Yesterday was the 28th anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Also shot in the attempt were Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy, District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty, and President Reagan's Press Secretary, James S. Brady. Fortunately all four survived. Jim Brady suffered the most serious damage, but out of this dramatic incident came the Brady Law, enacted under President Bill Clinton 13 years after the shooting.
The Brady Law requires criminal and mental health background checks for gun purchasers at Federally licensed gun dealers. Since the law took effect in 1994, over 1.6 million dangerous people have been denied gun purchases at the point of sale.
My hat comes off to the folks over at the Brady Blog, who confront incredible resistance in order to carry their message of hope for a safer America. This resistance comes in many guises, not the least of which is the continual accusation on the part of pro gun folks that the Bradys are less than sincere, that they have ulterior motives, more sinister motives. It boggles the mind that anyone could find fault with an organization that can claim 1.6 million gun purchases denied due to their background checks.
What's your opinion? Do you remember those dramatic hours of Reagan's shooting? Do you think there might have been other Hinckleys among those 1.6 million? Do you think there are too many guns in the United States?
I wasn't alive then, and while I feel bad for Sarah Brady I still find her despicable.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that she almost lost someone does NOT excuse her actions in this crusade against all American citizens.
As far as the so called "effectiveness" of the Brady Law....
http://anothergunblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/effective-gun-laws.html
The KKK had resistance to their message for America as well, for the same reason the Brady's have such strong resistance to their message.
Thankfully the anti-gun, anti-rights, anti-freedom Brady Campaign is losing. They've lost an incredible amount of ground since 1993. I'll rejoice the day they fade entirely into obscurity.
Hey MikeB,
ReplyDeleteBefore you continually praise an organization you might want to know what they are doing.
From the Armed and Safe Blog:
(italics = original article, bold = ArmedandSafe)
On Monday, members of North Suburban Million Mom March, including group president Jennifer Bishop, appeared at Washington's office carrying anti-gun and anti-Washington signs, while looking for answers from the lawmaker.
Bishop, who works as an anti-gun lobbyist in Springfield, said Washington is the group's No. 1 target because the bill failed. She believes he, along with two other black legislators -- Rep. Chuck Jackson, Rockford, and Rep. Eddie Lee Jackson, East St. Louis -- didn't vote for the bill because of influence and contributions from the National Rifle Association.
And the Million Mom March is part of what organization???? Bueller?, Bueller? MikeB? MikeB?
That is right, the Brady Campaign.
The Washington referred to above is Representative Eddie Washington (D-60th District), who is about as far as possible from being "a pawn of the 'gun lobby.'" Rep. Washington did not vote "No" on HB 48, by the way--he voted "Present," but that was more than enough to incur the citizen disarmament lobby's wrath.
Bishop's group contends that a $3,000 donation last summer from International Union of Operating Engineer's Local 150 led to Washington's indecision, citing the group's has conservative members and its leaders ties to NRA.
So, to Jennifer Bishop's way of thinking, accepting money from a labor union with "conservative members," and which is led by someone with ties to the NRA, is the same as taking money from the NRA, and allowing one's votes to be swayed by that money.
Does the MMM (like the KKK) offer any proof of wrong doing? Do they offer a shred of evidence to suggest any inappropriate actions? Nope. NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE BUT YET WE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO CALL THEM AND PEOPLE LIKE THEM (YOU) LIARS, EH?
And we should trust organizations seeking to remove our rights, why?
MikeB,
ReplyDeleteDo you think there might have been other Hinckleys among those 1.6 million? Do you think there are too many guns in the United States?
Why not ask if there are too many rocks in the United States?
The point is that guns, like rocks, are inanimate objects, the firearms do not act on their own.
It doesn't matter if there is one, one hundred, or one hundred million; not a single firearm gets up and commits a crime on its own.
That is why efforts like your and the other anti-freedom groups will always fail; you focus on inanimate objects.
