Mark Kelly rips Gov. Jan Brewer on guns

[highplainsdem]

Source: Politico

The sentencing hearing for the man who shot former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords turned political on Thursday when her husband, Mark Kelly, attacked Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer in a statement to the court for showing “feckless” leadership on gun control - a charge Brewer quickly said she had no interest in responding to on such a “solemn occasion.”

Kelly launched the broadside at Brewer at the sentencing of Jared Loughner, who pleaded guilty to 11 charges linked to the January 2011 shooting at a Safeway in Tucson that left six people dead and Giffords with grave injuries that eventually forced her to resign from Congress. About halfway through his testimony, Kelly criticized Brewer and the rest of the country’s political class for failing to control gun violence.

“In this state we have elected officials so feckless in their leadership that they would say, as in the case of Governor Jan Brewer, ‘I don’t think it has anything to do with the size of the magazine or the caliber of the gun,’” Kelly said, according to a prepared copy of his remarks e-mailed to reporters. “She went on and said, ‘Even if the shooter’s weapon had held fewer bullets, he’d have another gun, maybe. He could have three guns in his pocket’ – she said this just one week after a high capacity magazine allowed you to kill six and wound 19 others, before being wrestled to the ground while attempting to reload. Or a state legislature that thought it appropriate to busy itself naming an official Arizona state gun just weeks after this tragedy occurred, instead of doing the work it was elected to do.”

He added, “We have a political class that is afraid to do something as simple as have a meaningful debate about our gun laws and how they are being enforced. We have representatives who look at gun violence, not as a problem to solve, but as the white elephant in the room to ignore. As a nation we have repeatedly passed up the opportunity to address this issue. After Columbine; after Virginia Tech; after Tucson and after Aurora we have done nothing.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83593.html

[Laurian]

1. President Obama should give Kelly and Giffords some kind of leadership

positions to address gun and violence issues with Congress and the public. The Brady's were pretty successful at this after he was shot while with Reagan. Mark Kelly's statement was so heartfelt and powerful.

[hack89]

6. Obama is not a fool

he won't touch gun control with a ten foot pole. There is a good reason it was not a issue during the campaign.

As a practical matter, with Harry Reid leading the Senate there will be no gun control legislation out of Congress - that NRA endorsement is important for his reelection.

[Laurian]

9. In this second term, I wish he would at least start the national dialog and work

to build some consensus on the issue. I absolutely hate that some things are never, ever addressed due solely to politicians' concern for their next election. I'm looking for a hero on the issue of sane gun laws and I think Mark Kelly could fit that bill.

[hack89]

10. What "sane" laws would you like to see implemented? nt

[CreekDog]

13. you won't even accept laws that allow you to keep all your guns

like a lot of gun advocates, you won't even accept anything that even makes it take longer to buy a gun!

[loli phabay]

16. depends on the laws you are advocating. as someone who carries daily and uses guns almost daily

Gun laws are an issue for me.

[dumbledork]

18. Could you answer the question instead of performing a psychic analysis?

It would actually be helpful to both sides of the issue.

[hack89]

23. There are additional laws I would accept in addition to present laws

background checks on private sales for example. I have no problem with waiting periods either.

[loli phabay]

15. try to make gun control a policy and you lose all the gains in the south

As well as every other rural area in the country. This is an urban rural split.

[lin_e65]

34. Gun control should be a state matter....

This way, the NRA would have to take individual states to the Supremes. That would take more time and cost them more money. We need to look at 2014 to take over these the House and state legislatures to do this.

[hack89]

36. You are 20 years too late - McDonald v. Chicago incorporated the 2A

the lesson pro-2A groups took from the 1992 Assault Weapon Ban was that gun rights had to be protected at the state level. So while gun control groups were doing a happy dance over the AWB, there was a huge grassroots push to protect gun rights at the state level - and it worked. The biggest proof of that is the expansion of legal concealed carry to every state but one.

