Well, here you go. If you don't belong to the NRA after reading this...

[coyote_jr]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/298561_guns05.html?source=rss

"Politicians are afraid of the NRA and they are not afraid of the ACLU. It's that simple," Jones said.
That fear may be unwarranted, he said.
"California regulated the hell out of guns -- and they don't get in trouble."
Jones said the National Rifle Association's power is declining, but he thinks Washington politicians are "playing it safe in the sense that: Why kick a sleeping dog that's leaving you alone right now?" he said.

There is just so much to say about what is written in this article. For those of us predicting the imminent doomsday that will occur THIS year...hogwash.

 

[simon]

And yet there are more guns in california today than ever before, AR15's & AK variants included

 

[Dan from MI]

During the LAST congressional session - 36 senators voted to ban nearly ALL centerfire ammunition.

Two congressional sessions before that - A senate majority voted for the ugly gun ban and for McCain's gunshow ban.

Those are simply facts. All the talk about gun control being a dead issue is talk. I don't always agree with the NRA and their overly friendly to incumbent endorsement process (Joe Schwarz...), but when it comes to their scare tactics against the LEADERSHIP of the Democrats - they are right on target.

I've seen too many chamelions to believe this issue is dead. The Democrat leadership's religion is gun grabbing, and there are also the McCain types on the GOP side which I trust just as little.

 

[Declaration Day]

Murray said gun control is explosive because it is misinterpreted as an effort to take guns away from people.

It's been a while since I've read an assertion as ludicrous as this.

 

[coyote_jr]

"I hate to say it but it's going to take the kind of massacre that kills lots of children. That's the only way we are going to see progress," Jones said.

Here is a person quoted in the article saying that killing children is the only way the gun grabbers will make progress with gun control...that is just EVIL.

 

[Speer]

Insiders and experts say the gun lobby's influence may be too strong, politicians' courage too weak and the number of gun victims still too low to prompt action.

How about the number of those whose lives were, you know, saved by guns? Could that have an effect on any decision? No?

And Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said she's uncertain a push for tougher gun regulations would do much good.

It would certianly make the life of good citizens that much harder.

"There are a lot of things to consider," Brown said. "We still have open borders. Absent federal legislation ... people can still walk right across the border and buy guns in Idaho."

Criminals don't worry about gun regulations. Repeat that.

"I hate to say it but it's going to take the kind of massacre that kills lots of children. That's the only way we are going to see progress," Jones said.

Well, you can pray, can't you?

 

[stoky]

I can't say that I agree with everything the NRA does. Reality is that there is no other organization large enough to be as effective as the NRA is in championing Second Amendment rights, bad compromises and all. Membership in a staunchly more radical group can be an adjunct to NRA membership, but supplanting NRA membership with something else is foolish. As a life member of the NRA and the fact that membershiip is a requirement in the gun clubs that I belong to mean that I won't give it up, regardless of how much I disagree with them on some of their mass appeal positions.
Every gun owner needs to be an NRA member.

 

[The Cavalry]

And Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said she's uncertain a push for tougher gun regulations would do much good.

"There are a lot of things to consider," Brown said. "We still have open borders. Absent federal legislation ... people can still walk right across the border and buy guns in Idaho."

I wonder if she knows Idaho doesn't share a border with Mexico.

Or is it an interstate border this intellectual is referring to?

 

[spaceCADETzoom]

I get brain farts sometimes too... (spacecadet is an apt name)...but you do remember Idaho shares a border with Canada, right?

Anyway, the idea of foreign citizens buying guns is silly scare for the ignorant. You have to be a legal resident of the US to buy a gun in Idaho...just like any other state in the union.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Walk into Idaho, buy a gun???

You can't even buy a gun in Idaho if you're not from a) Idaho, b) an adjacent state!

You from California? Sorry, our shop here in Boise can't sell you a gun.

You can arrange for FFL transfers and "order" a gun in Idaho, but you have to pick it up at an FFL in the state where you live.

Foreign national? Bwahahahahahaha!

 

[History Prof]

"I hate to say it but it's going to take the kind of massacre that kills lots of children. That's the only way we are going to see progress," Jones said.

It's comments like that that make me start thinking along the line of agents provocateurs whenever there is a school shooting.

/tinfoil hat

 

[Juna]

"I hate to say it but it's going to take the kind of massacre that kills lots of children. That's the only way we are going to see progress," Jones said.

This is sickening.

"I think it's got to be worse than (Columbine). I mean, you didn't see anything in Colorado" in substantive new gun control laws after 15 people were killed at Columbine High School in 1999.

And yet there wasn't a sudden surge in Colorado school shootings despite this lack of (knee jerk, ignorant, illogical) "progress", either.

"They have to support me in trying find a way to address the gun problem that led to the murder of seven people in my district and an attack on the Jewish Federation just blocks from my district," Murray said.

So a murderer isn't a murderer. He becomes "a gun problem". How about a "crime problem"? Good thing you're not responsible for your own actions in this country anymore. :banghead:

 

[littlmak]

Am I the only one who envisions a rabid anti trying to jumpstart a "Gun Control" agenda by commiting a mass murder as suggested by this persons comments ala Helter Skelter?

