Add to favorites Examiner Bio

65 House Democrats stand against gun ban renewal; WA reps not among them. Why not?

   On St. Patrick’s Day, 65 members of the U.S. House of Representatives – all Democrats – signed and sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing their concern about Holder’s recent suggestion that the Obama administration may try to revive that ban on semiautomatic firearms.

   In their opinion, the ten year ban on sport-utility rifles that looked like military rifles had been “ineffective.” I wrote about this letter in a recent column, but what was not mentioned is that none of Washington State’s Democrat congressmen signed that letter. I tried to find out from several offices – a call to far Left anti-gun Congressman Jim McDermott would have been a waste of time – why not. Nobody has called back.

   Those 65 House members weren’t going off half-cocked. Both the Claremont Institute and Human Events have been critical of the 1994-2004 ban that cost Democrats control of Congress for 12 years. My colleague Kurt Hofmann writes about the ban here.

 

   A report from the Claremont Institute noted:

 

 

   A story in Human Events added this:

 

 

   A spokesman in the office of Democrat Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, who spearheaded the letter, said that any Democrat member was welcomed to sign, but added that the letter had apparently been circulated among Democrats more likely to add their signature. You know, pro-gun Democrats, known by their voting records to truly support the gun rights of American citizens. Well, one might conclude from the absence of their signatures that none of the Evergreen State’s Democrats are on that “A-list.” Again, why not? With the exception of McDermott, and maybe Jay Inslee, who was among those thrown out of office in 1994 when he was representing the Tri-Cities area (he moved to the more comfortably Blue 1^st District and ran again), all should have some explanation. If they weren't aware of the letter, they can certainly write their own.

   There are only three Democrats from New England states on the list of signers, which I’m reporting in the next issue of Gun Week.

   Rep. Ross’s office said that it’s too late to add a signature to the Holder letter, but added that it is not too late to send another letter opposing renewal of the ban.

   Gun owners in Washington’s 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 6^th, 7^th and 9^th districts might want to ask their congressional representatives why they did not sign that letter. They’re Inslee in the 1st, Rick Larsen in the 2^nd, Brian Baird in the 3^rd, Norm Dicks in the 6^th, McDermott in the 7^th and Adam Smith in the 9^th.

 

 

   Authorities are still trying to sort out what prompted a convicted felon named Lovelle Mixon to open fire at a traffic stop March 21 in Oakland, fatally shooting two motorcycle officers and then fatally wounding two more during a pitched gun battle before being shot dead by responding police.

   This guy reportedly had a pistol when he was stopped, and that’s what he used to murder his first two victims, and subsequently he was reportedly armed with an AK-47, the source of which hopefully will surface soon. The dead were identified as Sergeants Mark Dunakin, 40, Ervin Romans, 43, and Daniel Sakai, 35, and Officer John Hege.

   Watch the gun prohibition lobby exploit this crime to push its gun ban agenda.

   What may not get the attention it deserves is that Mixon was not exactly a model citizen, and people should demand to know what he was doing on the streets. There was, after all, a no-bail warrant out for his arrest, and that may be what prompted him to open fire with a gun he legally could not possess.

   Indeed, Lovelle Mixon was a living example of the futility of gun control laws and bans on so-called “assault weapons.”

   Members of his family have said “he’s not a monster.”

   Well, okay. Here’s what he was, according to published reports: A thug who spent six years in jail for assault with a deadly weapon during an armed robbery in San Francisco. He spent another nine months behind bars for a parole violation. He got out in November of last year.

   According to the San Francisco Chronicle, he had also been investigated last year in connection with a homicide in Alameda County, but apparently there was not enough evidence to file charges.

   My colleague, John Longnecker, writes about this case here, and Howard Nemerov adds his observations here.

   In time, people who analyze these things will no doubt figure out what went wrong, what mistakes were made, who made them, and what steps should be taken to prevent a repeat by some other criminal who was “starting to turn his life around.”

   Remember, California has been ordered by the court to trim its prison population by some 55,000 inmates. The court did not explain how citizens and civilian law enforcement in the Golden State are supposed to deal with that.

 

 

Check what other Gun Rights Examiners are saying: