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Kerry as "Threat to Gun Owners"

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Richard Newton

On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney told a convention of the NRA's Finest that, John Kerry would be a "threat" to gun owners if elected President.

That's interesting in that that was the same thing said about Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 and, as best I can remember, at no time during Bill Clinton's 8 years in office did anyone's gun get confiscated and, along the same lines, the only persons who were prevented from buying guns were those with histories of mental illness or a crime-ridden background. Indeed, one can argue that the Brady Law's provision to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill was so much fluff, given the thousands and thousands of guns bought and sold at gun shows.

At any rate, I would LIKE to believe that even a die-hard NRA'er would recall having been lied-to before about the dire consequences of having a Democrat in the White House and would take this next round of lies with the powder horn full of salt that such deserve. And I wonder, since Cheney's bragging these days about law enforcement's "upping" the prosecution rate of those who commit gun-related crimes, to what extent the NRA poobahs are growing antsy about the rising encroachment of those "jack-booted thugs" from the gummint on the lives of Joe & Jane Sixpack. Perhaps the NRA could ask the President's father to one of its next conclave to comment on those concerns . . .

A couple more thoughts that, to me, warrant explanation. First, how is it that Mr. Cheney is so wound-up on the notion of "pre-emptive war" on the other side of the world (so as to save American lives, so he says), but is so disdainful of crime prevention -- i.e., working like nobody's business to keep guns out of criminal and mentally unstable persons' hands so as to, hmmmm, save American lives? Did Iraq's non-existent WMDs really pose more of an imminent threat, a clear and present danger, than filling American streets with Mac 10s and AR-11s?

And speaking of Iraq, I am somewhat shocked that Mr. Cheney and his Administration are, ahem, not coming under fire from the NRA for what's going on in Iraq. As I understand it, the U.S. is using its military to try and take away assault rifles from Iraqi citizens. It seems to me that, at least according to NRA logic, the better armed Iraqis are, the safer place Iraq will be. Is there a double-standard going on here?

Richard Newton
Birmingham, Alabama
Gun Owner Since 1974

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION