“For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.”
So said Barack Obama on the passing of Massachusetts Senator-for-life Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy. It was an understandable eulogy for a man who played a key role in propelling Obama to the White House and derailing the Hillary Clinton juggernaut.
However, the firearms community knows there is one civil right which Kennedy did his best to abolish rather than advance: The right to keep and bear arms. For many if not most in the gun community, there has been nothing but disgust, disdain and distrust toward the man now being lionized by the press and mourned by the Democrat faithful. My colleague, Paul Valone, writes about Kennedy here. Another colleague, Skip Coryell, has a different perspective here, and Boston Gun Rights Examiner Ron Bokleman speaks out here.
It’s safe to say that there is not a single outrageous anti-gun position Ted Kennedy has failed to support in his long career. - Chris Cox, NRA Institute for Legislative Action
Dislike for Ted Kennedy among gun rights advocates has become very personal over the years. Kennedy’s own behavior – coupled with his annoying talent to get away with it, due to money, political influence or just because the Kennedy clan is treated like royalty – contributed to the animosity. Not that gun owners are saints; we’re all human and we make mistakes, but Kennedy’s errors invariably seemed to get a pass, little more than a wrist slap, including a suspended sentence for driving a car off a bridge and leaving a young woman to die a horrible death.
In the firearms community, the observation that “Kennedy’s car has killed more people than my gun” became not only a rallying cry, but the text of a popular bumper sticker.
Gun rights activists have a genuine feel for the history of this nation, its tradition of individualism, its foundation of liberty and personal freedom, and most of all, its rejection of the notion of royalty.
Let’s be candid. The national press has fawned over the Kennedys for a couple of generations, and Democrats have elevated the family to a position that comes as close to royalty as one can without the jeweled crown. It is disgraceful.
Gun owners share a philosophy of personal accountability. One does not punish tens of millions of law-abiding American citizens for the deeds of individual criminals, simply because they used firearms in their crimes. This was something Kennedy never seemed to understand, perhaps because his own personal accountability never seemed to take a serious hit.
The National Rifle Association’s Christopher Cox put the gun community’s dislike for Kennedy in perspective when he wrote, “It’s safe to say that there is not a single outrageous anti-gun position Ted Kennedy has failed to support in his long career. He has voted to ban semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns. He has attempted to make it a federal crime to purchase more than two handguns in a year. He has proposed 21-day waiting periods on all gun purchases. He has made several attempts to ban centerfire hunting ammunition.”
Kennedy opposed legislation that put an end to junk lawsuits against firearms manufacturers. He voted against legislation that would have disallowed the use of funds by any organization or group, including the United Nations, which would be against the interests of American gun owners.
What Sen. Kennedy either fails to understand or intentionally ignores is that criminals will not stop carrying guns just because it is illegal. - Dr. Peter Friedman, Standard-Times, Nov. 17, 2005
Kennedy represented everything gun owners despise, which is probably why the anti-gun Brady Campaign issued this statement. He supported every major gun control measure introduced during his Capitol Hill career; perhaps understandable from the perspective of a man who saw two of his brothers gunned down. But Ted Kennedy seemed to hold firearms, and the Second Amendment, more responsible for those crimes than the men who committed them. He was seen as a man who worked hard to leave average Americans defenseless while he personally enjoyed the protection of armed guards, which got one of them in trouble a few years ago.
While he certainly promoted the causes in which he believed, Ted Kennedy put equal energy into the ongoing campaign to erode a fundamental civil right held dear by millions of law-abiding American citizens who, unlike the man being mourned this week, never harmed a soul.
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Comments
Just noting your click advertisers and sending them emails saying I will never use their services again due to their appearance here. I don't really have to say why do I?
I will support your advertisers. Pat is a flaming unprintable epithet. The murder pig of chappaquiddick, with his murder by proxy gun control treasons resulting in murder and mayhem in American cities, was a traitor who should have hanged in 1968.
oh, WAIT- I get it - hello patrick kennedy! haha hahaha
Don't to forget to send in $20.oo to the NRA
"in memory of old lying Teddy"
send your $20 to Gun Owners of America, they never "compromised" with Teddy.
send 100 each to GOA&NRA, then spend 600 more on ammunition.
