[nsf003]

From the Desk of Sarah Brady

Dear Brady Campaign Supporter,

A horrible school shooting occurred this Monday, when a gunman with an AK-47 automatic rifle shot and killed a student and wounded three others at a New Orleans high school.

Sadly, the death of a child like this is all too common in Louisiana. In 2000, 94 Louisiana children and teens were shot to death. In January, the annual report card of the Brady Campaign united with the Million Mom March gave Louisiana an "F" grade for failing to protect children from guns. Only six other states received an "F." Louisiana gun laws rank near the bottom in the country, and Louisiana has one of the highest gun death rates for children and teens.

Louisiana gun laws do not prohibit the sale of AK-47 style assault weapons, do not prohibit juveniles from possessing rifles and shotguns (including assault rifles), do not hold gun owners responsible for leaving loaded guns around children, do not require child-safety locks to be sold with guns, do not require background checks on all gun show sales and grant special legal immunity to the gun industry for negligent and dangerous conduct.

This tragedy should remind us all of the obvious: If America's children are to be safe from gun violence, assault weapons need to be unavailable and the Bush White House needs to stand up to the extremists and lead efforts to enforce, strengthen and renew the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

Over the weekend President Bush, through a spokesperson, re-affirmed his campaign pledge to renew the ban on assault weapons, which sunsets in September 2004. One radical gun group blasted the White House, calling assault weapons "common household guns" that should be legal and available to all.

It is appalling that assault weapons are threatening and killing children in our communities, but what is even more appalling is that NRA extremists want to do away with the Assault Weapons Ban in 2004, instead of reauthorizing and strengthening it.

Even more atrocious, Congress is in lockstep with the NRA, poised to grant sweeping legal immunity to the gun industry from lawsuits that challenge the industry to market and distribute their guns in a responsible way.

But the Brady Campaign, with your enduring support, is working hard to prevent dangerous bills like this from passing, and we are hard at work to convince Congress to reauthorize, and even strengthen, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban so that school shootings and tragic deaths like the one in New Orleans become a thing of the past.

We need your support in these efforts now more than ever. Please help us today by going to our website and making a generous donation.

To help us save lives, please go to http://www.bradycampaign.org/donate/index.asp

[El Tejon]

Sarah Brady rolling in the blood of innocents? Shocking.

[spankaveli]

Translation: Take the guns away from innocent people and allow only the law breakers to attain them!!!

Then she doesn't mention the fact that the kid killed had a gun on him and that it was gang related :rolleyes:

(Time for me to buy a couple AK's and another SKS. :D)

[Rawlings]

Hmm, let me see if I follow this...

(Ignoring for the moment that "victim's" status as a gang-banger.)

She calls the AK-47 used in the shooting an "assault weapon." (A dubious claim - next year she'll be calling bolt-action rifles "Assault weapons.")

She then says that "assault weapons" are banned and should remain banned.

So she is admitting that criminals will still get their hands on prohibited weaponry, and that the assault weapons ban failed to stop this crime.

Then she asks for more money to push more laws which will, by extension, fail to prevent other crimes.

Did I get that right? :D

[Mark Tyson]

Does anyone know the details of the gun, whether or not it was fully automatic, and how it was acquired?

[BowStreetRunner]

when will Commissar Brady understand that guns or no guns, people wil kill each other? - if there were no guns, the just would have little defense against the evil

wait, thats a stupid question.

[spankaveli]

that's right, Rawlings. She wants more money to keep a law in effect which she admitted isn't as effective as it is meant to be...

[armabill]

So she wants people to contribute to her cause. She must have a low bank account and needs more money.

What! You think she does this for nothing.

[Jack T.]

Hey, ya'll don't attempt to cloud the issue with facts. It gives her a warm-fuzzy, so it must be right. . .

[armabill]

I agree that she's fuzzy.:what:

[Waitone]

Isn't Ms. Brady getting slower in her old age?

Usually her press releases are out pronto. This one seems to have lagged a few days.

Maybe she is having a time meeting payroll and therefore doing her own typing.

[Justin]

Y'all have started writing letters to your congresscritters explaining why support for renewal of the ban will result in you not voting for them, right?

Right?

Bueller?

Bueller?

[armabill]

I did.

[OF]

Sarah who?

- Gabe

[MountainPeak]

If the gun industry wasn't distributing their guns in a "responsible way" they would be in jail or out of business. Brady hasn't done one thing to prevent gun violence. She's interested in preventing GUNS not VIOLENCE! The woman is pathetic.

[Jmurman]

She calls the AK-47 used in the shooting an "assault weapon." (A dubious claim - next year she'll be calling bolt-action rifles "Assault weapons.")

No, they will call bolt action rifles....sniper rifles

[Rawlings]

...They already do. :barf:

[chadintex]

I hate propaganda. I actually feel dumber for reading that drivel.

No matter what we do, we will always be associated with murderers. It's enough to make a person ill. Today while researching a rifle on the net, a volunteer here at work noticed the AK style and said "you must hate the government". I said "no, just stupidity", I don't think he got it, but I digress.

