A Bang-Bang Manion Freeper Misfire

This story in the Bucks County Courier Times tells us that…

Compelled by the murder of Philadelphia police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on Thursday called on Pennsylvania's congressional delegation to re-enact a federal assault weapons ban.

“This issue is quite simple,” Rendell said in a statement. “Either (you) support law enforcement or you don't. And if you don't, you'll have to tell the widow of the next victim or the young child of the next victim why you didn't vote to protect them.”

And according to this information from The Brady Campaign, Rendell is absolutely right…

Q: Does law enforcement support the ban on assault weapons?

A: Every major national law enforcement organization in the country supported the federal assault weapons ban and worked for its passage (note: the ban was passed in 1994 but Dubya allowed it to “sunset” in 2004 despite his campaign promise to renew it). Among the many law enforcement organization that supported the ban are the Law Enforcement Steering Committee, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major City Chiefs Association, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the National Association of Police Organizations, the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, the National Black Police Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Police Executive Research Forum, and the Police Foundation.

Q: Why should the federal assault weapons ban be renewed?

A: Even with the success of the ban, assault weapons still pose a threat to the safety of all Americans, and particularly to law enforcement officers. Tens of thousands of "grandfathered" assault weapons are still in circulation, and thousands more will go into circulation if the ban is not renewed and gun manufacturers begin producing and selling them again. As one leading law enforcement executive put it, the weapons banned by the 1994 law are nothing more than "cop-killer guns."

And this Salon.com article tells us...

"We've gone backwards in a lot of areas," says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "In effect, the only real gun law we've got on the books now is the Brady background checks."

Robert J. Spitzer, a distinguished service professor of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland, who wrote the book "The Politics of Gun Control," agrees. "It's an issue that's largely off the table," Spitzer explains. "You've got, basically, the Democrats running away from the issue and deciding that this is not where they want to hang their hats, and Republicans who are . . . extremely sympathetic to the policy goals of the [National Rifle Association]."

And as far as last year’s Virginia Tech shootings are concerned…

The expiration of the ban may have had some consequences in Blacksburg. ABC News has speculated that the shooter probably used a high-capacity ammunition clip of a type that was prohibited under the ban but became widely available when the ban expired. The other major piece of anti-gun legislation passed in the Clinton era, the Brady Bill, has been weakened as well, because of rules put in place by former Attorney General John Ashcroft when he took office in 2001.

And here’s more on the Dems and their “running away” from the gun control issue, as Helmke noted…

The desire to court voters in swing states with a large percentage of gun owners is the primary reason that Democrats have recently tended to view the issue of gun control as poisonous. There were other reasons as well, however. First, there were fears that support for gun control could split a key Democratic constituency: union members. A survey done by Americans for Gun Safety has shown that 54 percent of union households own a gun. Moreover, gun control is an issue with what Spitzer describes as "hassle" and "intensity" factors that don't favor advocates. Supporters of gun rights are passionate in a way that supporters of gun control are not -- gun-rights backers are single-issue voters and activists, while on the other side, Spitzer says, "the typical gun control supporter is somebody for whom the issue is not a No. 1 concern, it's No. 6 or No. 8."

Doug Hattaway, who was national spokesman for Gore's 2000 campaign and is now the president of Hattaway Communications, concurs. Hattaway notes that organizations like the Brady Campaign cite the high public support for gun control measures, but says that support doesn't translate into electoral victories for Democrats.

"There's a difference between agreeing on an issue and having it motivate your vote," Hattaway says. "Yes, people agree, but there's not a potent pro-gun control constituency in national elections."

And the article also notes the influence of “Third Way” characters such as Franklin Foer and one-time Dems Crazy Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman as individuals who did their best to steer the party away from gun control as an issue after the 2000 election, noting that Al Gore lost in southern states where the gun issue was considered part of the “culture war” that the Democrats perennially lost in prior elections for years (funny how that stuff slowly was trumped over time by our crappy economy, health care crisis and war without end in Iraq, wasn’t it?).

So with all of that background out of the way, let’s return to the Courier Times story…

Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-8, a co-sponsor of a bill to reinstitute the assault weapons ban and son of a former Philadelphia police officer, said the government needs to be “proactive” to quell gun violence.

“While I support the right of gun ownership and I believe in the Second Amendment, I strongly believe that if someone wants to fire an assault rifle they should join the military,” Murphy said.

Kudos to Patrick for reviving this issue and supporting Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter.

So what does Patrick’s Repug challenger for the 8th District PA House seat have to say? Take a wild guess…

Tom Manion, a Republican from Doylestown Township, said the focus should be on stricter law enforcement, not on enacting more gun laws.

“I really don't think a ban on assault weapons is going to do anything to keep the criminals from getting their hands on guns,” Manion said.

He noted all three men police accused in the Port Richmond bank robbery and fatal shooting of Liczbinski were released early from previous prison sentences. Had they served their full sentences, Manion said, the suspects would have been in jail Saturday when the Philadelphia police officer was slain.

“It's easy to look at the Second Amendment, but we have to focus on keeping the criminals off the streets,” Manion said.

Maybe Manion ought to familiarize himself with the stories of James Oliver Huberty, who carried out the San Ysidro, CA McDonald’s massacre in 1984, or Sylvia Seegrist, who shot up the Springfield, PA Mall a year later. These people did not have prior records of criminal behavior, though they still committed horrific acts of gun violence.

Though Seegrist had been institutionalized prior to the shootings, apparently Huberty was not, though in the case of Seegrist, there was some aberrant behavior tipping people off to the fact that there was something wrong with her, and with Huberty, a police dispatcher gave the wrong address of the McDonald’s, which was part of the reason why the massacre wasn’t prevented (Huberty used a 9 MM Uzi among other weapons, and Seegrist used a Ruger Mini-14 light semiautomatic carbine rifle).

My point is this; why leave the responsibility for preventing gun violence solely in the hands of law enforcement? How sane a policy is it to not do all we can to stop shootings from assault weapons and expect police to magically somehow save the day a moment before the shooter pulls the trigger (to say nothing of the effect of this “willful blindness” on law enforcement, such as the tragic shooting of Sgt. Liczbinski)?

This is an issue the Dems need to confront head on, and kudos to Patrick for doing just that. In the meantime, Manion and his pals can do all the crowing they want about lenient sentences (perhaps an issue, even though according to this 2006 survey, the U.S. has the highest citizen incarceration rate of any other country). Meanwhile, we’ll be trying to save lives through passing common-sense gun laws.

Update: Speaking of Patrick, I don't know how he can continue to tolerate these people (here).