Jimmy’s Got A Gun

Jimmy Carter lists the guns he owns and why he likes them in Mondays New York Times.

I have used weapons since I was big enough to carry one, and now own two handguns, four shotguns and three rifles, two with scopes. I use them carefully, for hunting game from our family woods and fields, and occasionally for hunting with my family and friends in other places. We cherish the right to own a gun and some of my hunting companions like to collect rare weapons. One of them is a superb craftsman who makes muzzle-loading rifles, one of which I displayed for four years in my private White House office.

But Carter explains why he doesn’t want to own an assault weapon (like the AK 47 pictured).  He’s not going to kill policemen or accumulate victims at a school or workplace.  But public officials, he reminds us, are timid in the face of the NRA.  Every recent administratoin, with the exception of GWB43, has favored an assault weapons ban, as does a majority of Americans.  But with the NRA calling political shots, some gullible citizens are being falsely convinced that their weapons are going to be taken away, and policies are being favored that would give criminals access to assault weapons and ammunition that can penetrate protective clothing law enforcement authorities wear while on duty.

What are the results of this profligate ownership and use of guns designed to kill people? In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 30,000 people died from firearms, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all injury deaths. In 2005, every nine hours a child or teenager in the United States was killed in a firearm-related accident or suicide.

Contrary to the stereotype of the pantywaist liberal that conservatives love to promote, there are liberal gun owners like President Carter. And just as with every guaranteed Consitutional right the Second Amendment comes the responsibility not to abuse it.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.