Gephardt, Kucinich Lead Fight Against Assault Weapons

[Karmadillo]

http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,567203,00.html

Washington, DC - Congressmen Richard Gephardt (D-MO) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) have co-sponsored H.R. 2038, a bill that will renew and strengthen the federal assault weapons ban. Their support comes one year after the DC-area sniper attacks, which killed 10 and wounded three others. The legislation would stop the gun industry from manufacturing and marketing all assault weapons, including the snipers' Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle.

Though other presidential candidates have stated their support for a strengthened assault weapons ban, Reps. Gephardt and Kucinich are the only two to co-sponsor such legislation. The current ban is set to expire September 13, 2004 unless President Bush and Congress act.

"Congressmen Gephardt and Kucinich are leaders in the fight to rid America's streets of military-style assault weapons once and for all," said Joshua Horwitz, Executive Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "We hope that other candidates will follow suit and co-sponsor tough and effective assault weapons ban legislation."

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[el_gato]

1. bad move

bad move

[Resistance Is Futile]

17. Ditto

With all the con wingnuts blabering about wanting to kill liberals, a weapons ban would not be a good idea about now--self defense and all.

[morebunk]

2. Poor Dennis...he's the right man for President...all the more reason

why he won't even get the nomination. I would love to see Kucinich/Bradley ticket.

[Voltaire99]

6. Me, too!

How disturbing to see Dennis barely given a chance to speak at last night's debate, reduced to waving his hand like a school child trying to get Woodruff's attention while yet another question went to John "Lurch" Kerry.

Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad.

[-..__...]

3. One more reason not to vote for Kucinich.

Ditto for Gephardt. I know the other candidates have expressed some support for extending the AWB,
but taking it a step further and co-sponsoring the bill is inexcusable.

[wuushew]

4. I applaud their courage

However I feel a national ballistics database would be a better use of government time and money. (And restoring the waiting period to the pre-Ashcroftian level).

[IndianaGreen]

7. I condemn their stupidity

If there is anything we can learn from the Iraq experience is that a well armed citizenry is the best safeguard against tyranny and foreign occupation.

Why should the rightwing be the only ones that are armed?

[NickB79]

15. A ballistics database is impossible

It sounds like a nice idea, but is pretty much impossible to impliment. A firearm "fingerprint" is a misnomer: it is far from being like a fingerprint. A gun's barrel will change with firing; after few years of use the fingerprint can change. Secondly, there are over 200 MILLION guns in the US right now. It would cost BILLIONS to fingerprint each one, and they would have to be refingerprinted every few hundred to few thousand rounds to stay up-to-date. Finally, it would not be hard to file the barrel to change the profile, and smoothbore guns like shotguns can't even be fingerprinted to begin with because they leave no marks on the round when fired.

[twilight]

5. keep on asking questions and doing good work!!

Dennis J. Kucinich for President in 2004!!!!!


Every single person makes a difference!!!!


:dem:

[JohnKleeb]

8. Why are some pissed off by this

I think handguns and rifles should be legal to buy but assault weapons you gotta be kidding me.

[demdave]

9. I own at least three of the guns they want to outlaw.

I target shoot with them, the Bushmaster is very accrate. I also plink at extended ranges. This is a relaxation I enjoy. These 2 will get no vote of mine. The field has just been whittled.

[NickB79]

14. XM-15's are NOT assault rifles

In the strictest sense, a firearm must be capable of "select-fire" (meaning being able to flip between full automatic or semi-automatic) to be classified as a true assault rifle. These guns were all but outlawed in 1934, almost 70 yrs ago! The 1994 AWB banned rifles that had mainly cosmetic features that have little to do with their functioning (such as flash hiders, pistol grips and bayonet lugs), and can only be considered assault rifles in a much looser sense of the word. This current batch of guns are not even covered by the 1994 AWB because they met all the requirements to be legal under it. They are NOT fully automatic, nor can they be easily converted over to full-auto fire (and doing so is already illegal). They do NOT fire a "high-power" rifle round; the .223 Rem/5.56mm round fired by the XM-15 and other AR-15 rifles has only 1/3 the power of a .308 or .30-06 deer rifle round. It is actually illegal in most states to even hunt deer with the .223 round, it is considered too weak to be an effective deer round. Finally, these guns retail for $1000+ each. How many gang members purchase such expensive rifles when a cheap $100 pistol can be found much more easily and is much more concealable? This looks good to those who imagine every gang-banger is running around with machineguns in their pants, but does very little to affect crime in the real world.

Can you tell me how a semi-auto deer rifle or shotgun like a Browning BAR, Rem 7400 or Rem 1100 slug gun differs from a semi-auto XM-15 or AR-15 functionally? Why should it be illegal to buy an XM-15 when a BAR or 7400 works in exactly the same way?

[FlemingsGhost]

10. I don't know... we might just need them soon.

All those "terrorists" about, you know.

[FlemingsGhost]

11. Dupe

Mods, please remove if you are so inclined.

[-..__...]

12. Before this one is locked...

Please provide a link to the other thread.

[FlemingsGhost]

13. No, No! My post was displayed twice. (check the times)

I noticed it was the first post all day to include my Avatar icon. I think that had something to with it...

[Eat_The_Rich]

16. The current assault weapon ban is a joke

There are so many holes in the current law. I know people who import the rifles after they have been cut up, literally, by metal saws, and then they weld them back together. And its all legal. As far as I can tell, the only thing the current ban prohibits, are on the rifles that you can fix a bayonet (at least in Minnesota). You can go to any web site that sells rifles and purchase a semi automatic SAR-1 with a 40 round clip. And they say there is an assault weapon ban in effect? Granted, you cannot make these weapons fully automatic simply by modifying the trigger (you have to have a "timer" so the firing pin does not release prematurely on the next round). But then again it is my birthday and I'm drunk.