John Legend: Second Amendment, NRA Prevent U.S. from Following Australia’s Gun Confiscation
by AWR Hawkins 30 Sep 2016
During an interview with The Breakfast Club,
John Legend praised Australia’s
gun confiscation plan and lamented that the U.S. cannot follow suit because of
“the Second Amendment and the NRA.”
When asked about policing and how to make neighborhoods
safer, Legend said, “I think we do have to do something about guns. We
shouldn’t live in a society so awash with guns that [it] makes the cops fearful
and makes them suspicious of everybody.”
The Breakfast Club host DJ Envy said, “You
travel a lot. You’ve been to Toronto, you’ve been to Japan, and you notice when
you go to a lot of these countries, people are not allowed to have guns.”
Legend interjected, “Yes, and their murder rates are way lower. Their suicide
rates are lower, too, because when people have guns, they end up using them.”
Envy asked, “So banning guns in full, you’re saying?”
Legend responded:
I’m not saying that necessarily would work. But if we
look at Australia, they did something over there. They had a few mass
shootings, and they said, “You know what? We’re going to take a pretty
significant approach to reducing the amount of guns on the streets.” And it
worked. They didn’t have another mass shooting, their murder rate went down,
and we won’t do it here because we got the Second Amendment. We got the NRA
that’s going to lobby against it. And maybe it won’t be constitutional to do
that, but at the end of the day, it actually worked. And if we want to
talk about what makes us safer, that would make us safer.
First, Australia’s gun confiscation scheme was fashioned
as a gun buyback–a mandatory buyback–where people with guns the government
wished to ban were required to turn in those guns. The scheme
resulted in the confiscation of somewhere between 650,000 and 1,000,000
firearms during the years 1996-1997. (Figures vary.) On September 13, 2016, Breitbart News reported
that Australia is considering a new body of gun laws to fight the rising gun
crime that is marring Melbourne, Australia, and much of Victoria. In fact,
Melbourne has had more than one shooting
a week since January 2015.
But the Australian model is Legend’s solution?
Second, part of what Australia is now considering to
fight gun crime is an “amnesty” whereby criminals will have a period of time to
turn their guns in without penalty. Ironically, during Legend’s appearance on The
Breakfast Club, he was told a lot of people do not turn in their guns
during buybacks because they are afraid that the gun–and the crimes committed
with it–will somehow be traced back to them. Legend responded by suggesting
some type of “amnesty” period to get guns off the street.
So he is pushing the Australian gun buyback that did not
prevent criminals from having guns in the first place and is also pushing the
second phase of that failed policy: “amnesty” for criminals with guns.
Legend also blamed Chicago’s gun crime on Indiana,
claiming that criminals in Chicago go to Indiana to buy their guns. This opened
the door for him to criticize the differences in gun laws from state to state
in the U.S. He said, “We’d have to do something nationally that was much more
pervasive to get rid of guns.”
Australia
Jeffrey L. Bleich
was a U.S. ambassador for Australia,
a special counsel to the president for the Barack
Obama administration, is a fundraiser for the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, and a director
at the American Security Project.
Note: Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary) supported the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential
campaign.
Dennis Mehiel was
a contributor to the Ready PAC (Ready
For Hillary), and is a director at the Ready
PAC (Ready For Hillary).
Donald S. Beyer
Jr. is a fundraiser for the 2016
Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, a director at the Center for Arms Control and
Non-Proliferation, and a director at the American Security Project.
Rajiv K. Fernando
is a fundraiser for the 2016 Hillary
Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, a director at the American Security Project, and was a
funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a co-chair, national finance council for
the Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary), was
the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, the Robin
Hood Foundation, the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation, New York (NY)
mayor, a contributor for the Americans
for Responsible Solutions, is the founder of Bloomberg LP, and Emma
Bloomberg’s father, the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, the founder of the Independence
USA PAC, and a co-chair for the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns.
Emma Bloomberg
is Michael R. Bloomberg’s daughter,
and was the chief of staff for the Robin
Hood Foundation.
Harlem
Village Academies was a funder for the Robin
Hood Foundation.
John
Legend is a director at the Harlem
Village Academies, and made the National
Rifle Association (NRA) enemies list listed in 2013.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Gabrielle
Giffords is a co-founder for the Americans
for Responsible Solutions, an advisory board member for the Center for National Policy, and an
advisory board member for the Truman
National Security Project.
Gary
W. Hart is an advisory board member for the Center for National Policy, advisory board member for the Truman National Security Project, and the chairman emeritus for the
American Security Project.
Jeffrey L. Bleich
is a director at the American Security
Project, a fundraiser for the 2016
Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, was a special counsel to the
president for the Barack Obama
administration, and a U.S. ambassador for Australia.
Julia Gillard
was the prime minister for Australia,
and is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the president of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the American
Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Warren E. Buffett
is an adviser at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety,
Gun Control” group for guns.
Independence
USA PAC is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a
“Gun Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
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