Tester, Baucus tell AG to back off on gun control

[RamboLiberal]

Source: KXMB.com

Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester have a message for the Obama administration: they will oppose any gun restrictions the new administration may be considering.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the two Democrats said the Justice Department should enforce existing laws rather than propose additional laws they said could infringe on Second Amendment rights.

The letter was prompted by Holder's comment that reinstating a ban on the sale of assault weapons could help reduce bloodshed in Mexico, where 6,000 people were killed last year in drug-related violence.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein has said she plans to push legislation to reinstate a federal ban on some assault weapons that became law during the Clinton administration in 1994, but expired a decade later.

Barrett Kaiser, a spokesman for Baucus, says the letter was sent as a "pre-emptive strike" to warn the Obama administration that any effort to push new gun control will meet with resistance.


Read more: http://www.kxmb.com/News/340119.asp

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Good. I wonder if Webb would line up against it as well.

[msongs]

1. solution = all gun owners need to join the militia (as stated in the constitution) nt

[Jkid]

8. solution = all gun owners need to join the national guard (as stated in the constitution)

fixed

[old mark]

36. Funny, i don't recall you being on the Supreme Court.....nt

[slackmaster]

39. Funny, my copy of the Constitution doesn't mention a National Guard

But it does mention the militia, which is presently defined under federal law as follows:

TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART I > CHAPTER 13

311. Militia: composition and classes

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

[tritsofme]

27. See District of Columbia v. Heller

Things are changing for the better.

[Wetzelbill]

2. definitely a state thing

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Fuck Fienstien, you can't tell her from Lieberman except she

wears womens clothes a little bit better. Not much, just a little bit.

[saigon68]

7. Screw Joementum--- he really is a "darling"

[sasquatch]

9. I know, I always think she had something to do with Harvey Milk getting killed

[jody]

4. Why are a few Dem politicians determined to push renewing AWB? They have a death wish for our party.

SCOTUS' decision in D.C. v. Heller says the 2nd protects an individual's RKBA for self-defense and that includes semiautomatic firearms defined inappropriately as assault weapons.

Obama has his neck out with continuing to push for renewing AWB, see his White House site, while saying "I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won't take your handgun away."

Obama can straddle the RKBA issue only so long and it will eventually hurt him if he doesn't promise to veto any bill to renew the AWB and any other bill that infringes on RKBA.

[katandmoon]

5. Because killing people with guns is better than protecting people from being killed with guns

Gun worshippers are nothing if not consistent.

[Mojorabbit]

18. Oh please. nt

[slackmaster]

40. Gun ban proponents are consistent too

Consistently illogical.

[clayton72]

6. Gun controll a no go

I'm sure we can all agree that Republicans habitually rally around certain issues. Gun controll is one of the biggest and most powerful. Bringing GC up in any fashion will only serve to re-unite their fractured party. The Assault weapons ban only served to bring the republicans back into the majority in 1994 and gave much fuel to Bush over Gore in 2000. This is one issue that the Dems really need to leave alone.

Crime WILL be going up over the next decade for the same reason it went down over the last decade: The economy!

When people are leading happy productive lives with roofs over their heads, adequate medical care, food in their bellies, and hope for success in their future there is little motivation for crime.

The economy, the environment, the infrastructure, and healthcare need to be the priorities.

Leave the fringe issues ALONE!

[Lucky Luciano]

13. Yeah! nt

[OnionPatch]

26. Double Yeah!

Supporting gun control is political suicide. We already saw what the Republicans do to the country when they are in control and it scares me a whole lot more than legalized gun ownership.

[hollowdweller]

10. Good for Tester and Baucus

If the Obama administration is successful at passing gun control, that puts a LOT of the Democrats that gained office in the 50 state strategy in danger.

Lots of the democrats that won in congress in rural areas did so by being anti gun control but socially progressive otherwise. People in rural areas are all about roads, and retirement security, and good health care. But if you throw guns in the mix they will vote that over anything else.