As far as I'm concerned Sarah Brady and all of her cronies can go suck an egg.

[Standing Wolf]

Leftists are moral and intellectual parasites who believe their irrational fears trump the nation's civil rights.

In this, as in so much else, they're rock-solid wrong.

[Bainx]

Folks, I don't mean to rain on your parade but, he [Pres.] is already pandering to her and all the other antis by expressing his support of the Assault Weapons Ban law set to sunset in Sept. 2004.

Read it and weep

Comments?

[another okie]

"do not prohibit juveniles from possessing rifles and shotguns"

So much for their claim that they don't want to take away our hunting rifles.

[Shootist45]

:fire: And this is from the same mommy who purchased a rifle in another state, not of her residence, for her son, who possibly was not eligable to purchase, with funds that are of a questionable nature.:banghead:

I'd say some other things about her illnesses and such but, I don't want to seem to uncharitable.:evil:

[goon]

We really need to corral all the Bradyites, Schumerites, and Feinsteinites to the states of California, Mass, and NJ. At least there, they could let the rest of us alone.
Granted, there was 1 AK used in a crime.
But, how many weren't?
Yeah, we are really violent people, aren't we?

[Nightfall]

Wow, a gang shooting where one gang kid used a semi rifle (may well have been stolen for all we know) to shoot another gang kid who had a handgun with him and whom was also a suspect in the murder of another gang kid that happened in a school with security guards, metal detectors, in a probable 'no armed law abiding citizens' zone. OMG, unbelievable! Yep, time to donate more money to the Brady Campaign to expand these laws to make them even more effective. :rolleyes:

People, if we can't get this stupid, useless law overturned with the way Congress is leaned right now... I admit, I will hold out no hope for peaceful resolution to this anti-gun fight. It will become just a matter of doing our best in a futile effort for however many years that the peaceful option still remains for the People's use. :(

[mercedesrules]

(Mark Tyson) Does anyone know the details of the gun, whether or not it was fully automatic, and how it was acquired?
(Violence Policy Center) On Monday, April 14, 2003, according to numerous press reports, an AK-47 assault rifle was used in a deadly shooting at John McDonogh High School in New Orleans, LA. One male student was killed and three female students were injured in a spray of more than 30 bullets. The AK-47 was one of the assault weapons banned by Congress by name in 1994. However, the AK-47 is still available in both pre- and post-ban configurations. (Slight cosmetic modifications take such post-ban guns out of the federal definition of "assault weapon.") Below are examples of pre- and post-ban AK-47s and other examples of shootings involving AK-47s.
http://www.vpc.org/ak47.htm

I imagine that if it was full auto this bunch would crow about it. Of course, I could be wrong. They might just want to talk about the ones that are still readily available.
MR

[bfason]

On Monday, April 14, 2003, according to numerous press reports, an AK-47 assault rifle was used in a deadly shooting.... The AK-47 was one of the assault weapons banned by Congress by name in 1994.

Well, what was it? An assault rifle or an assault weapon? By definition, no assault weapon is an assault rifle, and yet VPC continues to conflate assault rifle (a technical term) with assault weapon (a legalistic term).

Either they are ignorant of firearms terms, or are deliberately lying. Either way, they should be kept away from firearms policy.

Come Monday, I might just have to call the sheriff's office in N'Awlins and find out whether that rifle was semi- or full-auto.

[ahadams]

Guys! Guys! you're giving this too much attention - the brady bunch always does this after anything they can take advantage of - our job is to ignore this nonsense and make sure ALL of our congresscritters know that not only our continued support, but the only way to avoid our active opposition (as in we will actively campaign against them if they mess this up) is to insure that the ugly gun and big magazine law expires on time. That's all - everything else is just extraneous nonsense.

[Airwolf]

I saw a report that descibed the weapon used as "an SKS - The Chinese version of the AK-47".

No, I'm not making that up, I'm not THAT creative.

Let me find a link and I'll edit it in.

Found it:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-0/105047626444080.xml

One of the gunmen was armed with an SKS semiautomatic assault rifle -- the Chinese-made version of the AK-47 -- and the other with a 9 mm pistol.

It's a very long article but worth looking at. This shooting is nothing more than gang bangers shooting gang bangers. The fact that it happened at a school is secondary. This crap happens on the streets every day and no one raises an eyebrow (least of all Brady and her kind).

[mercedesrules]

Williams "was wearing a heavy, loose-fitting coat that made it very difficult to detect the weapon," Minyard said.

As a result, the pistol was not found until his body was placed on an autopsy table and the gun fell from his pants pocket.

"It scared everybody when it dropped out," Minyard said.

MR

[general]

Y'all have started writing letters to your congresscritters explaining why support for renewal of the ban will result in you not voting for them, right?
I've got my 13 letters ready for May 5th. Then I'll send 13 more each quarter till July '04 - then the emails start.
http://www.awbansunset.com/
We need to get this right. Tell all. I'm printing 13 letters (less than a buck/using the forms available) w/ postage ($4.81)
All less than $5.00 a month. Only took about 1 1/2 hrs. to get them all squared away.

