I’ve been looking for this to hit the net, because it set my hair on fire when I heard him say it on TV. A student asked him if he favors stricter gun control because everybody is shooting themselves and other people. His response:
“I uh, don’t think this is a national…(mumbles)…the, the federal government should not be involved in gun laws.”
I am sick to death of these people evading questions by using the tired-ass trope of “state’s rights”. I’ve said it many times-I will repeat it because it bears repeating. These assholes don’t really believe in the Constitution. What they’d like to go back to is the Articles Of Confederation where states ran nilly-willy with their own money, their own militia, etc. The Constitution was created in part to extend the reach of the federal government and reign those motherfuckers in.
Gun control is a de jure federal issue because the right to carry a fucking gun happens to reside in the Bill Of Rights, which established our framework of government. It is most certainly within the purview of Congress to pass laws restricting what weapons you can use if you are allowed to own them.
We’re stuck between Scylla and Charybdis. We can’t just let gun owners go crazy out there, and we can’t outlaw guns. But we have a few ideas, like registration and insurance. Stiff penalties for straw purchasers. There’s ways we can regulate the militia.
Bush is an idiot, as per usual. He can’t say something sensible because his campaign is hanging by a thread right now. Several candidates are punting on the really tough issues, and the press are covering them like stink on shit. He’s fucked either way he answers, because all the Republicans need to court the neanderthal wing of the party, the wing that really does want to go back to the 18th century, warts and all. Expecting reasonability from the GOP is going to be a long fucking haul, and I think that the mushy middle will judge them incompetent and facile when the silly season is over and the real campaign starts.
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