Mayor Endorses Another Gun-Control Measure

[grampster]

Bloomberg ought to be the first name on the terrorist list considering what he continually advocates and has actually ordered done. I don't understand why the Att'y Gen'l of, was it Virginia?, where he ordered his minions to make straw gun purchases? Isn't that conspiracy to illegally purchase firearms?

Any law proposed by an elected official that is contrary to the Constitution should be deemed to be a terrorist act! Isn't that what terrorists do? Promote fear? Some of the proposals I hear about from elected officials surely scare the the pants off of me.

 

[foghornl]

I place Bloom(ing Idiot)berg right up there on the list of folks with "If this idea came from/is supprted by "xxxxxxx" it is a bad idea.

Folks like Sen.s Clinton/Schumer/Feinstein/Ted "Where are my pants, my car & my pregnant secretary?" Kennedy.

 

[alucard0822]

AFAIK, to be placed on the terror watch list takes nothing more than a .gov official to type your name, and any other info they have into the database, not unlike the NICS system. The nics system used to store info from convicts and those "adjudicated" mentally defective, but as many know, Clintons "going away present" to about 50,000 veterans that had been previously treated for PTSD, but meet all reqirements for gun ownership was to add them to the NICS dissaproved list. The goal of people like Bloomberg, Feinstein, McCarthy and the rest is to get ALL of our names on the list, gradually and for thousands of reasons, the old boiling frog tactic. This terror watch list is no more than a modern reoccurence of post WWII McCarthyism, and the fear of communists, and the Witch trials long ago. Basically fear of the misunderstood is a great tool with which to further a starry eyed socialist's career in politics, always has been, and a good avenue to deny rights of people in order to expand government authority. Keep in mind this is the same government that "misplaced" a few thousand true Assault rifles (with tha swich), RPGs and billions of dollars, that magically ended up in the hands of real terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the like. We are barred from owning those same weapons (post 86 select fire) in a proven ineffective attempt at controlling their use in crime. I think the best thing to insure these weapons our tax dollars paid for don't fall into the wrong hands is to give them to citizens. Armed citizens are the best street level defense our country has, and if the terror threat is as great as those in power would like us to belive, well then I think we could hold onto those weapons a lot better than our government has proven they can.

 

[Matt King]

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg held a news conference under the Brooklyn Bridge today to call on Congress to pass a bill that would allow the Justice Department to block gun sales to people who appear on the federal government’s terrorist watch lists.

Does he have any real influence in Congress?

 

[41magsnub]

Alucard: Do you have a reference for this: "Clintons "going away present" to about 50,000 veterans that had been previously treated for PTSD, but meet all reqirements for gun ownership was to add them to the NICS dissaproved list."

Not that I doubt you, I just want to read up on it.

 

[BCC]

Quote

"You've been "pro gun and pro carry" since April of this year--about four or five months. Your ability to change positions was made possible by decades of hard, frustrating work by a great many people including at least some of those in this forum. Is it possible, do you think, that their knowledge and experience allow them to see signs of disaster ahead that you aren't yet able to recognize?

If that's even a possibility perhaps it would be wise to shift from arguing against them to asking them to help you understand. That's what they're trying to do, I think. "

Unquote

Fair enough, Robert. I try to keep an open mind.

BCC

 

[1911Tuner]

Well, of course all the terrorists go through a licensed dealer to get their weapons, just like they pay the transfer fee and get the tax stamps to obtain all their hand grenades and RPGs. It's written on the first page of the Terrorist's Handbook. Ya gotta get your ordnance legally or you don't get your 37 virgins.

Bloomberg has finally figured a way to disarm all the terrorists. What genius! What leadership!



Does this guy have a clue?

 

[Archer1945]

I second Robert's comments about the "Witchhunt of the 1950s". Although I did not know it at the time, as I was too youg, I had a relative who lost a very good job in the State Departement because he had taken the time to really study Communism and how it worked, which the witchhunters had not done. To them the only reason a person would know anything about communism meant you were a communist. This from the same people who did everything they could to make sure the scientists of the Third Reich got nice government jobs in the US of A before those nasty Russians could get them. Never mind the fact those "nasty Russians" had been our best friends just a few years earlier.

Funny that sounds a great deal like some politicians today. The only reason you will know anything about guns or want to own them is because you are a terrorist. Or, if you dress scruffy, have a beard and like guns you are either a terrorist, a drug dealer or both.

 

[SG Merc]

Here's an idea, why aren't people who the government thinks are terrorists either arrested and prosecuted/cleared, or put under such heavy investigation that they couldn't do anything without the government knowing about it anyway. If the government is going to be so bold as to label someone a terrorist then they should put the effort into properly investigating the individual.

This bill is nothing but a "feel good" measure.

 

[Robert Hairless]

BCC:

Fair enough, Robert. I try to keep an open mind.

That's the ticket. Sometimes what looks like paranoia isn't.

