Ted Cruz Lectures Dianne Feinstein on the Constitution

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX) The question that I would pose to the senior Senator from California is would she deem it consistent with the Bill of Rights for Congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the Second Amendment in the context of the First or Fourth Amendment, namely, would she consider it constitutional for Congress to specify that the First Amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?

Likewise, would she think that the Fourth Amendment's protection against searches and seizures could properly apply only to the following specified individuals and not to the individuals that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): Let me just make a couple of points in response. One, I'm not a sixth grader. Senator, I've been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in, I saw people shot. I've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. I've seen the bullets that implode. In Sandy Hook, youngsters were dismembered.

Look, there are other weapons. I'm not a lawyer, but after 20 years I've been up close and personal to the Constitution. I have great respect for it. This doesn't mean that weapons of war and the Heller decision clearly points out three exceptions, two of which are pertinent here.

You know, it's fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I've been here for a long time. I've passed on a number of bills. I've studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well educated, and I thank you for the lecture.

Incidentally, this does not prohibit — you use the word prohibit — it exempts 2,271 weapons. Isn’t that enough for the people in the United States? Do they need a bazooka?

Do they need other high-powered weapons that military people use to kill in close combat? I don’t think so. So I come from a different place then you do. I respect your views. I ask you to respect my views



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dianne Feinstein to CNN's Wolf Blitzer

FEINSTEIN: I just felt patronized. I felt he was somewhat arrogant about it. And, you know, when you've come from where I've come from and what you've seen, and when you found a dead body and you put your finger in bullet holes, you really realize the impact of weapons. And then as you go up the technical ladder with these weapons, and they become more sophisticated, and more the product of a battlefield, and you've got these huge clips or drums of 100 bullets out there that people can buy.

When you see these weapons becoming attractive to grievance killers, people who take them into schools, into theaters, into malls, you wonder, does America really need these weapons? My answer to that is no. And so it's based on my experience. And I think -- well, the bottom line is, we passed the bill out of committee by a vote of 10-8. The president has issued a very strong statement in support of it.

. . . BLITZER: Did you have a chance to speak to Senator Cruz after that public exchange?

FEINSTEIN: No, I needed to cool down.

BLITZER: Have you cooled down yet?

FEINSTEIN: I've cooled down.

BLITZER: So when you see him the next time, what will you say?

FEINSTEIN: Yes. Yes. Well, I did say, look, I'm sorry. But, you know, this is one thing that I feel very passionately about. And I appreciate the lecture, but -- that's all I'm going to say.

Indeed, it bears emphasis that amici States likewise have a strong interest in maintaining the many state laws prohibiting felons in possession, restricting machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, and the like…But all 31 amici States agree that striking down the District of Columbia’s categorical ban on all operative firearms would pose no threat to these reasonable regulations.
~ Excerpt of an Amicus Brief filed by Ted Cruz in the Supreme Court Case Columbia vs. Heller

Did they teach Ted Cruz to read what the Supreme Court said, especially when the landmark — the landmark decision — regarding Second Amendment rights over 200 years was written in 2008?" Scarborough said, referring to the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller.
"I'm just wondering, why would he use his seat on the Judiciary Committee — if he went to Harvard — to put forward a willfully ignorant statement about this bill violating the Second Amendment? Because it does not. And Ted Cruz knows it does not.
"Who is he playing for? Is he playing for people who can't read? For illiterates? I can't understand."
~ Joe Scarborough via Business Insider

I used to think women just should not be able to vote. Now I think at least liberal women should not be able to hold office. Every time you try to have a discussion with them, they become hysterical, they cry, and they want to show pictures of dead children. As if our position is 'we don’t mind a few dead children.' Our position is ‘concealed carry’ would stop these slaughters.
~ Ann Coulter on Fox News

Not only is Ted Cruz an extremist, he's also overbearing, arrogant, and condescending. I can only imagine how Dianne Feinstein felt. How dare he - he just got there! How dare he show up and commence to lecture her on the Constitution. So she just ground him back into his place with the heel of her high-heel pump, and good for her.
~ Cynthia Tucker on Hardball

The logical question for Ted Cruz is can you own a grenade launcher? How about a tank? Where is the restriction that he'd be comfortable with? Or are there no restrictions? I have no idea.
~ Sam Stein of Huffington Post on Hardball


Let the record show that you can be a United States Senator for 21 years, you can be 79-years-old, you can be the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and one of the most recognizable and widely respected veteran public servants in your nation, but if you are female while all of other those things, men who you defeat in arguments will still respond to you by calling you hysterical and telling you to calm down.
~ Rachel Maddow on MSNBC

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Gayle Trotter Says Weak Women Under Attack Need Assault Weapons

From Gayle Trotter, a senior fellow at the conservative Independent Women's Forum

Guns make women safer. Using a firearm with a magazine holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, a woman would have a fighting chance even against multiple attackers.

Young women are speaking out as to why AR-15 weapons are their weapon of choice. The guns are accurate. They have good handling. They’re light. They’re easy for women to hold.

And most importantly, their appearance. An assault weapon in the hands of a young woman defending her babies in her home becomes a defense weapon, and the peace of mind that a woman has as she’s facing three, four, five violent attackers, intruders in her home, with her children screaming in the background, the peace of mind that she has knowing that she has a scary-looking gun gives her more courage when she’s fighting hardened, violent criminals.

And if we ban these types of assault weapons, you are putting women at a great disadvantage, more so than men, because they do not have the same type of physical strength and opportunity to defend themselves in a hand-to-hand struggle. They’re not criminals, they’re moms, they’re young women. And they’re not used to violence confrontations.

