Matt Drudge is having great sport with yet another bungled Kerry “he man” photo-op.
KERRY COSPONSORED BILL BANNING GUN HE WAVES
Was Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry seen this weekend waving a gun which would have been banned if legislation he co-sponsored became law?
Kerry co-sponsored S. 1431 last year (�The Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2003) which would have banned a “semiautomatic shotgun that has a pistol grip.”
Opponents of the bill successfully argued how nearly all guns have “pistol grips,” inluding millions of Browning Auto-5 shotguns produced since 1903.
Kerry was presented with the gun during a Labor Day stop in Racine, West Virginia.
“I thank you for the gift, but I can’t take it to the debate with me,” Kerry told a cheering crowd as he held up the device.
[Kerry’s gun bill would also ban any “gift” transaction. Kerry did not submit to a waiting period or background check before he claimed the gun.]Photos show Kerry’s hand resting on the semiautomatic shotgun’s “pistol grip.”
Kerry’s bill would ban millions of semi-automatics, including those with “pistol grips.” [Section SEC. 2; (H) (ii)]
Another self-inflicted foot wound.
What pistol grip? I don’t see one.
I think tha’ts what they were alluding to when they complained that it was “loosely defined”
“The term ‘pistol grip’ means a grip, a thumbhole stock, or any other characteristic that can function as a grip.”
Not only was the quote “pistol grip” vaguely defined, but so was the entire gun ban bill. People who know anything about firearms were irritated but also amused, because they realized that a gun with the same operating capacity could be purchased without the notorious “pistol grip”. Liberals were simply frightened by a firearm that looked cosmetically sort of “military-ish”.
In any event, liberals now stay as far away from the gun issue as they can, because they correctly believe it helped defeat Al Gore. In fact, more and more states are enacting concealed carry permits as it is widely understood to deter crime.
In some states no permit is required at all to carry a gun. In Texas we have a concealed carry law. However, it is completely legal without any permit to carry a shotgun or a riot gun under 18 inches long in your vehicle. With three shells in the chamber. Usually people purchase 20-gauge or 12-gauge Mossenbergs for this purpose.
To further beat a dead horse:
In the normal sense, “pistol grip” is a term of art in firearms design and doesn’t (have to) refer to a hand grip resembling that of a bog-standard auto-pistol, but rather how the hand is positioned.
So a “thumbhole grip” stock, which is otherwise not (at first glance) a pistol shaped grip, actually is, but integrated.
Hence banning them not only annoys gunnies because pistol grips in general have nothing to to with nothing, but also because it they know that’s not what the ignorant authours of the legislation meant.
Bah! Enough gun geekyness.
My understanding is that the “Dianne Feinstein” method of legislation isn’t at all uncommon for the gun-banners: word has it she just flipped through a gun catalog, picking out features she thought looked kind of “military.”
Naturally, this approach ends up outlawing a lot of merely cosmetic attributes. Besides being contrary to the U.S.’s Bill of Rights, it also discriminates against poor people, who like to hunt to supplement their food budgets, and find military surplus firearms (rifles in particular) more affordable (there are many guns that have a military and a sporting version, with the differences only cosmetic).