Remove that issue and then you radically expand the base that supports democratic candidates.

[Laelth]

16. I agree.

Even if I think gun control advocates are right (and I do), this is a losing issue for us, and it's not worth the cost.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Oldenuff]

25. I agree

I won't budge on my rights to have guns of any configuration...period.

[Hulk]

11. Someone tell me how restricting assault weapons is infringing on our right to bear arms??

Where does this f*cking nonsense stop? Rifles to hunt. Pistols to protect oneself. Assault weapons to smuggle into Mexico to make the cartels lethal...and then we bitch about how dangerous it is to travel to the border towns and how the drugs continue to flow across the border.

I guess we can wait a little longer until the cartels start shooting up cities on our side of the border, killing innocents like Iraq to settle feuds and protect their turf.

What citizen NEEDS the right to own an assault weapon? I go hunting with a friend who pulls out his automatic rifle collection and proceeds to blow the shit out of trees, bushes, targets, anything that might make a good target. Sweet. We really need that. I think he should buy a 40MM Howitzer so he can really shake up the woods. I'm sure that's "a right" we have in the 2nd Amendment.

Do you honestly think our founding fathers had any idea that their writing this amendment would guarantee their future generations the rights to bear weapons that are capable of causing such destruction to life and limb? This is absurd.

These "fear for your life, run to the hills" idiots in this country are scarier than anything that might be after them. Montana, Idaho, Wyoming..these goofball states with their population of separatists and white supremacist groups WANTS these automatic weapons so when the shit comes down, they will be prepared to defend their rights to be ugly. Oh, and if they just happen to get shit face drunk and want to take out a bus load of minority school children, that's cool too...right?

Egads. This nation is nuts.

[Tim01]

14. Semi auto rifles are small arms.

Banning semi auto rifles is infringing on the 2nd amendment. The founders were smart, they knew what they were doing.
And please calm down.

[Edweird]

20. Hyperbole instead of fact.

[ManiacJoe]

21. You are a victim of the "assault weapon" bait and switch.

When you say "assault weapon" you are wrongly thinking "assault rifle". They are two different things.

"Assault weapon" = semi-auto ergonomic carbine, under most common definitions of "assault weapon". There is nothing special about these rifles; thus they need no special regulation.

Civilian ownership of assault rifles was (and still is) heavily regulated at the federal level approximately 10 years before the first one was invented.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

30. Please learn a little about the issue before you post specious rants

The guns the cartels are using are full auto not semi auto.

I would like to see your description of assault weapons...based on your comments, you don't have a clue what they are. Note that the political ones out there are incorrect.

The founding fathers supported civilians owning weapons that were the exact ones in the hands of the best troops of their day.

Automatic weapons are tightly regulated, even in the western states you cite. If the circumstances you state are so common, why has it never happened?


Go out and read up on the subject before you embarrass yourself with another clueless rant on this topic

[slackmaster]

41. The "assault weapons" ban that expired in 2004 had NOTHING to do with automatic weapons

You have been duped.

[New Dawn]

12. We need to be instituting universal health care and getting out of Iraq.

Not taking away people's guns.

[thread-bear]

28. constitution/bill-of-rights

agreed,I'd like to see a democrat party that supports all the
bill-of rights,not just some.  I've been amazed at how great
the wisdom Jefferson and the rest of our founding fathers had.
Before you condemn freedom [of any sort] think about about how
wonderful this country is,despite your disagreements. I don't
doubt gun control advocates sincerity, I really believe they
are all well-meaning people, only their wisdom.

[bluestateguy]

15. Gun control is one of those "suburban Mommy" issues

In other words, an issue directed toward those voters. Everybody else either doesn't care (and hence, may still vote Republican anyway) or is vitriolicly opposed.

