DOWNLOADS: (162)

PLAYS: (736)

Embed

Lou Dobbs continues to prove that his move from CNN to Fox Business Channel was not good for him or for anyone still watching him if they would like to be presented with some semblance of the truth instead of perpetual fearmongering. In the wake of the Aurora massacre, one of the topics on this Friday's show was gun control, whether it be the possibility of new gun control laws being passed in America, or one of the right's favorite conspiracy theories, which is that the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty is going to take away everyone's guns.

And who better to bring in to weigh in on the topic, than discredited gun "researcher" John Lott. Media Matters has a long list of posts on Lott which you can read here. And Digby wrote about this nut back in 2006 here: Resurrection.

As Dobbs reported on the show, the U.N. failed to meet the deadline which was this Friday due to 51 Senators refusing to vote for it: Global arms treaty hits resistance as deadline ticks down:

Negotiators at the United Nations worked to complete a treaty to regulate the global arms trade by a Friday night deadline but faced resistance from some nations, including Iran, Syria and North Korea, and a request for more time from the United States.

The treaty aims to halt the cross-border flow of weapons and ammunition that has fueled violent conflicts around the world.

But some countries made clear their unhappiness with the restrictions in the treaty, which requires approval from all 193 United Nations members. And the Obama administration said it needed to study the text, which has gone through a series of revisions in a four-week negotiating process.

Complicating the politics of the negotiation, 51 U.S. senators have joined gun rights advocates in opposing the treaty, which they fear would infringe 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms.

The senators, in letters to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, expressed "grave concern" that the treaty could affect Americans’ ability to buy arms. Arms-control advocates contend that the worry is groundless. [...]

[Updated 5:24 p.m. Friday July 27: U.N. members ultimately failed to reach agreement by the Friday deadline. The conference chairman, Ambassador Roberto Garcia Moritan, said that despite the stalemate,“we certainly are going to have a treaty in 2012,” the Associated Press reported.]

Think Progress has more debunking their U.N. conspiracy theory here: The Right-Wing’s Favorite New Conspiracy: The U.N. Is After Your Guns:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (150)

PLAYS: (725)

Embed

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey on Thursday argued that guns should not be regulated after the massacre that killed 12 and wounded 58 in Colorado because the suspect could have "taken a car and driven it into a school bus" -- and firearm restrictions would be like taking away football scholarships to punish a school for misconduct.

During an appearance on CNN, host Soledad O'Brien asked Armey if he agreed with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's assertion that the way to prevent future shootings like the one in Aurora was to change "the heart of the American people" instead of tighter controls on firearms.

"We've got a culture right now that seems to say, let's control the guns and have all kinds of laxities and forgiveness and understandings and so forth for the people who hold the guns," Armey said.

But O'Brien pointed out that the Aurora shooting couldn't be blamed on a laxness on criminals because the suspect had no criminal record.

"People might say that it was the easy accessibility for someone who wanted to amass, stockpile weapons over a short period of time to plot out a mass shooting and that should be blamed," the CNN host told Armey.

"If in fact he had not been capable of acquiring the guns, he might just as well taken a car and driven it into a school bus," the tea party leader replied. "You can't focus on the object by which a destruction was committed -- be it a hammer, a gun, a truck, a car. Focus on the aberrance in the individuals that do this."

"Why not do both?" O'Brien wondered.

"More people are killed in automobiles every year than they are guns," Armey insisted. "I don't hear anybody talking about banning automobiles."

"But they say you have to wear a seat belt, right?" O'Brien noted.

"Whatever," Armey quipped.

"Got to have a driver's license," a member of CNN's panel pointed out from off camera.

At that point, Armey gave up on the car metaphor and fell back to a Second Amendment argument.

"We are guaranteed by the United States Constitution a right to bear arms," he explained. "To trespass that right against those innocent people because of the aberrant behavior of others is not acceptable. It's like telling -- taking away scholarships of future football players for the bad offenses of a past football plan."

"Stay focused on the perpetrators and get tough on the perpetrators. Let people know there are awesomely difficult consequences that will come to you for your perpetration and they will perpetrate less."

According to the National Rifle Association, Colorado does not require a permit to purchase the assault-type AR-15 rifle that was used in the Aurora massacre. Rifle owners are not required to be licensed and rifles are not required to be registered in the state.

Cars, however, must be registered and drivers are required to be licensed and insured.

DOWNLOADS: (180)

PLAYS: (796)

Embed

CBS's Bob Schieffer spoke to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this Sunday about the shootings in Aurora, CO this weekend and unlike some of our other politicians out there, Bloomberg wasn't worried about any backlash from the NRA with speaking out on the need for some rational gun control laws in America and to enforce the ones that are already on the books.

NYC Mayor: Hold Obama, Romney accountable on gun control:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a question for President Obama and Mitt Romney in response to the mass shootings in Colorado: "What are you going to do?"

"You know, Governor Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts actually passed a ban on assault weapons, and President Obama when he came into office in 2008 said he would reinstitute a federal ban on assault weapons," Bloomberg told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer, in an interview for "Face the Nation."

"The governor has apparently changed his views, and the president has spent the last three years trying to avoid the issue - or if he's facing it, I don't know anybody that's seen him face it.

"It's time for both of them to be called, held accountable," he continued. "You know, we spend all our time talking about tax returns, and gaffes, and things like that. This is one of those issues, along with a handful of others, that really matter to the American public. It matters to the future of our country, it matters to you and me and to our children and grandchildren. And it's time I think that we hold them accountable and say, 'Okay, you want our votes? What are you going to do?'"

Continue reading »