S1805 - Kohl (D-WI) Responds

[Abe]

I just received the following from Senator Kohl (D-WI) in response to my message to him asking him to vote for a clean bill this past Tuesday. While S1805 is history, I've found reading the responses that other members received from their senators interesting so I figured I'd throw this one up.

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXX:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I apologize for the delay in my
response. I value the correspondence I get from people back home in Wisconsin
and would like to take this opportunity to address your concerns.

While I do believe that Americans have the right to own a gun, laws
prohibiting felons and other potentially dangerous individuals from owning
guns are reasonable and effective ways to keep firearms out of the hands of
criminals. In the past, the Senate has considered a variety of gun safety
measures. I carefully evaluate each of these proposals, and I only support
gun control legislation that corresponds to three important principles.
First, I do not believe we should deprive Wisconsin's hunters and target
shooters of the firearms they use for sporting purposes. Second, I will only
support proposals that I believe will unquestionably make our communities
safer. Finally, I will not support any bill that will unreasonably infringe
on the rights of law abiding gun owners.

I appreciate knowing your thoughts about S.1805, the "Protection of Lawful
Commerce in Arms Act," introduced by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) on October 31,
2003. The bill would have prohibited civil lawsuits against firearms
manufacturers and dealers. Though frivolous lawsuits should never be condoned,
this legislation would have prevented many innocent victims from having their
day in court, even after impartial judges have determined a gun manufacturer
or dealer may have acted improperly.

As you may know, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and I introduced an amendment to
this bill to prohibit the sale of any handgun, unless the buyer also purchases
a gun storage or safety device. This legislation would significantly reduce
the incidence of gun-related tragedies in this country among children, the
most vulnerable of our population. Currently, in one out of every eight homes
where guns are kept loaded, the firearms are left unlocked. Though not a
complete solution, this amendment would save many lives. This amendment
passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 70-27.

An amendment offered by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) would have reauthorized
the Assault Weapons Ban for ten years. As you know, the Assault Weapons Ban
restricts the manufacture of nineteen types of semi-automatic assault weapons,
including the Uzi, the "Street Sweeper", and the AK-47. These are the types
of weapons favored by criminals and drug dealers, and the law enforcement
community has made banning these weapons a top priority. I supported this
amendment, which passed by a vote of 52-47.

Each of the amendments attached to this bill represented important elements in
the effort to reduce gun violence in this country by helping to keep dangerous
weapons out of the hands of criminals and preventing accidental deaths.
Unfortunately, it became clear that Senate negotiators did not intend to
defend these amendments in a House-Senate conference, which is why I voted
against S.1805. The "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" failed to
pass the Senate by a vote of 90-8 on March 3, 2004. I will be sure to keep
your views in mind if the Senate debates this issue in the future. Again,
thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.



Sincerely,


Herb Kohl
U.S. Senator

Let's see, he's got all the bases covered:

- Gun laws prevent crime and make communities safer. Check

- Only firearms for hunting and sporting purposes. (The police will protect us.) Check

- Gun locks save lives. Check

- It's for the children. Check

- Assault weapons are favored by criminals and drug dealers. Check



No big surprise here. This acorn didn't fall far from the tree. The removal of Liberties Tree that is.

I especially like this line:

I will not support any bill that will unreasonably infringe on the rights of law abiding gun owners.

I guess Herb's got a different definition of unreasonable than the rest of us.

BTW, what's a "Street Sweeper"? When the AWB expires I'll obviously have to get one.

- Abe

 

[Zach S]

BTW, what's a "Street Sweeper"? When the AWB expires I'll obviously have to get one.

Giant vaccum cleaners used for cleaning wide sidewalks, and of course streets and parking lots. The ones most popular in my area are PTO units sitting on the back of toyota pickups.

Dont know if you were being sarcastic, but IIRC the street sweeper is a drum-fed semi-auto shotgun that was re-classified as a destructive device by the BATFE in 1995. Not that the gun-grabbers care thats its now a heavily regulated DD, after all grenade launchers already were in 94 and they listed it as an evil feature. Its all about saving the children and scaring the sheeple into thinking we need the ban.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I sincerely hope you'll fire your elected misrepresentative.

 

[Abe]

We've got a shot at un-electing Feingold this year. Old Herb doesn't come up again until 2007. He was elected in '88 so he's on his third term. My guess is short of a miracle he'll never lose his seat. He's got a ton of money and great name recognition in Wisconsin. He's a perfect example of the idle rich looking to "do good". He got bored with the Bucks (he owns the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team) so he decided he'd save us from ourselves by spending his money to buy a senate seat. He's got all the makings of a senatorial fixture ala Scuba Ted. Though to be fair he's not as obnoxious as Ted. Just as liberal but with a lower profile. While Ted makes your blood boil, Herb just puts you to sleep.

