March 3, 2004

“…So the taskmasters and the foremen of the

    people went out and said to the people,

   ‘ Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

   Go yourselves, get your straw wherever you can

   find it; but your work will not be lessened in the

   least.’ “ So the people were scattered abroad

   throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble

   for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying,

   ‘ Complete your work, your daily task, as when

   there was straw.’ And the foremen of the people

   of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set

   over them, were beaten, and were asked, ‘ Why

   have you not done all your task of making bricks

   today, as hitherto?...’ “

 

                        -Exodus 5:10-14, from the Oxford

                         Annotated Bible, Revised Standard

                         Version

 

 

“…Recorded Vote SA-2619, the Amendment to ban

    certain kinds of “armor piercing” ammunition:

 

    Yeas—34

    Akaka (D-HI), Bayh (D-IN), Biden (D-De),

    Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Cantwell (D-WA)

    Carper (D-DE), Chafee (R-RI), Clinton (D-NY),

    Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Dodd (D-CT),

    Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Feinstein (D-CA),

    Graham (D-FL), Harkin (D-IA), Hollings (D-SC),

    Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA),

    Kohl (D-WI), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Levin (D-MI),

    Lieberman (D-CT), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA),

    Reed (D-RI), Rockefeller (D-WV), Sarbanes (D-MD)

    Schumer (D-NY), Stabenow (D-MI),

    Wyden (D-OR)…”

 

                        -Partial Results from the Roll Call

                         Vote on SA-2619, which would

                         have called for a ban on any handgun

                         or rifle ammunition that the Attorney

                         General would have deemed capable

                         of penetrating police body armor,

                         which was also rejected by Tom

                         Daschle and 12 other Democrat

                         Senators.

 

 

To All,

     It seems that the Frog Prince of Boston, also known as the Nation’s Most Liberal Senator, is not as familiar with hunting firearms as his website would lead one and all to believe. Otherwise he would have not broken the record for being AWOL from the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body by being the key vote on a number of antigun amendments yesterday:

 

The Emperor’s New Clothes (Same As The Old Clothes):

     Various news organizations are reporting on yesterday’s votes on S 1805, the bill to provide legal protections for firearms manufacturers threatened with spurious lawsuits.

 

     But the re-occurring theme throughout most of the stories is that the presumptive nominee for the Democrat Candidate for the Presidency, John Kerry of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, was the critical vote on a number of “poison pill” amendments that eventually led to the downfall of S 1805.

 

     This leads one to conclude that, for some reason, the Democrat Party and it’s nominee are perpetually doomed to repeat history by openly courting the Brady Bunch and other antigun organizations during election years. And neither posturing nor preening in front of a sympathetic media by the Usual Suspects, over the temporary postponement of liability reform, can undo the re-enforcement in the minds of the voters that the Democrats are the Party of Gun Confiscation.

 

     In particular, no hunter with half a lick of common sense would try to ban deer ammunition that generates more than 400 foot-pounds at the muzzle.

 

     Nor would any hunter try to ban the only pistol ammunition that has any chance of stopping a bear or mountain lion from turning the wayward fisherman or mountain biker into a mid-afternoon snack.

 

     What is more, only the most “sincere” of politicians would propose that he loves dove hunting when he was born and raised in a state/region that largely bans dove hunting. And only the most patrician of “outdoorsmen”, addicted to Kodak moments and L.L. Bean footwear, would think that the nation’s hunters could be fooled at all (Remember, no one was fooled by Bill Clinton in cammys, and John Kerry is no Bill Clinton).

 

     This is not to say that firearms activists and gunowners are not disappointed with the Senate over the fate of S 1805. But when one considers that the consolation prize is that Senator Diane Feinstein’s “signature” bill seems all but certain for the Great Circular File in the Sky, one learns the real meaning of Zell Miller’s maxim on “half a loaf is better than none”. (Perhaps, in celebration of the demise of her bill, the Pink Pistols could host a Nationally-Sanctioned Service Rifle/Pistol Meet somewhere just west of the River Charles. Does anyone know if they are not too busy during Patriot’s Week?).

 

     This is, of course, buttressed by the second time in recent history that certain political gadflies of America have been unable to figure out what is going on among the Players in the Halls of Congress. Certainly there is nothing more deadly to the image of any particular group than to be “out of the loop” when key floor votes are in the offing. In this case, certain parties were so far out of the loop that they were the equivalent of being snowbound in the Colorado Rockies, rather than being up close and personal under the Capitol Dome.

 

     So firearms activists, lobbyists, and even the Board of the NRA have much to be proud of for the recent actions in Congress. The enactment of liability reform, as well as the extension of firearms rights to all citizens equally, can only be had by a motivated group of registered voters-cum-campaign-volunteers changing the Legislative Landscape. Everyone should also remember that the last time this type of thing took place the World Was Turned Upside Down, and the gungrabbers were left crying into their frappucinos. For this alone there will be much to thank John Kerry for the way in which he has opened his trench coat (figuratively speaking, of course) and flashed America’s gunowners.

 

Story references may be found at:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514
&e=3&u=/ap/20040302/ap_on_go_co/congress_guns_14

 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews
&storyID=4481880&section=news

 

http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/mass/index.ssf?
/base/politics-0/1078267454134731.xml

 

http://www.johnkerry.com/communities/sportsmen/rights.html

 

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/clips/news_2003_1101.html

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/outdoors/tompkins/2081177

 

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/19568.htm

 

Respectfully,

 

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA

 

© 2004 Anthony Canales

All rights reserved.