Gun Grabbers Gone Wild!

This is from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112943,00.html

Guns have been largely silent in this presidential campaign. But Congress is forcing the issue into the open with a vote scheduled Tuesday on renewing the ban on assault weapons (search) and extending background checks to gun shows (search).

Since October 1998, 33 cities and the state of New York have brought lawsuits against gun makers and retailers seeking to hold the companies responsible for the misuse of their products. More than 35 major private suits have also been filed since 1998. Funded with millions of dollars from George Soros (search), the Brady Campaign (search) (and its predecessor Handgun Control) has paid for much of the legal costs behind these suits.

The goal has not been to win these legally weak cases but rather, with so many simultaneous suits, to bankrupt these companies through massive legal costs.  Unfortunately, despite most of the city suits having been knocked out on pretrial motions, this strategy has had some success. Litigation fears helped discourage venerable companies such as Colt from continuing to produce handguns, and Kmart, along with other retailers, have stopped selling handgun ammunition.

Yet, amendments to extend the ban on some semi-automatic guns and to further regulate gun shows face close votes. These amendments threaten to kill the bill in conference committee, yet some senators, including Tom Daschle, are simultaneously promising to vote for the bill but also promising gun control groups that they are "solid" for the gun show and assault weapons amendments.

A recent poll conducted by the Roper Center asked Americans whether "companies that make guns should be held financially liable if judges or juries find that their products were used to commit a crime." Seventy-eight percent disagreed. With such grassroots support, 10 Democratic senators from southern and western states have joined 45 Republican senators in sponsoring the current legislation. But can such senators as Tom Daschle and Harry Reid-- who face re-election this year--really convince voters that they want to stop these lawsuits while, at the same time, they vote for additional gun control amendments that jeopardize the final passage of the bill?

Now here are my comments:
One of the big appeals that the west holds for many people is their willingness to allow people to freely carry guns. Several western states - Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona - allow citizens to open carry their firearms. This means that as long as the gun is visible, they can carry the gun in public. Most folks out west are also big supporters of a citizen’s right to carry concealed weapons. While the western states don't yet allow citizens to exercise this right without a permit, it is still a damn sight better than states in the eastern U.S.
The insistence of our elected officials to pass restrictive legislation, to ban weapons that "look" intimidating, to restrict private sale of firearms, and to ignore 78% of their constituents (who believe that manufactures should not be held liable for crimes committed with their products), is extremely troubling. These politicians who proudly display a blatant disregard for our rights should be removed from office. In some cases, it wouldn't bother me if they were removed from the planet. The fact is that the western culture, although the media and some city folks moving in are infecting it, does not agree with the government's never ending war on freedom. Folks in the west are proud of their independence and proud of their heritage. Children in the west receive proper gun safety education at a very young age. The result is that children do not fear guns; they respect them and see them as tools to be handled properly.
The games that our politicians are playing must be stopped. They knew full well that by "padding" the 'manufacture's liability bill' with the assault weapon ban and private sale background checks would effectively kill the bill. They have gotten all to good at playing this game. It is time to create strict guidelines for new bills. "All bills will be restricted to ONE idea." Is this really so complicated? Most bills would either sail through or be rejected immediately. It would actually SAVE time while preventing unethical legislators from slipping by passages that deteriorate our rights and have nothing to do with the main purpose of the bill.
All these lawmakers and politicians who think they are so cute...pulling the wool over the eyes of America should be dragged from office in chains and tried for treason. A public hanging or two of those convicted of treason might be an effective tool against future infringments of our freedoms. - FT