Beto O'Rourke Anti-Gun Assault Weapons Drunk Driving
courtesy Washington Post and Getty

“No federal legislation toughening gun laws has been passed since 1994, largely because the GOP has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby. Democrats, for their part, have varied in their enthusiasm for gun control; their support waned after the passage of the assault-weapons ban was blamed for costing them control of Congress in 1994. The Republican Party orthodoxy has become that anyone — no matter how demented or dangerous — who wants a military-grade weapon should be entitled to one. (The only real difference between an AR-15 and a military-issued M-4 or M-16 is that the latter can fire in “burst” mode, i.e., three shots per trigger pull, but in practice soldiers are taught to use semiautomatic mode, i.e., one shot per trigger pull.)

“That obstinate attachment to weapons of war has survived one mass shooting after another: Santa Fe, Tex., 2018 (10 dead); Parkland, Fla., 2018 (17 dead); Sutherland Springs, Tex., 2017 (25 dead); Las Vegas, 2017 (58 dead); Orlando, 2016 (49 dead); San Bernardino, Calif., 2015 (14 killed); Newtown, Conn., 2012 (27 dead). It is no mere coincidence that so many mass shootings have occurred since the assault weapons ban expired, because so many of the shooters used assault weapons.” – Max Boot in Beto is challenging the GOP’s fanaticism on guns. Can he win? in the Washington Post

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109 COMMENTS

  2. ‘The Republican Party orthodoxy has become that anyone — no matter how demented or dangerous — who wants a military-grade weapon should be entitled to one.’ – Yep, that’s why we hand them out to everyone being released from prisons or mental hospitals, free of charge (i.e., at taxpayer expense). All part of the Criminal and Mentally Deranged AR Entitlement Program.

    • Tell me what is a weapon of war. Did you know bolt action rifle are a weapon of war so is single action pistol, so do you want to ban all guns then. A 12gauge shoot is a weapon of war and could kill more people with less shells than a AR-15 and a lot easier.

    • Wait, let’ stop the BS already! Since when have our (US) military been issued AR rifles at all. I understand that in Vietnam they were issued M16s and M14s and maybe a few left over M1s and a number of M1 carbines (no relation). I know the Pentagon has felt for some time that selective fire is a waste of ammunition in most cases and that is why rifles such as the M4 are burst fire. Yet, neither my M4 derivative rifle, nor your AR rifle, unless you have a tax stamp for an AR derivative selective fire rifle, are military grade – selective and or/burst fire. Our rifles are no more automatic than a double action pistol from the 19th century. So, unless you agree with those disagree with 2A, then let’s be careful with our language. After all the original NFA already banned assault weapons long before Hitler coined the term.

      • “After all the original NFA already banned assault weapons long before Hitler coined the term.”

        Isn’t Sturmgewehr translated as “assault rifle”, rather than “assault weapon”?

        • And, your point, exactly? Aren’t tactical nuclear weapons just battlefield weapons and not “Atom Bombs” after all?

          • “And, your point, exactly? ”

            If we are to ban ignorance, shouldn’t we use the correct terms (such as when we demand anti-gunners know proper nomenclature of all things gun) ?

            “Aren’t tactical nuclear weapons just battlefield weapons and not “Atom Bombs” after all?”

            When I was toying around with delivering nukes, we thought of “tactical nukes” as toys, versus the giant “crowd pleasers” that were available. OBTW, “Atom bombs” were retired after the “thermonuclear” hydrogen bombs showed up. There was also the “dial-a-nuke”, a very sexy-looking piece of deterrent, and my personal favorite. But the winners were the MIRVs. What a lovely delivery system.

          • “Is not this about those who are trying to ban assault rifles?”

            No, it is about banning “assault weapons”, which in some proposed national laws include semi-automatic handguns.

        • The NFA banned not only assault rifles long before that term existed, but quite a lot of other “items”/ weapons, et. al., some of which have never seen the light of day and some of which have had a more or less strained existence. That is why I chose “weapon” over “rifle.” A moot point in my opinion, with all due respects.

          • “That is why I chose “weapon” over “rifle.” ”

            When you get down to it, aren’t all weapons “assault weapons”? How many weapons, of any kind/caliber, cannot be used to assault someone?

