Diatribe on NRA ?bizarre?
By Austin Culp,
Published Sunday, February 04, 2007
?Bizarre? is a good word to describe The Forum?s editorial of Jan. 28. Diatribe and character assassination would also describe that editorial, but then isn?t that the usual method of dealing with people who inconveniently dissent from standard liberal dogma.

Just for the record, I wrote a letter dealing with Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker?s statements about illegal guns. I can tell you, I don?t get my marching orders from the National Rifle Association and I am not aware of an NRA manifesto. I usually don?t jerk my knees and seldom rant unless I am reading a particularly nasty Forum editorial. Oh yes, I don?t consider myself to be an attack dog either.

The Forum says Walaker and the association ?Mayors Against Illegal Guns? are talking only about illegal automatic firearms. After I read that statement, I called the Fargo Police Department. The spokesperson there said the Fargo police don?t encounter automatic weapons or semi-automatic guns modified to be automatic, either one.

The Forum?s Jan. 19 article paraphrases Walaker as saying he is against automatic weapons and also against automatic weapons in the hands of criminals. Again, since there aren?t any automatic weapons around, what?s the problem? Is that really all that Walaker and ?mayors against illegal guns? are worried about? Also, as we all know by now, fully automatic weapons are restricted by the National Firearms Act of 1934. The NRA does not favor changing that.

Almost every illegal gun in the United States is an ordinary gun that is illegal because it was stolen or is possessed by someone with a criminal or psychiatric history that makes his or her possession of a gun illegal. The NRA favors harsh penalties when someone uses a gun in the commission of a crime. In fact, the NRA has been trying to get federal prosecutors to more vigorously pursue and prosecute such lawbreakers.

Walaker?s original article mentions that he and the mayors want to punish criminals who possess, use and traffic illegal guns. That?s good. The only trouble is that prosecutors have been slow to do that, even though they have the laws in place to do so now. It?s good to see though that Walaker will use his position as mayor of Fargo to push prosecutors to get tough.

Walaker?s original article says that he and the mayors want more legal authority to target the sale and distribution of so-called illegal guns. When you get down to the nuts and bolts of it though, what they really want is to shut down honest gun dealers. They also want to stop the sale of guns between private parties, especially at gun shows. They want to sue gun manufacturers, and anyone else involved in the gun business, out of existence.

In other words, they want your gun. Which means they want you defenseless in the face of criminals who still have illegal guns.

Culp lives in Battle Lake, Minn.

(fair use)

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !