Tuesday, April 21, 2009

YouTube - Debate Over 'Assault Weapons'

YouTube - Debate Over 'Assault Weapons'

Wayne Lapiere and Pennslvania Governer Ed Rendel debate "Assault Weapons" on"Face the Nation".

Rendel's basic argument is "What honest citizen needs and Assault Weapon?"

hen pressed, Rendel changes his argument to "What honest citizen needs more than ten rounds in a magazine?"

LaPierre has little time to respond in this TV "Debate" to get to the nitty-gritty of the question. I wish he had said something like: "Why should we deny an Honest Citizen the right to use any magazine?"

In the actual fact, he (LaPierre) made the point that the defnition of "Assault Weapon" is ot appropriately applied to semi-automatic ... with the implication that laws which restrict access to "Ugly Guns" apply equally to almost ANY Semi-Automatic gun.

Another wish: LaPierre (given time) may have said something along the lines of
"The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban was established with the provisio that, after 10 years in effect, it could be statistically proven that the restriction had reduced crime, homocidem or other violence. When the law was reviewed, NOBODY was able to step to the forum and confirm that it had made ANY difference in terms of reducing crime. President Bush confirmed that he would sign any bill which Congress could pass; but Congress could not pass a bill to continue the Assault Weapons Ban. In the final analysis, it did NOT meet its stated goals, and the only effect was to emplace unreasonable restrictions on law-abiding citizens ... who for their own, perfectly legal reasons, choose to purchase semi-automatic firearms and magazines with greater than a 10-round capacity."
He never said this. He could have, but he did not have to.

In all, I think LaPierre held his own in a strictly formatted forum. I couldn't have done so well, when I had to know the answers before the questions were asked.

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