The peace of mind that she has, knowing that she has a scary-looking gun, gives her more courage when she’s fighting hardened, violent criminals. If we ban these types of assault weapons, you are putting these types of women at a great disadvantage–more so than men because they don’t have the same type of physical strength and opportunity to defend themselves in a hand-to-hand struggle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the dumbest thing I've heard so far. Ask Ms. Giffords if she would have had time to whip out a AR-15 when she was attacked. Most gun violence happens in a split second, even the police who are the trained professionals have a hard time reacting.
~ Hawaii55 on Washington Post

Looks like someone wants to be the next Sarah Palin! But could you please leave us ladies out of your defense of Second Amendment rights? That is not a gun in our pocket and we are not happy to see you.
~ Jezebel

A young woman in her home defending her babies against three, four, five violent intruders? What kind of gun-nut fantasy is this? When does that ever happen? She might as well say that she's defending her babies from 20 shambling zombies.
~ amordecosmos on Raw Story

If their baby is crying, maybe they should put down the f***ing rifle and pick up the baby.
~ Flying Squid on Raw Story

She forgot to mention the approaching horde of zombies, the black helicopters hovering overhead, and the imminent threat to her bible and her 75-foot American flag, by god!
There she stood, proud and fierce, the wind of history stirring her long, dark hair. Before this intrepid mother, her screaming babies behind her, a hit squad of Black, Arabs, Mexicans and gays pounded at her door, their fangs dripping with an evil hunger to take a census. Momma Gayle Trotter held up her terrifying weapon, and the ravening horde fell back in fear.
And now a word from our sponsor, Big Guns R Us.
~ jimbo92107 on Raw Story

A woman with a baby in one hand and and AR-15 in the other, fending off marauding gangs of rapists. Put the comic books down, sweetie.
~ HoratioGalt on Huffington Post

We seem to have a lot of people who believe the zombie apocalypse is actually happening right now. Either that, or they think Red Dawn is a documentary. Good grief. Our gun problem is directly related to the damaged people who are so afraid of life, they can't envision life without a weapon at their side. These are fear based people - lacking self esteem and self confidence. We do not need these people making our legislative decisions. I'm sorry their parents didn't give them enough love - that IS sad. But now they need to take their damaged selves home while the healthy people solve problems.
~ Stanwyck on Huffington Post

Question: Where in the world do these people live that women are having to single handedly repel multiple attackers to defend their home and children? Have we entered the days of Mad Max and the liberal media is just keeping quiet?
The idea that we are just an AR-15 away from totally anarchy is absurd. And sitting in front of the United Stataes Senate and claiming women need fully automatic weapons to repel the advancing hordes makes you look foolish and diminishes the Pro Gun Rights people who aren't nuts.
~ danzbassman on Huffington Post

Tennessean Yeager Threatens to Kill People Over Gun Control

Update: James Yeager in videos below has had his gun license suspended by the State of Tennessee.

Via Channel 5 News

Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has suspended the handgun carry permit of a local man who threatened to "start killing people" to protect his Second Amendment right.

In a statement released Friday officials said they had suspended the handgun carry permit of James Yeager, CEO of Tactical Response based on "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public".

"The number one priority for our department is to ensure the public's safety. Mr. Yeager's comments were irresponsible, dangerous, and deserved our immediate attention. Due to our concern, as well as that of law enforcement, his handgun permit was suspended immediately. We have notified Mr. Yeager about the suspension today via e-mail. He will receive an official notification of his suspension through the mail," Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.

Original "Pack Your Bags" Statement

From James Yeager of Tennessee, CEO of Tactical Response, a Tennessee company that trains people in weapon and tactical skills.

Vice President Biden is asking the president to bypass Congress and use executive privilege, executive order to ban assault rifles and to impose stricter gun control.
F**k that.
I'm telling you if that happens it's going to spark a civil war and I'll be glad to fire the first shot. I'm not puttin' up with it. You shouldn't put up with it.
And I need all you patriots to start thinking about what you’re going to do, load your damn mags, make sure your rifle’s clean, pack a backpack with some food in it and get ready to fight.
I'm not f***ing putting up with this. I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people.

Previous Video Statement: On Assault Weapons Ban 

Things are looking kinda bleak for the patriots in this country. First let's talk about the reality of things because there are rumblings of a Civil War.
. . . If you're literally talkin' about a Civil War, you really are talking about becoming an insurgent. And that's how the government will look at you and that's how you'll be treated in the media. You will not be portrayed as a freedom fighter or a white knight or anything like that. You'll be viewed as a domestic terrorist, an insurgent. You won't be thought of in the popular press or popular media as anything other than a bandit, a scoundrel, and just a dishonorable person. So keep that in mind.
As far as what I'm going to do as far as the assault weapon ban? Um, I'm not given' up my guns. Period. That's my line in the sand.
Everybody has to have their line in the sand. I will not succomb.
Everybody's like "Yeah! blah blah blah," when they come to my house. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and tell ya, if we wait for 'em to come to our house, they'll start picking us off one at a time. If your whole plan is to resist by staying at home then that is no resistance at all.
We need to do things as much as we can politically. Please give money to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. The NRA-ILA. That is where the political money goes. You can give money to the NRA and they kinda split it all up, but if you earmark it for the ILA, then it goes right in for ads, for pro-gun ads, right into all the political stuff. I'm tellin' you - I know those guys at the ILA, I know them, they are friends of mine. They ARE freedom fighters. They are our best defense. We have to get behind them.
And I'm not sayin' that these other organizations aren't good, that's great, join 'em all.
. . . I want our elected officials to do what they swore to do when they raised their hand. But I will tell you that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights demand that we do not allow tyranny. And I see the assault weapon ban and confiscation, buyback and all that stuff, as being an absolutely unreasonable firearms restriction. The Surpreme Court has said it is an individual right. The Supreme Court said that not that long ago! An individual right. And that's where I stand with it.




