A while back, Burlington mayor Bob Kiss joined onto the Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
There was a brief “What the heck? This is Vermont, we love our guns, ” but that quickly dissolved into a, “What are you some sort of moron? He’s only against illegal guns.”
Case closed.
Well, some of us knew that this group was more than Mr. Mayor would have us think (or maybe even more than Mr. Mayor knew) and now you can read the scoop from one mayor who has left the group.
I do support the efforts to strengthen laws and prosecute individuals who dispense or use illegal guns, and getting them out of the hands of criminals. However, upon further review of the coalition, it appears they may have a different agenda than I anticipated.
I am concerned the coalition is working on issues that conflict with the beliefs we share in Alaska about legal gun ownership, and I’m also concerned gun ownership advocates are not part of the full discussion within the coalition. We cannot afford to risk protecting our Bill of Rights and the rights of legal gun owners.
Because of these conflicts, I have written to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chair of the coalition, and have asked him to remove me as a supporter of the coalition.
That comes from Mayor Mark Begich, of Anchorage, Alaska, in a letter to the Anchorage Daily News.
(Hat tip: Alphecca. If you are interested in Second Amendment issues and you are not already reading Alphecca, you should be. Jeff keeps an eye on the news so you don’t have to!)
February 8th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Why is the Second Amendment any more important than the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment or the Writ of Habeas Corpus?
Answer: It ain’t. The only theoretical value I can see in an armed citizenry is its ability to fight off a tyrannical government. But as we have seen on several occasions like at Ruby Ridge and Waco- That don’t work.
Besides- all the right-wing wackos (present company excluded, of course) who cheer gun ownership, would ALSO cheer George Bush taking out any domestic “terrorist” with enough weapons to be considered a serious threat.
You can’t have it both ways.
And stop picking on Bob Kiss! The man’s doing a hell of a job with what he was handed. It’s easy to criticize, but who would you put in Bob Kiss’s place? Kevin Curley? Like he wouldn’t have made a billion mistakes by now! Are you kidding me?
Don’t just tear down the mayor. We’re unbelievably lucky to have this guy.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
The Second Amendment is not any more or less important than the other protections you reference,
Mr.Bedrosian.
And yes, it is so that we the people have a last resort at hand.
And, like most other things that happen in a Democracy…it takes numbers to bring this to pass.
Therefore, it might just be worth your consideration that, since hords of dissatisfied would-be minutemen did not swarm from farm and hamlet to join the cause at Waco or Ruby Ridge…that maybe those poor folks were just a bunch of nutballs after all.
I tend not to break right politically, but I’m not quite so sure just why I should be thanking my lucky stars for Bob Kiss…
I’m very glad that “She’s Right” is checking in on him from time to time.