As for the "Street Sweeper" I figured it was some sort of shotgun but a drum-fed, semi-auto!! That's positively evil!! I'm surprised our "keepers" even let us think about such things.

- Abe

 

[Frohickey]

While I do believe that Americans have the right to own a gun, laws prohibiting felons and other potentially dangerous individuals from owning guns are reasonable and effective ways to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.

Isn't it nice to have a Senator that considers you a felon or a potentially dangerous individual.

 

[Billll]

As you know, the Assault Weapons Ban
restricts the manufacture of nineteen types of semi-automatic assault weapons,
including the Uzi, the "Street Sweeper", and the AK-47.
----------------------------------------

He hasn't even read the bill he's trying to pass!

Imagine my surprise.

 

[Monkeyleg]

Herb Kohl is a useless midget. He has consistently voted for every piece of anti-gun legislation that's proposed, and every time talks about "hunters and sportsmen." He's the richest member of the US Senate, and buys his way into re-election every time. No challenger can come close to raising the amount of money he can spend.

Russ Feingold, though, is another story. He won by a whisker six years ago, and is facing some real challengers this time. He tried to cover his behind with regard to gun rights by opposing Feinstein's amendment. But he really screwed up by voting for Kennedy's, which would have banned .30-30 ammo. That should go over really well with the hunters in Wisconsin.

 

[Strings]

heh, heh...

I think I'd rather keep Feingold over Kohl: he's a little more entertaining. IIRC, he was the only person to vote against the Patriot Act, and did it more or less "just because". Of course, I'd rather see both replaced... maybe we could get Zien to run against Kohl? And I think everybody here would agree to nominate Dick to the senate...

 

[orangeninja]

"including the Uzi, the "Street Sweeper", and the AK-47. These are the types of weapons favored by criminals and drug dealers and the law enforcement community has made banning these weapons a top priority"

Guys...seriously....how many real cops did he ask the above quote about? That is exactly what burns me up about these guys. If they knew the REAL story you would know that you are much more likely to pull a Jennings .380 or a Taurus PT22 out of a gang banging drug dealers pants than a damn AK47. In fact, I cannot recall an AK47 being used in ANY drug related crimes recently. An UZI????who is he kidding? Do you know how expensive one of those are? No drug slinging moron is going to buy that when he can do a $20.00 modification on a Glock 17 and get a much more concealable full auto weapon. This guy is completely full of it. He has no freakin' clue and he represents himself like he heard it from concerned COPS!!!

I'm a cop and I'm concerned. I'm concerned that the F.O.P. and like organizations are misrepresenting my concerns. I'm concerned that we have Cop's and Security Officers who carry 10 round magazines in guns designed for 12 to 15 rounds because the "politicians" think that's all we "REALLY" need, otherwise we might "spray and pray". I'm concerned that the ONLY people who are affected by these laws are the law abiding, its not hard to illegally modify a mag. I'm concerned that felons violate the law and get PAROLE to do it again but if YOU violate the law, you become a felon for exercising your constitutional gaurantees. I'm concerned that this A-hole and ones like him are responsible for people getting hurt or killed because he has an agenda and doesn't know SQUAT about what really happens.

"favored by criminals and drug dealers"???? Hey REPRESENTATIVE, drug dealers are CRIMINALS too, you two fisted yellow streak moron!!! and no...they DON'T favor UZI's or Street Sweepers or AK47's. Talk to some gang bangers for 5 minutes and you'll learn they prefer "throw away" guns or if they are going to get a "status" gun like an UZI...that they almost always want a "Glock 9mm". At least around here.

Any other LEO's burned up by these idiots feeding the public lies and crap while our chiefs and union leaders just sit back and nod like its the truth?

Sorry....ending rant now....must.....have....beer.:banghead:

 

[Monkeyleg]

Hunter Rose, there's no way I'd want to be in elected office. It's bad enough listening to my wife complain about what I say and do. Imagine multiplying that by 150,000!

I'd like to see Bob Welch be the one to take on Feingold, but I suspect it's going to be Russ Darrow. It would be interesting to find out what Darrow's views on the 2nd are. We don't need another RINO in the Senate.

 

[Strings]

aww.. c'mon...

everyone help me out here. All in favor of Monkeyleg running for senate, post a "yea"... maybe we can get some REAL representation!

 

[Gfrey]

I am glad our Senator found time to mail in a reply from his ranch in Wyoming. Kohl really stands for the folks in that state...


WAIT....


Isn't the WISCONSIN senator. Oh, my mistake.

Feingold should be shipped back to Middleton, he belongs in that state. (Middleton is in the same state of imagination as Madison, Right?)

Neither has received a vote from me lately. AND neither is likely to.

Ger