GUNS&AMMO August2004
Page 16

In The Field
Tom Gresham

Guns In The Media Return To Sanity Or More Guns Lost?

Whether you shoot a Ruger 10/22, a Remington 1100 or a
Browning Buckmaster, your gun is threatened. In fact, all
firearms ownership is threatened.

Buckle your seatbelts, ?cause it?s going to be a bumpy ride.
The home stretch of the election season is upon us, and two
months before we cast our votes, the infamous Clinton Gun
Ban (CGB) is set to expire.

Otherwise known as the ?assault weapon? ban, this is the
crown jewel of the gun-banning set, and they will do
whatever it takes to guarantee this worthless, harmful,
deceitful legislation continues to crush Second Amendment
freedoms.

It?s probably going to get ugly.

The Clinton Gun Ban blocked the sale of certain
?look-alike? guns. Rifles included in the ban look like
military guns but are not. There are no machine guns or
full-automatic firearms covered in the CGB.

To qualify as banned, a rifle must have two of several
cosmetic features including a pistol grip, barrel shroud or
flash suppressor, among others. Nothing about the
functioning of the firearm qualifies it, and once the
cosmetics are changed, the rifle is not banned. Silly? Of
course.

The Washington Post explained the real value of this ban
when it said that while the measure was largely symbolic, it
served to desensitize the public to the idea of gun bans and
paved the way to larger, more inclusive bans.

Call it a Trojan Horse, or the camel?s nose in the tent, but
even the proponents of the bill knew that these rifles were
and are not a significant factor in crime. Josh Sugarman of
the rabidly anti-gun Violence Policy Center was quoted as
saying that the public?s confusion about full-automatic and
semiautomatic rifles could be exploited to ban the latter.
Criminal use of these firearms was and remains at about 2
percent of the criminal firearms use.

The Clinton Gun Ban, however, is an important symbol for
those who wish to ban a much larger group of firearms. The
ban also stands as perhaps the most colossal blunder in the
history of United States politics, ending a 40-year reign of
power by the Democrats. Its passage resulted in the
overwhelming defeat of many career representatives and
senators, including the first time a sitting Speaker of the
House was defeated. As a result of the passage of this
gun-control measure, the Democrats lost control of Congress,
a fact acknowledged by President Clinton in his ?State Of
The Union? address.

Two years later, the House voted, by an overwhelming 239:173
margin, to repeal the CGB. Since there was little chance
the Senate would pass it (and, of course, President Clinton
would have vetoed it), this was a symbolic vote. There is
no doubt, though, that this political lesson has been taken
to heart, and this year candidates are running away from
gun-control issues.

If nothing is done, the gun ban will expire in September.
No action is required.

Doomsday Provision?No Guns

While the Republican leadership has promised to not bring a
renewal bill to the floor of the House, that could change.
Political pressure will be brought to bear, and the media
can be expected to continue to lie about the ban, telling
the public that it is about machine guns.

One renewal bill already introduced greatly expands the
categories and numbers of firearms included in the ban. It
also includes the ?doomsday clause” which gives any future
U.S. Attorney General the ability to ban any and all
privately owned firearms with the stroke of a pen by simply
saying they are not suitable for ?sporting use.”

For a solid background on the Clinton Gun Ban, visit a
couple of websites. The NRA has put up clintongunban.com,
complete with an excellent movie on the history of this
measure. A countdown clock, measuring the time left until
the CGB sunsets, runs continuously at awbansunset.com.

We can?t afford to have only the voices of the gun banners
being heard. It?s time to contact your elected officials in
Washington.

Shocking Opinions

A decade ago some in the firearms-rights battle were folding
their tents, convinced the general public had moved so far
away from believing in gun rights that it was only a matter
of time before we lost everything. Once again, the Clinton
Gun Ban generated unintended consequences with its
overreaching, and the public appears to have been shaken
from a long slumber.

Zogby International may be the most accurate polling firm
surveying U.S. opinions. A recent Zogby report shows strong
support for gun rights. One question read: ?Currently, 36
states have laws that allow residents to qualify for a
permit to carry a firearm to protect themselves if they pass
a background check, participate in firearms training and pay
a fee to cover administrative costs. Do you feel this is a
good law or a bad law?? This poll of voters shocked even
gun-rights activists, with the public supporting
right-to-carry laws by 79 percent to 18 percent.

When asked, ?Do you agree or disagree that American firearm
manufacturers who sell a legal product that is not defective
should be allowed to be sued if a criminal uses their
products in a crime?? voters in ?blue? states opposed these
lawsuits by 72 percent, and those in the ?red? states came
in at 74 percent opposition. Clearly, the public does not
favor trying to hold gunmakers liable for the acts of
criminals.

A true shocker came in the form of support for the NRA.
Fully 64 percent said they agree the NRA is ?right to fight
gun control on both the federal and state level.”

_______________________________________
The Media Gets It Right

The same week the Zogby poll broke, ABC Television ran
promos for a segment of “20/20″ where John Stossel would
expose a number of myths including the subject of gun
control. Expecting the same old, tired, discredited
“studies” to be trotted out, gun-owning viewers were left
open-mouthed at a well-researched, fair and hard hitting
report.

Putting to rest the bogus “13 kids a day die in gun
accidents” malarkey Stossel used the figures from the
Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (hardly a
supporter of gun rights) that fewer than 100 children age 15
and under are killed in gun accidents each year.

The knockout punch was his announcement that gun control
does not reduce crime. Sure you and I have known that for
years but I know of no national television program that has
aired this fact. To his credit, Stossel quoted another CDC
report where it reviewed a number of studies of various
types of gun control background checks waiting periods bans
on certain guns and ammunition ABC’s “20/20″ reported of the
CDC, “It could not document that these rules have reduced
violent crime

Gun control laws do not reduce crime

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security!!!