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CROSSFIRE

NRA President: Congress Won't Pass Ban on Assault Weapons, High-Capacity Magazines

Meanwhile, gun safety advocate Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says NRA prediction is out of touch

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

David Keene, National Rifle Association president. Image: AP

National Rifle Association President David Keene said he thinks there is not enough support in Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons or high-capacity magazines.

"I would say that the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress," Keene said Sunday on CNN's "State Of The Union."

Since last month's mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama and some lawmakers including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Ca., have endorsed renewing a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that expired in 2004.

But Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a gun safety advocate, who appeared on the same show, said the NRA president's prediction is wrong. "Newtown fundamentally changed things. And the NRA just fundamentally doesn't get this," Murphy said.

Via the Washington Post

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • Thunderchicken
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    Or could it be that gun ownership in this country is quite popular. And that the gun owners don't trust the federal government to act in their interest.

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    mynameisaric
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    Isn't one of the missions of the NRA firearms safety? ;) I'm a firearms safety advocate too. It's called keep your finger of the trigger until you're ready to shoot, always treat a gun as if it's loaded and know your target and what's behind it. I advocate this every time I take someone out shooting. Glad that it's getting congressional attention. Maybe the very few accidental shootings a year can be stopped.
  • stepped_in_it
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    Ok, I said yes....BUT, I know this ban will not change a thing! Only the lazy and stupid will find this ban will winder them in their criminal activities! And just how many of these (so-called) assault weapons and high capacity mags are on the streets right now? And what exactly is their definition of an assault weapon? If we're talking about the military look a like weapons....they are way off base. Any multi-capacity weapon can do major damage (even a Winchester repeater...nice gun).
    Now, whats the answer? Tougher laws (that judges CAN NOT use discretion) with mandatory long (if not life) sentences for use of a gun in a crime. Make jail NOT a resort but more like an extremely undesirable place to be. Make it inhumane, for these are NOT human beings!
  • o
    thejimbo
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    As of now, 7 states have passed Federal Firearm Nullification laws- Montana,Alaska, South Dakota, Arizona, Idaho, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming., Indiana may be the 8th in the coming weeks. If you're in Indiana or know anyone there, pass this on: Senate Bill 130 (SB0130), introduced by State Senator Dennis Kruse. This bill provides that,“a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Indiana…and remains within the borders of Indiana; is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of the United States Congress to regulate interstate commerce."
  • u
    Cheenoguy
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    Lots of medicinal marijuana growers in CA who have been arrested. Why? Federal law supersedes state law. I love Indiana but if they do this I will start looking to become an ex-Hoosier.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @Cheenoguy Well maybe if the growers ised their second amendment remedies...

    Left ca a year ago, see how being away from marijuana makes one start to think...LOL
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @PoliticalSpice I was delusional long before I started smoking pot. Haven't smoked in months, but the delusions won't go away. I think people can change thinks for the better through political action. Delusional indeed.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    What is it that liberals don't understand about math? Confiscating all the guns owned by law abiding Americans won't prevent sick twisted people like Lanza from shooting up schools. Lanza broke many laws on that fateful December day. More laws won't prevent future Lanzas, just like current laws didn't prevent this Lanza. Sick people do sick things. Let me repeat that for my learning challenged fellow liberals: SICK PEOPLE DO SICK THINGS!!!!!!!!!! We can't legislate sanity. It just can't be legislated. What is it that you can't understand about that?

    If we confiscated all the guns owned by law abiding Americans then only criminals will have guns. Liberals, ask yourselves why that is. It's because criminals break laws, they don't care if their gun is illegally obtained. It's only the law abiding people that abide by the law. See how that works? Rescinding the 2nd Amendment will only give a few tree huggers a good feeling in their hearts that will only last until the first time they're robbed and raped. Then they will asking why their almighty gun ban laws didn't protect them.

    T H I N K!!! So sad...
  • DARSB
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    So, Neo, who in government is advocating "confiscation?" The President? Nope. The VP? His recommendations haven't been released yet. Got a name?
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @DARSB - Why won't anybody listen? First step, ban gun ownership. Second step, confiscate everybody's weapons. After all, if owning a gun is illegal then you're not supposed to have a gun. We must vigorously defend our 2nd Amendment rights.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @tomincali - Amazing how gun sales are going through the roof right now. It's going to be that much harder to disarm the American public. obama should just abandon his attack on the American people and focus on stricter enforcement of current laws. If we start putting these thugs in jail for the violent crimes they commit we might clean up some of these inner city cesspools. The entire obama regime is wrong headed.

