report" has been long on my blather and short on media bias but that's how it goes, sometimes.

One last article... Also from Indiana:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Monroe County Coroner David Toumey was hospitalized with a leg wound after accidentally shooting himself while trying to demonstrate gun safety.

Toumey told The Herald-Times for a story published today that he was demonstrating gun safety to some people at a Lake Monroe boat ramp about 11 p.m. Wednesday when he accidentally shot himself.

He said that as he checked to make sure his weapon was unloaded, the gun discharged, and a bullet struck him in his left leg.

"It's an unfortunate accident," Toumey said. "I've always been very, very safe."

Last I heard, no one in the NRA or any other gun organization or (for that matter) state sanctioned gun-safety gun organizations gives classes in gun safety at eleven o'clock at night on a boat ramp.

The following is only my opinion: Toumey was gathered with friends and decided to "show off" his gun and maybe he had had a couple drinks. What we do know is that he certainly didn't practice the FIRST RULE OF GUN SAFETY by keeping his firearm pointed in a safe direction.

Many of my friends know I carry. Every so often in some bar somewhere, one of them will ask me if I'm carrying and I admit that I am and then they say, "let me see it." My universal reply is, "No." That really bugs them. They want me to show them something that they consider as trivial as the latest photo of my niece.

I have a simple rule in my life that says that the only time I will show my carry gun is if I am about to actually use it. Period. I take firearm ownership VERY seriously. I don't carry to impress anyone or for "show and tell" and I consider it a true responsibilty to keep it hidden at all times. It exists and is carried for protection and for the purpose of that protection, well, that is the only reason it will be shown and used. If I draw my gun, I plan (and given the circumstances) am ready to use it. Period again. If someone wants to see my guns, I tell them to join me at the range on Thursday nights. When you own a car you have a responsibility to drive it correctly. With a firearm, you have that same -- maybe double -- the committment to act as an adult. A gun can be fun (target shooting) or needed (restraining order against a mutant ex) or just practical defense against the mutants and towel-heads that want to destroy us.

Toumey was (in my opinion) acting irresponsibly by "demonstrating" his gun and it's safety. He paid the price for not following proper safety precautions as taught by ANY pro-gun organization. He deserved his fate.

Check these out too:

It's not about guns but James R. Rummel expresses exactly how the mainstream media refuses to call a terrorist a "terrorist".

FreedomSight has the latest Weekly Fusillade up. Check it out.

True war heros don't need to brag about it. Road Sassy discusses JFK. Kerry doesn't have a clue!

Aubrey Turner has more on Kerry.

It's really late in the day and I better get this strange edition of the Weekly Report up. Thanks to all of you for stopping by!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at September 6, 2004 08:53 AM