    • That would be the “CAM-DARE” program, and it has been official policy in Chicago since September 26, 1957, when “West Side Story” became the inspiration for common sense based assault weapons control.

  3. Beto male.. O’Rourke.. must be drunk again.. At least he is not driving..

    Im going with the Cruize missle!

  4. Absolutely, all you need is the right laws passed.

    A total ban on all semi-automatic rifles, and handguns, mandatory confiscation, prison and re-education, involuntary commitment of anyone identified as insane by the state.

    Sounds like a Police State: Venezuela, China, North Korea, …

    • Wait, was that not why I left a communist country in search of freedom? “FreeDoom?” perhaps? Reminds me of a family friend who escaped China as a stowaway to freedom from Communism, only to arrive in Cuba in the midst of Castro’s Revolution,

    • Any idiot can pass a law, they do that a lot. The trick is to enforce it without causing a Second Revolution and subsequent RESET of all thing political, like back to the 1800’s. Works for me!

  5. Any how many crimes did that Ban prevent…….None Acording to the the FBI.

    How many of the mass shooting have occured because of the failure of goverment regulations to prevent them……So many its getting hard to count them.

    whats the Soulution……Government regulation.

    Logic is not a skill set most progressives have or want

    • That the same can be said of alcohol, drugs, doctors and autos (to name just a few) should give Dems pause, but, of course, it doesn’t.
      Because guns, alone among all of the above, are able to somehow pervert people’s minds, and make them do horrible, unspeakable things.
      You know, like abort unborn babies.
      Oh, wait…

      • It should give Republicans pause, too. The “war on drugs” has been the single most harmful thing to happen to this nation in the last 100 years.

        And I’m not forgetting the Prohibition era; it was a dumb idea that did a lot of harm, but at least it was done constitutionally and undone constitutionally. Toxic, unconstitutional laws like asset forfeiture and the Patriot Act…Republican politicians love those.

    • Exactly. Statistics showed no decrease of homicides or an increase when the ban was allowed to sunset. something the gun banners choose to ignore.

      • An armed citizenry will never be unwillingly forced into railroad boxcars at gunpoint.

    • I hope the Cruz supporters are a “silent majority”……all I see everywhere is Beto signs, and this race is a lot closer than it should be. Of course, I would put up a Cruz sign, but I don’t want my property vandalized. Because that’s just the way their side is.

      • I’ve seen signs a lot of Beto signs too but I think his chances of winning a statewide are as likely as Trump deciding to delete his twitter account…

  9. “No federal legislation toughening gun laws has been passed since 1994, largely because…”
    …because it didn’t do a damn thing. A study commissioned by the freakin Obama administration should have told you that, among others.

    Dear Texans,

    I implore you to (metaphorically) wipe the floor with this dude in the elections. The whole reason I moved here was for the gun culture, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do my part in the vote to keep Beto the f$&k out of office.

  11. The only reason neocons like Boot and Kristol get a media forum now is because they’ve rebranded themselves as anti-Trump conservatives. They want to rehabilitate their image as the clueless warmongers who created fucked up policies from the Dubya years. It’s likely these neocons support gun control because it protects their paymasters. Can’t have the proles thinking that they should have a say in how they’re governed – the peasantry must stay in their lane.

  12. Why was this disinformation piece even published? Mr. Zimmerman obviously also believes in spontanious generation. The statistics are junk. The “information” is incorrect. The conclusions are spurious. Need I go on?

    • A weapons ban would not solve the mass shooting problem. There were 15 mass shootings during the ban that was one of the reasons congress did not reinstate it. I’m not sure how to solve mass shootings but, banning weapons
      only works with people that obey the law.

  13. American Thinker makes the point SCOTUS protests are about GUN LAWS ( confiscation ) and not abortion, the latter is just the vehicle.

  14. Santa Fe Texas was a politically correct, Remington 870, pump action shotgun.
    Same with the Washington Navy Yard massacre.
    The Anapolis Maryland newsroom massacre was also a pump action shotgun, manufacturer and model not publicly known.
    Primary weapons used to kill at Columbine were either pump action shotgun or break action shotgun. Shotguns were loaded mostly with slugs.