The Bill of Rights isn't a cafeteria line. If you don't support the whole, you can't claim to support it.
People who support leftist extremist so-called "gun control" not just one of our civil rights, but all our civil rights.
Stick him in a bag, drop him in a hole. Good riddance.
Ted Kennedy's car killed more people than my gun. No tears here.
Dave Workman, the irony of Swimmer Ted being virulently anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment, is that his brother John was a LIFE MEMBER OF THE NRA (my emphasis).
Not gonna miss him one bit. AAMOF, I'm rather glad that he's gone. We gun owners are better off without him.
"Remembering Teddy", I rather forget he ever lived.
Making a martyr won't make his memory any more palatable to those who hold different political beliefs. Ted was so far left he would make Stalin blush! Probably his wife or mistress will be appointed, against state law, as successor to his personal throne. All the while our country's version of "Pravda" will be beating the drum in his memory, for his "cause." Really getting tired of the national propaganda machine.
Thanks so much for this article putting a fair but different perspective on the old "Chappaquiddick Kid."
Good riddance to a piece of trash who has repeatedly unabashedly trampled our Constitution for the advancement of his own marxist ideology. A cancer on our society has been removed by, ironically, cancer.
I celebrated his death by taking a half day from work to to take my 7yo, 11yo, and 12yo nephews to the shooting range. We shot my GSG-5, 1911, and 2 AR15's in ole Ted's honor. In South Carolina we call that freedom. In Massachusetts, they would call it a felony.
Somebody should gold plate his brain tumor and display it in a place of honor.
I can see the perfect editorial cartoon honering this man. Picture this the scene is the Golden Gates. There stands Senator Kennedy trying to get into heaven. He is telling Saint Peter. "Do you know who I am? Saint Peter replys. Yes I do. Mary Jo Kopechne won't let me forget which is why you can't come in hear !
Here we go bragging up old teddy boy, every bodys on the band waggon talking about his PUBLIC service to this country.
You mean his public service to HIMSELF and all the other polititions whov'e proffited off of the back-bone of the working class. When are people going to wake up and smell the stinch that these jokers running OUR govenment are spewing.
First they start talking about this health-care that old teddy wanted to see past, theyl'e be wanting all the ILLEGALS to be
legal, because teddy would have liked that. Then theres the
constitution, you know that document that he disspises so much
the one he took an outh to uphold and protect, yet has done nothing but try to destroy it for the last 47 years.
I say old ted is dead lets lay him and his socialist values to
rest. Anyone who thinks Mr. Kennedy did a great service to this country, is 1 anti american, or 2 not very well educated about the constitution & bill of rights. Read letters of the founders
get a clue people.
Maybe Ted Kennedy just wanted the "well-regulated militia" to which the Second Amendment refers to be a little better regulated. Maybe because his brothers were killed by a mail-order rifle and a Saturday-night special. Maybe because he wasn't one of you idiots.
"Maybe Ted Kennedy just wanted the "well-regulated militia" to which the Second Amendment refers to be a little better regulated. Maybe because his brothers were killed by a mail-order rifle and a Saturday-night special. Maybe because he wasn't one of you idiots."
1) The "well-regulated militia" refers to the discipline of it's members when assembled, not to the government's authority to control them, as the founding fathers had just fought a war against a tyrannical government that sought to disarm them.
2) I've always said that Lee Harvey Oswald shot the wrong Kennedy. Looks like cancer finally got the bastard instead. I'm sure Mary Jo Kopechne is smiling right now as old Ted gets turned away by St. Peter.
3) I guess being a patriot that supports the entire Bill of Rights, and not just the parts that suit you, makes one an idiot. Well, if that's the case, I'd rather be an idiot than leftist lemming Obamabot.
Yet the brain dead liberal press can't stop gushing how wonderful he was - with not even one word that the self serving party boy alcoholic murderer just MIGHT NOT have been so wonderful.
You just could not ressist the temptation, could you? Hope you make enough blood money from the click ads on this particular page to buy you your next rifle. You just could not have even the slightest decency to leave a dead man alone. Why don't you find out, along with the nut jobs on your page where he will be buried and much like your ilk in Idaho, make it your next spot for target practice ahead of your next duck hunting.