Why not focus on the criminal?
Can you deny that most criminals who use firearms have a long history of criminal activity?
Can you deny that there are areas where the violence is more prevalent and that the people who live in those areas are more likely to commit crimes?
(Regardless of the state, the race, socio-economic status and location of the criminal matter more then gun control laws...that has been proven over and over again.)
Why are you so afraid to tackle the issue of WHO is committing the crimes?
Why are you so afraid to tackle the issue that 90% of all violent crime doesn't involve a firearm?
I remember the shooting. It broke the 0 factor curse where all US presidents serving in office in a year ending in a 0, died in office.
ReplyDeleteThe sales of the movie, Taxi Driver, skyrocketed as a result of the shooting.
Reagan was shot by a nutcase with a handgun in the city with the toughest handgun laws in the country while being guarded by the most elite protection force on the planet.
ReplyDeleteSo how do those silly gun laws work again? Oh yeah. They don't in the least.
while I feel bad for Sarah Brady I still find her despicable.
ReplyDeleteDespicable? If you use this word to denigrate Sarah Brady, what the hell term would you use on Saddam Hussein or OBL?
Despicable. You sure have your priorities screwed!
Don't forget that the MMM folded into the Brady Campaign because they were under investigation for tax fraud.
ReplyDeleteNever mind that even had Washington voted for the bill, it still wouldn't have passed because the anti's lost enough votes compared to last years identical bill that it didn't matter.
"Don't forget that the MMM folded into the Brady Campaign because they were under investigation for tax fraud."
ReplyDeleteYou guys are worse than a sewing circle when you get together. (anyone recognize that line?)
MikeB,
ReplyDeleteSorry but the reputation of an organization is important.
Do they tell the truth in all things, taxes or not.
Here we have the MMM having to fold because they weren't being truthful on their taxes.
If they lie about that, what else do they lie about?
Hmm, maybe that applies elsewhere. You've lied about several things here, are you lying about others?
Maybe location, marital status, etc?
Why do you think they encounter 'resistance'? Could it be because they're using lies and deception to push their agenda?
ReplyDeleteOf course the fact that they not only shut down comments on their blog but deleted all the previous ones debunking their nonsense says alot to their integrity.
Mud Rake said:
ReplyDelete"Despicable? If you use this word to denigrate Sarah Brady, what the hell term would you use on Saddam Hussein or OBL?"
Despicable is a good word for her or anyone that is a blatant enemy of the United States and the U.S. Constitution.
Thirdpower, the anti-gun crowd does not use "lies and deception to push their agenda" any more than you do. It's called very simply, disagreeing, it's called passionately arguing, and your side dishes it out plenty. One difference I personally try to maintain is to not spend most of my time and effort pointing fingers at you guys and calling you liars. The Brady's do their share of that, I admit, but I think they'd be better off without it. It's negative campaigning or mud-slinging. Remember that video they posted a couple weeks ago where the NRA guy made such a fool of himself by saying "the ones with the guns make the rules?"
ReplyDeleteMikeB,
ReplyDeleteIt appears that once again the anti-freedom, pro-ignorance gun banners like yourself have been caught in a complete LIE
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."
-- William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."
There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one:
It's just not true.
In fact, it's not even close. By all accounts, it's probably around 17 percent.
Wow, who would have thought it wasn't true -- pro-freedom, pro-rights folks, that's who.
So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:
-- The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.
-- Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico.
- South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress.
-- Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico.
-- The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.
-- Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America's cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town.
Imagine that...Mexican cartels mostly purchasing firearms through international sources instead of the 6,600 FFLs on the border. Is there some smuggling going on, yes...but it is very small potatoes by comparison and probably more the small time criminals mostly.
The exaggeration of United States "responsibility" for the lawlessness in Mexico extends even beyond the "90-percent" falsehood -- and some Second Amendment activists believe it's designed to promote more restrictive gun-control laws in the U.S.
