'Gibberish': Romney and Obama fail to prove Bloomberg wrong on guns
Romney and Obama talk about guns. via YouTube.com
1:53 pm Oct. 17, 20126
Mitt Romney and Barack Obama made a prophet out of Mayor Michael Bloomberg by failing to talk meaningfully, or even particularly comprehensibly, about guns.
"President Obama, during the Democratic National Convention in 2008, you stated you wanted to keep AK-47s out of the hands of criminals," asked Nina Gonzalez toward the end of last night's town hall-style debate at Hofstra. "What has your administration done or planned to do to limit the availability of assault weapons?"
Obama, who theoretically favors a federal assault-weapons ban, began by reaffirming his faith in the Second Amendment.
He said he shared Gonzalez's belief "that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets," and said, somewhat vaguely, that it would be good to "see if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced," something he also gestured at in a noncommital way after the Aurora shootings.
But the bulk of his response was about changing the culture, so as to reduce violence, generally speaking.
There was talk of "working with faith groups and law enforcement," "making sure we catch violent impulses before they occur," and the importance of a good education.
Romney's response was tortured in a slightly different way.
Romney signed an assault weapons ban into law in Massachusetts when he was governor, but he doesn't favor one on a national level, something he reiterated last night: "Yeah, I'm not in favor of new pieces of legislation on—on guns and taking guns away or making certain guns illegal. What I believe is we have to do, as the president mentioned towards the end of his remarks there, which is to make enormous efforts to enforce the gun laws that we have, and to change the culture of violence that we have."
How would he do that?
Romney mentioned "good schools," two-parent homes, and, of course, Fast and Furious.
"Governor, governor, if I could, the question was about these assault weapons that once were once banned and are no longer banned," pressed Crowley. "I know that you signed an assault weapons ban when you were in Massachusetts, obviously, with this question, you no longer do support that. Why is that, given the kind of violence that we see sometimes with these mass killings? Why is it that you have changed your mind?"
"It's referred to as an assault weapon ban, but it had, at the signing of the bill, both the pro-gun and the anti-gun people came together, because it provided opportunities for both that both wanted," said Romney. "There were hunting opportunities, for instance, that haven't previously been available and so forth."
Bloomberg has made gun control one of his central issues on the national stage, and co-founded and underwrites Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Bloomberg is in the habit of blaming "Washington" for things, in keeping with his preference for criticizing both parties equally rather than assessing blame on a case-by-case basis. Often those statements seem intended more to enhance Bloomberg's stature as an above-all-that nonpartisan than to affect change by pressuring one side or the other.
He has repeatedly faulted both Obama and Romney for failing to talk seriously about the need to better control weapons, like the AK-47, designed only to kill people.
But on that score, last night, Obama and Romney seemed to prove him right, as Bloomberg was only too eager to note at a next-day press conference at City Hall.
"I think what we did get was a perfect example of obfuscation and very little honesty," Bloomberg said. "If you think about it, the president, as I remember, said he wants more conversation. Well, we've been saying this for quite a while now. We don't need more talk. We need some leadership. Governor Romney said he brought both sides of the debate together. Well, why isn't he trying to do that right now? ... Then they had all this gibberish talking about education, that education is the solution to stop the killing. My recollection is that if the Aurora theater shooter, he was a PhD candidate, OK? And Virginia Tech, the massacre was committed by a student at a first class university ... The solution is to prevent all people who shouldn't have guns from getting them."
If lying is a sin then Mitt Romney’s Magic Mormon Underpants are on FIRE! How can any intelligent American vote for a man clouded in secrecy who habitually bends the truth? Income inequality is endangering the Middle Class and making paupers of us all who don’t have those millions upon millions of dollars. Read more about the role of Romney’s riches in this election and the power of his sacred undergarments at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/05/mitt-romneys-magic-mormon-und... The working class of our country can’t AFFORD to allow this election to be bought and sold!
The "Assault Weapons Ban" is a false front attack on gun ownership in this country.
The overwhelming amount of gun violence is done by concealable handguns.....not bulky, large "assault weapons"
I, and my fellow gun owners know what this "Assault Weapons" ban is all about....we've seen this story before. The restrictions that applied to long arms quickly morphed into "Assault Pistols" and restrictions migrated to what would ordinarily be considered "sporting" weapons.
Since you dont what to look at actual data like the Unified Crime Report and acknowledge that defensive uses of firearms matter.......look at Europe and Great Britian......their violent crime rates are equal to or exceeding ours in certain areas.
Yes, they have GUN BANS and STRICT GUN CONTROL and NO they havent reduced crime and dont protect law abiding citizens.
