Bearing arms against a flood of troubles: Obama 1; Clinton 0

[beevul]

Bearing arms against a flood of troubles: Obama 1; Clinton 0
The efforts of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to differentiate themselves on the issue of gun ownership has been, like so many of their efforts to differentiate themselves, a kind of off-key opera buffa. Does Obama support individual ownership or a universal ban? Does Clinton really believe law-abiding citizens should be allowed to own guns? Do either of them believe the right of self-defense is anything but a quaint conceit? Are Second Amendment stalwarts right to view this as a choice between one gun grabber and another?

Richard Feldman, author of Ricochet; Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist, hips us to an obscure but telling difference in how the two candidates view these issues. It involves law-abiding citizens, shades into self-defense in its most elemental form and arguably reveals a great deal about how the two view the use of force — that is, the use of force against law-abiding citizens by the state. And there's a clear distinction.

I give you Vitter Amdendment No. 4615, which was voted on in the U.S. Senate at 6:13 PM on July 13, 2006. Here's the text:

To prohibit the confiscation of a firearm during an emergency or major disaster if the possession of such firearm is not prohibited under Federal or State law.

The amendment, which was attached to a Homeland Security appropriations package, was approved 84-16. The bill itself was signed into law in October 2006.

If the confiscation issue seems recondite, set your wayback machine to the post-Hurricane Katrina period, when wild and largely inaccurate tales of disaster-area pillage gave way to revelations about how incompetent police chief Eddie Compass and other authorities eventually went about pacifying the Big Easy. In particular, some footage of cops manhandling Patty Konie — an elderly resident seen holding (by the barrel) a revolver that looked like something that would have blown up in Wild Bill Hickock's tiny hands — provided a shock even to those who don't normally get excited about such matters.

This was the context in which the Vitter amendment was introduced. Here is how the Democratic front-runners voted:

Clinton (D-NY), Nay

Obama (D-IL), Yea

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/02/the-efforts-of.html

An interesting read, and it makes some good points.

[virginia mountainman]

1. That whole deal made ME SICK...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3697768704759304293&q=Patty+Konie&total=10&start=0&num=100&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm5PC7z79-8&feature=related

I remember, watching it live on the news, and getting sick over it, where was the ACLU during all this??? For the first time, I sent a large donation to the NRA.

[NewMoonTherian]

2. Thank you Beevul,

Not only for bringing this to our attention, but for reminding us that rhetoric is cheap. With so many half-engaged voters going wild for one candidate or another based on pandering stump speeches, we need to be focusing on real substance, namely, voting records.

[L1A1Rocker]

3. Yeah but Obama wants a federal law banning states from their own CCL laws!

Oh what to do? Who to vote for. . . . .

[WWFZD]

4. That was a despicable sight

I sent the NRA an extra check after that also and, as far as I know, they're the only the only organization thats attempted to hold the PC and the other scumbags accountable for their fascist actions.
I don't know whatever happened to Patty Konies dogs either. You don't do that to elderly people, to anybody. She had food and she had nobody else to take care of her pets. They probably starved to death waiting by the window for her to come back, fucking lowlifes.
Glad to see Obama's vote on that issue, how anybody could have voted otherwise is beyond my comprehension.

[jody]

5. BO was a board member for the Joyce Foundation that funds Violence Policy Center whose major goal is

to ban handguns.

BO even considered taking over as president of Joyce.

Would a ban-abortion group select a pro-abortion person as President?

Would a ban-RKBA group select a pro-RKBA person as President?

Last year BO said he supported banning semiautomatic firearms.

Now BO wants people to believe he supports the Democratic Party Platform that promises, "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms".

BO is a political chameleon who adopts whatever position serves to advance his political career at the moment.

Chameleons are predators that survive by camouflaging themselves so they can prey on unsuspecting morsels -- particularly voters.

BO's record with Joyce and VPC are discussed in DU's thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=160510&mesg_id=160510

[Plague]

6. finding a truly pro-RKBA candidate...

...is an exercise in futility. No viable candidate will ever take the stance of full blown support for the 2nd Amendment. It's political suicide.

They'll always take the same stance. "I support your 2nd Amendment Rights, but I reserve the power to regulate them."

[Ordr]

7. "I support your 2nd Amendment Rights, but I reserve the power to regulate them."

Progressive totalitarianism.
Scary how Jonah Goldberg can be right sometimes.