In a remarkable claim, Auturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., said Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States -- 730,000 a year. That's a far cry from the official statistic from the Mexican attorney general's office, which says Mexico seized 29,000 weapons in all of 2007 and 2008.
Ready to apologize MikeB for lying and repeating lies?
Good thing Australia has such great gun control laws...if they didn't, she might have shot him.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australian-woman-killed-man-over-her-barking-dog-1659429.html
A Sydney woman was found guilty today of fatally stabbing a neighbour who complained about her barking dog.
A New South Wales Supreme Court jury convicted Katrina Megan Whitmore, 26, after two days of deliberations.
Joseph Durrant, 47, was on his way home from Australia Day celebrations on the morning of 27 January, 2007, when he argued with Whitmore in her yard about her dog. Prosecutors said Whitmore threatened Durrant then attacked him with a knife.
"She does say that she told people not to speak to her dog like that," prosecutor Chris Maxwell told the court.
A witness told the court he was at a party next door when he saw Whitmore run down her driveway brandishing a knife.
"Katrina was standing behind the guy (who was) on the ground trying to get up," said witness Adam Duncan. "He got up (and I'm) pretty sure Katrina stabbed him in the neck."
Whitmore has acknowledged there was a struggle but denied wielding a knife.
She will be sentenced on 29 May.
Co-accused Steven Spiro Sotiropoulos, who was involved in the fight and charged alongside Whitmore, was found not guilty of murder
Calls for tighter knife control laws from MikeB in 5...4...3...2....1.........................? MikeB?? MikeB? Anyone? Anyone?
Sure only our side doesn't get caught in our lies...100% of the time.
ReplyDeleteWe're not truthfull we're just statistically impossibly lucky.
Tell us another one, Mikey!
Sorry MikeB. The lies and misdirections have been sourced multiple times. The VPC even admits You just choose to ignore it.
ReplyDeleteTrace Data, Assault Weapons, Mexico.
The list goes on.
Yes I do remember that video. I'm sure you've only seen the portion that the Brady Campaign posted on Huffpo.
What he said then and what he says now...
ReplyDeleteTom Diaz during the Congressional hearings on Mexico, calling for stricter regulation of US firearms:
US and Mexican officials report that, based on ATF tracing data, the cartels get between 90 percent and 95 percent of their firearms from the United States.
Yet when that number is revealed to a complete fabrication his tune changes:
But Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, called the "90 percent" issue a red herring and said that it should not detract from the effort to stop gun trafficking into Mexico.
So it went from "US is supplying guns so we need to tighten the laws" to "It doesn't matter where the guns come from, we need to tighten the laws".
There is no integrity in the gun control movement.
http://daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-he-said-then-and-what-he-says-now.html
Third, I don't think it adds up to proving no integrity. The 90% sounds wrong now. I admit I can easily be swayed back to the side of the argument that says the arms comes from international sellers for the most part. But, that doesn't mean none comes from the U.S. What would the accurate amount be? It still might be too much. The position of Diaz and Clinton could be the same.
ReplyDeleteMikeB,
ReplyDeleteBut, that doesn't mean none comes from the U.S. What would the accurate amount be?
No one is claiming that NO firearms are being smuggled, just who is involved.
You smeared a law abiding gun dealer Iknadasion and all the others as being involved in the gun smuggling.
To back it up, the statistic was used 90% coming from America.
I can let you off the hook, a little, for not knowing better. But the folks in the Brady Campaign and others should know better then to use a false number.
When they continue to use it, and when they continue to change their story; then it because a lie.
Ask yourself "What purpose did it serve to use a number that was obviously incorrect?"
Using just the common sense that you value so highly, did it make sense for the drug cartels to smuggle guns over the border in small quantities or buy huge quantities from international sources and smuggle them in?
What purpose did the lie serve?
I see the Brady's published the 90% claim again. But they source it from here:
ReplyDelete"ATF acting director Michael Sullivan said investigators have traced 90 to 95% of the weapons found in Mexico to the U.S."
