“Ten years of deception finally is
over,†declared CCRKBA Chairman
Alan M. Gottlieb early last month as
the decade-old ban on production of
certain semiautomatic firearms came
to an end. Passed in 1994, the law
did not ban possession of so-called
“assault rifles,†but merely prevented
the continued production of such
firearms, based solely on cosmetic
features, not caliber or function.
“The ban, in a nutshell, was one of
the greatest hoaxes perpetrated by
anti-gunners on the American public
in the history of this nation,†Gottlieb
stated. ‘Studies by the Centers for
Disease and Control, and for the
National Institute of Justice, strongly
suggest the ban had a negligible
effect, if any, on crime.â€
“Neighborhood Watch – Protected
by .357†proclaimed a huge,
home-made sign posted by Mark
Silverman of Punta Gorda, Florida
during the August arrival of Hurricane
Charley. The New York Times in mid-
August ran a photo of Mark posing
next to his sign. “I’m not kidding
about this,†The Times quoted him
as declaring. It also reported that,
“he would get no argument from
Bob Holloway, a resident of Windmill
Village trailer park, heavily damaged
by Hurricane Charley, who patrolled
there with a shotgun the other night.â€
Bob and Mark and a number of other
people were protecting their property.
“Almost as soon as the hurricane
had passed through,†reported The
Times, “some two dozen of the trailer
park’s residents, some carrying shotguns
or other weapons, organized
themselves into a makeshift security
squad, patrolling the dark streets,
monitoring the perimeter and taking
note of every person who tried to
enter the community.â€
What a difference a party makes!
The official 2004 Democratic National
Platform declares, “We will protect
Americans’ Second Amendment
right to own firearms,†by, “reauthorizing
the assault weapons ban, and
closing the gun show loophole.†The
official 2004 Republican National
Platform endorses the right to own
firearms, says the “best way†to deter
crime is to enforce existing gun
laws and hand out tough penalties
to those who commit crimes with a
gun, and opposes creating a national
gun registry.
In California, Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed into law AB
50 banning .50 caliber BMG rifles.
Truly disappointed gun rights activists
in the Golden State maintain that
the firearm has not been used in a
crime in the State, which now is the
first state to ban the rifles. Elated,
Tom Diaz, Senior Policy Analyst of
the anti-gun Violence Policy Center,
said, “California has once again
confirmed its status as a bellwether
state in preventing gun violence…
We look forward to other states,
and eventually the U.S. Congress,
following its lead.â€
Regular Americans should be allowed
to carry concealed handguns,
have access to the kind of firearms
used by foot soldiers and could even
help in the war against terrorists,
U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes
in Illinois said in August while slamming
his opponent on a gun-related
issue. Keyes joined Illinois State
Sen. Ed Petka, who holds a CCRKBA
Gun Rights Defender of the Month
Award, in chiding Illinois State Sen.
Barack Obama, the Chicago Democrat
running against Keyes, for not
supporting legislation to exonerate
home owners who shoot intruders
in defiance of local handgun bans.
The self-defense measure passed
the General Assembly this spring but
was vetoed this summer by Governor
Rod Blagojevich.
In Canada, more than a million
guns remain unregistered, a year and
a half after a registration deadline,
according to a document released
by the Canada Firearms Centre. The
total number of valid firearm license
holders who still had not registered
a firearm by late August stood at a
“whopping†406,834, reported the
Sun Media. The Centre document
showed that 620,000 firearms remain
to be re-registered and that, “there
are more than 78,000 applications
to register or re-register caught in
processing or a backlog of the Firearms
Information System.â€
