John Sharp to Bill White: Quit anti-gun group

[derby378]

United States Senate candidate John Sharp today called on opponent Bill White to immediately denounce his position in a national anti-gun coalition founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying that the Houston Mayor's continued membership in the group is a threat to the rights of law-abiding Texans to own guns.

"Mr. White's war on guns is already making it impossible for him to be elected statewide in Texas," Sharp said. "He should immediately disassociate himself from this anti-gun group so he doesn't also hurt the chances of other Democrats running for public office."

Sharp said a measure in the U.S. Senate last week that would have allowed legal gun owners with valid permits to carry concealed weapons from one state to another failed by just two votes after fierce opposition from the group, known as Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

White is one of only two Texas mayors who are currently a part of the group, which was formed by Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to champion legislation aimed at limiting gun ownership...

http://armedtexasdemocrats.blogspot.com/2009/07/john-sharp-to-bill-white-quit-anti-gun.html

[Tim01]

1. Radical anti-gun views are becoming unpopular with democrats. nt

[Howardx]

5. dream on

[SteveM]

10. The "dream" is with gun-controllers resurrecting this issue (nt)

[eqfan592]

11. Indeed, I will dream of a day when all Dems pull their....

...heads out of their collective ass and realize that the type of "gun control" they often promote (which is usually bans of one sort or another, among other things)is not a solution to any problems but rather is a hindrance to those solutions.

[virginia mountainman]

12. Yea, just looky at all the Pro Gun Democrats there is now!

Gun control is dead...Gun Rights is in!!

[proteus_lives]

14. Thank (personal deity here) for that!

Gun control is dead and gone!

[baldguy]

6. Mayors Against Illegal Guns does not have "radical anti-gun views"

And it's irresponsible & plain dishonest to portray them as such.

---

"We respect the rights of law abiding citizens to own guns, and we recognize that the vast majority of gun dealers carefully follow the law. Our only interest is in fighting crime -- and we are determined to win. The polarizing rhetoric of gun politics on all sides only obscures the tragic reality we see every day on our streets: violent criminals with easy access to firearms.

We are extremely pleased that over 450 mayors from more than 40 states have joined the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, and we welcome other mayors to stand with us. Over the coming months, we will continue to work with our fellow mayors to share best practices, develop innovative policies, and support legislation at the national, state, and local levels that will help law enforcement target illegal guns."

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/about/about.shtml

[eqfan592]

7. Take a look at what they support.

Two of their huge topics are the "gun show loophole" and the so-called "Terror Gap."

The first one is a fallacy, so that's that. The second one involves various federal and state watch lists and preventing people who are on those lists from buying firearms. This is in spite of the fact that those watch lists have virtually no oversight and can take long periods of time to have a name removed from them (in fact, many people on the watch lists are simply people the government feels would make good points of contact or need to be questioned, and they are not in fact suspected terrorists themselves). So this organization would effectively support the removal of constitutional rights from people who have committed no crimes, but that the government has placed on a list. Such hardened terrorists as Sen. Ted Kennedy have ended up on these lists, and even for him it took 3 weeks to have his name removed.

But nope, they aren't a radical anti-gun group. :sarcasm:

[derby378]

8. For starters...

MAIG does indeed promote setting aside due process of law for some prospective gun owners unfortunate enough to be placed on a "no-fly list" by accident:

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/federal/closing_gun_gap.shtml

[xchrom]

2. more of that charming 'you're with us or agin us' horse shit. nt

[eqfan592]

3. Umm, I didn't take that from this at all.

He stated that it's made it impossible for him to get elected state wide and he's hurting other dem's chances in the state. This is, arguably, accurate. Where did he state the "you're either with us or against us" portion? I must have missed that somewhere.

[Tim01]

4. "You're cutting your own throat and wrecking the party, now stop it."

I think that is a better translation.

[virginia mountainman]

13. Yea those damn Republican's like Bloomberg..

That is handing out marching orders to Texas Democrats...

Yea, that will turn out good!! NOT!

[SteveM]

9. Sharp has a point about White's electability...

and the diminished chances other Texas Democrats have for getting elected. Is Mr. White engaged in a "war on guns?" I don't know for sure, but this is the realm of election rhetoric, and as such has a lot of room for slop. What is most important is recognizing that gun-control politics is damned unhealthy for ANY Democrat running from ANY precinct; in Texas, these politics are downright foolish.

Pro-2A caucuses in the Democratic Party need to be aggressive in diminishing the gun-control issue. It is harming not only other Democrats, but the chances of the Party effecting needed legislation in a wider area.