So, I don't know. I admit the argument for the international arms sellers providing the majority of weapons needed to wage a full-blown war is compelling. But, isn't it still a question of opinion and interpretation rather than lying and deceiving? Why is it always the same with you guys? Your facts and stats and figures are irrefutable but ours are lies.
Besides, why would the ATF lie? Doesn't it make them look bad? Wouldn't blaming it on international gun dealers take some of the heat off the lousy job they, the ATF do?
MikeB,
ReplyDeleteThe ATF isn't lying, you just need to look at what they are saying and compare that to what the politicians and the pro-ignorance groups are saying....and decide who is lying.
I'll give you a hint, it isn't the ATF.
If you would bother to read the links, the evidence provided you would see the truth.
What's true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director, "is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S."
Now, I'll work through this for you since you are having trouble with the concept. Try to follow long, I'll use small words.
Mexican drug cartels smuggle guns from all over, mostly China, Korea, other Latin America Countries and some from the USA.
Now, most of those arms aren't required to be produced with an individual serial number (individual-that is a number which matches to one and only one firearms)
So, big number of guns are seized (police take them), many guns have no serial numbers. Since the USA requires every gun to have it's own serial number, most of the guns aren't from America.
Still with me?
Now, some do have serial numbers, those may be from America. America has sold though the government (sorry, the people in Washington who are supposed to work for us)to foreign countries. These sales are approved through the State Department, the Defense Department to legitimate governments and companies all over the world.
Still here....many guns approved for sale by politicos, right?
Now Mexico does not provide all the information on all the guns to our government. Out of the very, very very small number they do give us information on....some of those are traced successfully.
Note the ATF doesn't tell us how many aren't successfully traced. Just that out of the ones traced successfully, 90% of those come from America.
Now let's recap: Many guns sold, many captured, very small percentage of those have serial numbers, some of those serial numbers are sent to the USA. Some percentage --- note we don't know how many aren't successfully traced--are traced successfully.
Now, the ATF didn't lie, just carefully phrased its statement to make it look worse for America.
Ask yourself why the ATF won't say how many weren't traced successfully.
Now. Here is the truth from Foxnews
In fact, it's not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.
Now, this has been known. Heck, we gunnies have been talking about it for weeks.....and the day after the Foxnews article Paul Helmke is still repeating the lie.....Why?
I don't think anyone really knows what the exact number is. Whether is's 17% or 90% is not the point. The point is it's too many. If the Brady's are continuing to word the idea carefully in order to best make their point, that's not lying any more than what you yourselves do. So get off it, will ya?
ReplyDeleteMikeB,
ReplyDeleteWow, you've really have drank the koolaid as the expression goes.
I don't think anyone really knows what the exact number is. Whether is's 17% or 90% is not the point. The point is it's too many.
While you don't think anyone knows...obviously someone does because the number was reported and backed up with verifiable information. That is the difference MikeB...verifiable information.
You've got all the pat, insincere answers done to cover the lies
If the Brady's are continuing to word the idea carefully in order to best make their point, that's not lying any more than what you yourselves do. So get off it, will ya?
So, when the pro-ignorance side gets caught in a lie, it's "continuing to word the idea carefully in order to best make their point"....MikeB - IF IT ISN"T THE TRUTH, IT IS A LIE.
The truth can be worded carefully to make a point but it is still the truth. Helmke repeated the 90% LIE after the truth came out.
Even if they FoxNews report hadn't busted the lie...we had.
The ATF NEVER CLAIMED, to my knowledge, that 90% of all firearms came from AMERICA. To say that the ATF claimed that is a LIE.
Why are you supporting lies?
ATF says 17%, Brady's say 90%, that means the Brady's are LYING Mike.
ReplyDeleteI know it must really hurt you to admit that your beloved Paul Helmke is a serial liar.