Eric Holder and the Assault Weapons Ban

On Monday, February 2nd, Eric Holder was confirmed by the Senate as Attorney General of these United States. Eric Holder was confirmed with a vote of 75 - 21. As CBS News put it:

He had strong bipartisan support in Monday's vote.

17 Senate Republicans supported Eric Holder's confirmation. If any of those folks represent you, be sure to let them know that you remember their vote when our AG does something that you really disapprove of. Maybe something like proposing a new Assault Weapons Ban.

Here it is less than a month into Holder's tenure as AG and he has publicly voiced the Administration's goal to implement a new Assault Weapons Ban. This should be no surprise to anyone who took a moment or two to look up Eric Holder's and President Obama's history on gun control issues. They are both rabidly against an individuals right to keep and bear arms.

Just in case you missed it, from ABC News:

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban which expired in 2004 during the Bush administration.

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstate the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

Time and time again we have seen that Obama supports a ban on what he considers assault weapons, and now his AG is making it official.

President Obama wants an AWB. Quite a few congress critters also want an AWB as evidenced by the fact that 67 of them cosponsored HR 1022. A small group of Republicans also authored an AWB last year. What does the Vice President think of an AWB? Joe Biden sponsored an assault weapons ban as recently as 2007 and has bragged that he wrote the original Assault Weapons Ban. Even one of my Senators from Texas has recently expressed support for an AWB:

I support the Assault Weapons Ban and I think that has been clarified just as shouting fire in a crowded theatre clarifies the right of free speech...

Senator Hutchison's comments concerning an AWB start at time 34:52 in this video.

The major news outlets throughout the country have been feeding the populace images of drug cartels in Mexico and blaming the violence on firearms from American gun shows and shops. Most of these articles have mentioned calls for reinstatement of an AWB.

I think that Eric Holder's statements the other day may have been a miscalculation by the Administration. After the success of the "stimulus" package, Obama may be feeling pretty invincible. He just forgot that he is not the only power hungry elitist on the hill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tossed cold water on the prospect of reinstating the assault weapons ban, highlighting Democrats’ reluctance to take on gun issues.

Attorney General Eric Holder raised the prospect Wednesday that the administration would push to bring back the ban. But Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated on Thursday that he never talked to her. The Speaker gave a flat “no” when asked if she had talked to administration officials about the ban.

“On that score, I think we need to enforce the laws we have right now,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “I think it's clear the Bush administration didn’t do that.”

That was Nancy's way of letting the Administration know that they need not be getting all uppity and chit, that she holds the real power and they best be talking with her before going public with big plans like a new AWB. As David points out, anyone who thinks that Pelosi would not support an AWB is deluding themselves.

The people in power right now would love nothing more than to disarm the free citizens of the United States. It is our efforts; our phone calls, letters and emails that let them know we will not accept more gun control legislation. It is our support of groups like the NRA, GOA and local gun rights organizations that make our voices heard on the hill and in our state legislatures. And yes, it is also the fear that a gun grab may not go as well as planned that gives them pause as they contemplate a strategy for disarming the American People.

So please do contact your congress critters and let them know that a ban on Assault Weapons is ineffective and unacceptable, that you are disappointed in the AG's statements, and that the best thing that we can do to help Mexico with their gang problems is to build the fence that we demanded years ago.