(2007-03-20) Did we earlier mention “desperate” and “duplicitous” in the same sentence as Brady? Some of the speakers they'd promised at the press conference kicking off their bill didn't show up. Others sent underlings to speak for them. At the last second, event organizers recruited Neal Quinter – a former Delegate who in the last term was chief sponsor of the ban in the House. You remember Neal. He lost his seat for his anti-gun advocacy, as gunowners in his Howard County district block voted against him to squeeze him out in the primary. (Thanks, MPFO!) He spoke at the press conference, but it was apparent to all reporters present that Ceasefire was having problems finding many current legislators to be the face of the effort.
We heard the standard lies. “The majority of gunowners support his ban.” (Do you really?) “Hunters don't need or want these guns.” (Yes, they also quoted former outdoors writer Jim Zumbo, who famously described any hunter who wants to use an ‘assault weapon' as being a “terrorist.”) “The focus is on rifles.” (Actually the bill bans more handguns than rifles, as anyone who bothers to read the text will notice. Apparently the sponsor never read what he transcribed from the Brady Bunch sample legislation.)
But what was most revealing were the visual aids they brought. The graphics depicted firearms Ceasefire no doubt thought would look scary [I thought it was a nice shopping list. – Jim] but interestingly, none of the guns they described are actually ones that would be affected by the proposed legislation. They described machine guns as if they're available to kids at any corner market (instead of being so strictly controlled federally) and the examples of gun misuse they cited again involved firearms that would never be affected by this law (e.g., machine guns used by bank robbers in that famous North Holleywood shootout some years ago.)
So what guns present that day would have been affected by the bill? All the duty sidearms of the police who were on the job as capitol secuirty. As good quality semi-auto firearms, none would survive the broad reach of SB 43.