Allanea
17-04-2004, 17:03
Specter's smoking gun
By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, April 16, 2004
Gun Owners of America makes the National Rifle Association look like Neville Chamberlain at Munich.
People have been known to sell out whatever principles they have left for politics. Like the Republican Party hierarchy and the NRA endorsing U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter over U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey in the April 27 primary.
The GOA prefers to stick to its guns.
"Specter has always voted for gun owners -- when we do not need him," said Larry Pratt, executive director of the 300,000-member organization. He describes it as a grassroots citizens' lobby for the Second Amendment since its founding in Virginia in 1975.
"(Specter) is the reason why the semi-automatic gun ban got out of committee and became law. He left the room so he would not be present to vote."
In its endorsement, the NRA said that "Specter has stood for America's gun owners and sportsmen to protect our firearms freedoms, earning high ratings from the NRA for many years of support for the Second Amendment."
Well, not exactly.
Takes a walk
From the July 21, 1989, Washington Post:
"In yesterday's vote, the fate of the measure hung by a thread as Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), delayed by other business, came into the room just as DeConcini's proposal appeared headed for a one-vote victory. If Specter had voted with other Republicans, the proposal would have died in a tie vote, but Specter said he was not prepared to vote. Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) declared the measure approved and adjourned the meeting. After the session, NRA legislative director Wayne LaPierre accused Specter of 'taking a pass' on the issue."
The American Rifleman, a publication of the NRA, in a September 1989 story, "Specter Abstains in Critical Vote," suggested Specter stood still for America's gun owners. "Sen. Arlen Specter, an expected vote in favor of S. 1225, the Bush administration's crime-fighting package, and an almost certain vote against the gun ban, abstained from both votes."
And yet the GOA reminds us that Specter stood with President Bill Clinton by voting for the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill. That included the ban on so-called assault weapons.
Ridin' with Ted
"Pennsylvania does not need another six years of Specter," Pratt said. "Toomey's appeal to mainline voters on gun issues is very significant. Specter is outside the mainstream. He convinces them every six years. You will find him at gun shows this year, but after that, he is back in the saddle another six years, back with Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy."
And back to being anti-gun, such as in 2002. Specter, along with a few other liberal senators, voted against allowing airline pilots to arm themselves in their cockpits.
If the NRA is Chamberlain, the GOA is Churchill. Attempts to reach a spokesman for the NRA were unsuccessful.
Calls to Specter's people asking for comment only generated this official response:
"The NRA, the country's largest gun owners organization, praised Senator Specter for voting against the Feinstein Amendment in 1993 that would have banned certain semi-automatic firearms. The NRA is urging their members to vote for Senator Specter over Toomey."
The NRA must think that appeasing Specter will give gun owners peace in our time.
Dimitri Vassilaros can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5637.
By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, April 16, 2004
Gun Owners of America makes the National Rifle Association look like Neville Chamberlain at Munich.
People have been known to sell out whatever principles they have left for politics. Like the Republican Party hierarchy and the NRA endorsing U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter over U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey in the April 27 primary.
The GOA prefers to stick to its guns.
"Specter has always voted for gun owners -- when we do not need him," said Larry Pratt, executive director of the 300,000-member organization. He describes it as a grassroots citizens' lobby for the Second Amendment since its founding in Virginia in 1975.
"(Specter) is the reason why the semi-automatic gun ban got out of committee and became law. He left the room so he would not be present to vote."
In its endorsement, the NRA said that "Specter has stood for America's gun owners and sportsmen to protect our firearms freedoms, earning high ratings from the NRA for many years of support for the Second Amendment."
Well, not exactly.
Takes a walk
From the July 21, 1989, Washington Post:
"In yesterday's vote, the fate of the measure hung by a thread as Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), delayed by other business, came into the room just as DeConcini's proposal appeared headed for a one-vote victory. If Specter had voted with other Republicans, the proposal would have died in a tie vote, but Specter said he was not prepared to vote. Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) declared the measure approved and adjourned the meeting. After the session, NRA legislative director Wayne LaPierre accused Specter of 'taking a pass' on the issue."
The American Rifleman, a publication of the NRA, in a September 1989 story, "Specter Abstains in Critical Vote," suggested Specter stood still for America's gun owners. "Sen. Arlen Specter, an expected vote in favor of S. 1225, the Bush administration's crime-fighting package, and an almost certain vote against the gun ban, abstained from both votes."
And yet the GOA reminds us that Specter stood with President Bill Clinton by voting for the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill. That included the ban on so-called assault weapons.
Ridin' with Ted
"Pennsylvania does not need another six years of Specter," Pratt said. "Toomey's appeal to mainline voters on gun issues is very significant. Specter is outside the mainstream. He convinces them every six years. You will find him at gun shows this year, but after that, he is back in the saddle another six years, back with Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy."
And back to being anti-gun, such as in 2002. Specter, along with a few other liberal senators, voted against allowing airline pilots to arm themselves in their cockpits.
If the NRA is Chamberlain, the GOA is Churchill. Attempts to reach a spokesman for the NRA were unsuccessful.
Calls to Specter's people asking for comment only generated this official response:
"The NRA, the country's largest gun owners organization, praised Senator Specter for voting against the Feinstein Amendment in 1993 that would have banned certain semi-automatic firearms. The NRA is urging their members to vote for Senator Specter over Toomey."
The NRA must think that appeasing Specter will give gun owners peace in our time.
Dimitri Vassilaros can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5637.