Buencamino does foreign and political affairs analysis for Actionfor Economic Reforms. This piece was published in the newspaper Today, 25 September 2004, page 9.
I’d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize – STEVEN WRIGHT
Last September 14, 2004, America’s National Rifle Association (NRA)celebrated the return of the right of Americans to own assault weapons.Its top gun, Wayne La Pierre, spoke for all gun-lovers when hedescribed the assault weapons ban as “just a meaningless, cosmeticnonsense law.”
Wayne accused the antigun lobby of misrepresenting assault weapons asmachine guns. He exposed their lying by pointing out a crucialdifference between assault weapons and machine guns. He explained thatwith assault weapons “you have to pull the trigger each time to make itshoot.” So an assault weapon reinforces the work ethic and buildscharacter, while a machine gun is the lazy killer’s weapon of choice.“America didn’t get to be number one by doing things the easy way,”Wayne could have added.
Wayne was reminded by Jim Lehrer of PBS Newshour that Presidents Ford,Reagan and Carter supported the assault weapons ban. Wayne replied,“There was so much misinformation talking about machine guns, weaponsof war, rapid fire. I mean, they probably thought that that’s the typeof gun they were talking about and they weren’t.” In other words,one was a former football player who played too many times without hishelmet, one had Alzheimer’s disease, and one was Carter.
Wayne claims that in terms of the way they shoot, assault weapons areno different from any other gun legally available in the Americanmarketplace. He said, “There’s not one firearm that’s going to beavailable that’s more powerful, makes bigger holes, rapid fire, thatshoots any different than any gun that was available a week ago interms of the performance characteristics of the gun. ”
Wayne raises a good point. It’s not the way it looks, it’s theway it shoots. A Smith and Wesson six-shooter is not as stylish as anUZI-type weapon, and Congress had no business passing a lawbanning good taste.
Mae West once asked a gentleman caller, “Is that a pistol in yourpocket or are you just happy to see me?” In Wayne’s world, the properresponse would be, “It’s an UZI and I’ll let you fondle it anyway.”
Wayne’s world is opposed by, among others, the InternationalAssociation of Chiefs of Police. The organization claims to represent16,000 police chiefs, including “elected sheriffs from very, very smallpolice departments across this country.” Wayne calls them “thatcoalition of big city police chiefs” who have “been in favor of everygun control bill for the last ten years.”
Wayne is worried “they’ll go all the way to a European-style gun lawwhere honest people basically have lost their right to own a firearm.”The police coalition counters, “We’re the ones sworn to protect thosecommunities.” Wayne is like the Philippine National Police whose mottois, “Those we can’t protect, we arm.”
Wayne says, “We can argue about guns all day. I don’t think it gets youanywhere.” He prefers to talk about building more prisons andprosecuting violent felons.
Of course, violent felons would be committing violent crimes withknives or their bare hands if there were a total gun ban. But thatwould be unconstitutional because, as Wayne never tires of repeating,the Constitution of the United States guarantees the right of itscitizens to bear arms.
Wise guy wimps have argued against the Constitution by claiming wrongspelling, “It’s bare arms” they say and “it’s where the right to barebreasts flows from,” or “It’s dyslexia, it’s arm bears” in order topacify the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty toAnimals, all to no avail.
Anyway, the NRA’s favorite bumper sticker is “Guns don’t kill. Peopledo.” Maybe somebody should take that to heart and strangle Wayne LaPierre. That way there’s no mistaking what killed him.
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