Election years are tough times for Gun Toting Liberals. While Bush and Kerry
nominally hold the same position on gun control (both say the support the
Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), "closing the gun show loophole*," and
enforcing existing law, but do not plan on introducing any other gun laws), it
is
clear that they aren't going to act the same way. Bush has done nothing to
promote renewal of the AWB (IMO, a good thing), while Kerry left the
campaign trail to vote for an amendment renewing the ban, as well as an
amendment on "closing the gun show loophole." These amendments were
attached to a bill that would protect gun manufacturers from lawsuits over
people using guns in the commission of crimes. To the best of my knowledge,
none of these suits has been successful, but defending against them is
costing gun manufacturers a lot of money. Some have speculated that the
purpose of the suits is hurt or kill the gun industry, which can be done even if
gun manufacturers never lose a suit. Kerry voted against the bill which would
have protected manufacturers from these kinds of suits, despite the fact that it
included the amendments to renew the AWB and to "close the gun show
loophole." One can only conclude that he feels that leaving manufacturers
open to these kinds of lawsuits is more important than renewing the AWB and
"closing the gun show loophole." This I find troubling.

On the other hand, Bush is good on guns, but is bad on every other social
issue important to me: abortion, education, the environment, civil rights, etc..
I
have struggled to put into words my opinion of his economic and foreign
policies. I keep coming up with words like, insane, stupid, horrendous, foolish
and complete failure. This is not a real argument, but I am so baffled and
infuriated by the things he has done, that I can't discuss them rationally.

Then there is John Ashcroft who, I feel, would be most comfortable dressed in
either a brown shirt, or a black uniform with lots of metals. What else can I
say
about the man who spent $12,000 to hide justice behind a curtain, and who
wants the power perform searches and wiretaps without interference from
those pesky judges, and who wants to keep people in detention and not take
them before a judge or allow them to talk to a lawyer. Frankly, he scares me.
There are things I am not writing here because he scares me.

So, what do you think? Where do you stand? have you thought about
contributing to a campaign? What do you think about the Gun Toting Liberals
bundling contributions from it's members in order to get some notice?

* "Gun Show Loophole" is in quotes because there is no loophole. These
laws seek to ban the private sale of guns while at a gun show. Dealers at gun
shows are subject to all the rules and regulations they have to follow in a gun
store, including background checks. States can and do outlaw private sales at
gun shows, which mostly results in people walking around the parking lot in
order to make private sales. Personally, I would rather have them inside and
have some assurance that someone has checked to make sure that the guns
are unloaded. If a Federal "Gun Show Loophole" law is passed, I have little
doubt that we will soon be hearing about the "Private Sale Loophole" and
cries to close that.