On the legal front, the states and cities were challenged in court. Out of that came District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. Heller established the right to bear arms as an individual right. McDonald incorporated the 2A - which means that the 2A applies to the states.

Heller says that gun regulations are allowed - the right is not unfettered. But now the bar is set much higher for the states. The cost of more litigation would more than likely be born by the tax payers - Chicago just wrote a check for $399,950 to the Second Amendment Foundation to settle the McDonald v. Chicago case.

The irony of gun control in America is that their biggest victory led to their ultimate defeat.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Commander Kelly is a hero in his own right, even before this...

...and he's still being a hero on Earth.

[Hoyt]

3. If we do nothing for a decade, there will be another 100 million guns to deal with..

I'd love to see the Giffords/Kelly work on changing perception of guns in this country. Good idea from poster above.

[hack89]

7. And gun deaths will continue to decline. What's your point? nt

[Hoyt]

11. "Down" - with no help from those promoting more guns on streets.

I wonder how low shootings would be if we had gotten tough with gun promoters/manufacturers/traffickers decades ago like every other civilized country.

[hack89]

12. Doesn't matter. If a decade from now you are enjoying even lower levels of gun violence

then it is hard to argue that 100 million more guns represents a threat. "not falling fast enough" =/= a threat to public safety.

[dumbledork]

19. Maybe like Jamaica where guns are banned.

And which is awash in gun violence.

[Dubster]

4. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Governor Jan Brewer, is a callous, evil, bag of scum...

impersonating a human being. And she has lots of neighbors who are just like her or worse. I know some good people from the state of Arizona and I know that everybody there is not as caustic and repulsive as your Governor Jan Brewer, but the collection of scumbag reich wingers collecting in Arizona are sure giving your state a bad name. John McCain is just as bad as Governor Jan Brewer, if you look down into the things he's stood for and worked toward. McCain sees it just like Bush and Romney see it. The wealthy deserve all the breaks and nobody else deserves a break. They even made fun of John Kerry's purple heart, but they wanted to push an AWOL, and a false prophet who fought the Vietnam war in France. God talks to Bush and Mitt all the time they claim. I often wonder if people like Mitt, George W and Governor Jan Brewer Obey all those other voices they hear talking to them inside their heads. Because it's clear to me that all three of these "People" have some serious mental baggage. Maybe you should send your sheriff after your gang of scumbag republicons?

[MotherPetrie]

8. And yet even he doesn't mention the NRA

THAT is the elephant in the room. The criminal organization that prefers guns to human life -and pays politicians to do the same - the revolting National Rifle Association.

[glacierbay]

26. If they're a criminal org.

why isn't the DoJ going after them with the RICO Act?

[dicksmc3]

14. Right On Mark!!!

I don't know how many times I've rread or heard about reforming the gun laws after the events Mark has reminded us all about. Then what happens?? Well, the NRA and the gun Lobbyists come crawling out of the wood work with their BIG BUCKS and the results?? NOTHING GETS DONE!! Then another episode happens and the same results--NOTHING.. These lawmakers are bought and paid for especially the Republicans, by the special interests of the NRA and the Gun manufacturers!! It's past time to do something. Maybe one of the newly elected women in the Senate will bring it up, at least, I hope so...

[dumbledork]

17. Did he have anything to say about Gabby's pride in having her own Glock and being a crack shot

as she related a while back (before the crazy guy shot her)?

[Paladin]

20. Well Said, Mr. Kelly. And Please Remember.....

...that within 24 hours of Gabby Giffords being shot, one of our resident DU Gun Enthusiasts commented that, in his opinion, Giffords' voting record was not sufficiently supportive of the Second Amendment. Just something to keep in mind, while looking over some of the comments on this thread.......

[dumbledork]

21. I do believe that statement calls for a "put up or shut up"

So?

