April 11, 2013 6:17 AM

Lies, damned lies, and gun nuts

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

(apologies to Keith Olbermann)

Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)

BOOZMAN: Nothing that’s being proposed would have any effect on that at all. When you look at the studies, 90 percent of violent crime is hand guns, 5 percent is rifles, less than 1 percent is assault-style weapons and again these are not the automatic weapons that soldiers carry. But they’re big, bulky, people don’t use them to commit crimes and so as a result it still doesn’t do anything.

It’s bad enough that the NRA has purchased most of Congress lock, stock,and barrel. It’s an obscenity that the bulk of Congresscritters beholden to Wayne LaPierre and his fellow monsters are doing the wrong thing for the wrong and most corrupt of reasons. But when those same Congressmen are lying about facts in a way that just might cost innocent Americans their lives…well, there really should be a very special place in Hell for reprobates like that. I’d start with John Boozman.

It’s one thing to not be aware of the facts. It’s quite another to have access to the facts and yet still choose to fly right by them and defend the narrow interests of your benefactor. I don’t know much about Boozman, but I have to presume he’s not stupid- not Louie Gohmert stupid, at least. It’s just that Boozman is probably terrified of what might happen if he doesn’t toe the NRA’s line with sufficient vigor and believability. So he publicly peddles the fantasy that criminals don’t use assault weapons to commit crimes. That such an assertion is prima facie absurd…until you consider that Boozman, like most gun advocates, is less concerned with the truth than with doing whatever he can to protect the interests of those who fill his campaign coffers.

Assault weapons may not be the weapon of choice for most gun criminals in the United States, but they are far more deadly, as the mass killing in Newtown, Connecticut demonstrated. A recent study of mass shootings since January 2009 from Mayors Against Illegal Violence found that while “just 12 of the mass-shooting incidents, or 28 percent, involved assault weapons or high-capacity magazines,” those incidents resulted in “an average of 8.3 deaths, compared with 5.4 deaths on average for the rest.”

No, assault weapons may not be the weapon of choice, but there too many examples of how deadly they can be when the are used. The fact that they’re not used in the majority of gun crimes doesn’t mean nothing need be done. When 20 students and six adults are gunned down in an elementary schools, when two people are killed in a shopping mall in suburban Portland, when there are so many other examples of the damage assault weapons can do, how can doing nothing even be an option? Boozman may not have had to bury his child, but that doesn’t lessen his responsibility to those who have.

If you’re going to advocate for unlimited access to all manner of firepower, would it be too much to ask that you at least get your facts straight? And before I forget, Senator…the paint is almost dry on your parking space in Hell.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 11, 2013 6:17 AM.

Why am I a Liberal? It's simple; we're all in this together. was the previous entry in this blog.

Guns- They're what made America great...right?? is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 5.2.2