Last updated on July 22nd, 2012 at 04:55 pm
Ed Rendell used the Colorado shootings to speak out about the real problem plaguing America, cowardly politicians who are afraid to stand up to the NRA.
Here is the video from NBC News:
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The former Pennsylvania governor said,
It’s ridiculous because the NRA’s power is over inflated. I was for gun control from the day that I ran for office in Pennsylvania. We have the the second highest number of NRA members of any state in the union behind only Texas, and I won three statewide elections by ten percent, twelve percent, and twenty one percent margins, so the NRA….
We’re petrified of the NRA. We Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. Everyone is scared of the NRA, and number one there are some things worth losing for in politics, and to be able to prevent carnage like this is worth losing for. What the Congress ought to do, and again I apologize for talking about this in the wake of all this, but it is important. The Congress should reinstate the assault weapons ban.
Number one, no citizen should be allowed to have an assault rifle. That’s clear. No hunter needs it. No citizen needs it to protect their home. Citizens are allowed to have firearms, shotguns, no assault weapons. Number two, we ought the limit the number of bullets that are allowed to be sold in a clip that goes into an automatic or semiautomatic weapon. Had we done that in Loughner’s case and he had to reload two times, people’s lives would have been saved, and people would have been saved from serious bodily injury. And we need leadership, and we need someone to say enough is enough.
And I agree with Dan Gross, we don’t know where the guns came from, but it doesn’t matter where the assault rifle came from. Citizens should not have assault weapons.
Alex Wagner pointed out that Congress let the assault weapons ban expire, and Rendell erupted and called it, “An act of cowardice, an act of cowardice.” Rendell pointed out that not every NRA member believes in what the NRA stands for.
We can debate forever the merits of gun control laws, but it all irrelevant until the nation addresses the real problem that Rendell brought up. We have a Congress that is terrified of the NRA. Look no further than the cowardly Democrats who voted to find Eric Holder in contempt for proof of just how terrified Congress is of the NRA.
What members of Congress don’t comprehend is that the NRA’s power is vastly overstated. Since the organization became nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, they have lost a great deal of their influence.
How hypocritical has the NRA become?
They welcomed Mitt Romney and his record of limiting gun ownership to their convention with open arms. The NRA supported John McCain in 2008, even though McCain has never been shy about his anti-gun positions.
Democrats need to realize that the NRA is nothing to be afraid of. Every time a Democrat caves to the NRA, they empower and advance the organization’s agenda. Some NRA members need to realize that the organization long ago stopped putting the interest of gun owners ahead of the goals of the Republican Party.
If we are ever going to have a serious debate about any of the difficult issues facing our country, we need leadership that has the courage to stand up to the special interests.
The gun control debate is pointless until our country has leaders that are willing to put the desires of the people ahead of the agenda of special interest groups.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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