    The remaing kinetic energy of the 5.56mm projectiles fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel 600+ yards distant at the concert venue was comparable to 00 Buckshot fired from a 12 gauge shotgun at 100 yards. A shotgun chambered in 12 gauge 3&1/2″ magnum can fire 18 such 00 buckshot projectiles with each pull of the trigger.

    Anyone ever hear of Confederate General Nathan Forrest? He was infamous forbarming his calvary with double barrel shotguns. They would ride up to the Union line and fire both barrels. The survivors would usually run away, often to be ridden down and killed with revolvers or swords.

    General George Washington was infamous for ordering his troops to load with “buck and ball” a combination of a full .70+ caliber projectile and buckshot. The British thought that this was a war crime.

    We need a public service announcement.

    This is your brain.
    This is your brain on slugs.
    Any questions?

    • Once semi-auto’s are banned, the left will move on to pump, lever & bolt action firearms before making a move on single shot etc etc.

      It’s an incremental game, by pointing out the lethality & use of ‘non semi-auto’ weapons in mass murders, we’re only giving the grabbers ‘ammo’ to use at a later stage.

  15. So…since he minimizes the difference between semi, burst, and full-auto, lets just get rid of restrictions on on NFA, ClassIII, etc.

    Its obviously just not that big a deal. 😉

    • ARs are not the reason for the NFA, try light machine guns. Vegas with 5000 rounds of 7.62 should have made the NFA look like a walk in the park. It was bad enough with 1000 rounds of 5.56 fires from multiple Slide Fire equipped ARs. And as a side note, the reason he did not go with a M16 was he probably would have killed the rifle after 600 rounds. He had 12 rifles with a mountain of Sure Fire magazines. It could have been much worse.

  16. It seems nearly every mass shooting that’s happened in recent memory has been due to an abject failure on someone’s part. Whether it’s a local law enforcement official, a federal official or even one from the military. So there’s a ton of people legally purchasing firearms they aren’t supposed to be able to purchase in the first place. Then repeated instances are ignored where they may lead to their inevitable shooting, and even when that happens the police that could be there don’t even uphold their oath to protect. When they do happen, it’s always somewhere where you can’t even lawfully carry a firearm to defend yourself anyway!

    Oh, and even when it’s not complete misfeasance on behalf of some government entity at some level between local and federal it’s just complete malfeasance…

    Fast and Furious didn’t just claim the life of a United States citizen. Don’t forget one of the rifles used in the Paris, France Bataclan theatre massacre was a rifle from Operation Fast and Furious.

    Yes, if you didn’t know before you know now: Obama and Holder are complicit in the deaths of 90 Parisians at the hands of Islamic extremists.

    • I am replying to one who said that mass shootings were a result of guns being sold to the wrong people. I disagree with that assessment. Most, of the mass shootings (I have to correct myself, mass school shootings) were committed by students, and they had not bought the guns! The guns were taken or stolen, and used illegally. In other words, the person who legally purchased the guns, were NOT the ones who committed the shootings. I can think of only one where the shooter legally purchased a gun that was used.

  17. On September 11, 2001, 4 planes were hijacked by eextremists. 3 of them reached their targets and wreaked unprecedented destruction for mainland America.

    The 4th plane…. Well, some men on that plane had the courage and the integrity to not wait for someone to rescue them. Instead, they took on the responsibility themselves. With no real weapons, they assaulted men who were much better armed and prevented the destruction of that 4th target.

    Imagine what might have happened if men on all four planes had been effectively armed for defense.

    And if you don’t want to pick up your civic duty in this area, please step out of the way and don’t get in our way. You can hide under the seats.

    Final note: yes, women can help defend, too. But real men MUST step forward first. It’s our job.

    Take your criticism somewhere else, and find a spot where EVERYONE agrees not to defend themselves.
    The wolves will find you soon enough.

    I heard that every mass shooting in the last 50 years has been in a gun free zone except ONE. That was the Gabby Giffords shooting. And that shooter was taken down by a citizen with a concealed carry permit. If Giffords has her way retroactively, then more people would have died that day.
    Chew on that for a while.

