It's Impossible to Legislate Against Evil or Madness
Friday, October 12, 2012
By David A. Keene, NRA President
Just a week after the theater massacre in Aurora, Colo.,
an ancient oak tree in Great Falls, Va., fell on a passing automobile, killing
the driver. The Washington Post noted that the killer oak ignited an argument
between residents who enjoy the presence of these enormous trees and those who
believe the community would be safer without them.
The debate rages on.
As I read the Post report, I was reminded of the New York
Times headline over the initial article reporting on the mass murder in Aurora
and its immediate proclamation that the rampage meant the debate over gun
control should be reopened.
At a gut-wrenching level, the Aurora tragedy was made worse
by the eagerness of so many to exploit the deaths of innocent men, women and
children for potential political gain. The New York Times, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
the Brady
Campaign and television’s
“talking heads” saw Aurora’s victims primarily as an excuse to advance their
ideological agendas and ghoulishly make NRA and our membership accomplices to
these murders.
As in the past, in the midst of this tragedy, NRA refused to
be drawn into superficial gun policy debates. Rational discussion suffers when
solutions to such mindless violence succumb to unseemly shouting matches that
accomplish nothing and take place before anyone has any real knowledge of the
facts.
Prior to the Aurora tragedy, there was a similar media
frenzy following the Florida incident that resulted in the death of Trayvon
Martin. For example, one New York Times reporter who must have known better
denounced the NRA for supporting laws that make it “legal to shoot someone you
sort of suspect may intend to hurt you,” and hoped that the shooting would lead
to the rapid repeal of pro-self-defense laws nationwide.
Evidence subsequently has shown that regardless of which
version of facts one accepts, the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law was not a
factor. As a result, we don’t hear much anymore about the case and recent polls
reveal that the existing statute enjoys majority public support.
Confronted by a reporter after the Florida incident, I was
asked what I thought about the case. I told the reporter that since I wasn’t
there that night I had no idea what actually happened, adding that I couldn’t
understand how dozens of television commentators, editorial writers and
politicians could possibly draw conclusions about these events before the facts
come out.
Within hours of the Aurora murders, ABC’s Brian Ross placed
the blame for the massacre squarely on the shoulders of the Tea Party movement
merely—and erroneously—because he managed to find a Colorado Tea Party member
with the same name as the killer. Another “expert” on a conservative talk show
argued that it wasn’t the Tea Party, but the Occupy Movement that was to
blame. Neither had any idea what they were talking about, but saw the tragedy
as an opportunity to attack folks they don’t like and policies they disdain.
Then attention turned to the NRA and the nation’s “lax” gun
laws. Colorado was assailed as a wild and wooly place where anyone could buy a
firearm and carry it without restriction. There were renewed calls for new
“assault weapons” bans, restrictions on “large” capacity magazines and online
ammunition sales.
The fact is the perpetrator had no public record that would
have prevented him from buying firearms and his purchases were approved
following the requisite background checks. But the end game is as it always has
been: Pass a new law that would keep all of us from purchasing firearms in the
name of public safety.
President Barack Obama predictably proclaimed that we all
should get together on “common-sense” gun control laws
that might keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them. This is
pure Obama-speak for a new “assault weapons” ban, elimination of what
gun-banners like to call the “gun show loophole,” restrictions on magazines and
other restrictions.
None of these “common-sense” restrictions on our gun rights
would have altered what happened in Aurora. Colorado has already closed the
so-called “loophole” and the killer didn’t buy his guns at a gun show. He
reportedly purchased ammunition legally when he purchased the firearms and
passed the required background check. Under a prohibition statute he might have
been forced to purchase a different semi-auto firearm, but that wouldn’t have
made any difference to those he viciously wounded and killed.
Colorado’s Gov. John Hickenlooper got it right when he told
viewers of ABC’s “This Week” that “Even if he didn’t have access to guns, this
guy was diabolical. He would have found explosives. He would have found
something else. . . . He would have done something to create this horror.”
None of these proposed limits on our rights would have made
one iota of difference because it is impossible to legislate against evil or
madness.
If that were possible, the killer—like his victims—would
have honored the theater owner’s mandate declaring the theater “a gun-free
zone.”
Occupy Movement
Movement
Resource Group was a funder for the Occupy
Movement.
