Combating the "No one Wants to Ban Guns Lie"

There are many people who advocate for bans on guns, but most of them are smart enough to know that the way to obtain such bans is incrementally, as has been done for the last 75 years.   Why can't you walk down to the corner hardware store and buy a gun muffler for your pistol or rifle, like they do in Finland?  A gun ban passed in 1934.   Why can't you order military surplus rifles mail order, and have them delivered to your door, even though they are almost never used in crime?  A gun ban passed in 1968.  Why can't you pay the $200 tax, jump through the ridiculous hoops and interminable wait the BATFE requires to buy a newly made MP5, just like the police often carry, for the police price of $1,000, instead of the current U.S. legal price of $26,000?   A gun ban in 1986.     Why can't a Vietnam Vet, who 45 years ago signed a plea bargain about an argument with his wife, buy a shotgun to go hunting with his grandson?  A gun ban passed in 1996.  All of these laws are effective gun bans through the use of taxes, regulations, and the expansion of the classes of "prohibited possessors".

Here are links to a couple of quotes from 2012 of politicians who openly talked of gun bans:

From Governor Cuomo,

“Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it.”

From Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky:

Schakowsky: We’re on a roll now, and I think we’ve got to take the--you know, we’re gonna push as hard as we can and as far as we can.

Mattera: So the assault weapons ban is just the beginning?

Schakowsky: Oh absolutely. I mean, I’m against handguns. We have, in Illinois, the Council Against Handgun... something [Violence]. Yeah, I’m a member of that. So, absolutely.

There are many more quotes floating around the Internet showing that quite a few people have advocated gun bans in the United States.   The quotes on the lists that I have seen are all before the year 2000 for a reason: the would be gun banners learned that openly talking about a ban is bad for your political career.  The best list of quotes that I have found was compiled by Eugene Volokh at gunscholar.org.


Here is the famous quote by Charles Krauthammer, explaining why the insane "assault weapon ban" made no sense, except for getting ready for future confiscation:

In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no significant effect either on the crime rate or on personal security.  Nonetheless, it is a good idea . . . .  Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.

              Charles Krauthammer (columnist), Disarm the Citizenry. But Not Yet, Washington Post, Apr. 5, 1996 (boldface added).

It is the first on Professor Volokh's List, but there are dozens more.

When some Internet commando of dubious intention indignantly proclaims: "No one wants to take your guns!", just use the above sources to show how ignorant  they are about the facts.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch