Year: 2008

As much as Bryan Miller might want to use the death of a police officer as a segue into attacking one of his pro-gun commenters, I tend to find it to be as repugnant as what he accuses VeroFeritas of.  I’d rather not make a political issue of what happened to Bryan Miller’s brother, but I’m not the one who has done that.  It’s Bryan that has chosen to bring that personal tragedy into the public light and use it to promote a political position.  I’m not condeming that, because all sides of the debate do this.  It’s not just anti-gunners, we do this too.  But it seems to be rather disingenuous to bring your tragedy into the political area, and use it to stump for your position, while crying foul when others bring it up in support of a position in contra to yours.

But that’s not the real issue here, while I have no doubt that Mr. Miller’s sympathy for the family of Officer Liczbinski is genuine, I’m going to suggest that we not use this incident as political fodder for one position or another.  Let the family grieve.  There will be plenty of time to argue over the politics later.  At this point, the right thing to do is keep the Liczbinski family in our thoughts and prayers.

Obama and Snuffy, perfect together.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

I don’t want to muzzle common sense, but I can’t believe The Morning Call printed this drivel:

The colonists didn’t need a Second Amendment to possess guns. They had guns! In sparsely settled areas of Pennsylvania like Carbon County, they had to be ready for attacks from the native Americans. Settlers in Tamaqua and Lehigh Gap were killed. The Lehighton Cemetery bears witness to the massacre of 11 Moravian missionaries at their Gnaden Huetten settlement. Guns were needed for protection from the bears and the wolves. Sharpshooters provided wild game for much-needed protein for their families.

But, times have changed. Two hundred and sixteen years ago, there was not the terrible crime rate that exists today. Criminals, gang members and the mentally impaired can get their hands on a variety of weapons. Our society is burdened with too many sick individuals who do not value life. They will kill a human being as easily as they would swat a fly.

Let me get this straight.  We needed guns years ago to protect against all this violence, but today we don’t need guns because we have all this violence?  If this is the kinds of arguments that the gun control folks come up with, I’m feeling pretty good about the future of our second amendment rights.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is responsible for three sensible laws that shouldn’t be negated by the Supreme Court. The 1968 Gun Control Act lists the kind of individuals that should never be allowed to buy or own guns.

God damn.   It seems Paul Helmke has been time traveling around with Ronnie Barrett if The Brady Campaign is responsible for the Gun Contorl Act of 1968, which happened six years before the National Council to Ban Handguns was created, which became Handgun Control Inc. in 1980, and which finally became the Brady Campaign and Brady Center in 2001.  I’m an NRA member, and even I know more about Brady’s history than the clown who wrote this editorial.

The most sickening setback to gun control was the failure of Congress and President Bush to renew the ban on assault weapons. Now there are hundreds of ads for machine guns, large-capacity magazines, and ammunition on the Internet.

Really?  That’s funny, because the 1986 machine gun ban is still in full effect.  Not that the gun side doesn’t have our share of ignorant grass roots who can’t make a coherent and factual argument, but at least they aren’t writing editorials!  Time to send off a letter to the editor to expose this fraud.