Bang bang…Holder giving up on weapons ban?
Why is Attorney General Eric Holder backing away from an assault weapons ban?
After fierce resistance from the gun lobby and its allies in Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder has dialed back talk about reimposing a federal assault weapons ban to help curb the spiraling violence in Mexico.
Speaking at a Feb. 25 news conference announcing a roundup of Mexican cartel members in the United States, Holder endorsed reinstituting the ban on assault weapons–a position that President Obama himself supported during last year’s campaign. A federal ban on high-powered, semi-automatic assault weapons, originally passed by Congress in 1994, expired five years ago.
But his comments roused the gun lobby. The National Rifle Association quickly sent out “action alerts” to its members. Sixty-five House Democrats signed a letter saying they would oppose any new ban–as did Montana’s two Democratic senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester. “Senators to Attorney General Holder: Stay Away From Our Guns,” read a press release sent out by Baucus’s office. In addition, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both shot down the idea that Congress would take up any new assault weapons ban this year.</em>
Could it be that Holder has finally read far enough in the Constitution (hell, its only the second amendment, don’t have to read far) to get to the part about:
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
See, reading IS fundamental, just like they said.