[skippie]

Is it just me or does it seem like every time there is a big gun issue in the political spotlight, there is a shooting using the weapon class in the spotlight?:scrutiny:

[Waitone]

There are always shootings of one form or another.

The difference is in how much media play they get. Then add to the mix how much anti-groups want to beat the drum and it appears something sinister always happens about the time of significant gun legislation.

Its a matter of perception.

[Strings]

I have to question if it's just a matter of perception. Yes, there are always shootings goin' on, but it DOES seem that, when any gun-ban issue comes up, we have a big (read: high publicity) shooting using the gun type in question. While I'm not saying that the anti's are staging these shootings (even *I* am not that paranoid), the press does seem to be pushing them at just the right time...

[Mordwyn]

is that it wasn't even an AK, it was an SKS. Now according to the reporter who wrote the article, the SKS is the Chineese version of the AK-47.

The things we can learn from the press:scrutiny: :rolleyes:

[Giant]

I have written letters to congress critters and others.

In addition each time I see a Brady announcement I write a check for twenty to every pro gun organization of worth, most of which I am a member of.

If each gun owner would donate only one dollar to a pro gun organization each time Brady spoke, soon she would be silent!

It is my understanding she is ill and not long for this world. When a replacement for her is named, let us all send a ten spot to our favorite pro gun organization. When she departs, let us donate a buck or two to our favorite RKBA group -- in her name!!!

Giant

[Zander]

It is my understanding she is ill and not long for this world. When a replacement for her is named, let us all send a ten spot to our favorite pro gun organization. When she departs, let us donate a buck or two to our favorite RKBA group -- in her name!!!Sarah Brady is ill, perhaps terminally so from lung cancer; but she has already effectively been replaced...yet she continues to draw her fat salaries [at last report, $300,000] from two organizations for pushing her brain-damaged husband around in his wheelchair.

We should be ever so thankful that their appearances aren't choreographed so that they appear on any lawn of the White House in support of the "assault-weapons ban"...or its continuance beyond the congressionally-mandated sunset.

The battle for a victory in the restoration of our 2nd Amendment Rights lies in the House of Commons and our insistence that the abomination she spawned be buried forever.

But I repeat myself...

[sm]

The Choir may be excused, this is for any Sarah Brady lurkers.

Sarah Brady,

It is not the tool or implement used, it is always the INTENT .

Everytime there is a shooting you choose to use the media to boost your views, as do the other anti-gun organizations. I will be civil in regard to statistics you and others choose to cite .

Your reasoning is likened to sensationalism.
I'm going to use a matchbook as an example. Sure people light cigarettes, start the fireplace, and the BBQ grill, with matchbooks. Using your premise if an arsonist had decided to lock the students inside the school and then set the school ablaze, you would be pushing for a ban on pyrotechnics .

Guns,like matches can't do a darn thing by themselves. They both require a user. It is the intent of the user that determines the results of both.

So using your premise matches should be controlled/banished thus denying a user of a cigarette, warmth and food from the grill.

I respectfully disagree.

[general]

re1973:
Using your premise if an arsonist had decided to lock the students inside the school and then set the school ablaze, you would be pushing for a ban on pyrotechnics .
The guitarist that died with the other 90+ people in the Great White pyro blaze was a buddy of mine. I hear some people are trying to ban the use of pyro now. It wasn't the tool, it was the person responsible for it's use or misuse. I agree.

[labgrade]

Bainx",

[I]"Folks, I don't mean to rain on your parade but, he [Pres.] is already pandering to her and all the other antis by expressing his (sic)support of the Assault Weapons Ban law set to sunset in Sept. 2004."[/]

Unless I read you incorrectly, The Prez is supporting the sunset?

Which is in direct contraditction to your "rain on the parade" theme ....

Which is it?

[spankaveli]

labgrade, you read wrong.

The president supports the law (which is set to sunset sept 04)

meaning he supports the law.

[labgrade]

Didn't read wrong, I think.

I know where The Shrub 43 stands, but was just curious as to the contradiction posed by Bainx, is all.

"Pandering to" & "support of - to sunset" ARE contradictory.

Just asking.

[alan]

The mail solicitations they used to send out usually contained a business reply envelope. I used to take this envelope, stuff all the accompanying paper into it, along with as much additional paper as I could fit into it, and send it back to them. They use their money to ransome their mail from the post office, which might hurt them a little.

Have also heard stories of people wrapping HCI's business reply envelope around a brick, and mailing that. I don't know that the po will still deliver such items, though it might be interesting to try.

At one point, we used to send them one penny, along with a comment as to the amount donated expressed our opinion concerning their value or worth. Guess we were removed from their mailing list, as it's been quite a while since I last received any mailings from them.

It's a free country, giving such scamers the ability to work their "magic", just as the rest of us have to ability to respond, "in kind", or as we see fit.

[Kharn]

So much for the wishful thinking that the antis would ignore a gang shooting, they just omit the parts about gangs being involved...

Kharn