One of the things that troubles me about proposals like Bloomberg's is that they betray everything that the left should have learned from its own experiences with lists of this kind. True liberals and progressives would be the first to demand Michael Bloomberg's head for this proposal. They would be demanding his impeachment as New York City's mayor, his political career would be at an end, and not all of his money would buy him another election.

These are not the liberals and progressives of any American tradition. These people are something else and much uglier. Selfishness, ignorance, intolerance, and anti-Americanism are neither liberal nor progressive.

 

[Citroen]

Well said, Robert!

The dangers of such a ridiculous proposal should be obvious and anyone who did not sleep through most of their World History classes should not need reminding of those dangers.

There is a danger, too, in "keeping an open mind" as the "road to Hell is paved by good intentions" and "it's for the children" quotes have so often shown us.

If our government has identified "terrorists" then they should be arrested; after all the government has done such a good job of keeping illegal aliens from entering our country, surely the little task of finding terrorists should be a snap.

The most dangerous words you will ever hear are, "I'm from the government and I am here to help".

John
Charlotte, NC

 

[romma]

A far as I am concerned these people are the criminals... They are playing directly into the hands of terrorists by trying to disarm and rob freedoms from us all... What fools!

 

[Sharps-shooter]

I remember reading about an Osama Bin Laden video that came out a few years ago. He said, in effect, that the plan was to make the americans lose their freedoms by scaring them into giving them up. I guess that's why it's called terrorism.

Anyway, everybody has played into his game pretty well. Politicians of all persuasions at all levels of government have done just that-- restricted the freedoms of the americans-- ever since. Of course, that's part of what politicians do, and they probably would have come up with some pretext for it anyway. But the reason they gave was because of the terrorists. Which means the USA is, in effect, letting Al qaida call the shots, in a sense. Pretty frustrating.

 

[alucard0822]

thanks for reminding me of my manners 41 cal sub
I got it mostly right, except for the fact it was 80,000, not 50,000 people
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=3128
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?id=219&issue=018

#4 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

#5 No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

not even getting into 2nd ammendment connontations, but I feel that if someone is able to be proven enough of a threat to be placed on a watch list, they should be tried, and if convicted, punished, and if aquitted, released.

The terrorist are winning, but not by defeating us, or our proud armies, but by emboldening the greed and thirst for power of our leaders at the expense of the constitution, and the freedom af all americans.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

Not to be an alarmist..but with gun rights erroding, illegals getting better deals on college tuition than someone with generations of citizenship behind them, racism raising it'd ungly head again (see Jenna 6), privacy going out the window (Patriot Act) jobs outsourced,etc. etc. etc. does anyone but me see frustration taking to the streets in the not too distant future?

 

[Buttermilk]

terrorist list?

Teddy Kennedy was on the list when it first came out. But then,,,,,,,,,,, he needs to be on it because it terrorizes me every time I think of how it would be if he and his kind took over our country.
Yep, they need to get all criminals and terrorists to buy their guns legally! RIGHT!!!!!
If Bloomberg would spend his time more wisely, he might be able to accomplish something but his narrow minded belief keeps him from it.

 

[ServiceSoon]

my advice to American government

I would be less worried about selling firearms to the 500 possible terrorist in America and more worried about selling to the millions of terrorist in other countries.

Remember, a few months ago they armed the "freedom fighters" with weapons I can't even legally own.

 

[Robert Hairless]

I hope that this discussion won't veer off into the usual blanket condemnations of "The Government" (or, as it's commonly pronounced, "The Gummint"). My remarks addressed a proposal and a way of thinking that should be anathema to every segment of the political spectrum in the United States and every religious orientation too.

There's no difference between the kind of bigotry advocated by Michael Bloomberg now and the kind that misled a Massachusetts community in 1692 to imprison and murder people accused of witchcraft by a 9-year-old and 11-year-old girl. Bloomberg is whipping people up to the same kind of misguided fervor that manipulated anti-Semitic fury in Marietta, Georgia, to the lynching of Leo Frank in 1915. Al Sharpton used the same technique in 1987 to whip up racial anger among African-Americans based on blatantly false rape claims of 15-year-old Tawana Brawley (now "Maryam Muhammad") in Wappinger Falls, New York.

Bloomberg's technique has been a favorite of other demagogues and charlatans throughout history because it works. It legitimizes the worst behaviors by the least stable people amongst us and stimulates drastic actions in frustrating situations by equating accusation and suspicion with guilt.

There's a big difference between responsible leadership and the way Bloomberg, Sharpton, the Salem witch judges, and the lynch mobs behave. Americans should know the difference by now and should repudiate that behavior immediately and decisively. Succeeding generations of Americans will take no more pride in what Bloomberg and Sharpton are doing than in what the witch hunters and lynch mobs did. Guns are the occasion now, not even a basic issue. The basic issues are sanity, decency, and core American values.

Of course it is prudent to examine and evaluate charges against people accused of misbehavior or whose association seems based on it. But suspicion is not a guilty verdict and often it is just wrong. Responsible leaders know that difference and reinforce its implications instead of exploiting people's fears by encouraging them to ignore it. Bloomberg is despicable. He is a law unto himself. Such people should be ostracized.