    • In my studies of marine biology, I learned that dolphins get along, mainly because each dolphin is equally armed with a fatal sound blast that could potentially kill their enemy. Other studies of humans have shown that communities where more guns are legally owned by regular people, the crime rate is lower. Liberals want to ignore these statistics. Legal gun owners are not the problem. The criminals are the problem. Criminals don’t obey laws! Gun control laws only pertain to law abiding citizens, because criminals won’t obey them. How can we defend ourselves from criminals with guns?

  18. The Republican Party orthodoxy has become that anyone — no matter how demented or dangerous — who wants a military-grade weapon should be entitled to one.

    There’s that word again. We can never have intelligent converse with people who refuse to acknowledge our natural, civil, and Constitutionally protected rights.

    Much of this op-ed talks about federal law yet conviently seems to ignore Miller v US (1939) where SCOTUS called out the prefatory statement of the 2nd Amendment as the reason military usefull weapons must be protected.

    • Unfortunately the SCOTUS at that time was also a bunch of establishment-types (Republicans and Democrats) who believed that the 2A only applied to the collective RKBA of the Organized Militia (Nasty Girls), and that wars were fought with bolt-action rifles and 30″ duck guns.

  19. Another inside-the-beltway RINO heard from. Rumor has it that he used to be somewhat conservative until he went into hair-on-fire, never trump mode (like so many of his peculiar clan).

    Hey Max, you’re the brilliant opinion columnist. Care to tell us what piece of cure-all legislation was in place when Columbine happened? Hint: it begins with “clinton assault” and ends with “weapons ban.” Okay, since you missed that one, how about telling us all about the “assault weapon” that was used in the worst school shooting in US history (32 killed)? You may need to google Glock 19 to understand the answer.

    • Oh, if it was a Glock-19, then it wasn’t an AR-15? Everybody go purchase a Glock-19. Give me a break. Criminals don’t obey laws.

  20. If the assault weapons ban cost democrats seats in congress, maybe its because their constituents didn’t support it, so they should vote according to their constituency?

    This is why democracy doesn’t work anymore. That and the electoral college and gerrymandering and big money.

  21. Referring to AR15s as military grade weapons is a laughable lie. Stating that republicans want everyone, regardless of mental illness etc to own a gun is another laughable lie. Meanwhile, only a tiny fraction of 1% of these rifles have EVER been used to shoot people. This is why we don’t give your side ONE INCH in this debate, because none of you actually understand the subject, and then you fill in the rest with outright lies.

  22. Texas used to be a predominately Democratic Party state until sometime in the 80’s. I’ve lived in Texas since the 70’s. It was kind of a liberal but conservative way of life where you could be a Democrat but still go to church, be proud of the country and state, salute the flag, hunt, fish, and participate in shooting sports. The democrats of today are a totally completely different animal. This is what a lot of folks are missing. I actually see Beto bumper stickers on pickups at the gun shootin’ range, but never for Ted. Many otherwise intelligent folks think Beto with his tousled hair and good looks is cool while old white republicans are out of date. Beto makes the female big network hosts swoon. But once Beto and his ilk in Washington get total power the dems will get the gun shootin’ range shut down due to ammo no longer being sold to the public; only then they will realize, ooops. But it will be too late. We have to vote conservative or else the 2A will be toast. This applies to you too “conservative” Democrat or Libertarian gun owners.

  23. In the pantheon of great drivers, Ted “Killer” Kennedy, Beto “Flat on His Feeto” O’Rourke and Wilbur “Tidal Basin” Mills stand out the most conspicuously.

  25. Where we also fail is mental health in the U.S. because most grew up without a parent to teach them responsibility of a firearm or teach them morality they grew up on call of duty etc
    Things that glorify killing to accomplish problems until we change our mental state all these regulations are the socio intellectual equivalent of trimming a weed instead of pulling out the root

  26. The big fat lie of the Left is that you need an assault weapon to carry out a mass shooting. You don’t. The Virginia tech shooter in 2007 killed 32 people with two pistols. No assault weapons were used. This shooting, the 3rd deadliest in US history, is conveniently omitted from lists of mass shootings because it doesn’t fit the gun control narrative–that is, to ban “assault weapons.” Don’t be fooled by this liberal propaganda. “Assault weapons” are not like their fully automatic military counterparts, which have been banned since 1986. Honestly, I’m not surprised that liberals push this narrative because they obviously know nothing about firearms.