 

[K-Romulus]

Dec Day: You forgot the full quote

Murray said gun control is explosive because it is misinterpreted as an effort to take guns away from people.

"I don't want to take people's guns away, but there are types of guns people shouldn't have and certain people who shouldn't have guns," he said.

 

[WeedWhacker]

Until the NRA stops supporting "common-sense gun control", I won't support them. If people like me contribute to the demise of the Second Amendment in that tenuous fashion, then we'll be forced to set the gov't back in line with the Constitution just that much sooner. Else spiral down into fascism and oblivion...

 

[bigun15]

At least there's some decent stuff in the article:

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said he is concerned about the rise in violent crime in King County but feels that it is unfair to punish all gun owners for the mistakes of a few.

Hewitt said. "A lot of it has to do with our social attitudes today. The problem starts with people, not guns."

the gun shows have nothing to do with any of the high-profile shootings in Seattle in the last years and those guys know it," Workman said.

 

[Lucky]

Coyote Jr.'s quote is timeless. I think that's worth stickying.

 

[coylh]

The national group the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Washington state a D+ rating for gun control legislation.

C'mon people! Do your part! How many more guns do I have to buy to achieve F?

 

[ForeverArmed]

Gun owners should be members of the NRA, but do NOT depend on the NRA or any other lobbying group to protect your gun rights. The NRA helps a little, but it didn't stop the 1994 ban, the 1986 Gun Owners' Protection Act (which sent the price of full-auto weapons skyrocketing), or similar tyrannical laws.

As I've posted elsewhere, the NRA doesn't even really support the true purpose of the Second Amendment. The SA has NOTHING to do with target shooting or hunting. It isn't even about defense against common criminals. Its sole purpose has always been to guarantee that citizens retain the means to wage a guerrilla war and kill police and/or military personnel who attempt to enforce tyrannical laws. And even if there were no Second Amendment citizens would still have this right, since no one is born a slave and no one has any unqualified right to rule over anyone else.

Only might makes right. The ONLY true guarantee of our rights is our willingness to use the guns we already have. So far, the vast majority of gun owners have shown no such willingness. There have been some heroic exceptions, such as the Branch Davidians at Waco, but those people were surrounded from the beginning and couldn't hold out forever. If only 2% of gun owners decided to quit being "law-abiding" sheep and start showing the kind of anger we saw in, say, the LA Riots (which caused the police to flee in terror), our rights would be assured.

I would prefer a peaceful solution, and I think the answer there lies with getting more gun owners on board with the Libertarian party. But failing that, we need to be ready to make some serious sacrifices to ensure that freedom in America doesn't die forever.

 

[stoky]

ForeverArmed,
I agree completely, we are doomed. The sheeple will continue to vacillate between republicrats and dempublicans, and each will ratchet down inxorably towards tyranny. Think billary armed with the "Patriot" Act. Republisheeple that espouse the Second Amendment are fine with trashing other parts of the Bill of Rights that will impose their own special versions of morality. The Bill of Rights has been replaced with a right to feel safe. The war on drugs that grow in the dirt has gone so splendidly that it is being expanded to random ethanol roadblocks and tobacco. Semi amusing that uncle nanny has now moved to protect congress critters from cigars. We have been protected from guns that are unapproved sizes and have mechanisms that operate in unsanctioned modes. Bush Jrs. signing of a new and improved "Assult" Weapon ban is nigh, in the spirit of Bipartisanism, for the children.

 

[dfaugh]

The problem with the NRA is that the general public sees them as being to "radical". Not saying the're right, but that's the perception. i sometimes wonder how much damage they've done vs. whatever good they've done (to the general publics perceptions.

 

[SamTuckerMTNMAN]

there is some evidence

that there are greater forces at work in some of the high profile mass killings. The least of which could be the cover up of mental illness/psychiatric drug use and prior warnings. . .

when we look at human history and marvel at the things that were done to achieve power, it certainly wouldn't be out the question to think someone, somewhere, would perpetrate or condone violence to achieve political goals.

 

[Speer]

Hewitt said. "A lot of it has to do with our social attitudes today. The problem starts with people, not guns."

Here, here. The voice of reason. Let us hope it's more than a fart in the wind.

when we look at human history and marvel at the things that were done to achieve power, it certainly wouldn't be out the question to think someone, somewhere, would perpetrate or condone violence to achieve political goals.

 

[Limeyfellow]

Am I the only one who envisions a rabid anti trying to jumpstart a "Gun Control" agenda by commiting a mass murder as suggested by this persons comments ala Helter Skelter?

Yes, probrobly.

Though I guess its little different than the likes of Eric Rudolph spreading a prolife message by bombing abortion clinics and murdering people. There are nutjobs all over the place.

 

[Kim]

The only reason some people not the majority see the NRA as radical is because of the radical left MSM paints them that way. It is a shame the NRA only has 4 million members. If only half or a third or a tenth of gun owners joined there would be NO gun control on the Federal level. The politcians would quake in their slippers. That is the point of joining the NRA. And to think people will not spend 35 dollars a year to support something sooooo important makes me sad. When has the MSM TV persons ever discussed gun control as Maybe Just, Maybe being a 2nd Amendment issue such as the blessed First Amendment. Have they EVER said there are serious Constitutional issues involved. NEVER!!!!!!!!