Pack Your Bags Part 2: Backpeddling, Sort Of 

I stirred up a lot with the "Pack Your Bags" video, so number two here. Um, I was mad when I said it. And, uh, probably allowed my mouth to overrun my logic. But I don't retract any of my statements. I have edited the video and I cut off the end where I said I'd start shooting people.
First off, I don't need the hundreds of people who have emailed me to give me legal advice or lawyers. I didn't ask you for your f***in' opinion. I didn't ask you to clog up my go**am email. I don't need anybody to ever email or text me or call me or smoke-signal me over anything that's goin' on with the internet because I don't care. '
Now I realize there are unedited versions of the video people have stolen from me. If you're one of the people who have stolen my video and you've uploaded it onto your site, please take it down, it's my property. It's my property, take it down.
. . . I've had a flood of calls from alumni, a flood of messages. It's overwhelming. ...Visits in the store and in person. All over the place, people asking me what they should do. I don't know. But I did tell you to load your mags, make sure your guns clean, and pack a backpack. If you haven't done that, don't call me and ask me what to do next because you haven't even done the first thing I asked you to do.
People are sayin' stuff like 'It needed to be said, but you shouldn't a said it.' Well look around, who else is going to say it?
And all you f***in' fair-weather Second Amendment people tellin' me that I'm doing a f***in' disservice to the gun community by sayin' that I'm not going to stand for the tyranny? F*** YOU! Our country wasn't founded by f***in' fair-weather pu$$ies. Either you're in or you're out, and if you're out don't call yourself a go**am Second Amendment advocate. It f***in' pisses me off.
If you're not prepared to go all the way, then you're not prepared to go anywhere.
Now, I don't condone anybody doing anything rash. I do not condone anybody doing any kind of felonies up to and including aggravated assaults or murders, unless it's necessary. Right now it is not necessary.
I understand that my video was very volatile. You have no idea how many people sent me emails and texts and called me. It was like 'Right on. My sh**'s clean. My backpack is packed, you tell me when and where. You have no idea how quickly I accidentally assembled an army. I assure you, a quite formidable army.
But now is not the time yet. It is time to get ready. It is time to get ready. Start workin' out. Start stretchin'. Start practicin'. Start talkin' with your friends. Coordinating on a local basis.
I don't know really what to say to do next. I have a wait-and-see attitude about the whole thing. But I stand fast with my message. I have drawn my line in the sand. Not one more inch.



Interview with WSMV TV Reporter:

Interviewer: You've made some comments that have gotten a lot of people upset, comments about killing a lot of people.

Yeager: I didn't say I'd kill a lot of people. I said I'm going to shoot some people.

Interviewer: Okay. Why did you say that?

Yeager: What would George Washington do? What would Thomas Jefferson do? Um, it is our civic duty as citizens of this country to respond to treasonous (sic) and tyranny. It's our absolute birthright and its our responsibility.

Interviewer: So can you elaborate when you say 'shoot some people'? Because to us it sounds like a threat.

Yeager: Of course. I was angry when I made the video. And probably should have metered by words better. I am not plotting to kill any officials or anything like that. No plans to do that. But the American Revolution is not that indifferent (sic) - the things that were going on at that time are not that different from now. And I believe our forefathers would be turning over in their graves if they had any idea of what this country's become.
I don't mind paying my taxes, I'm a law-abiding citizen. But I expect my constitutional rights to be left in place. And they have been eroded, and eroded and eroded. And I've drawn a line in the sand.

Interviewer: The line that you've drawn makes some people pretty nervous.

Yeager: Good. It's time. It's time for people to be nervous.

Interviewer: They're nervous about you.

Yeager: Mm, well, I - I can understand. I'm a person of conviction and when I say things people believe me. I will reiterate - I have no plot. There's no notes on my desk about killing anybody. I was angry when I made that and those were far-fetched statements but the reality is that I feel that this country is headed for collapse in several different ways, economic as well as political.

Interviewer: Under what circumstances would you shoot somebody?

Yeager: (laughs) That's a pretty ambiguous question. Certainly in defense of life. Um, but . . . the question is, I guess, right now, in defense of liberty and what does that mean? I don't really know. I don't really know how to answer your question and even if I had a year to think about it, I don't know that I could answer it with any satisfaction
However, it will be time to shoot people when the Constitution is set on fire.
(long pause)

Interviewer: Can you explain more?

Yeager: Ask a different question.

Interviewer: Well you said it would be time to shoot people when the constitution is set on fire. Are you talking about literally somebody taking the paper document and lighting it, or what are you talking about?

Yeager: Examples of what I'm talking about are outright gun confiscation, martial law, things like that. There are things going on in this country that should not be going on, that are not legal in any sense of the word. And I know I might be loud, and I understand that I'm radical. But there are a lot of people who are far more eloquent than I am, who are more educated than I am, that agree with me.

Interviewer: Well, the attention getter is saying you're going to shoot some people.

Yeager: Right.

Interviewer: And when I hear you, I'm thinking that when someone comes to confiscate a gun at your house you're going to open fire on them?

Yeager: Yes.

Interviewer: Go through that again?

Yeager: If somebody comes to take my guns, I will shoot them.

Interviewer: Can you hear what that sounds like to people who are not of your same political opinion?

Yeager: I would hope that they would have been educated. And I hope they can read the Constitution. The Second Amendment is the most clear amendment in the entire Bill of Rights. And it says 'shall not be infringed.' It's the most clear and concise amendment that there is.

Interviewer: Talk about the reaction you've had to the YouTube posting.

Yeager: The overwhelming response has been very positive and very supportive. The detractors have threatened bodily harm to me and my family and threatened to burn my business down. Calling me all kinds of names. Calling me a Nazi and things like that. Nothing could be further from the truth. They've been very rude. Calling and making nasty threats via email and everything else. And they've disrupted my business. And that's their goal. I understand that. But, the overwhelming majority of comments have been very positive.

Interviewer: So mostly positive - what are you hearing from people?

Yeager: In my video I tell them to make sure their rifle's clean and their mags are loaded. And most of the responses I'm getting are that my rifle's clean and my mags are loaded.

Interviewer: And the people that have been saying rude and ugly things. Describe what the general tone is.

Yeager: I think the general tone seems to be certainly anger, and frustration. . . . It's funny because they tell me that I'm wrong for threatening violence but they're threatening me in the same breath.

Interviewer: What kind of threats are they, specifically?

Yeager: Saying I should be shot. My family should be killed. My house should be burnt down. Very negative things . . . about the women in my life that I won't go into detail about. But some very terrible things.

Interviewer: Do you think that these are real threats?

Yeager: Credible? Probably not, but it only takes one person to make it real.

Interviewer: Some people could say that about you.

Yeager: Yeah. You're right, and I hope they're paying attention.

Interviewer: All right, sum it up for me. Oh, there was one version up on YouTube, then it came down. The part about killing people. Then it went back up without that. Were you the one that edited that?

Yeager: Yes.

Interviewer: Okay, tell me why you did that.

Yeager: Again, I was angry when I made the video. I said some things I probably should have said differently. Um, and I realize that talking about shooting people is inflammatory. And so I took the video down, edited it and took that part out, and put it back up. It wasn't me trying to escape anything. I realize that people all ready ripped the video and put it on other sites, but I wanted to reposition myself and basically admit that I went a little too far with that.

Interviewer: Talk about the national attention that you've gotten now.

Yeager: It's pretty funny. I just got off the phone with a radio interview. MSNBC wants to speak with me. CNN has asked for an interview. You guys are here. It's been, uh, it's been a very busy day.

