The assault weapons ban is set to expire, and Tom DeLay and cronies are evidently raring to bust a few caps in celebration:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=1&u=/nm/20040908/pl_nm/congress_gu
ns_dc
Police officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that dangerous assault weapons will flood U.S. streets if the ban on those guns expires next week but Republican congressional leaders expressed no concerns about letting the restriction lapse.
"I think the will of the American is consistent with letting it expire, and so it will expire," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told reporters.
Asked why Congress wanted to legalize the military-style weapons again when public opinion polls found broad public support for keeping them illegal, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican said, "We don't do things by polls."
Nor logic. Nor common sense. Nor, certainly, compassion. But I do love the, um, inconsistency between the kindly doctor's quote and that of Congressman Insecticide...
Honestly, I wouldn't expect anything else from the psychopaths who lead Republican Jihad, particularly DeLay (though this does remind me to kick in some more change for Richard Morrison).
What I'm wondering, though, is whether Kerry can use this: TV ads with cops, police union surrogates, even vets getting in front of cameras to say, "George Bush claims he's interested in safeguarding the everyday security of Americans. But when it came time to make a choice between keeping deadly weapons out of the hands of criminals and even suspected terrorists, and caving in to a special-interest group for their re-election endorsement, George Bush stood with the National Rifle Association. John Kerry stands with Americans, and as president one of his first priorities will be to reinstate the assault weapons ban."
I know that Clinton has chalked up Al Gore's "loss" in part to the determined opposition of the NRA, and I think this move signals as clearly as anything that Bush is more interested in mobilizing the true believers than playing to the center. Is this a risky issue for Kerry to take on? Should this be a focus of advertising and stump speaking?
I want to hear what others think, but I say it should be. We're not talking about banning rifles here, or even handguns; most people intuitively grasp that there just aren't many peaceable or recreational uses for anything that can fire 200 rounds a minute. He has to hit back here.