  • View all 23 replies >

  • PayThatCEO
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    I'm so torn on this issue. I don't believe anyone needs the kinds of weapons that we have seen being used in their mass murders. Where do we draw the line on weapon legality? Can I own a rocket launcher? Bombs? If not, why not? Where does my right to weapons end and the safety of society begin?

    I believe the NRA, as all- powerful as it seems to be, as a responsibility to EVERYONE in America, not just it's members and advocates. It should be trying to come up with solutions rather than knee-jerk answers like arming everyone in the country and turning the place into the OK Corral. And Joe Biden is doing the same thing. His ideas of stricter laws is a knee jerk reaction.

    Why is it that here in America we have ZERO creativity when it comes to solving our problems? We immediately create a law. It's the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to think we've solved an issue. What ever happened to thinking outside the box? Whatever happened to putting a little joint effort in and coming up with solutions that could truly be beneficial and not as intrusive as another law?

    Maybe if we didn't spend so damn much money overseas year in and year out we could actually fix our own country and make it better for everyone. Instead, we're broke and we end up sticking wet bandaids on all of our problems and hope they hold. What a f-ing mess this place has become.

    It's not the guns that worry me as much as the overall downward spiral I'm seeing in this nation that's been going on for at least a decade now. And we're so engrossed in each and every little individual issue that we're missing the big picture. I'm beginning to think that maybe we just don't care anymore.
  • jessejaymes
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    This is an excellent statement. In support of your statement, I would point out that the Roman Empire became so entangled and engrossed in "Foreign Affairs" that they paid little to no attention to problems at home and crumbled internally. Today with technology and the many ways of deceiving, abusing. distorting and shifting blame by our two major parties, we are not likely to see a collapse from within. The collapse will be on OUR head. By design.

    It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic when people say "we have a right to have guns to protect us from our government and Obama wants to take our guns". As long as we don't revolt against the Ultra rich taking our money, our opportunity and our future they won't bother with our guns to any great extent. Once we do revolt they'll take our guns at the point of tanks and real assault weapons.

    This latest round of high profile killings were done by people who were clearly insane. Newtown, Aurora, Arizona. All clear lunatics and all who used legally purchased guns. The argument is that banning semi autos and large magazines would lower the body count. It would not stop the killings by lunatics. It never has, it never will. Is that what we are arguing about? Whether someone can kill 10 instead of 27? People will use what is available. A woman in Reno mad at her ex, used her car to ram through barricades and into a street party. She was still on death row last I heard. The 9-11 conspirators used box cutters. How was that death count for you people? The reason there won't be any gun legislation over these recent killings is because there is nothing gun legislation does to prevent these from happening unless you accept that they will and spend the money to isolate everyone from everyone else at school, in theaters, in public appearances. Then they'll use grenades. And don't think they can't find them

    "Pay that CEO' is correct. We've become a nation of splinter issues, and everyone's issue is more important than anyone Else's. But the most important issue of all is the one that seems to be the most unifying of them all. Finding someone else to blame for each and every thing that takes place. It is what it is people. shit happens.
  • jessejaymes
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    @PayThatCEO It would be funny if we weren't the ones being dragged down with the poor devils. I have never in my entire life seen so many stupid people. And I am not an intellectual. I am not an elitist. I do not have delusions of grandeur. I have always been an average guy. Until the past 10-15 years. Our seniors can't be told anything, don't want to learn anything new, never change their minds and our children are stupid beyond belief by an large. And those in between are a combination of both. Just as long as they can find someone else to blame. That's the important thing.
  • u
    CaryNickel
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    The NRA isn't trying to hide the fact that they will lobby hard for the Constitutional rights of American citizens, just as it is their right to do. Every HONEST poll clearly indicates that the American people do not believe that any kind of ban is necessary, nor will it change anything concerning the culture of violence that exists in movies, television, or video games, which have raised a generation of killers. What attempts at a gun ban WILL change, however, is the makeup of congress..just as it did the last time.
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    Food4thoughts
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    @CaryNickel
    What attempts at a gun ban, if successful, WILL change is the bottom line...in terms of profit for gun corporations...which will result in less money to lobbyist like the NRA...which will result in smaller contributions to puppet politicians...which will result in the removal of influence, relevancy,and clout as an lobby organization
  • u
    CaryNickel
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    @Food4thoughts Actually, you are quite incorrect. Organizations like the NRA get far more money from individual citizens/members than they do from manufacturers. And whenever 2nd Amendment rights are threatened by petty bureaucrats or traitorous politicians, NRA memberships, donations, and firearms sales, all go through the roof. Shortages cause price increases, which increase profit margins for the firearms industry across the board, and manufacturers scramble to increase production. It has been reported that Magpul, a manufacturer of high-capacity magazines, now has a backlog of orders for over one MILLION pieces...you can bet they will do all they can to try to fill that backlog in the near future. I guarantee to you that every manufacturer, in this economy, wishes they could experience that kind of demand.
    The ultimate result of the scare tactics being utilized by the leftists and their minions in the news media will be MORE guns, MORE ammo, and MORE high capacity magazines in circulation all throughout the United States, as law abiding citizens stock up on products that are completely legal today, but might not be so in the future.