Interviewer: Did you expect that?

Yeager: No.

Interviewer: Okay, sum it up for me.

Yeager: Our country was founded with the basic precept that each individual person was responsible for themselves. And the government is steadily trying to take away our ability to be responsible through taxation and the erosion of the Constitution. People are tired of it.

Interviewer: You're really tired of it, huh?

Yeager: (Nods head)

Interviewer: I can tell it gets you, it just really gets you. Anything else you want to say?

Yeager: I can't think of anything.




Pack Your Bags 3: Yeager and his Attorney

Yeager: Hi, I'm here today with my friend, alumnus and attorney, Dana McLendon. In my other video I said some pretty volatile stuff, which I apologize for. I do not in any way advocate the overthrowing of the United States government. Nor do I condone any violent actions towards any elected officials. I was very angry when I made that video, and I didn't have time to reflect on it before it was put up, and I took it down very quickly but it was reposted with my original thoughts. I was mad when I said it. I apologize for letting my anger get the better of me.

But I want to make sure everybody understands is that it's not time for any type of violent action.

(Turns to lawyer) Say hello, please.

McLendon: Evenin'.

Yeager: Dana contacted me as a friend about that video and said 'hey, maybe we shoulda said some things about you know, what people should be doin' right now.' And so that's what we're here to talk about - what we need to be doing right now politically to further our cause.

McLendon: Thanks for having me on, and I do think people need to recognize that for 20 years people in the gun enthusiast industry and that kind of thing have really made some big advances. Shall issues (handgun licensing) have swept the nation. In almost every state you can get permission to carry a gun now. The laws have really gone our way for a long time. So the process works. The Legislative process tends to work. By and large we haven't done anything to burn the legislators that have trusted us with these laws, right?

So I think it's important that we have to understand that some people are afraid. And they're worried. And they want to know how they can not be unsafe. They want to feel safe. And not everybody's cut out to carry a gun. Not everybody's going to be a gun enthusiast. A lot of people are never going to be that. They just want to walk around and feel safe.

So what's happened is, there are politician's out there who are using this opportunity to kinda seduce these people into believing that they have the solution for their safety.

Yeager: Right.

McLendon: We can talk about whether there's actually any validity to that, but they're selling safety, but they're not going to be able to deliver it the way they're promising. For that reason I think it's important for people on our side of the equation to talk to their legislators, tell 'em, remind 'em, for 20 years the trend's been going in this direction. For 20 years, crime rates are dropping. For 20 years violent crime - dropping.

Now is not the time to overreact and apply a lot of reactionary policies that don't really address the problems that we're facing. So I would tell people that we're dealing with a scared population, dealing with people who don't necessarily think and feel like we do. And contact your legislators to let them know that we want them to stand fast with our rights and our privileges, and not do things that won't work. Look at doing things that might work. And have a reasonable discussion about that.

Don't overreact to every soundbyte that some politician comes on TV and says.

(snip)

Yeager: Earlier this week I made a pretty inflammatory video. Hindsight being 20-20, I shouldn't have said some of the things I said, of course. And I just want to reiterate to everyone that it's not time to shoot anybody. What it is time to do is to organize politically, contact our elected officials, and help steer this ship the direction we want it to go. It's unfortunate that things have become so volatile. But it is an opportunity for us to push forward.

NRA Wants Armed Guards in All Schools

The #NRA is ready, willing, and uniquely qualified to help
— NRA (@NRA) December 21, 2012

Gun industry – aka The #NRA – declares war on civilization. bit.ly/WsV43H
— Bill Moyers (@BillMoyers) December 21, 2012

Walking out of another funeral and was handed the NRA transcript. The most revolting, tone deaf statement I've ever seen.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 21, 2012

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre at a press conference on the Newtown massacre, held Friday Dec. 21, 2012
Full Text Here

. . . As brave, heroic and self-sacrificing as those teachers were in those classrooms, and as prompt, professional and well-trained as those police were when they responded, they were unable — through no fault of their own — to stop it.

. . . You know, five years ago, after the Virginia Tech tragedy, when I said we should put armed security in every school, the media called me crazy. But what if, when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he had been confronted by qualified, armed security?

Will you at least admit it’s possible that 26 innocent lives might have been spared? Is that so abhorrent to you that you would rather continue to risk the alternative?

Is the press and political class here in Washington so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA and America’s gun owners that you’re willing to accept a world where real resistance to evil monsters is a lone, unarmed school principal left to surrender her life to shield the children in her care? No one — regardless of personal political prejudice — has the right to impose that sacrifice.

. . . Our training programs are the most advanced in the world. That expertise must be brought to bear to protect our schools and our children now. We did it for the nation’s defense industries and military installations during World War II, and we’ll do it for our schools today.

The NRA is going to bring all of its knowledge, dedication and resources to develop a model National School Shield Emergency Response Program for every school that wants it. From armed security to building design and access control to information technology to student and teacher training, this multi-faceted program will be developed by the very best experts in their fields.

Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson will lead this effort as National Director of the National School Shield Program, with a budget provided by the NRA of whatever scope the task requires. His experience as a U.S. Attorney, Director of the Drug Enforcement Agency and Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security will give him the knowledge and expertise to hire the most knowledgeable and credentialed experts available anywhere, to get this program up and running from the first day forward.

If we truly cherish our kids more than our money or our celebrities, we must give them the greatest level of protection possible and the security that is only available with a properly trained — armed — good guy.