"You just could not ressist the temptation, could you? Hope you make enough blood money from the click ads on this particular page to buy you your next rifle. You just could not have even the slightest decency to leave a dead man alone. Why don't you find out, along with the nut jobs on your page where he will be buried and much like your ilk in Idaho, make it your next spot for target practice ahead of your next duck hunting."
I'd pi$$ on his grave if it weren't for the fact that I'd at least be charged with vandalism. Decency is something old Ted never had in his life, so I so no reason why he should be treated with decency, dead or alive. The Kennedy's have a habit of leaving a trail of abused women, dead bodies, and empty flasks in their wake.
If any of us lowly commoners did what old dead Ted did, we would have been rewarded with a prison sentence instead of a Senate seat. But hey, he's royalty, right?
Ted Kennedy is dead. Now, I finally have something nice to say about the man that I can say truthfully.
Ready?
Ted Kennedy is dead.
Boy have most of yall got it right. that joker wouldn't make a good cow pattie. he was a sot who pickked what little brains he was born with. It looks like most of our employees need to be gotten rid of. Election coming up. vote out all encumbants. Maybe that will get someones attention. They have all been stealing from their bosses for a long time. how long would you last in your job??? You can tell when they are lying-their mouths are mooving. Vote and try to trake as many with you as possible. forget party. just vote for anybody who runs against them. send letters to them and tell them they are gone and why. I have done this and so are all my friends and family who are scattered around the country. all the sheepdogs i know of are doing the same. get them out . they have all lied,cheated and stolen from us for much too long. educate yourselves and others. Google 'Gun Facts 5.0' and use the info in it to prove that the media is lying to you.
'tis probably fortunate for me I don't live in MA. What I would leave on his grave wouldn't pass for flowers. Once you get past his VERY early civil rights work, every thing the man touched tried to burst into spontaneous combustion from the hypocrisy.
Give him a break ... Perhaps he had that brain cancer for a long, long time. I remember reading that his body guard was caught bringing a fully-automatic firearm into the Senate once. Hypocrite!
FINALLY!!! But, probably don't need to get too excited. All of the other like minded dimwits that fully supported him will want to make him ever immortal by passing legislation "In His Honor". Which is totally absurd. Instead, work needs to start by dismanteling all of the wrong and injustices he fought so hard to get passed. Oh yeah, for the guy that made a statement about Ted's brothers, they got what they had coming. As far as him being buried in Arlington Cemetery, this is completely ignorant. How dare anyone think he deserves to be placed beside people that gave their lives for the defense of this country! These people make me sick. Sure hope he knew a good Priest, for all of the injustices he's done, I don't think there are enough HAIL MARY'S
I am sooooo glad that this sack of Crap is finally dead. All the years of my life he has spent trying to take away my right to own a firearm. And what is sickening is that this loser of a senator turned a car into a submarine and killed a woman (cause he was drunk) and got away with it and was elected to the position of senator several times after the murder. If Teddy made it into heaven I hope he is scrubbing toilets.....Nah, he is rotting in Hell.
All of you are pathetic and ignorant. When people speak of the dumbing down of America, all they have to do is read these red neck comments.
One Socialist down the rest to go.
??? said, "All of you are pathetic and ignorant. When people speak of the dumbing down of America, all they have to do is read these red neck comments."
Ignorant of what, dear lemming? Please, elaborate.
Finally! What the H took so long? He should have been next to his worthless brothers years ago!
First off, let's not equate Teddy with John. John was much more conservative and middle of the constitutional road than Teddy. We don't know about Robert because he died too soon to reveal his bent.
As a matter of fact,JFK demonstrated more fealty to the constitution than a great many of what pass for conservatives today.
teddy was a waste of skin and oxygen. His brothers were not of his ilk. Teddy was more like the old man. Cowardly and criminal. And absolutely uncaring about anything or anyone other than himself.
