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Playinghardball

(11,665 posts) Mon Jan 14, 2013, 11:31 AM Jan 2013

Newtown police chief adds voice to call for assault weapons ban

NEWTOWN, Conn. – Police Chief Michael Kehoe has a message for the White House: “Ban assault weapons, restrict those magazines that so have so many bullets in them, shore up any loopholes in our criminal background checks,” he said in an exclusive interview with NBC News.

As Vice President Joe Biden prepares to present his gun violence proposals to the White House this week, the residents of Newtown—including first responders and some families of the victims—are speaking out on gun policy for the first time.

Few have a more personal connection to the issue than Kehoe: He was one of the first on the scene at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 after reports came in of a shooting. He says he’s still haunted by flashbacks of what he witnessed when he entered the school from the rear -- the eerie silence in the hallways, the smell of burnt gunpowder and then the bodies of dead children on the floor of the classrooms.

“I was sickened. I was angry,” he said. “It was something I never could have imagined could have happened in any school in Newtown.”

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/13/16496402-newtown-police-chief-adds-voice-to-call-for-assault-weapons-ban?lite

4 replies

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Newtown police chief adds voice to call for assault weapons ban (Original Post) Playinghardball Jan 2013 OP

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree tavalon Jan 2013 #1

No. It's still a dumb idea. A lot of wool is being pulled over a lot of eyes here. Recursion Jan 2013 #2

Agreed, license gun operators like pilots. Downwinder Jan 2013 #4

I hope some of those first responders get help if they need it. Jennicut Jan 2013 #3

tavalon

(27,985 posts)

1. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Mon Jan 14, 2013, 11:55 AM

Jan 2013

Recursion

(56,582 posts)

2. No. It's still a dumb idea. A lot of wool is being pulled over a lot of eyes here.

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Mon Jan 14, 2013, 12:53 PM

Jan 2013

Look, this is an emotional issue, but that isn't a reason to pass stupid laws.

The magazine size restrictions are a great idea. Background checks on private transfers are a great idea. Renewing the AWB is a very bad idea, and it will sink the other two if it's attached to it.

There is a class of weapons that can fire a significant amount of bullets in a short time: semi-automatics with detachable magazines. A sensible response to a crime committed with this class of weapon might be to ban them, but that's not what any assault weapons ban ever proposed does. Instead they regulate what that class of firearm can look like. I can't stress this enough: it doesn't limit a firearm's capacity to fire bullets, it regulates what the fastest-firing class of legal civilian firearm can look like.

The '94 ban and Connecticut's state ban meant that Lanza's rifle (which was legal under the AWB) couldn't have a bayonet lug. The ban Feinstein is currently proposing would mean the manufacturer will have to change the shape of the grip (and sell it under a different brand name). This is stupid.

Either ban/reschedule semi-automatics with detachable magazines or don't. Futzing around with what they look like is pointless. Particularly if it's politically damaging, and even more particularly if we get one shot to do this while it's still on the public's mind.

Downwinder

(12,869 posts)

4. Agreed, license gun operators like pilots.

Reply to Recursion (Reply #2)

Mon Jan 14, 2013, 05:24 PM

Jan 2013

Require initial and annual competency checks and annual physicals. Ratings for the type of weapon

Jennicut

(25,415 posts)

3. I hope some of those first responders get help if they need it.

Reply to Playinghardball (Original post)

Mon Jan 14, 2013, 12:57 PM

Jan 2013

I can imagine PTSD can occur from what they saw.

And I totally agree with him. Unfortunately, I don't know if another assault weapons ban is possible with the Congress we have. It was tough back in the 90's to begin with.

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