[FudaFuda]

37. Because I will never trust any government,

vitriolic is about right, yes. :)

[BlueIdaho]

17. The third rail...

Gun control in any form is an issue guaranteed to disrupt unity. Urban, rural, moderate, and progressive citizens see this issue very differently for good reason on all sides. My bigest problem with this issue is its about the 50th most important thing that needs to be accomplished in the next four years. Lets keep our powder dry and work on the top of the list first.

[sendero]

35. It is astounding to me..

.... that ANY savvy Dem politician would seek to mess around with this issue. It absolutely GALVANIZES the right while accomplishing NOTHING OF VALUE, I MEAN NOTHING.

It is the true litmus test of a political dolt.

[Edweird]

19. Single payer is off the table but gun control is a priority... tsk tsk.

The (R)' s will back in the saddle at midterms if Obama doesn't get his rear in gear.

[The abyss]

22. Every attempt at federal gun control since 1934 is against the intent of the 2nd amendment.

Prior to the 1934 Firearms Act you or any other citizen could send their money to the factory and have their own liquid cooled Browning delivered to their door (and that included anything and everything manufactured at the time). Want grenades, mortars, a nice field piece, a dozen Thompsons – send the money and it was yours.

Gun control has always been about “tax payer control”

The government feared repercussions from the events of the 1932 Bonus March, they feared a return of an armed populace.

That is how this originally started. That is why it continues.

[SlowDownFast]

45. ...SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. Period.

[NoFederales]

23. Better worry about AMMUNITION efforts afoot--no ammunition

to be sold w/o proper authority, incl. handloading, existing stocks of private ammo (that is, "authorized") to be destroyed after 2011 (or some such date). I can imagine die-hards scoffing about hiding their hordes of ammo, but this is serious shit.

Seems like I came across this yesterday while surfing around, but failed to bookmark. If this ammo effort is a hoax, I'd like to know. It ain't funny.

NoFederales

[NoFederales]

34. ammunitionaccountability.org/ URL below

http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Legislation.htm

NoFederales

[rpannier]

24. I see this issue as about near the bottom of what we should be worrying about

Let the states deal with it.
They understand their populace better

[gtar100]

31. Exactly. The appropriate gun laws in Montana won't work in LA or New York

This definitely is an issue in which one size does not fit all. What's appropriate wouldn't even be the same across an entire state. Local control seems to be the best answer here, generally speaking, so long as reasonableness prevails over self-interest (unfortunately, a trait not seen often in politicians). No easy straight-forward answer. Many gun owners are responsible and don't need laws to do the right thing; then again, some are total dicks. For whom do we make the laws?

[rpannier]

32. Your last part is key

We spend too much time making laws to protect stupid people from themselves at the same time preventing responsible people from doing things they enjoy that do not adversely affect others

[benEzra]

29. Good for them. Reid and Pelosi have already put the kibosh on it as well. (n/t)

[Kolesar]

33. I wonder if Obama has the "cred" to talk Americans into not patronizing drug dealers

A street deal in one of our communities leads to innocent people getting killed in Mexican border community. There certainly is a causal relationship.

[NickB79]

38. There is NO way any new gun control laws will be passed with this House and Senate

EVERY Republican will line up and vote no on a renewal of the AWB, so that is a given. There are no Republicans moderate enough to vote for new gun laws left in Congress.

Then you have to consider all the new seats that Democrats have picked up in the past few years. Most of these came from southern and western states that have traditionally been conservative. Democrats picked them up by running moderate Dems against moderate Repubs, as we see from this article quoting the senators from Montana.

A significant number of Democrats would side with the Republicans and vote against any new gun laws. Obama would never see a new AWB bill on his desk to sign.

[Renew Deal]

42. How about urging Mexico to guard it's borders.

You can walk into Mexico without anyone saying a word to you. And this is at border crossings!

[anonymous171]

43. Good. Let's not to waste political capital on this stupid issue.

[SlowDownFast]

44. Good for Montana.

Other states would do well to follow suit.