Under Asa’s leadership, our team of security experts will make this the best program in the world for protecting our children at school, and we will make that program available to every school in America free of charge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@markos they thought the world was going to end.
— Calvin Garner (@calvingarner) December 21, 2012

LaPierre's rant was truly astonishing.At a moment that demanded reflection, he sprayed rhetorical shots around the room.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) December 21, 2012

No one seriously believed the N.R.A. when it said it would contribute something “meaningful” to the discussion about gun violence. The organization’s very existence is predicated on the nation being torn in half over guns. Still, we were stunned by Mr. LaPierre’s mendacious, delusional, almost deranged rant.
~ New York Times Editorial

Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.
~ Mayor Bloomberg of NYC

Did the NRA just help "seal" the message that we really need to talk about this more than we ever did before? Because if their meaningful contribution is that all of us have a target on our back and all of us need to carry a gun, then we have big problems.
~ MSNBC Thomas Roberts to Michael Steele

I don’t even know where to begin. As a supporter of the Second Amendment and a supporter of the NRA (even though I'm not a member of the NRA), I just found it very haunting and very disturbing that we are country talking about arming our teachers and principals in classrooms. What does that say about us? I do not believe that’s where the American people want to go. I do not believe that is the response that should be coming out of the tragedy in Newtown.
I just think that this was a missed opportunity to create another conversation at a higher level where the American people are right now. This incident cut to the bone. This is unlike anything that’s come before it because it did involve such precious young people and it really starkly called us to think about our society, those issues, not just gun control laws but mental health and a whole bunch of other things I think the NRA could have brought to the table, the idea that the message, the top line message out of this press conference is let’s put a gun in the hands of teachers in our classroom and I do not think that’s where rank-and-file NRA members expected this to go to.
~ Ex-RNC Chairman Michael Steele on MSNBC

Q: How many NRA spokesmen do you need to change a light bulb? A: More guns.

— Dubi Kaufmann (@dubster2k) December 21, 2012

Oh cool, George Zimmerman is going to be protecting my kids in school.
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) December 21, 2012

Good guys w/ guns vs bad guys w/ guns is, ironically, the moral cosmology of a small child.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 21, 2012

Useful reminder: The first person Adam Lanza murdered owned a bunch of guns.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 21, 2012

@chrislhayes I guess the NRA's response to that is that she didn't own "enough" guns. #ohthatsit #ugh
— Maximillian Hencke (@maxhencke) December 21, 2012

Their solution to resolve the issue around guns is to put more guns in the equation? If anything it would be less safe for kids. You would be putting them in the midst of potentially more gunfire.
~ Hank Grishman, Superintendent of Jericho, NY, schools

This is not an Old West shootout. We're talking about an elementary school.
~ Helen Gym, Philadelphia Community Activist


From Alternet

. . . the National Rifle Association today broke its silence with an extraordinary press event in which Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre blamed everybody and everything but the gun culture it has fostered for the deaths of 20 children and seven adults last week at the hands of Adam Lanza.
. . . Twice during his speech, LaPierre was interrupted by protesters from CODE PINK, each of whom stood at the front of the room, before the velvet-draped barrier, some four feet high, that appeared designed to protect the NRA speakers from the press. The podium was set back some 10 or 15 feet from the barrier, evoking the sense of paranoia that drives America's gun culture.
The first sign, held up by a male protester, was a pink banner that read: "NRA KILLING OUR KIDS." After unfurling it, he was escorted out of the room by security. About 10 minutes later, CODE PINK founder Medea Benjamin stepped with her own banner, which I could not read from my vantage point. Receiving the same treatment as the previous protester, Benjamin shouted: "Ban assault weapons now!"

Instead of cops and more guns at schools, how about less guns?
— DC Debbie (@DCdebbie) December 21, 2012

The #NRA would've been better served with Clint Eastwood talking to a gun
— LZ Granderson (@Locs_n_Laughs) December 21, 2012

Everyone was to blame. The media and their corporate owners. The political class in Washington. Video games. Violent movies. The mentally ill. But at no point did he point his finger back at the NRA, the one institution that has made it difficult, if not impossible, to bring about common-sense firearms legislation in the country.
~ Jonathan Capehart on Washington Post

Speaker Boehner should be thanking Wayne LaPierre. At least Speaker Boehner sounded rational today.
— Catholic Democrats (@CatholicDems) December 21, 2012

Maybe what the Mayans meant was that we have to listen John Boehner lie about deficit and watch LaPierre foam at the mouth.
— Andrew Rosenthal (@andyrNYT) December 21, 2012

I didnt expect NRA to change stripes, core policies. But that stunned me. Didn't expect a screed. Left me wanting to throw up.Upset.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 21, 2012

. . . Columbine High School had a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the school who engaged the shooters almost immediately in 1999 and wasn’t able to stop the massacre. At Virginia Tech, there was an entire armed police force on campus that was unable to stop the worst school shooting in US history.
As we chronicled last week, there were sixteen mass shootings in the US this year alone—they occurred at shopping malls, spas, movie theatres, and coffee shops. Does LaPierre want armed guards there, and everywhere?
~ George Zornick on The Nation

If you need 1 more reason to press for #GunReform #GunControlNOW the #nra just gave the gift on silver platter. Happy holidays. #ENDTHENRA
— TheRiverWanders (@TheRiverWanders) December 21, 2012

This is your moment, America: The #NRA has 4 million members, your population is 311 million. Don't stand for this murderous crap any more.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 21, 2012

You want to fill schools with guns now? #NRA you disgust me.#Newtown
— Kristin Dougall (@drmsccrgrl01) December 21, 2012

Other countries are laughing at us right now. I can almost hear the collective gasps when they're told this isn't a prank show #NRA
— Terri Hodges (@vmperella) December 21, 2012

Going to war to prevent war is the most stupidest thing I've ever heard #KingBlues #NRA
— Natasha West (@blinkandurdead) December 21, 2012

Cuckoo Time ~ More Guns in School (with Updates)

A sixth grader in Utah told classmates yesterday his parents encouraged him to bring a gun to school in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. He was apprehended by teachers after he was found with an unloaded .22 caliber handgun, according to local station, Fox 13.
. . . at West Kearns Elementary School, in a suburb of Salt Lake City. He reportedly took the gun out of his backpack during recess Monday afternoon and showed it to classmates. Isabel Rios, a fellow student, told teachers he pointed the gun at her head and said he was going to kill her.
A spokesman for the school district told Fox 13 that although they were not notified immediately, teachers apprehended the student in “30 to 45 seconds” once they were alerted to the weapon. He was then taken to the principal’s office.
Local parents, however, aren’t satisfied with the school’s reaction. John Klaus, a father, complained, “There was no lockdown. No one was called. Nothing was done. And then we had to hear it from our kids.”
~ Reported by Mediaite

I wish to God she (the deceased Principal of Sandy Hook Elementary) had had an m-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out ... and takes him out and takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids.
~ Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-TX

That some right-wing lawmakers and commentators have responded to Newtown by calling for teachers, principals and campus security guards to be armed is beyond obscene — and beneath contempt. More guns, with amateurs firing every which way, surely would have meant more dead children and more grieving families.
~ Eugene Robinson on Washington Post

Blood is on the hands of members of Congress and the Connecticut legislators who voted to ban guns from all schools in Connecticut. They are the ones who made it illegal to defend oneself with a gun in a school.
~ Statement from Gun Owners of America

Until the facts are thoroughly known, NRA will not have any comment.
~ Only Statement from the NRA so far, via spokesman Andrew Arulanandam
UPDATE: The NRA made a statement this afternoon:

The National Rifle Association of America is made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters – and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown.
Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting.
The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.
The NRA is planning to hold a major news conference in the Washington, DC area on Friday, December 21.
Details will be released to the media at the appropriate time."

