BELLEVUE, WA – If the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating rapper Snoop Dogg’s armed bodyguards for violation of federal weapons laws, why isn’t the agency also snooping into Sen. Ted Kennedy’s armed security?
That’s the question being asked today by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA). Reports say ATF agents may present a case against the rapper’s bodyguards because it is a violation of federal law for a felon to possess guns or ammunition, or for anyone knowingly employed by a felon to carry a firearm or ammunition. Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was convicted on a serious drug charge in 1990.
“And that brings us around to Sen. Kennedy,” said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “On July 25, 1969, he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a crime, the fatal car crash at Chappaquiddick. That guilty plea under federal gun law not only disqualifies Kennedy from owning a firearm, it also prevents him from having an armed bodyguard.
“Kennedy has employed armed bodyguards in the past,” Waldron said. “Some years ago, Kennedy bodyguard Chuck Stein was arrested at the Russell Senate Office Building with a handgun, two submachine guns and 146 rounds of ammunition. In all fairness, it would seem that ATF agents might also investigate whether Kennedy continues to have armed bodyguards, unless, of course, they have gone to the Doggs.
“Snoop Dogg and Ted Kennedy not only have armed bodyguards in common,” Waldron observed, “they both have criminal convictions that disqualify them from owning firearms. That probably explains why Sen. Kennedy doesn’t want the rest of us to own a gun.
“But the potential that Kennedy may be violating a federal gun statute, for which he likely voted, is a serious question,” Waldron insisted. “ATF agents should verify whether Kennedy has armed security and take appropriate action. Sen. Kennedy has long been an advocate of equal justice for all, and now he can prove it by disclosing to the ATF if he has armed bodyguards. It would be a sad day, indeed, if a millionaire rap artist was subjected to a different standard than a millionaire politician.”