Saturday, May 21, 2011

Are Democrats Still Concerned With Guns... At All-- Even In The Hands Of Terrorists?

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Deranged right-wing gun shill and ex-rocker Ted Nugent was on CNN with Piers Morgan the other night to rant and rave about how much he hates President Obama:
"Anybody that wants to disarm me can drop dead. Anybody that wants to make me unarmed and helpless, people that want to literally create the proven places where more innocents are killed called gun-free zones, we're going to beat you. We're going to vote you out of office or suck on my machine gun."

When Morgan told him that 80 people across America die each day from a gunshot wound, Nugent obfuscated and started spouting hackneyed NRA talking points, "...78 of those 80 are let out of their cages by corrupt judges and prosecutors who know the recidivism is out of control, know that they'll commit the crimes again, and they let them walk through plea bargaining, early release, and programs. Kiss my ass. Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you have the highest crime rate... More guns equals less crime. Period."

A couple nights ago I went to hear Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, the thoughtful and independent-minded progressive running against rubber stamp Republican David Dreier in California's 26th CD in the L.A. suburbs just east of the city. When Anthony spoke passionately about the need for keeping guns out of the hands of criminals it occurred to me how few Democrats ever bring this up any longer. Yet his audience roared it's approval. The mindless hatred, fear-monger and commercial hucksterism of the Ted Nugents of this country has been going unanswered for too long. I was proud to hear Anthony pick up the challenge, regardless of the fact that gun advocate thugs have advocated the murder of him and his family. Another Democrat, on the other side of the side of the country, who's addressing sane gun policy as an issue in his campaign is Blue America-endorsed Nick Ruiz in central Florida. Last week Nick penned an editorial, Don't Need A Gun I want to share with you:
They always say that truth is stranger than fiction, and that is because fiction, largely, with a few relative and often literary exceptions, simply dramatizes the truth.

So when NRA darling, Republican Sandy Adams (FL-24) of Oviedo, Florida votes against a House Judiciary measure that would block those on the FBI’s watch list from buying guns, it should come as no surprise to Democrats. Such is the state of radical Republican disrepair. Are Republicans tough on terror? Yeah, sure, as long as it doesn’t interfere with selling guns, which is always-- so in other words, no, Republicans are not tough on terror or anything else-- except the poor and the unfortunate, who cannot adequately defend themselves.

It’s obvious to Democrats that federal law should be able to prevent a person from buying guns if that person is a terror suspect. It’s also a fact that the more guns a nation has, more murders and suicides as a result of gun sales will occur. The U.S. of course, is at the pinnacle of that list. In this regard, we outpace everyone.

On healthcare, we drag behind. On distribution of commodity necessities, we drag behind. On education, we drag behind. On jobs, we drag behind. On our social safety net, we drag behind.

But we sure know how to sell some guns.

According to the Orlando Sentinel-- “'Since 2004, over 1,300 persons on the terrorist watch list have been allowed to purchase firearms or explosives because federal law is so weak that being a known or suspected terrorist is not itself sufficient to prohibit someone from buying guns’ said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign, a gun control group, in a statement.”

Americans love our Second Amendment rights-- but this is ridiculous.

Sandy Adams of course, has nothing to say-- because she is wrong-- and voted against the gun control measure anyway. An America that allows gun sales to known or suspected terrorists to proceed unchecked by federal law, makes a mockery of justice and moral conscience.

America needs better gun policies-- put a progressive Democrat in Congress.

On his website, where Nick originally posted this, he illustrated it with a cool video clip of Billy Idol doing "Don't Need A Gun." Go take a listen here and please consider making a contribution to Nick's campaign, especially if you agree that law enforcement should keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. And, for your listening and viewing pleasure... here's a video of the Self Destruction Mix of Depeche Mode's "Barrel of A Gun."

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4 Comments:

At 7:21 AM, Anonymous Mr. Smug said...

Not that I'm a psychiatrist, but I'm fascinated by Ted Nugent's often stated fantasies of politicians, especially Obama, sucking on his machine gun. Nugent always displays extreme anger at the same time he expresses this fantasy. What are you really angry about, Ted? Is there something about yourself that you can't come to grips with? You've made a career of running around on stages in loin cloths and similar outfits, too. Even now, with your once beautiful long blonde hair, half gone and back to its natural color, you pose in your underwear with your phallic symbol guitars and guns. What are you really selling and who are your really trying to sell it to, Ted? Is all that animal killing just about your uneasiness? What are you trying to work out or push back on, Ted? Tell us, Teddy. Are you denying something?

 
At 12:21 PM, Anonymous me said...

Mr. Smug, you are on the money. The guy is a violent nutcase, that's for sure.

Perhaps if he would acknowledge his latent homosexuality, he might chill out a bit.

 
At 3:47 PM, Blogger Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

According to the Orlando Sentinel-- “'Since 2004, over 1,300 persons on the terrorist watch list have been allowed to purchase firearms or explosives because federal law is so weak that being a known or suspected terrorist is not itself sufficient to prohibit someone from buying guns’ said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign, a gun control group, in a statement.”

What Helmke carefully made sure not to talk about is the inconvenient little fact that of those "over 1,300 persons on the terrorist watch list" who purchased guns or explosives, he cannot name one--not a single damned ONE--who committed any violence with those guns/explosives.

But never mind that--we're trying to trample a Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right here, without a conviction, without an indictment, without even an arrest or formal charges--we sure as hell can't afford to bring facts into the discussion.

 
At 8:18 AM, Blogger Sebastian said...

It's funny, when Bush was crapping on people's constitutional rights in the name of the War on Terror, the left, quite properly in my opinion, called him out on it.

But I guess as long as it's not a constitutional right you care about then it's just fine if the Obama administration does it.

 

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