They (NRA) go into possum mode every time something like this happens. That’s the reason why we exist. They think that if they don't say anything that it will go away.
~ Mike Hammond, Legal Counsel for Gun Owners of America

Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns.
~ Bill Moyers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~


. . . You can't ban guns. That ship has sailed.
You can't ban them because the Supreme Court has now ruled, twice, that you can't. You also can't ban them because there are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation in the United States--no one knows exactly how many, but we are either approaching, or well past, one gun per adult citizens. Other countries that banned guns started with a less absolutist attitude towards civil liberties, and also, a lot fewer guns.
. . . I'd also like us to encourage people to gang rush shooters, rather than following their instincts to hide; if we drilled it into young people that the correct thing to do is for everyone to instantly run at the guy with the gun, these sorts of mass shootings would be less deadly, because even a guy with a very powerful weapon can be brought down by 8-12 unarmed bodies piling on him at once. Would it work? Would people do it? I have no idea; all I can say is that both these things would be more effective than banning rifles with pistol grips.
~ Megan McArdle on Daily Beast

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THINK ABOUT IT: If everyone is armed at all times, then everyone can kill any mass murderer. Indeed, why not require all of us to carry two weapons, thus DOUBLING OUR ABILITY TO SHOOT DOWN A MASS MURDER? How can ProgressVA, Lowell or anyone else argue with the math?
Moreover, if you don't carry your weapon one day, and get killed; you are to blame, not the politicians, not the gun control laws, not the NRA, not a breakdown in morality or even the craziness of your killer. If you leave home without your two weapons, it is your fault if you get killed by anyone for any reason. That's the logic of the situation.
~ GoldmanUSA on Blue Virginia

This sacrosanct notion that we cannot do anything but have gun-free zones is just a fallacy. What we’re dealing with here is people who don’t care. They’ve erased their moral compass. They don’t care about the law, and they are intent on horrific acts.
~ Oklahoma Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa

I could not be in more opposition to that idea. Schools are not a place where we should be arming combatants.... Our job as educators is to try to create an educational environment and try to teach students how to love one another and try to get along with one another so these kinds of tragedies that occurred in Connecticut never happen again. That’s our job. Our job’s not to try to kill an intruder.
~ Kevin Burr, Sapulpa, OK, School Administrator, referring to Rep. McCullough's idea

I don’t think the answer to our gun problem is add more guns into the equation. I don’t think he probably really understands how schools operate. Schools can be emotional places at times. Kids can get emotional. Teachers can get emotional. Parents come in emotional. Throw weapons into that mix, and it can be dangerous.
~ Ed Allen, president of the Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School teachers
Should they be armed with big-ass rifles? Yes. They must protect our children from rampaging shooters. They should preferably be armed at all times, because when you’re around emotionally immature, irresponsible young people, you want to be able to shoot whatever marauder they’re all screaming about like he’s f***ing Justin Bieber, with murder.
~ Wonkette (this is snark, in case you're wondering)


In our zealousness to protect people from harm we’ve created all these gun-free zones and what we’ve inadvertently done is we’ve made them a target. A helpless target is exactly what a deranged person is looking for where they cannot be stopped.
~ Florida Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala

Must every tragic mass shooting bring out the shrill ignorance of “gun control” advocates?
The key fallacy of so-called gun-control laws is that such laws do not in fact control guns. They simply disarm law-abiding citizens, while people bent on violence find firearms readily available.
~ Thomas Sowell on National Review

Children ages 5 to 14 in America are 13 times as likely to be murdered with guns as children in other industrialized countries....
. . . American schoolchildren are protected by building codes that govern stairways and windows. School buses must meet safety standards, and the bus drivers have to pass tests. Cafeteria food is regulated for safety. The only things we seem lax about are the things most likely to kill.
~ Nicholas Kristof on New York Times

It is not that the people are allowed to arm. It is that the government is disallowed to disarm them.
. . . Those upset with the order of things are welcome to try, and doomed to fail, to repeal the Second Amendment via the constitutional process. But the guns of America aren’t going anywhere any time soon, and generic calls to “do something” — even insofar as doing something is desirable — must reckon with this fact.
On Friday, the president promised “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” We doubt that something like this is possible, in a way consistent with the principle and the fact of the Second Amendment.
~ Editors of National Review

We have to do everything we can to make sure those types of evils are restricted the best they can be. One thing I hope I don’t see is knee-jerk reaction from Washington, where they come in and think they know the answers.
In the state of Texas, if you go through the process, have been trained, and you are a handgun-licensed individual, you should be able to carry a gun anywhere in the state.
~ Governor Rick Perry of Texas


I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn’t exist, or he’s irrelevant to me and we have killed fifty-four million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences too.
And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that’s what’s going on.
~ Christian Radio Host James Dobson

~~~~~~~~~~

People carrying concealed pistols are not the ones shooting innocent victims. It is criminals who have no intention of following any law that are the perpetrators of these crimes. Strict gun-control laws do not stop criminals from committing evil acts, they merely infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens who might be able to take action against evil if given the chance.
~ Ari Adler, spokesman for Michigan House Speaker, Jase Bolger

I haven't made a decision one way or another on it ... I need to see what it says. But the shooting gives you clear pause to say, 'Would this be appropriate?' That was a terrible thing to happen.
~ Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder, noncommittal about whether he will sign a law allowing concealed handguns in schools and day cares

UPDATE:Gov. Snyder of Michigan will VETO concealed guns bill:

BREAKING: Michigan Gov. Snyder to veto bill allowing guns in schools thkpr.gs/VPghmd
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) December 18, 2012

~~~~~~~~~~


How the NRA Defeats National Tragedies
First it scares people into thinking the government is coming for their guns. Then it quietly asks the public to pray for the victims of the next rampage.
. . . The “appropriate time” never arrives. It’s an ingenious communications strategy, one that removes the NRA from stories about the latest national outrages. When the outrage fades, the NRA returns in full flush. Just a week before the Newtown, Conn., shootings, Arulanandam told a reporter that the NRA was “planning for the worst” and had “told people to plan for gun bans and a Supreme Court stacked with anti-gun judges.”
David Weigel on Slate

Who Needs Assault Weapons? (Updated)

On Dec. 14, the day an armed citizen killed 26 unarmed women and children at a Connecticut elementary school, the NRA's Twitter account went silent. It has not tweeted since. Meanwhile, its Facebook page has disappeared, along with those 1.7 million "likes." Navigating to www.facebook.com/nationalrifleassociation now redirects to the Facebook homepage.
~ Slate

The @nra's Twitter account should be closed permanently.