Dave Robertson says:
"The "well-regulated militia" refers to the discipline of it's members when assembled, not to the government's authority to control them"
Please support the 2nd Amendment in its entirety, not just the part of it that you like. That amendment (which I, as an unusual liberal, actually support) does not refer to discipline. The word in the amendment is "regulated." Trusting gathered individuals to be disciplined with their weapons is not the same thing as regulation. Supporting the 2nd Amendment also means supporting that regulation.
If not government regulation, then who's? You don't have to be a militia member to bear arms, so who do you think should provide the Constitutionally mandated regulation?
Remember, our government is us. We the People, not "them," or "those bastards in DC." We Americans regulate ourselves through self-governance. We're a constitutional republic, not a dictatorship. We MUST regulate ourselves in the manner specified in our Constit
Dave Robertson says:
"The "well-regulated militia" refers to the discipline of it's members when assembled, not to the government's authority to control them"
Please support the 2nd Amendment in its entirety, not just the part of it that you like. That amendment (which I, as an unusual liberal, actually support) does not refer to discipline. The word in the amendment is "regulated." Trusting gathered individuals to be disciplined with their weapons is not the same thing as regulation. Supporting the 2nd Amendment also means supporting that regulation.
If not government regulation, then who's? You don't have to be a militia member to bear arms, so who do you think should provide the Constitutionally mandated regulation?
Remember, our government is us. We the People, not "them," or "those bastards in DC." We Americans regulate ourselves through self-governance. We're a constitutional republic, not a dictatorship. We MUST regulate ourselves in the manner specified in our Constit
"Please support the 2nd Amendment in its entirety, not just the part of it that you like. That amendment (which I, as an unusual liberal, actually support) does not refer to discipline. The word in the amendment is "regulated." Trusting gathered individuals to be disciplined with their weapons is not the same thing as regulation. Supporting the 2nd Amendment also means supporting that regulation.
If not government regulation, then who's? You don't have to be a militia member to bear arms, so who do you think should provide the Constitutionally mandated regulation?"
Don, your reading comprehension is lacking. Please go back and read the post you commented on. "Regulation" in 1792 and "discipline" in 2009 do indeed mean the same thing. As for regulating arms (in the contemporary sense), I prefer that we, the citizens, regulate ourselves, and the government stick to what it does best - doing nothing and spending billions of our dollars on it.
Dave Robertson says:
"...I prefer that we, the citizens, regulate ourselves..."
But that's just it! We DO regulate ourselves, because we ARE the government. We the People. We the People spend billions of dollars on nothing, not THEM in the government. Our elected officials do nothing but by our consent. These citizenship principles are well known to all immigrants who pass their citizenship tests, and too many Americans ignore them by regarding our government as a separate entity that we can blame for OUR problems. People of a free nation have that responsibility. We don't have the luxury of blaming some dictator or junta or secretariat for our problems. We Americans MUST FIX our problems ourselves. When we see government as "them" instead of "we," we give up our precious role in it and irresponsibly give away all of our rights, leaving a free nation in the control of the few interested parties, like the People of MA.
My point: Stop blaming "them" and realize it's "we" who run t
Dave Robertson says:
"Don, your reading comprehension is lacking. Please go back and read the post you commented on. "Regulation" in 1792 and "discipline" in 2009 do indeed mean the same thing."
My comprehension is excellent, thank you very much. I know what the term "regulation" means in many senses, but I'm not aware of it meaning a simple legal matter of self discipline. It means enforcing that discipline.
Do you have any evidence that "regulation" meant something legally different in 1792 than it does now? I have seen none, and absent that legal definitional clarification, all we have is the Constitution as it's written and the English language that it's written in. We must follow it always.
Please, if I have something to learn about the legal meaning of the word "regulation," I want to learn it. But I need more than the word of a person on an Internet comment thread, or an opinionated commentator in the mass media. What's your source? Where can I learn about this myself
Don, I just googled the words "well regulated meaning" (w/o quotes - and when I typed "well regu", Google suggested the above search). The first link alone gives a good background on the original meaning.
It's not enough to say that "we have [...] the Constitution as it's written and the English language that it's written in", because we must recognize that the authors chose their words carefully, and chose them, from the words available to them, *according to what they meant at that time and place in history*. So original intent and meaning matter very much.
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