[Paladin]

31. Here's Something Else For You To Be Skeptical About.

In the run-up to the 2008 election, a poll on voting intentions appeared in the DU2 version of the Gun Control/RKBA group (with which, I see, you are already familiar). In that poll, 45% of the respondents indicated a willingness to vote Republican on the basis of firearms policy, with another 3% indicating they might stay at home on election day, just to piss Off Democrats. Oddly enough, no such poll appeared prior to this latest election.

Why don't you confer with some Gungeon veterans to see if I'm pulling all this stuff out of my ass? After that, you can check out the guy who proclaimed Kitty Genovese primarily responsible for her own murder, because she failed to carry a gun. Yes, he really said that, but feel free to prove me wrong. Enjoy your stay.

[llmart]

22. I actually think it's best not to engage the gun trolls on DU.....

just post around them. As you can see even in this thread they can't be reasoned with because just like Republicans, they are right and everyone else is wrong and there is no compromising. Must be terrible for anyone who lives with them since compromise isn't in their vocabulary.

I applaud Mr. Kelly for saying this except for I would have used a different term for Brewer changing one letter in "feckless".

[loli phabay]

25. i guess the same could be said about gun control trolls as well

Problem is both sides see the oyher as extremists.

[hack89]

24. Gabby is a good pro-2A Blue Dog democrat

she signed an amicus brief in favor of Dick Heller in his case against Washington DC - it was a sad say when she had to leave Congress.

[FailureToCommunicate]

28. Gabby 'left Congress' because she got shot in the head by a guy with using

assault weapon size ammo clips, and you lament that she won't be there to be a voice for gun rights!?!

Pretty twisted.

(I knew I shouldn't have kept reading this thread)

[hack89]

29. Just pointing out she would not be supporting your views

gun controllers want to use her without acknowledging or respecting her views on the 2A. She was a gun owner. She supported Heller.

[FailureToCommunicate]

39. My "views"? I quoted your views. I wasn't "using her" -as you claim - but you are.

Oh,and Gabby is not able to speak too well yet,but there is a good chance HER views on gun control (e.g. assault weapons) may have changed.

Also, we won't know the shifting viewpoints of others there that day... because they are dead.

[dumbledork]

41. Did you get that "good chance" from a Magic Eight Ball?

[hack89]

42. Sorry - thought you were pro gun control.

shouldn't jump to conclusions I guess.

[dumbledork]

35. I was hit in the head with a beer bottle by a drunken gay guy one night in a bar...I still strongly

support LGBT rights... one hundred percent.

[Paladin]

38. Equating Yourself With Gabby Giffords, Now?

Like I said earlier, enjoy your stay.......

[dumbledork]

40. I don't think so, she isn't gay, is she? What is it with this "enjoy your stay" crap? Are you the

chief God of this place?

[billh58]

27. The Gungeoneers will

never pass up a chance to bad mouth a Democrat for even mentioning gun control on DU. Putting the most vocal of the rabid right-wing gunners on ignore does wonders for keeping things in perspective from a Democratic point-of-view.

And, it appears that I have just been given an opportunity to place yet another "put up or shut up" gun fetishist on ignore...

[hack89]

30. 40 percent of Democrats own guns

some parts of DU needs to come to terms with that. The President and other Congressional leaders have already - that is why gun control was not an issue during the campaign.

[Paladin]

32. Gun Owners Can And Do Support Gun Controls.

Me, for instance.

That's something that gun activists such as yourself need to come to terms with. Owning guns doesn't inevitably lead to worship at Wayne LaPierre's feet.

[hack89]

33. I do support gun control

I support existing laws. I also support background checks on private sales (the so called gun show loophole).

So it is not true that I support unfettered access to guns.

The disconnect as I see it is that you focus on the guns. I would rather focus on the underlying causes. Thus I support single payer health care with comprehensive mental health care. I support ending the "war on drugs" and focusing the judicial system on violent criminals - using a gun in any crime should result in a long prison sentence.

You and I want the same thing - we just have different solutions.

[dumbledork]

37. I was replying to a poster who made a serious and insulting claim...asking for some proof.

I guess that's verboten around here...