— Carl Sprayberry (@dexter111344) December 17, 2012

I wish to God she had an M-4 in her office locked up so when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids.
~ Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-TX, on Fox News

If school teachers are now to be armed, wouldn’t the teachers have to carry around their assault rifles at all time since they would not know when an attack would occur? Indeed, given the low likelihood of such an attack, should they also be equipped with ebola-medical kits, rabies treatment packs, floatation devices, and other equipment for more likely threats. The average soldier, after all, carries as much as 135 pounds depending on their unit. Should our teachers carry less to protect our children?
~ Law Professor Jonathan Turley

. . . teachers are not soldiers, nor do the vast majority of us want to be soldiers. Could we ever train teachers and other school personnel as well as we would need to? Realistically, can we create an armed line of defense between these peculiar Rambos who want to kill us for reasons none of us truly understand? I don’t think so.
However, the ethical and moral question is: do we want to give over every safe space we have — even our homes, churches and schools — to violence? Do we want to make every caretaker — every parent, minister, teacher, coach, nurse, Scout leader — into a potential soldier? I say no. And it’s time to tell the NRA, the multi-billion dollar arms business and the government that we refuse the escalation of violence.
Teachers: we are not soldiers.
~ Claire B. Potter, Professor of History at The New School for Public Engagement, New York,

Who needs an assault rifle to go hunting? You can't even use the prey that you kill with an assault rifle if you indeed do it. No one needs an assault rifle to go out and shoot a deer. No one needs an assault rifle that's capable of shooting 10, 20, 30 rounds off at the same time to shoot a duck or to shoot quail. It does not make sense.
~ Don Lemon on CNN


In the coming weeks, I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement, to mental health professionals, to parents and educators, in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this, because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine.
Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?
Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?
. . . We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.
~ President Obama speaking at the Newtown, CT, Prayer Vigil


After mass shootings, it’s always said we must improve our mental-health system and the treatment of those who may be prone to violence. Of course we should. But this noble sentiment is too often part of a strategy to evade any action on guns themselves.
Not this time. Americans are not the only people in the world who confront mental-health problems. We are the only country that regularly experiences horrors of this sort. The difference, as the writer Garry Wills has said, is that the United States treats the gun as a secular god, immune to rational analysis and human intervention.
We must depose the false deity. We must act now to curb gun violence, or we never will.
~ E.J. Dionne on National Memo

It's time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common-sense discussion and move in a reasonable way.
. . . Everything has to be on the table.
~ Senator Joe Manchin D-WV, and member of the NRA

We cannot simply accept this as a routine product of modern American life. If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control and the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society, I don’t know when is. How many more Columbines and Newtowns must we live through? I am challenging President Obama, the Congress, and the American public to act on our outrage and, finally, do something about this.
~ Congressman Gerald Nadler, D-NY

Joe Scarborough on MSNBC's Morning Joe, via Blue Virginia

You know me. I am a conservative Republican who received the NRA's highest rating over four terms in Congress...There's no easy ideological way forward...I come to you this morning with a heavy heart and no easy answers. Still, I've spent the past few days grasping for solutions and struggling for answers, while daring to question my own long-held belief on these subjects. I've always taken the libertarian's approach to Hollywood's 1st amendment rights and gun collector's 2nd amendment rights, and I stood by those libertarian beliefs after Columbine, after Aurora, and after Arizona..."
I knew the ending of this story because we've all seen it too often. I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand for my children. Friday changed everything, it must change everything, we all must begin anew and demand that Washington's old way of doing business is no longer acceptable.
...our Bill of Rights does not guarantee gun manufacturers the absolute right to sell military-styled, high-caliber, semiautomatic, combat assault rifles with high-capacity magazines to whoever the hell they want. It is time for Congress to put children before deadly dogmas...
We've already given up too much ground across America. We've already ceded too many schoolyards, too many shopping malls, too many movie theaters, and too many college campuses. We must give no more ground.
For the sake of my four children, and yours, I choose life and I choose change. It's time to turn over the tables inside the temple, and for the sake of our children, we must do what's right. And for the sake of this great nation that we love, let's pray to god that we do.

The Newtown Massacre

@nra 26 lanterns in a village near the Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 15 twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/…

— The Obama Diary (@TheObamaDiary) December 16, 2012

Previous Post:
Snark Amendment: Now is the Time for Gun Control
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


We are living in an era of slaughter. I admit to having thrown up my own hands against the NRA, arguing that they have too much power and it wasn't worth the risk to take them on. I'm done with that. We're living in a f***ing abbatoir, now drenched in the blood of little children. We have to do something.
~ Michael Tomasky on Daily Beast

The people who fight and lobby and legislate to make guns regularly available are complicit in the murder of those children. They have made a clear moral choice: that the comfort and emotional reassurance they take from the possession of guns, placed in the balance even against the routine murder of innocent children, is of supreme value. Whatever satisfaction gun owners take from their guns—we know for certain that there is no prudential value in them—is more important than children’s lives. Give them credit: life is making moral choices, and that’s a moral choice, clearly made.
All of that is a truth, plain and simple, and recognized throughout the world. At some point, this truth may become so bloody obvious that we will know it, too. Meanwhile, congratulate yourself on living in the child-gun-massacre capital of the known universe.
~ Adam Gopnik on The New Yorker