Note: Lear
Family Foundation was a donor for the Movement
Resource Group, and a funder for the People
for the American Way.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the People for the American Way, the Harlem Children's Zone, the Human
Rights First, and the Sundance
Institute.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone, and William D. Zabel was
his divorce lawyer.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, a contributor for the Americans
for Responsible Solutions, is a co-chair for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety, Diana
L. Taylor’s companion, and the founder of Bloomberg LP.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety, Gun
Control” group for guns.
Diana
L. Taylor is
Michael R. Bloomberg’s companion,
and was a director at Brookfield Office
Properties.
Brookfield
Office Properties is the owner of Zuccotti
Park.
Zuccotti Park
is the staging area for 2011 NYC Occupy
Wall Street protests.
Occupy Wall
Street was the initial protest for the Occupy
Movement.
Daniel L.
Doctoroff was the president & CEO for Bloomberg LP, and is a director at the Human Rights First.
William
D. Zabel was George Soros’s divorce
lawyer, a trustee at the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the
chair for the Human Rights First.
James
D. Zirin was a director at the Human
Rights First, and is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Mark
A. Angelson was a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a director at the Human
Rights First.
Kenneth R.
Feinberg is a director at the Human
Rights First, the victim compensation administrator for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the administrator
for the One Fund Boston, was the special
master for the September 11th Victim
Compensation Fund of 2001, and the administrator of victim payments for the
2012 Aurora (CO) theater shootings.
Deepwater
Horizon was an oil rig that exploded, killing 11 & triggering oil spill
in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
One Fund Boston
is the victim assistance fund for the 2013
Boston Marathon bombings.
2012
Aurora (CO) theater shootings was a mass
shooting where 12 were killed & 58 were injured.
2012
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a mass shooting where 28 were killed, including gunman.
Newtown
(CT) is the location of the 2012
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Martin Feinberg
is a Newtown (CT) resident, and Stephen A. Feinberg’s father.
Stephen A.
Feinberg is Martin Feinberg’s
son, a trustee at the Public Theater,
and the CEO for Cerberus Capital
Management L.P.
Faith Elizabeth
Gay is a trustee at the Public
Theater, and was an attorney at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Cerberus
Capital Management L.P. is the owner of the Remington Outdoor Company.
Remington
Outdoor Company is a gunmakers manufacturer.
Bushmaster
Firearms is a Remington Outdoor
Company brand.
Why Shooting Victims Can't Win Lawsuits Against Gunmakers
An AR-15 rifle similar to the gun used by Adam Lanza in the
Sandy Hook school shooting
By Paul M. Barrett December 16, 2014
By Paul M. Barrett December 16, 2014
The latest attempt to sue a gunmaker
for firearm mayhem is under way in Connecticut. Nine families of victims and one survivor marked
the second anniversary of the Sandy
Hook Elementary School massacre by filing
a wrongful-death suit against Bushmaster
Firearms in state court. Bushmaster, you’ll
recall, made the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle used by the killer of 20
first-graders and six educators.
Michael P.C.
Carns is a director at the Remington
Outdoor Company, and was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and the American Constitution Society.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Sundance Institute, and the People
for the American Way.
Kenneth
D. Cole is a trustee at the Sundance
Institute, and married to Maria
Cuomo Cole.
Maria Cuomo Cole
is married to Kenneth D. Cole, a
trustee at the Brady Center to Prevent
Gun Violence, and Mario M. Cuomo’s
daughter.
Brady
Center to Prevent Gun Violence is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Mario
M. Cuomo was Maria Cuomo Cole’s
father, and a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society.
Faith Elizabeth
Gay is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, a trustee at the Public Theater, and was an attorney at Sidley Austin LLP.
Stephen A.
Feinberg is a trustee at the Public
Theater, Martin Feinberg’s son,
and the CEO for Cerberus Capital
Management L.P.
Cerberus
Capital Management L.P. is the owner of the Remington Outdoor Company.
Remington
Outdoor Company is a gunmakers
manufacturer.
Bushmaster
Firearms is a Remington Outdoor
Company brand.
Martin Feinberg
is Stephen A. Feinberg’s father, and
a Newtown (CT) resident.
Newtown
(CT) is the location of the 2012
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
2012
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a mass shooting where 28 were killed, including gunman.
Barbra
Streisand Foundation was a funder for the American Constitution Society.
Margery Tabankin
is the treasurer for the Barbra
Streisand Foundation, and a director at the People for the American Way.
Lear
Family Foundation was a funder for the People
for the American Way, and a donor for the Movement Resource Group.
Movement
Resource Group was a funder for the Occupy
Movement.
Occupy Wall
Street was the initial protest for the Occupy
Movement.
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