THE ILLOGICAL JOHN KERRY

"John Wayne Kerry has unveiled his new counter-terrorism initiative. Naturally, it's a panacea liberals have been pushing for the past 40 years: gun control. Kerry claims George W. Bush is soft on al-Qaeda, et al., because the president didn't twist congressional arms to get an extension of the so-called assault weapons ban, which expired on Monday. 'Today George Bush chose to make the job of terrorists easier and to make the job of America's police officers harder,' Kerry squawked...

Try to imagine the following scenario: Abu Jihad al-Slay-the-Infidels saunters into a gun shop and asks to buy a military-style assault weapon - say one with a menacing pistol grip or a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds. (Are these weapons of choice of holy warriors the world over?) Now, thanks to Bush's alleged caving to the gun lobby, he can get one by snapping his fingers. But prior to September 14th, when blocked from legally purchasing a TEC-9 by the ban, he presumably muttered Arabic obscenities, sulked and turned to peaceful protest. Only a Democratic presidential candidate would ask us to believe something so improbable.

In a 1993 letter to a constituent, Kerry confessed: "It is certainly true that many criminals do not obtain handguns through legal means; thus waiting periods do nothing to prevent them from getting guns." So, waiting periods won't stop common criminals who get their pieces illegally, but crafty and fanatical terrorists (hardly law-abiding citizens) were supposedly thwarted by the recently expired prohibition.

More here




GUNS AND THE AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS

Tim Lambert has a post about the efforts of Australian shooters to get guns on the agenda for the Australian Federal election on October 9th. I reproduce it in full (but without links) below. I think they are pissing into the wind myself. Australia's conservative government is very anti-gun and the Labor party opposition are only marginally better. Australia does not however have a violent black and Hispanic underclass so guns are less needed for personal protection here

"A commenter on my earlier post on John "I hate guns" Howard wondered: "If Latham wins, will the public generally credit this issue?" Some shooters have a plan to try to make it an issue:

You Can Send John Howard And Canberra A Message From NSW Shooters

*Stop victimising sporting shooters
*Crime control, not gun control
*Stop confiscations and buybacks
*Restore our rights

In this election the Coalition of Law Abiding Sporting Shooters is standing candidates under the Outdoor Recreation Party banner to send a message to Canberra about gun laws. All candidates are sporting shooters standing on a pro-shooting platform. A vote for the Outdoor Recreation Party, in this election, is a vote for shooters rights.

In the Senate (Upper House): Vote 1 Outdoor Recreation Party above the line. Preferences will help to keep out a Green.

In the House of Representatives (Lower House): Vote 1 Outdoor Recreation Party in Eden-Monaro, Greenway, Page and Dobell, and then put Labor ahead of the Liberals and Nationals, Democrats and Greens. Preferences directed this way will help to drive a wedge between the parties and break down their anti-gun bias.

Will their plan work? Well, I don't think they'll get that much support in the urban seats, but in Eden-Monaro and Page they have a chance of getting a decent number of votes. You can bet that the major parties will be looking very closely at where those preferences go. Both seats are very merginal so even a couple of percent of the vote could make the difference. If they do cost Howard two seats, it will certainly discourage what plans he may have for further gun bans, even if he wins the election".