So tonight I volunteered to help Sen. Giannetti door knock. We went
from house to house letting people in his district know he was out there if anyone
wanted to talk to him or needed his help.
Most folks were quite appreciative except for one crotchety old
bastard who bought the line that Giannetti gave underage kids booze
(he didn’t). Only one guy really went around the bend about the AWB thing (the Brady Campaign is trying to argue that John is the only reason we don’t have an AWB here in MD…and he certainly isn’t, but then again lying about the facts of any particular issue is almost de rigeur for the Brady idiots). The guy was
an incorrigible hardcase who wouldn’t listen to reason and gave some poor UMCP student an incredible vitriol-laced earful until John rescued him; where’s that coming from, you wonder? From reading up on the press recounts of Giannetti’s campaign kickoff, sound bites from Rosapepe (who’s made “standing up to the NRA” a central theme of his campaign), etc….it’s become crystal clear that the competition plans to make the AWB issue the campaign’s central issue.
If we play this right, it’ll get our issue to the forefront and Senator Giannetti will be able to defend his quite honorable record. The AWB was and is a BAD BILL. Period. Only Nixon could go to China, and only Giannetti will be able to explain to these suburban NIMBY’s why gun banning is bullhuckey, and that real leaders focus instead on eliminating the social conditions that lead to criminality rather than focusing on quixotic efforts at denying criminals the tools of the trade.
One thing I told the Senator that he didn’t know was that Quinter’s AWBs have gotten fewer and fewer cosponsors each year over the last couple years. They’re poorly written, overly vague bills that don’t have the support of the MD State Police (which is, as I can assure you, no friend of the gun owner) or the FOP. If those folks won’t support the bill, why should John? I told John I’d write up a quickie flyer recounting some basic reasons why he shouldn’t be admonished for not voting for the AWB.
Some thoughts for the talking points I’m going to give him and his
campaign staff:
1) He’s one of three Democrats that voted against it–why should HE
be considered the one who made the bill fail? Three Republicans and
three Democrats voted against the bill. It’s hardly Sen.
Giannetti’s “fault” that a poorly thought out, bad bill didn’t pass, despite what his
opponents would have you believe.
2) Criminals don’t use “assault weapons.” No MD police officer has
been killed by a rifle in the last 25 years. Assault style rifles
are used in fewer than 1% of crimes. Criminals overwhelmingly favor
the .38/.357 cal revolver because they’re cheap and concealable–whereas semiauto rifles are expensive and impossible to conceal.
3) Semiauto rifles are not fully automatic military weapons; they’re
weapons designed for civilian use that have many various sporting,
hunting, target shooting, and self defense purposes.
4) A vast, virtually unanimous percentage of the owners of the
weapons that bill would have banned use their rifles for law abiding,
lawful purposes. Denying them the use of their sporting and self
defense firearms won’t do anything to prevent crime, but it will make
law abiding citizens who’ve committed no form of any violent crime
felons overnight.
5) Criminals don’t follow the law! Banning these weapons won’t make
criminals agree to not use guns, but it will prevent law abiding
citizens from exercising a lawful recreational activity.
6) The bill was too broad and vague in the way it was worded, and
would have effectively banned many weapons that aren’t useful to
criminals in any way.
7) The MD State Police actually campaigned AGAINST the Assault Weapons Ban this year. Senator Giannetti is the MD FOP’s legislator of the year, and has the support of the MD teachers’ union and the law enforcement committee. If they don’t support the AWB, why should the senator? It’s a bad bill that will do nothing to stop crime or criminals. Senator Giannetti is only interested in effective legislation that will make a difference.
The MDSP is generally unfriendly to the gun-rights cause and only real schill political hacks will argue that they’d lobby against an AWB for political reasons–if the MDSP thought the AWB would protect officers, they’d support it. End of story. They don’t.
Some other thoughts?
