Before the sun set on the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, gun devotees across the country began their customary chant: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people."

Yeah - that's why the VPC/Brady groups held an "impromtu prayer meeting" on the lawn of the White House... but not so impromptu as to not issue a press release prior to the event.

Perhaps Mr. Quisling - excuse me, Marshall - could relate the results of the National Institute of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics' study - the one that was an inherent part of the 1994 ban?

I bet he won't.

Why not?

Because it reported that the law had no significant effect on reducing crimes, given the miniscule percentage of times the listed weapons were used in crimes (less than 2%).

Reknowned columnist Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune mocked the (then pending) ban in a May 1994 column titled "Assault on weapons misses the mark", in which he stated:

"If anything, Chicago police stats show that there are all sorts of mundane or bizarre weapons used in more crimes than the weapons that Congress just voted to ban.

Cutlery: the standard kitchen knife, the boning knife, the carving knife are far more popular. So is the baseball bat, fists and feet, and the automobile.

It is amazing, really, how many devices people use to kill each other. Police records show that these have all been used as murder weapons:

A cane, chair, concrete chunk, electrical cord, hammer, hot water, house brick, clothing iron, golf club, ice pick, jack handle, lead pipe, mirror, panty hose, plastic bag, rope, scissors, shoestring, sock, sweater, adhesive tape, phone cord, and toilet.

Toilet? Yes, stuff someone's head in one and even if he can swim, he is doomed.

All of these have been used to kill in Chicago almost as frequently as the newly-banned assault weapons.

And that tells us why so much of the talk in Washington is simply political blather."

Even the proponents of these laws say that if the laws had been in place, they would not have stopped the tragedy that they now use as a basis to push these restrictions.

SO WHY IMPLEMENT LAWS YOU KNOW WILL NOT WORK?

Unless the answer isn't about controlling crime at all. As Charles Krauthammer wrote in 1996:

"Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic -- purely symbolic -- move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.

Mr. Marshall - have you ever been in a gunfight?

If not, have you at least read (rather than given the cursory journalist's glimpse at the cover) the FBI/NIJ report on officer involved shootings?

I have, as a law enforcement officer as well as a law abiding citizen who exercises his ability to defend himself and his family.

Not all of the rounds fired by law enforcement or law abiding citizens hit their target, or vital areas on their target.

Even when those vital areas are hit, most violent criminals do not give up or die after being hit only once.

In increasing numbers, violent criminals are operating in groups.

So let's say that a law abiding citizens is confronted by three bad guys - no, let's make that two - you are perfectly willing to restrict that person, who has done nothing wrong, broken no laws and is guilty only of owning a legal gun and wishing to defend themselves - and increase the chance that they will not survive the encounter, or will survive after being raped or severly injured, only to advance an agenda that will not actually reduce crime or the acts of evildoers among us?

What was that line about it not being about reducing crime?

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Birmingham?

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The Huntsville Times has also gone to 3 days a week as well, and in fact the papers are being printed in Birmingham now and trucked up here.  Idiots like Mr. Marshall are exactly why I no longer receive the Times.

Just remember guys, you can't fix stupid......

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Alabama?



They might as well try to pass a law banning church or college football tailgates.

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Worked there for years.  Pure Obama country.  FSA HQ for Alabama.