Screw you and your collective, socialist, totalitarian impulse......there will not be an "Assault Weapons Ban" and I will not surrender my weapons.
Go ban some soft drinks if your feeling Stalinist.
Bloomburg is totally wrong on guns. He has no support and I can prove it by the fact that his group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns is totally financed by him. One year he talked someone else into donating $500,000 but every other year Bloomburg has provided 99.7% of the money, (about 2 1/2 million $ a year,) for his AstroTurf group. Add to that amount the donations that he gives to anyone who joins his group to see how much his money buys. If it was a pro-gun rights person the press would be all over them talking about "buying" members. When the NRA-ILA give $100 to a candidate, the press starts saying that the candidate was "bought" by the gun lobby. His group is know for having dead people in it, having criminals in it and just because you are a mayor who is arrested for having an illegal gun does not mean that they kick you out of MAIG.
MAIG's main goal is not against "illegal guns," it is to make all guns illegal. How can you say that you support the 2nd Amendment like Bloomburg states and still charge people $340 to apply and $340 every 3 years to own a handgun that you can only keep in your house. If you want to have a handgun at your business, you have to start all over again and get another license so you pay the $340 application fee, buy another gun, get fingerprinted and wait another year. So to have a handgun at home and at your business cost you $640 every 3 years. It is illegal to even take the handgun out of the city so if you get a handgun license in NYC and want to go target shoot or compete in the rest of NY you can not because your license is not valid and you will be arrested and sent to jail for 3 years. It takes a year to get a license and if you are one day late in renewing your license you have to turn all your handguns in and start all over again and wait another year. If you sell your handgun to a FFL gun dealer, if you did not get prior approval, they revoke your license. You are very restricted in the handguns you can register. All long guns have to be registered also for a fee and they restrict what you can own.
I would believe Bloomburg if he came out and said that his personal body guards will not carry guns and will not be allowed to own guns even in their own home and his police escort will be allowed to have guns when working but must turn in their guns at the end of their shift and will not be allowed to own any other guns even at home because of the risk of gun ownership to their families.
If it is only about "illegal guns" then why does the group support new laws that make more guns "illegal?" Why do they take positions on other gun related issues that have nothing to do with "illegal guns?" It is because they want to make all guns "illegal."
The AK-47 in the semi-auto format is the only type of AK-47 sold in the US and it is used for target shooting and is used for hunting though the round is a little weak for hunting. It fires the same ammunition and has the same rate of fire as the Ruger Mini 14 and the Mini 14 was listed on the old Assault Weapons Ban as NOT an assault weapon. That is because the goal of the assault weapons ban is to ban guns that look bad, not guns that are really different. This is just an attempt to start banning all semi-auto guns.
No one ever talks about all of the mayors who resign after they find out what MAIG is really all about. This is one letter of resignation:
To whom it may concern:
In 2009 I signed on for Mayors Against Illegal Guns based on a common sense opposition to illegal weapons being circulated in our communities. As Mayor of a densely populated village, crime reduction is always a top priority. After much deliberation, it is my opinion that your organization’s means toward an otherwise noble outcome cannot be executed without what many view as unconstitutional methods.
Until it becomes apparent to me that Mayors Against Illegal Guns can support efforts to oppose criminal possession of illegal weapons without infringing upon the rights of legitimate gun owners, as a staunch second amendment supporter, I hereby withdraw my membership from this organization and request that my name be removed from your website and any other organizational publications that utilize it. While I dissolve my affiliation with Mayors Against Illegal Guns as an organization, I will continue to work with local law enforcement to reduce crime in a way that best protects the individual liberties of law abiding citizens.
Mayor Brian Maher
Village of Walden, NY
I forgot to bring up Pres. Obama's illegal gun running scheme where the ATF supplied thousands of guns to the criminals in the US and Mexico. (Not all of those guns went to Mexico.) I guess that it does not matter about all of the Mexicans who got killed but the program was stopped after only one American was killed with one of the guns. And don't bring up Pres. Bush because the Pres. Obama's gun running program started 9 months after Pres. Obama took office and after they had many press conferences talking about the new gun programs they were going to have. And don't tell me that Pres. Obama did not have any knowledge about the program. If he did not have any knowledge, how can he have invoked executive privilege?
DANA RUBINSTEIN knows as little about firearms as a five year old on a tricycle knows about NASCAR racing. Read http://hub.me/aVFQ and in five minutes you'll know more than he or Bloomie have learned in a lifetime.
Damn, a politician with moxie and common sense, wish there were many more like you, especially in NY.