  27. This I a rediculous and uninformed, poorly written article. More people are killed each year in the US by soda machines falling over than by rifles of any kind. Get some facts into your knothead.

    • Could not have said it better. I say ban the soda machines (sounds like Automatic Machines to me), besides their contents are the main health risk to our population, soda machines that is. I am not mocking you, I am a former USPHS employee.

  30. Mass shootings are a problem because everyone keeps missing the the root cause. Only I recognize the real cause of mass shootings. Let me explain….

    All, as in every, as in no exception, mass shootings happen in daylight, night time, or the twilights between. This is a fact that even gun grabbers cannot dispute with either logic, or emotion. That said, the root cause of all mass shootings is the rotation of Earth around the Sun. Therefore, we need to relocate the entire population of Earth (or the US if you are ethnocentric) to a body in space where there is neither daylight, nor darkness. QED. Problem solved.

    • “If there was a way, any at all, that I could use to figure out what “shall not be infringed” means…”

      The answer is no mystery; hasn’t been for decades. Courts borrow from Lewis Caroll: “The words mean what I say they mean. Nothing more, nothing less”.

    • They mean exactly what they meant and, strangely enough what the authors of the phrase really meant (can you believe that? Of course not, in the 21st Century No One Means What They Say, but that was written a long, long, long time ago, like when the Dinosaurs walked beside Saber-Toothed tigers and things).
      We don’t have Dinosaurs attacking our families any more so why do we still need muskets and things?

    • Like Wow Dude, this is so freakin’ easy, A) Shall, expressing an instruction or command and expressing a strong assertion or intention; B) Not, as in No, No way , Not in your wildest dreams, Like dude, don’t you get It? Duh? C) Be, present participle to form continuous tenses; D) Infringed, like this one is a little more complicated, not like High School Algebra, but kind of more difficult; maybe, “act so as to limit or undermine”

  33. An armed citizenry will never be unwillingly forced into railroad boxcars at gunpoint and the Democrats really hate that.

    • Wait, isn’t that the whole point of the second amendment? But, Democrats only care about the First Amendment when it expresses their point of view, the Second Amendment when it relates to their private security guards, the Third Amendment is too complicated for them to understand, the Fourth Amendment is irrelevant unless you threaten their pot stash, the Fifth Amendment only applies unless semiautomatic weapons are at stake, same for the Sixth Amendment, they probably never read the Seventh Amendment,
      yet, what Liberal does not love the Eighth Amendment (unless you conflate it with the Fifth), do they even know what the Ninth or Tenth Amendments even mean? Like something like: you can not be more restrictive than the Bill of Rights, but it is ok to be less restrictive.

  34. Is anyone thinking about the mass shooters may be mental unstable? You’d HAVE to be to commit a heinous act as mass murder! Firstly, it’s a fact that they are because it is revealed in POST attack background checks that they were being treated, medicated and cared for by family members, who were murdered by the assailant and their legally bought and paid for, and properly stored, in some cases.
    Secondly, strangely enough, their serious mental behavior observed by those who knew them was casually just blown off non-chalantly, without any further thought. I wonder how many people are standing around scratching their heads, and thinking, “I knew they were a little wacky, but I didn’t think they were capable of doing anything like this”. Too late now, huh?

  35. “More mass shooting during the rise of radical leftish progtards under rein of Baraka Hussein Obumer”. (statistically not accurate though)

  38. TEXANS! We must show up in force for these mid- term elections. Money from New York City and Hollywood is pouring into Bobby’s coffers. They’re banking on catching Texans who believe in the right to keep and bear arms asleep at the wheel. Raphael isn’t the second coming of Lincoln, but make no mistake that O’Rourke is a hard-left socialist who absolutely brags he wants to take away our rights.

  41. Hey Max:

    For your information, both Remington and Winchester have made semiautomatic rifles,
    aka Assault Weapons since prior to WW1, more than 100 years ago. Some models featured removable box magazines of 20 round or greater capacity too. The rumble you may have heard is NOT and never was the earth crumbling.

  42. I only read about 3 sentences before i fully relized that this monkey needs to get back in his tree and leave responsible agults to make policy.

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