Mission statement:

Armed and Safe is a gun rights advocacy blog, with the mission of debunking the "logic" of the enemies of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

I can be reached at 45superman@gmail.com.You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45superman.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Is McCain a Second Amendment absolutist now?

"I strongly support the Second Amendment and I believe the Second Amendment ought to be preserved — which means no gun control," McCain said.
Don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining--I'd say that's the way I'd like the Second Amendment viewed universally, but I am a bit puzzled. Is the John McCain who said that yesterday the same John McCain who once voted to close the mythical "gun show loophole"? Is this apparent epiphany in favor of gun rights genuine, or is it more akin to Romney's "lifelong hunter" claim, despite his never having held a hunting license (perhaps he meant "lifetime poacher)?

On Wednesday, though, McCain seemed eager to don the mantle of Second Amendment rights defender.
But he opposed weakening gun rights and, when asked whether ammunition clips sold to the public should be limited in size, said, "I don't think that's necessary at all."
He even seems to have stumbled onto the fact that violating the Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms, in a futile attempt to keep those arms out of the hands of the occasional psychopath, would be anathema to freedom. In short, he seems to have realized that it's the killer who needs to be reined in, not one of the infinite number of implements he could use for evil.
"I do not believe we should tamper with the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States," he said. A woman shouted that George Washington's troops used muskets, not automatic weapons.

"I hope that we can find better ways of identifying people such as this sick young man so that we can prevent them from not only taking action with guns but with knives or with anything else that will harm their fellow citizens," McCain said.
At this point, I really don't know how firmly (and unchangeably) Senator McCain holds his seemingly strengthened views of the Second Amendment, but I guess I won't complain to see a prominent candidate at least saying the right things.

Give us a reason to believe you mean it this time, Senator.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a supporter of John McCain's political ambitions, but this is a good sign. It shows that a man who's never been a strong 2d amendment supporter but who now wants to be President feels the need to defend gun rights and gun owners.

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

I'm with you, '57. I wonder if his campaign would answer an email asking if McCain would support the repeal of the GCA of '68, the NFA of '34, etc. It would seem to be difficult to reconcile such laws with the stance that the Second Amendment "means no gun control."

me said...

Sure he is...just like he supports the first amendment...McCain-Feingold

Anonymous said...

It never fails, a obviously mentally ill person breaks 15 or 20 laws and the real stupid people think that if it was against the law to own a fire arm he wouldnt have killed anybody.
R Blevins