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Dole does a dance over gun control (update)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Dole does a dance over gun control Elizabeth Dole's campaign to replace Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate has suffered a degree of embarrassment, as the leading Republican candidate in the field has reversed some of her positions on gun control.Dole - a Cabinet member in the Reagan and Bush administrations, former head of the American Red Cross, and wife of former presidential candidate Bob Dole - staked out some moderate-to-liberal (at least for a Republican, and certainly by North Carolina standards) positions on gun control during her brief run for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.In a May 1999 speech in Washington, according to The Washington Post, Dole stated, "It's wrong to let people carry concealed weapons."Dole has changed her tune, now characterizing North Carolina's concealed-weapons law as a "common sense (law) A. that allows citizens to obtain a concealed handgun permit from the local sheriff after being trained and certified."Sheriffs in North Carolina, Dole said, tell her "the law is working."Dole was wrong on the issue in 1999 and is right now. Any number of stories in the state's media in the years after the concealed-carry law passed in the mid-1990s featured confessions from opponents of the law who had been proved wrong. Crime went down, disproving their fears of a rash of violence from allowing people to arm themselves for potential self-defense.Dole's 1999 statement looks like typical elitism with no basis in fact and grounded in the most dubious of moralities. Who is Dole, or anyone else, to say it is "wrong" for men and women to be prepared to defend themselves or their loved ones? Her statement demonstrates a considerably lower regard for liberty than we'd want to see in a man or woman representing our state in Washington.Dole's campaign spokesman, Jay Warshaw, was quoted in the Post as arguing that Dole has merely adjusted her views on gun control based on various states' experiences with new laws."Her concerns have been satisfied regarding the North Carolina law," Warshaw said. Warshaw also said Dole wants to "review (the) effectiveness" of the federal ban on assault weapons.In a statement in October to the North Carolina Rifle & Pistol Association, Dole pulled back from her previous support of the ban, arguing now that "what is effective is the Instant Check system."Dole will likely win the Republican nomination next year, and if she does, she will probably better represent the libertarian-to-conservative political philosophy we believe most North Carolinians hold than will the Democratic candidate.But supporters of gun rights will have to hold their noses to vote for her.And even those with little interest in the issue may have trouble seeing Dole as anything more than a typical politician whose positions are driven by polls and shifting political strategies. http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=1804
Comments
GUN CONTROL: If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!kimberkid@gunbroker.zzn.com
? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.