Alphecca

Dem's View: Guns Bad, Pedos' Good

Curious story -- actually two for one -- yesterday from the AP. It starts out with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist playing hardball with the bill to shield gun makers and dealers from most frivolous lawsuits:

Until lawmakers vote on a top-priority gun rights bill, nothing else happens in the Senate. And that includes Congress' prized monthlong vacation.

That's the way Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has toughened up his style in the final days before the August break was to begin, learning from last year to leave no room for gun control advocates to derail legislation limiting lawsuits against the gun industry.

Frist, R-Tenn., used Senate parliamentary procedures Wednesday to keep Democrats from dooming the measure with an amendment that would offend the National Rifle Association.

But critics said that the bill goes much further and would prevent action even against distributors who supply guns to criminals. They said it would halt lawsuits by policemen shot on the job or families who lost loved ones to the 2002 Washington-area snipers.

"The real effect of this bill would be to prevent victims of gun violence from pursuing even obviously valid claims in state or federal courts," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.

But then, let's go back to the AP story for a moment because there was a "second part" to it dealing with sex offenders:

States would have to have uniform Web sites for registering sex offenders and establish new mandatory minimum prison sentences for crimes against children under a bill approved Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee.

But majority Republicans barely beat back an effort by Democrats on the panel to delete a provision that would establish a minimum five-year prison sentence for convicted sex offenders who fail to register their whereabouts with authorities.

Democrats called the measure too harsh, saying it could apply to a person who had been convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said a person could end up serving more time in prison for failing to report than for the actual crime committed. "That doesn't make any sense at all," he said.

However, Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., said failing to register undermines a key weapon against sex offenders — knowledge of where they're residing. "It is, in my view, a very serious offense," he said.

And proving that that is their logic, we see that they don't want to impose mandatory jail sentences for sex offenders who fail to register their whereabouts. Perhaps they would rather blame or file suit against the mattress company that was used in the original crime...

I'll tell you this much: Start looking for a rash of suits against beer and liquar companies. It isn't the drunk, it's the booze.