Gun Guys » Alabama Lawmakers Filibuster “Shoot First”

Gun Guys » Alabama Lawmakers Filibuster “Shoot First”: "We don’t know about you, but we find it very funny that the sponsor of the bill talks like he just found oil with Uncle Jed. “This bill don’t give you none of a right to murder! It just done give you a chance to shoot people you want to shoot!” Besides the crazy grammar, he’s just plain wrong. We already have self-defense laws in this country. If you are put in a situation where deadly force is the only way out, you have the right to use it against your attacker. But what the “Shoot First” bill does is let you use deadly force even when it’s not the only option. This bill allows anyone to open fire “when threatened” without any responsibility. And where we come from, we call that thar the ol’ license to murder, y’hear?

The proposal debated Tuesday would let a person use deadly force if he or she reasonably believed another person was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or already had unlawfully and forcefully entered, a dwelling or occupied vehicle. It says a person would have the right to stand his or her ground, rather than retreating, as long as he or she was doing nothing illegal and had the right to be where he or she was.

Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, warned that, under the bill, a homeowner driving into his or her driveway could shoot to kill a burglar who was running away after breaking into the house. “Where I come from, that’s not self-defense at all,” Newton said. “That’s taking a human life without very much probable cause.”

Under the bill, a dwelling would include a tent or porch. A vehicle would include any conveyance, motorized or not, designed to move a person or property.

This bill is wrong, and we congratulate the lawmakers of Alabama for shutting it down. The NRA has pledged to bring it to every state in the union this year, but if lawmakers around the country have any need to keep murder illegal in the United States, they’ll vote it out anywhere it’s proposed.

More: Legislation, NRA, Alabama, License to Murder

---------------------
The BuzzFlash Mailbag

The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. More reader opinion is at "Contributors." You can write to Mailbag at http://www.BuzzFlash.com/contact/mail.html. Guidelines for submissions are at BuzzFlash FAQ #18.

---

Subject: Fueling the Rhetoric

The sight of Democrats shooting themselves in the foot is a common sight. The sight and sound of Democrats attacking each other and their party is also a common sight. In all honesty there is a lot to complain about.

The Democratic Party and the DLC often fail their constituency. Democrats and Independents who usually vote with them have the right to complain. What is getting to be more than a little disquieting is the fact the Republican talking points are all too often repeated by Democrats. I guess that’s from the “let’s hit ourselves over the head just like they do to show we are tough on our party plan.”

Progressives need to be tough on our elected representatives. We need to let them know when we are displeased. As in not going to vote for you ever again you schmuck displeased.

What we do not need to do is help the Republicans kick our party around. The Republicans constantly say that the Democrats have no ideas. Of course Democrats have ideas. What they haven’t done is gotten all the ideas together and made a comprehensive platform for the party. Time to do that folks.

It might be helpful to point out that while the Republicans have a lot of ideas, they don’t have a lot of “good” ideas. Common sense should tell us that having ideas is not quite enough. Maybe we should insist on good ideas. Leading us into chaos might not have been one of their better ideas.

=============

Subject: Debs

It is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world. ...

These are the gentry who are today wrapped up in the American flag, who shout their claim from the housetops that they are the only patriots, and who have their magnifying glasses in hand, scanning the country for evidence of disloyalty, eager to apply the brand of treason to the men who dare to even whisper their opposition to Junker rule in the United Sates. No wonder Sam Johnson declared that "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." He must have had this Wall Street gentry in mind, or at least their prototypes, for in every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the people. ...

http://www.buzzflash.com/mailbag/06/02/mai06042.html