Leading REPUBLICAN to intro new strict gun control legislation

[hlthe2b]

Peter King, Leading Republican, To Introduce Strict Gun-Control Legislation
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/11/peter-king-strict-gun-control_n_807323.html

Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official, according to a person familiar with the congressman's intentions.

King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The proposed law follows the Saturday shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and a federal judge that left six dead, including the judge, and 14 wounded.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the nation's most outspoken gun-control advocates, is backing King's measure and is expected to put the weight of his pro-gun-control organization behind it.

more at the link

[el_bryanto]

1. Yep - because that would have stopped Lougher

"Damn I want to shoot all those people, killing them, but I'm not allowed to carry a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official. I guess i'll go volunteer to read to old poeple instead."

Bryant

[savalez]

9. I'm sure the law would allow for measures to be taken to ensure

that someone does not bring a gun within 1000 feet. Profiling, searches, metal detectors etc.

[Exultant Democracy]

13. I'm for gun control but this law seems silly. Are we going to have someone following

board of education members around with measuring tape? I'm more then certain that their are plenty of BOE members who get death threats, local politics brings out the loonies just as much as national politics.

[sharp_stick]

2. I wonder what he would consider a Government official

I mean in any town it may be tough to avoid people from the local town council or school board. Would they shut down the local gun range to all but the State Rep. who wants to fire off a few rounds to center in his new deer rifle?

I think there may be a serious mental deficiency in members of congress that go by the name of King. Between Peter (puke-NY) and Steve (puke-IA) you'd have a tough time getting an IQ to match a comfortable room temperature.

[vi5]

3. Sorry, Dems don't do gun control any more....

It was really the first of many typically core Democratic issues that were thrown overboard in order to go more "centrist" and "reach across the aisle". It's been a long time since any Dem dared touch that one, even if they actually believed in it.

Let's hope all the other core Democratic/Liberal issues that our leaders have abandoned since then in their race to see who can be more "moderate" don't end up biting us in the ass.

[el_bryanto]

4. Actually there is a Democratic bill to be introduced as well

Has zero chance of going anywhere, but it would cut back on large capacity magazines? Which seems like an actual approach to dealing with this tragedy.

"Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., announced plans to introduce legislation to ban the type of high-capacity magazines used by the shooter, Jared Loughner."

http://www.salon.com/news/gabrielle_giffords/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/11/gun_control_dead

Bryant

[vi5]

7. I should have clarified....

"most Dems"

McCarthy has always been a staunch gun control advocate.

[Arkana]

5. In a world where the economy is self-destructing, 40 million people

are without health care, and we are mired in the Middle East in a war we cannot win, I don't think gun control is a front-burner issue.

[vi5]

6. Not everything has to be "front burner"....

And they abandoned this issue long before most of those other issues happened.

I'm not even saying I'm adamantly pro gun control myself. But there's no doubt it was the first issue that was typically a core liberal stance (opposition to the death penalty is the other one that followed soon after gun control) that the Democratic party in large measure decided to abandon because it wasn't politically expedient for them to stand up for it.

And you know what? At the time I sort of understood it. Even though I was and probably still am somewhat pro-gun control and anti-death penalty, I somewhat understood why they threw those overboard or at least laid low on them. Unfortunately it's quite obvious now that those 2 issues were hardly the last ones to get the old heave-ho in the mad rush for "electability" or whatever other rationale there was and now abandoning core democratic principles for the sake of electability has become like crack for too many in our party.

And one little correction: Apparently there aren't 40 million people without health care because healthcare reform fixed that. At least that's what I'm told.

[nyc 4 Biden]

8. You're right...

Lets stop working on all the other issues that aren't important like education, infrastructure, immigration, etc. i think gun control is a front-burner issue for those who were killed and wounded in Tucson.

p.s. on an unrelated note, peter king is an a**hole, even if I do agree with this proposal.

[chimpymustgo]

10. That would actually be an interesting thread: listing the once-bedrock issues of the party that

been thrown under the bus.

[vi5]

12. We don't have enough bandwidth. (N/T)

[slackmaster]

11. Unconstitutional, just like the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act_of_1990