President George W. Bush “now
owes a major debt of gratitude to
gun owners,” wrote Cable News Network
opinion survey analyst William
Schneider in a recent issue of National
Journal.
“Among the nearly half of voters
with a gun in the household, Bush
carried more than 60 percent of the
vote,” Schneider stated. “He lost
among non-gun owners.”
Not everyone in Great Britain
agrees with Prime Minister Tony Blair
when it comes to gun control.
London Daily Telegraph columnist
Toby Harnden, writing about the
Wakefield, Mass. shooting, said,
“Expect an appearance from President
Bill Clinton, his bottom lip trembling
as he feels the nation’s pain, in
which he all but blames the Republican
Party and the National Rifle Association
for (murder suspect Michael)
McDermott’s actions. While
such performances no doubt help
liberal consciences, they can all too
easily act as a substitute for thought
– the terrible events in Wakefield on
Boxing Day could well be used to
illustrate the argument against further
gun control.”
Harnden went on to note that,
“..America is already awash with
guns and preventing the law-abiding
from having access to a means of
self-defence would be little more
than positive discrimination for the
criminal.”
He accused the Boston Globe of
writing a “hand-wringing…editorial”
about the shooting, and he took a
swipe at Al Gore, noting that the former
vice president’s position on gun
control helped cost him the election.
There are a couple of interesting
websites available to gun
rights activists who cruise the
internet.
Visitors can discover the risk of
crime in their neighborhoods at
w w w . a p b n e w s . c o m /
resourcecenter/datacenter /
index.html. Punch in your zip
code and within seconds, a small
map appears showing your zip
code area accompanied with
crime data.
A second website, operated by
Capt. Ken Pence of the Nashville
Police Department, gives your
odds of becoming a victim of serious
assault, burglary and murder.
Visit that site at: www.telalink.net/
~police/risk/.
Canadian Minister of Justice
and Attorney General Anne
McLellan extended the $25 firearms
transfer fee waiver and amnesty
for “prohibited handguns
and unregistered restricted firearms”
through June 30.
“These extensions are in response
to the concerns of firearm
owners who have told us that an
extension will give those in possession
of prohibited firearms or
unregistered restricted firearms
more time to take appropriate action.
Our goal is to work with firearm
users while ensuring public
safety,” said McLellan in a news
release.
The Canadian Firearms Act required
every firearm owner in
Canada to have a license by Jan.
1 or a valid Firearms Acquisition Certificate,
but that obviously did not happen.
Canada has had trouble with compliance
ever since the new gun restrictions
were announced. An
“amnesty” for disposing of certain
“prohibited handguns” began Dec. 1,
1998. This is latest “extension”
stretches things out even more. One
newspaper, Gun Week, suggested
that Canada print its firearms regulations
on elastic.
A recently-elected New Hampshire
lawmaker is in very hot water for remarks
he made to a reporter that supported
the gunning down of police
officers.
State Rep. Tom Alciere reportedly
told the Valley News of Lebanon, NH,
“It’s unfortunate that cops do make it
necessary (to kill them) when they’re
waging a war on drugs, and I view
cops as enemy officers.”
His comments were condemned by
state GOP Chairman Steve Duprey.
The 41-year-old Alciere has a history
of expressing his views on internet
chat lists. In 1999, for example, he
made a comment that “Nobody will
ever be safe until the last cop is
dead.”
While Alciere has reportedly
claimed his remarks were the
“harmless rantings of a private citizen,”
Newmarket, NH police Chief
Rodney Collins said the lawmaker is
“a hate-mongering lunatic.”
Alciere has subsequently resigned.