Kerry's stance on the assult gun ban

Could someone please explain to me how Kerry's examples he used in the debate last night dealing with the assult gun ban were favorable to his position? I find it strange that Kerry would use the example of the man with an AK-47 in his bedroom in Iowa found during a drug bust and Osama's handbook on how to get assult weapons in America captured in Afghanistan would be used to show that the President was wrong for not going to the mat to get the law re-instated. Both of these events occure while the assult ban was in effect. If anything it just proves that the law was flawed and needed to be re-done. I don't know about you, but I find it strange that I have never seen a terrorist with a semi-automatic assualt style weapon. I believe that they use full-auto types. something that has been banned for about 60 years.

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I was hunting in Iowa last year with a sheriff from one of the counties there, and he pointed to a house in back of us, and said, �See the house over? We just did a drug bust a week earlier, and the guy we arrested had an AK-47 lying on the bed right beside him.�

Because of the president�s decision today, law enforcement officers will walk into a place that will be more dangerous. Terrorists can now come into America and go to a gun show and, without even a background check, buy an assault weapon today.

And that�s what Osama bin Laden�s handbook said, because we captured it in Afghanistan. It encouraged them to do it.

So I believe America�s less safe.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Can you explain the difference in Kerry and Bush's opinion on the ban?

Bush is "for" it too in public. Do the NRA code talkers that contribute to Bush know he's really lying?

[edit on 14-10-2004 by RANT]

Sorry, But I can not keep quite on this one.

First, automatic weapons are NOT fully banned in the US. You must get a special permit (renewed each year at about $10,000), show reason/cause why you need/want to have a fully automatic weapon and have a million dollar insurance policy related to it.

As far as the "assault weapons ban", that only affected honest law abiding people. Drug dealers and other criminals don't give a darn about the law. They (assault weapons) can be acquired on the "black market" one way or the other.

I have said it before and will say it again; all these restrictions and laws dealing with weapons "only affect the honest, law abiding people".

RANT, I can tell you my thoughts on what I think the President's opinion is. I believe that he want a bill that is not cosmetic and one that the gun manufactures can not change by changing a few things. I think education is the real key here. to be honest, the assualt ban does not stop people who want to use them in crimes. What it did, was to make sure that only the criminals had them. We need to teach people about guns and safety, how to use them and how not to use them. we need to make sure that people who have fire arms have them locked up, with trigger locks. I lived three years in Japan, and I can tell you, the only people who had guns there were criminals. They broke into anyone's house they wanted to because they knew no one could shot them.

"I think education is the real key here. to be honest, the assualt ban does not stop people who want to use them in crimes. What it did, was to make sure that only the criminals had them. We need to teach people about guns and safety, how to use them and how not to use them. we need to make sure that people who have fire arms have them locked up, with trigger locks."

So very correct jrsdls!

"First, automatic weapons are NOT fully banned in the US. You must get a special permit (renewed each year at about $10,000), show reason/cause why you need/want to have a fully automatic weapon and have a million dollar insurance policy related to it.

As far as the "assault weapons ban", that only affected honest law abiding people. Drug dealers and other criminals don't give a darn about the law. They (assault weapons) can be acquired on the "black market" one way or the other.

I have said it before and will say it again; all these restrictions and laws dealing with weapons "only affect the honest, law abiding people".

I agree entirely Mr. Monsoon!

Bottom line - people kill not the gun. You need a person to shoot the gun, someone willing to kill. A ban of any kind will not work because the criminal will always find a means and a way to get them. Assault weapons are only a small piece of the problem. If you ban any weapon - you leave yourself open to the possibility someone will use that weapon that you (honest, law-biding, hardworking, not interested in killing someone) cannot purchase yourself legally.

I don't like the odds ...

Mrmonsoon,

you are correct, the fact is that for the majority of people in the United States, these fully auto weapons are not commonly available.