The NRA wasn't always so radical, and their viewpoints today totally contradict their leaders of yesterday. The 143-year-old National Rifle Association has not always been like today's NRA, fighting every gun control law as if the essence of American freedom depends on every citizen owning a gun. What follows are a series of shocking quotes taken from various academic histories of the NRA by top officials within the organization supporting reasonable gun control laws. 1. I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons, said NRA president Karl T. Frederick, a 1920 Olympic gold-medal winner for marksmanship who became a lawyer, praising state gun control laws in Congress. He testified before the 1938 federal gun control law passed, I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses. 2. We do not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States, NRA executive vice-president Franklin Orth told Congress, shortly after Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy with an Italian military surplus rifle Oswald bought from a mail-order ad in the NRAs American Rifleman magazine. 3. Theres no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons, said California Gov. Ronald Reagan in May 1967, after two dozen Black Panther Party members walked into the California statehouse carrying rifles to protest a gun-control bill. Reagan said guns were a ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will. 4. You do know that I am a member of the NRA and my position on the right to bear arms is well known, Reagan said, speaking out in support of the 1994 Brady bill to create new background checks and a waiting period for gun buyers. But I want you to know something else, and I am going to say it in clear, unmistakable language: I support the Brady Bill and I urge Congress to enact it without further delay. 5. To keep and bear arms for hunting today is essentially a recreational activity and not an imperative of survival, as it was 200 years ago; Saturday night specials [handguns] and machine guns are not recreational weapons and surely are as much in need of regulation as motor vehicles, said retired U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in Parade magazine, in January 1990. 6. The Second Amendment has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime, Burger told PBS News Hour in late 1991, referring to the NRAs claim that the U.S. Constitution included a personal right to own guns. 7. These people are crazy, said Alan Gura, referring to NRA critics who said hed ceded too much to gun control arguments when he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2008 to overturn the District of Columbias handgun ban and establish a Second Amendment right to a handgun at home for self-defense. I could have, if I wanted to, stood before the Court and said, Yes, [the Amendments clause] shall not be infringed, means you would never have any gun laws, and of course need to all have machine guns in case we want to overthrow the government, and while were at it we should have rocket launchers and stinger missiles. And that would have probably made me very popular in some cabin somewhere out there in the woods Of course, I would have lost 9-0. http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/7-uncovered-quotes-show-how-far-rails-nra-has-gone
Ha! I see what you did there. You are using an extreme example of why guns should be outlawed. Why stop at a grenade launcher? Why not use a nuclear missile as your example of why innocent people should not be allowed to defend themselves? Grenades are not complicated. A container, some ball bearings, and a small amount of powder will do the trick. If one wants to go big, they can use a pressure cooker. Should we outlaw pressure cookers? If you love gun control, you can always move to Chicago!
If it were only that difficult to arrest and convict the 75% of murderers in Chicago that get away with it.
AR15s, while widely owned, are used in a statistically insignificant % of violent crime. Why should it be difficult to get one?
It would be better for you buy co2 cylinder rapid inflatable furniture such as an inflatable couch to carry. If you are confronted by bad guys just inflate and hide behind it. Or, better yet, move to Chicago because not only can they not have grenade launchers, they can't have guns so you'd be perfectly safe. Of course, if you want one just go online and buy one. They are about $300 new. (It is often humorous debating anti-gunners for comments they make showing they absolutely have NO clue what they are talking about. Grenade launchers are not illegal to buy or sell.)
you should note that the Democrat party wasn't always intended to ban guns to punish the NRA the Democrat party adopted gun control in 1934 so FDR could pander to people over Government created gangster violence but it wasn't until the 60s, when Nixon was hammering bleeding heart Democrats as being soft on mostly black street crime, did gun control become an important part of the DNC agenda. By pushing gun control, Democrat politicians could pretend they were doing something about crime without upsetting one of their major voting blocks- urban blacks- who saw any calls for increased "law and order" as really calls to persecute blacks. this adoption of gun control to both pander to those wanting crime control without hurting criminals and later-to harass a voting bloc that opposed the Dems facade, led to the current divide today where most democrat gun control schemes are to pander to low wattage voters while sticking it to the NRA
It also is important to remember that such as machines guns were NOT outlawed. Rather, they were taxes to prevent anyone but the police and rich (white) people having them. A goal of the Democratic Party then and now is about disarming blacks.
Having spent 24 years working with the ATF, I know -and their literature admits-that the purpose of that tax was to ban the gun from being owned by most people since that was more than a months wages for a skilled craftsman. But we know that the Democrat party used the 1986 hughes amendment to harass gun owners-crime control had nothing to do with that ban which was improperly added to a pro gun bill by butt hurt democrats like bill Hughes and Rangel because they wanted to derail the McClure Volker Firearms owners protection act
A gas can..... - - - Updated - - - Both were moderate liberals, and they have been proven wrong. There was no increase in gun murders after the AWB expired. It was a useless bill.
Darned Democrats. Nothing but an evil bunch. Wanting to disarm people, and turn this country into bedlam. I'm actually Independent. I preferred Nader. Not sure what his stance was on gun control. I'm not sure where the US stands now, but back when I was more actively into gun control, in the '90s, the US was the #2 country for a civilians chance of being murdered by a gun. Who was #1. Drum roll please - Columbia. Obviously, my efforts went to naught, as the radicals are even more radical today, as is evidenced by this thread. Gun crime may be down, as somebody mentioned. However, mass murders seem to be at an all-time high. This in itself should tell us that assault weapons should be banned.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data "Assault weapons" aren't even the most commonly used firearm in the relatively rare mass murder, and banning them for any definition of ban would have no effect on the frequency or magnitude of them. Heck, in 2005, 2008 - 2010 and 2014, they weren't used a single time. What is an "assault weapon", what is your definition of "ban", how would you get such a law passed and how would you enforce it?
You obviously have extensive knowledge of firearms. Do you think we should ban assault clips as well?
Why do you believe banning high capacity magazines will prevent anyone from having them who wants them? Virtually every murder in Chicago is done with an illegal weapon. You do understand bans are only respected by people who follow laws, don't you?
the only assault appears to be an assault on proper definitions and common sense Military term-assault for infantry to attack a defended position. Normally, in absence of air power artillery or armor, infantry would pin down the defenders with automatic weapons fire, so as to allow an engineer or sapper to get close enough to destroy the position with a flamethrower,bazooka, RPG or a satchel charge. In the fast moving street fighting in cities like Stalingrad, the heavy machine guns and their crews could often not keep up with faster moving infantry and tanks were often unable to maneuver in said areas. So rifles capable of fully automatic fire were developed that would allow several infantry soldiers to have the capability of applying suppressive fire on such positions. now many American gun banners are either too dishonest or too ignorant of this concept to understand that "semi auto" weapons are not nearly as useful for being used in the military tactic of "assault" But they didn't care because the term "assault: when heard by the average low information voter, conjures up thoughts of a street assault and that in turn, attaches sinister connotations to weapons called "assault weapons as I have noted constantly, dishonesty is the main stock in trade, the anti rights coalition has
An assault magazine is any magazine like "Time" magazine or the NRA's "The American Rifleman" that is rolled up and used as a weapon to hit someone over the head