Obama Mentor Ted Kennedy’s Anti-Gun Career
May 17th, 2008 . by TexasFredby: Chris W. Cox NRA-ILA Executive Director
The man who has cast more anti-gun votes than any other lawmaker in U.S. history has endorsed a candidate for president. On Jan. 28, Sen. Ted Kennedy formally, and to great fanfare, bestowed his political blessing on Sen. Barack Obama. As he basked in the Kennedy family limelight, Obama proclaimed: “I don’t think there’s anybody who understands the possibilities of government more than Ted Kennedy . . . he has been on the front lines, he knows what it takes.” The junior senator from Illinois gushed on, saying of Kennedy, “Nobody’s better than him. What’s amazing is his voice has all the power of 30, 40 years ago. He is at the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. To have him offer such a powerful endorsement I think will mean a lot. Obviously, there are people who are still getting familiar with me nationwide. Their vision of this day will make them give me a close look.”I sure hope that Obama’s last comment is correct. As the old proverb goes: ‘When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.’
Let’s take a quick look at the shameful anti-gun record of Sen. Obama’s good friend and benefactor Ted Kennedy. Obama was still in elementary school when Kennedy proposed his ‘Personal Safety Firearms Act of 1973.’
Taking to the Senate floor, Kennedy claimed: ‘Gun control laws in the United States are woefully inadequate. In our vast society guns should have no reasonable role.’ (Emphasis added.) This was Kennedy’s voice 30, 40 years ago.
That same voice contemptuously dismissed the right that the Founding Fathers recognized and sought to protect for future generations of Americans the right to own and possess arms for self-defense, for hunting, for simple personal enjoyment.
‘For the American family in 1973, fear, apprehension, mistrust, anguish and pain are the dreaded products of our firearms history,’ Kennedy claimed.
Summarizing his bill for his col-leagues, Kennedy said it would require:
‘First, the registration of every civilian-owned gun in this country. Second, it will require all gun owners to pass stringent qualifying procedures to legally possess a gun and, third, it bans the domestic output of all hand-held firearms that are not designed for sporting purposes.’
Obama, recently named “the most liberal senator for 2007 in the National Journal’s annual ratings”would probably characterize this all-out assault on our Second Amendment rights as exercising ‘the possibilities of government.’
Kennedy’s fellow senators understood differently, however, and soundly rejected his legislation on a 78-11 vote.
Undaunted, Kennedy continued to charge full steam ahead. In 1979, his constant efforts to abolish our Right to Keep and Bear Arms brought him to the attention of the Senate Ethics Committee. Obama may think nobody’s better than Kennedy, but the committee unanimously rebuked Kennedy for improperly using Senate stationery to write fund-raising letters for gun-ban groups that included the National Coalition to Ban Handguns.
It’s safe to say that there is not a single outrageous anti-gun position Ted Kennedy has failed to support in his long career. He has voted to ban semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns. He has attempted to make it a federal crime to purchase more than two handguns in a year. He has proposed 21-day waiting periods on all gun purchases. He has made several attempts to ban centerfire hunting ammunition.
When his gun and ammunition bans failed, Sen. Kennedy fought tooth and nail to protect the gun control lobby’s schemes to bankrupt the American firearm industry. And don’t think that the gun confiscations from law-abiding citizens in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina troubled Kennedy in the least. He was one of only 16 senators to vote against the nra-backed ‘Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act’ that became federal law on Oct. 9, 2006. The ‘Not Sweet 16′, as we have labeled them, also included Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The man Obama praises as having ‘been on the front lines’ has throughout his career been a staunch opponent of the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Why? Because, in his words, ‘It seems to validate the role of firearms as an acceptable and attractive part of our daily life.’
Given his comments about his grand endorser, it’s fair to say that Barack Obama would govern in the style of Ted Kennedy, appoint an attorney general who holds Ted Kennedy’s values and nominate Supreme Court justices who view the world as Ted Kennedy does. That is a frightening prospect for gun owners.
Simon, please see this link: Comments Policy
You will NOT come in here calling me names, you do understand that?? Right??
And if you hate stupid people, then I am guessing that your self loathing has driven you to the brink of suicide…
Just sayin’…
Simple Simon?
[img]http://www.angloshpear.com/discus/messages/50/14650.gif[/img]
People want to praise Ted Kennedy, conservatives now want to save Ted Kennedy.
My suggestion, if you want to save something, put it in a box.
Ranando, and bury it about 6′ deep??
Basti, Simple Simon sent me a ‘tell you off’ kind of thing claiming he’s NOT an Obama supporter and then launches on a really dumbass tirade about why didn’t I post stuff about McCain and his gun record and said I was too lazy and stupid to do a Google search and make the posts…
Had the gall to call me stupid and lazy for not blasting McCain…
I guess he didn’t bother to read about 3 posts down…
Who’s the STUPID one now Simon??
When the Nazis first came to power one of the first things they did was to ban private ownership of guns. Why was that? Because they feared that the people might rise up and rebel if they had them.
The Donkeycrats and Liberals in general fear the private ownership of guns. Why? Because they fear the people might rise up and rebel against them if they had them.
That is why our Founding Fathers, men of great wisdom, wrote into the Constitution:
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
The comma is not there as a pause, but to begin a separate train of thought. It is a RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE! Not the right of the government. And the government should be afraid. The people might exercise that right one day!
Simple Simon is a pretty good example of Stupid is as stupid does. The sort that are in dire need of a dirt bath IMO.
Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.
Damn…
Susan Estrich, on Fox today, was explaining why everyone loves Ted Kennedy; his office, she says, takes up the mantle for every citizen experiencing injustice, with great vim and vigor (not her exact words, but the meaning is the same).
When Mary Jo Kopechne’s family called, if reports are correct, he indeed took care of the injustice for them. Dead Mary Jo didn’t get to spend any of it, though.
I cannot believe all the laudatory prose I’ve heard today about this privileged man who has tried to sell-out America for years, not for the sake of deep and genuine belief, but for votes.
Fred, we need a new blogroll to support term limits, with Kennedy as the symbol.
Very good post.
Maggie
Maggie’s Notebook
People speaking or writing well of Ted Kennedy is a clear indicator of their ignorance. Where would I possibly BEGIN to point out the rampant hypocrisy and danger — how swiftly one innocent person’s death seems to mean nothing. People condemn the Rockefellers — ? The entire Kennedy clan acquired their power and money via bootlegging.
BZ
Maggie, I don’t know about anyone else but personally I find Estrich to be one of the most disgusting people I have ever seen, that voice sends shivers down your spine, and she’s as hard core as ANY libber out there, and watching her today as she talked about Kennedy, she was almost in an orgasmic trance…
To the Dems, that gun grabbing son of a bootlegger is awesome…
Gee, Fred…don’t hold back…tell us how you really feel.
IMHO, Ted Kennedy is a killer who got away with manslaughter due to his money and connections. And he’s never apologized nor admitted any wrongdoing.
Just can’t see why people suddenly gloss over that, and so much more, after Kennedy has a seizure (maybe stroke?).
I do agree about Estrich. She and Britt Hume had a tiff about a year ago and she disappeared from view on Fox. They found her rock and dragged her out, I guess, because she again assaults us with her vapid rhetoric.
And, what’s up up with those “bangs?”
Maggie
Maggie’s Notebook
Maggie, if Estrich was the last woman on earth and I were the last man, the human race would be over…