Thursday, February 26, 2009

So, Attorney General Holder has tipped the Obama administration's hand in support of a revived Assault Weapons Ban.  In response, I sent the following letter to my elected Congresscritters:

I write to you with great concern in light of Attorney General Holder's comments, in which he voiced the Obama administrations support for reenacting the Clinton-era Assault Weapons Ban.  I urge you to oppose any attempt by the administration to revive this reprehensible, ineffective, and unconstitutional law, whether through executive order or legislation.

Last year the Supreme Court of the United States held in District of Columbia vs. Heller (PDF) that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms.  In discussing what "arms" were protected, the Court held that the Second Amendment protects individual ownership of arms that are in common use by the American public.  In the past decade or so, the very sort of arms that the Obama administration would like to see banned are the most commonly purchased firearms.  Thus, such a ban is clearly unconstitutional under Heller.

Moreoever, the proposed justifications for a revived Assault Weapons Ban are clearly bogus.  So-called assault weapons are not the weapon of choice for criminals, and gun control never works to reduce crime.  Incredulously, A.G. Holder claims that the US is a major source of weapons used by Mexican drug cartels.  This is preposterous.  Further, if we have heretofore been unable to stem the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into our country, what hope would we have of blocking access to weapons by the same well organized criminal enterprises who breach our border on a daily basis?

Please rest assured that I will be following this matter closely and it will have a major impact on my decision for whom to vote in the next election.

Feel free to copy for your own use.

Strangely enough, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi seemed to downplay on the prospects for a new AWB.  We know this isn't because she's seen the error of her ways and doesn't support gun control.  Rather, it's due to one of two things, maybe both:

  1. She wasn't consulted first before Holder ran off at the mouth.
  2. She remembers what happened in the 1994 mid-term elections to the Democrats who supported the Clinton AWB.

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