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  • PoliticalSpice
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    This, by the way, is exactly what I predicted the pther day on the thread about an executive order. The gun nuts are paranoid and very ile was going to happen, and antics like walking around portland with guns are only going to backfire, so they should calm down and be logical, and in the end there will be a little tinkering at best...
  • Buzzfriendly
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    A ban is a reaction not a solution. What is the plan to deal with the high capacity magazines and assault weapons that are already out there? What is the plan to eliminate the knowledge to modify non-assault weapons into assault weapons? What is the plan to deal with theft of such items? What is the plan to make criminals follow the law? Once you control advocates have ironed out those issue then can you please tell me what your plan is to actually keep lunatics for murdering school children, church and movie goers because a weapons bans will not deter that mentality.
  • Buzzfriendly
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    @woodtick57 That's not a plan that's wishful thinking. Criminals and the mentally ill are going to be some real tough customers for that magic to work on.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    @Buzzfriendly Not really. other countries don't have the mass public shootings we do. they have guns, they have mentally ill people. they have violent video games and movies. what they have different is their attitude towards guns.

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  • WMCOL
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    I thought we had a manufacturing problem in this country but when U.S. gunmakers rev up the production, some cry foul. And what's being produced is Constitutional in all regards. Amazing how some have so much disrespect for those who faithfully obey the laws.
  • u
    Grubby
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    Obama's latest stimulus plan: Create a mania within his sheeple CULT about banning guns, so the gun manufacturers can see unprecidented demand. They can't make so called "assault weapons" and "high capacity" magazines fast enough. I know that I would never have seen the need to buy 20 or even 10 magazines if it were not for the threat of never being able to get them again. I see a lot of merit in the states passing the anti-federal gun control law. First, the feds cannot regulate intra-state commerce under the constitution, so guns manufactured in state, and used in state cannot be regulated. There is now a great incentive for the gun manufacturers to move to those states. A great stimulus for the states. Who says we can't find a way to get our economy growing again?
  • u
    Grubby
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    @armed_liberal Yes, lucky I got mine before the price spiked. The price of Ammunition spiked by about 30% here right after the new year. Again, I was stocked up with 8 full ammo cans of rifle ammunition. Obama is making guns and ammo a great investment. How clueless are these morons. Their move to ban guns is making more people armed and stocked up - just what they don't want.
  • Your_Name_Here
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    There are many people in this country with fully automatic weapons, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, C4, armor piercing rounds, bulletproof vests and so on. The reason you never hear anything about these people is because they are more of what real America is all about than just about every last politician in this country combined. They went to war for this country, how many politicians did? They will be there fighting if we are ever attacked, unlike the politicians hiding in their taxpayer-funded bunkers. Maybe we need to swap all our overseas troops for politicians since they seem to have all the answers.

    There have been a handful of psychos who went out and killed people but government wants to blame all gun owners and guns for the actions of those few? The hundreds of millions of gun owners and guns that did not contribute to that in any way are somehow to blame? The psychos broke the law when they killed, why does government want to pass another law to stop them? It doesn't work because psychos don't obey laws. If you keep pissing into the wind you will keep getting wet. Government needs a different approach but doesn't have the intelligence to come up with a real solution. I look at this the same way as drug laws - the laws do not stop drugs. Why not? Fix the problem and prove that government can do just one thing right before expecting people to blindly accept every decision.
  • eieio
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    Not to be rude but our Founding Fathers experienced a tyrant (King George III). They KNEW that history repeats and that one day, a tyrant like Obama and his Democrat minions would try to grab control and they wanted the people to be as well armed as the military, small arms wise, as they could be.
  • PNWest
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    Obama and his "Democrat minions" won the majority of votes. How do you propose we select our leader in a democracy?
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