America has a gun problem . It's time for action. I, and my siblings,(born in the mid-sixties) grew up without bicycle helmets, and graduated sizes of car seats. Our parents used mercury thermometers, to check for fever, and we played on asphalt playgrounds. Everyone I know survived. Yet, there were accidents; So our government legislated safety guidelines. Yes, it makes sense. Cribs that collapse, cars with faulty breaks, contaminated food get recalled. Why? Because they're dangerous. However, the most dangerous, man-made instrument, whose sole purpose is to destroy; is ever evasive of thoughtful, logical legislation. There is an unbelievable disconnect here. How many more innocent Americans, need to die unnecessarily, by gunfire, before something is done? The Bradys' worked very hard to make intelligent change. We need to reinstate the assault weapon ban, close the gun show loop-holes, and hold gun manufacturers accountable. If this government can legislate benign objects; Why can't it legislate deadly weapons?
~ comment by SeaSprite23 on The New Yorker


Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?
The fundamental reason kids are dying in massacres like this one is not that we have lunatics or criminals — all countries have them — but that we suffer from a political failure to regulate guns.
. . . We even regulate toy guns, by requiring orange tips — but lawmakers don’t have the gumption to stand up to National Rifle Association extremists and regulate real guns as carefully as we do toys. What do we make of the contrast between heroic teachers who stand up to a gunman and craven, feckless politicians who won’t stand up to the N.R.A.?
As one of my Facebook followers wrote after I posted about the shooting, “It is more difficult to adopt a pet than it is to buy a gun.”
~ Nicholas D. Kristoff

If guns were used to kill a fetus, liberals would be all for them. #tcot #NRA #ChooseLife

— Jami(@Jami_USA) December 16, 2012

@jami_usaA fetus is more important to you than 27 dead kindergarten children? Shouldn't they be equally important?

— Jeanne Kimsey (@SnarkAmendment) December 16, 2012

@snarkamendment YES!! tell that to a liberal!!

— Jami(@Jami_USA) December 16, 2012

@jami_usa I am a Liberal. :)I disagree that anyone would be happy if these dead children were dead fetuses. Ugh.

— Jeanne Kimsey (@SnarkAmendment) December 16, 2012

We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?
~ Mike Huckabee on Fox News

Walk-Back:
Yesterday, I was on Neil Cavuto. He asked me, you know, where was God? I said, you know, we've systematically removed him from our culture, from our schools. Well, I've been barraged by people who have said that I said, well, if we just have prayer in schools, this wouldn't happen. That's not my point.
~ Mike Huckabee Walking Back his Previous Statement on Fox and Friends Saturday

So let me get this straight @govmikehuckabee, these 6 year olds didn't share your cultural values so they should have expected to be SHOT?

— Jan Neumann (@JNeumann54) December 16, 2012

RT @vivalalisiano: Huckabee's a hypocrite, misogynist power hungry avaricious jerk & media whore. Miss anything Laffy?| Self righteous putz?

— GottaLaff (@GottaLaff) December 16, 2012

Do you think Mike Huckabee's clarification about his comments from yesterday makes them more or less reprehensible? mm4a.org/VHI0VY

— Media Matters (@mmfa) December 15, 2012

~~~~~~~

It’s a fact that there is only one policy that has been shown to reduce the incidence of multiple shootings. There’s always going to be crazy people in a country of 300 million people. Only one policy has reduced these mass shootings and the number of casualties, and that is concealed carry permits. If you want to reduce the number of dead, and the number of times this is going to happen in an area, you sort of sense this, because although it’s been a long time since a school shooting, post offices, places that are gun free zones.
~ Ann Coulter on Sean Hannity

I'M ON HANNITY RADIO RIGHT NOW!more guns, less mass shootings ...

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 14, 2012

What hope is there with this kind of thought process? > RT @anncoulter I'M ON HANNITY RADIO RIGHT NOW! more guns, less mass shootings ...

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 14, 2012

The right wing fairy tale that more concealed carry permits will reduce mass shootings is based on several flawed assumptions. The right assumed that the person who is carrying is at the ready. They assume that the individual with the gun won’t be targeted first. They also assume that the rampage shooter will have no element of surprise. They assume that those who find themselves in a mass shooting situation will be in a position to retaliate.
The idea that adding more guns to a school shooting would somehow reduce the violence defies common sense, but it is also symptomatic of where the discussion has quickly gone after the Newtown shooting.
~ Jason Easley on PoliticusUSA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CNN Piers Morgan Transcript Dec. 14, 2012

JOHN R. LOTT, JR, AUTHOR, "MORE GUNS, LESS CRIME": I'm telling you, people can go and look up the statistics themselves. What you find is that for decades the murder rate was falling in Australia. It basically stopped falling. If you just compare the average over two decades where it's falling to what it was afterwards, it makes it look like the average before is higher than average afterwards. But if you look on a year by year basis, there wasn't that fall.

MORGAN: Why does Adam Lanza's mother, who sadly as killed by him today -- why did she need to have these three weapons?

LOTT: Can I follow-through on the Australia thing?

MORGAN: No, I want you to answer this. Why does she need to have these three weapons, legally purchased, including this semiautomatic Bushmaster. Why would a woman teacher at a kindergarten need these weapons in her home? Allowing, therefore, a clearly deranged son to take them and commit this atrocity?

LOTT: Whatever that gun looks like, it's a semiautomatic rifle. Any hunting rifle, just about, is a semiautomatic rifle. Just because it looks different on the outside doesn't mean it functions differently.

MORGAN: He fired over 100 rounds in several minutes with this apparently harmless rifle.

LOTT: Nobody said guns were harmless. Guns make it easy.

MORGAN: You just tried to make out, it's just an average old gun. He fired over 100 rounds and he killed 20 children. Twenty Children between five and 10. At what point do you gun lobby guys say, we get it? It's time for change?

LOTT: Right, it is time.

MORGAN: Time to do what?

LOTT: To get rid of some of these gun laws that cause --

MORGAN: To get rid of the gun laws?

LOTT: Look at what has happened, all these attacks this year have occurred where guns are banned. Look at the Aurora movie theater shooting.

MORGAN: What the hell has that got to do with it? Seriously? What has that got to do with it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now is the Time for Gun Control

Immediate response from National Rifle Association: 
NO COMMENT

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON SCHOOL SHOOTING IN NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
3:15 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation, and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families.

We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news I react not as a President, but as anybody else would — as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.

The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers — men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

So our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.

As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago — these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.

This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight. And they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans. And I will do everything in my power as President to help.

Because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need — to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.

May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy