In this clip from C-SPAN, former president Bill Clinton reflects back on his success in passing the late lamented assault weapons ban…and the electoral armageddon that followed. According to the priapic one, back in 1994, as now, a majority of the voting public supported gun control. But when it came time to cast their ballots, the intensity of those who opposed limits on the right to keep and bear arms carried the day. And while he seems to poo-poo that 90% statistic the Gun Control Industrial Complex loves to throw around, the way he sees it, this time things are different. A vote for a background check bill won’t result in the same blowback for today’s Dems that cost him the House and Senate almost 20 years ago. A triumph of (the man from) Hope over experience? That’s still to be determined. Oh, and there’s this: Bill’s totally on board with “Double Barrel” Joe Biden’s home defense plan. “You’re way better off with a shotgun than an assault weapon. Trust me. It’s not even close.” Are we the only ones who hear 5-alarm bullshit detector bells whenever Big Bill starts any statement with “trust me”?

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78 COMMENTS

  1. Love them, hate them or indifferent, at least the Bushes went away after office. Carter and Clinton, just shut up and go away.

    • That seems to be a Dem vs. GOP thing to an extent. The GOP presidents have more often held the old ideal of public service in which you completely divest (or put all investments in blind trust) while in office, then return to private life after your service is complete. The “Cincinnatus to the plow” ideal of which Jefferson was so fond. To me, dems have been less likely to divest and unlikely to go away after, more likely to be career politicians (though there are plenty of GOP career politicians of course).

  2. If my wife caught me cheating like he was doing I guess I’d take my chances with a shotgun over an AR-15. At least with the 12 gauge if I’m not hit on the first shot I might get away before she gets it back on target and reloaded 🙂

    • Maybe it DOESN’T matter that he’s out of office; Clinton has impact on a lot of people who are persuaded by his genuineness and charisma. It’s an advantage to have him on your side on an issue because of his popularity despite his personal trangressions.

      • Just the same, “Trust me”, as was implied above, is a dead give away that he either doesn’t really believe what he is sayin’ or doesn’t realy know it to be true.

        • You got it.

          His admirers don’t.

          That’s the reason for his nickname: Slick Willie.

  4. This coming from the man who started NAFTA and lied to the citizens that voted for him..

    • I’m not the biggest fan of Slick Willy, but please, get the propaganda out of your history.

      They started work on the NAFTA treaty in 1986, during the reign of St. Ronnie. It was ceremonially signed by George H.W. in 1992. The signed agreement then needed to be ratified by everybody’s parliamentary bodies, and by the time that process was completed, Clinton was Prez.

      Did he sign it? Yup. Did he have anything to do with it? Not much beyond signing it.

  5. What never ceases to amaze me is how many politicians have no problem making all sorts of authoritative statements about something of which they are demonstrably ignorant.

    “Shoulder thing that goes up”, “imploding bullets”, “shoot through the door”, “an AR15 is much too powerful for a woman, she should use a rifle instead” … the litany of stupid goes on-n-on-n-on.

    Yet, they speak as thought they have some idea what they are talking about, and as though they have actually expertise.

  7. Trust me have this cigar, there aren’t any cameras in the oval office 😉

  8. So the majority of the people want more gun control, they’re just not passionate about it? If they ain’t passionate they must not want it. Regardless, my civil rights aren’t open to majority opinion.

    Now, for me the individual, I have chosen the shotgun as my home defense weapon. I’ve done this for a variety of reasons. None of which involve slow joe or “I promise not to go off in your mouth,” billy boy.

    A shotgun backed by a revolver is my choice. Just as an AR or AK should be your choice if that’s how you want to roll. Some asshat pol shouldn’t be involved in your choice.

  11. But if I put a pistol grip stock on that shotgun, it immediately turns into an assault weapon and turns into a certified baby killer.

  12. I think Billy just wants the Dems to lose the senate in 2014 so Hillary can run (or be begged to run) in 2016 and they can ride her coattails (and then he can get that divorce he really wants to chase tail in south america)

  13. So when some a$$hole goes on a spree with a shotgun are they going to start calling them “assault shotguns” and proceed to ban them?

  14. Wait – the man who is no longer the only recent democratic president to get re-elected, and whose wife was defeated by the current president, is giving flawed advice?

    Do tell..
    .

  15. A 12 gauge shotgun is a great choice for people that weigh 200+ pounds.

    For people below 150 pounds or so, the much lighter recoil of a semi-automatic rifle shooting .223 or 5.56mm is much more manageable.

    • Shooting form, weapon, and ammo selection are more important than the shooter’s weight.

      You’d find many smaller people shoot shotguns just fine.

      • That may very well be the case … and that is up to each individual to decide, not Bill Clinton nor Joe “Double Barrel” Biden.

  16. I trust Clinton, Biden, Obama, et al., on guns almost as much as I trust Tea Party Republicans on global warming. The indefensible mutterings of the willfully ignorant on subjects they don’t want to understand.

  18. My video response:

    Mr Clinton, you lie convincingly. Police officers across the nation protect themselves with “assault rifles,” as did your Secret Service detail. Perhaps the American public didn’t want to spend $100 million / year for a background check bill that would not have prevented Sandy Hook when we are about 17 trillion dollars in debt.

  19. “You’re way better off with a shotgun than an assault weapon. Trust me. It’s not even close.”

    Unless of course said shotgun just happens to BE an “assault weapon”, in which case you’re way better off just calling 911 and waiting for help to arrive…

  21. It wasn’t just the fact that he had an affair that ruined his credibility. And it wasn’t just that he denied it. It was that he lied so forcefully and angrily in a press conference. There’s no way to recover from that.

    • Yeah, that’s true. But then again, he answered as any other married man would – while not under oath.

      Others have done worse, and lived.

      Anyway, he had his two terms. Now it’s her turn… >;{>

  22. Hmmm…

    My bet is that Bill’s more parallel to Joe than “onboard” with his home defense plan.

    If pressed, he’d likely recommend a pumper rather than a double barrel.

    For someone of his build – or mine – that works about as well as an AR. For someone smaller, though, no way and no how.

  23. If I want advice on cigars and fat chicks, I’ll ask Slick Willie. Guns? Not so much.

  24. When I want advice on how to pick up interns half my age, get caught, lie under oath, and get away with it legally and in my personal and professional life, I’ll give Billy a call. When I have questions about firearm usefullness, I’ll ask someone who has a clue. Even if I agree that a shotgun can be the superior weapon in certain circumstances, home defense includes yard and property…I’ll take a semi auto rifle with a 30 or more round mag, thank you.

  25. Its a very simple test for these guys…what long arms do their own security personnel carry? I have NEVER seen a photo of a secret service agent standing post with a shotgun…ever. SMG or AR…period.

  26. Well,

    To all you naysayers, I trust him because he said he “did not have sex with that woman!”

    On the other hand, he is a sack of s**t!!!!

        • While I — as but one among many others — adamantly object to the propagandist’s insidious ploy of erroneously designating modern sporting firearms as ’assault weapons’ based on the absurdity of a ‘features test’ — I’ve no particular misgivings with regard to the designation of the additional feature rumored to have been added to the front of Monica’s dress as “Presidue.”

  29. There’s no beating a 12 guage for a 200lb+ man with not reason to worry about over pen. But how many can say that that’s their case?

  30. Elmer Fudd meet bill clinton, what a weasely wascal. He better stick to chasin tail & leave the hard stuff to people who know which end of the gun the bullet comes out of, Randy

  32. Here’s what I don’t get… If “assault weapons” are so ineffective against human targets, why ban them? Shouldn’t they be trying to ban shotguns, since in the words of our VPOTUS, they are much more effective weapons?

    Or is it possible that progressives just don’t know what they’re talking about?

  33. He’s an asstronomical asset to Hillary because he knows where all the dirty money is kept and bodies are buried, literally speaking. Women have gone to prison for him rather than rat him out (and were then rewarded with a lucrative Book Deal and speaking contract)

  34. People who live in gated communities, spend how much on security and have the secret service protect them and their families are going to tell me what I should do for protection? Foad

  35. I will pass on any advice, self defense or otherwise from historys’ biggest fool.

    • “History’s biggest fool”? All right. I understand the sentiment, but perhaps you could delve a little further into history? Say, maybe World War Two? That’s a start. History is full of fools and heroes. Sometimes they’re the same person.

      • Just my opinion that despic-a-bill is the biggest fool in history. My opinion, that’s all.

  36. Dick Cheny is the only politician I know of who is even remotely qualified to comment on shotguns vs rifles for home defense…

    • Nope. NEIN on the “street sweepers”, pal. Which seem cool, but who can handle one, outside of NFL linemen? Jeez. Talk about punishment!!

  38. So how the the Boston Bombers get guns and how many and what types , Back ground checks ??? What checks ??? add to that millions more non-Americans that hate America and get paid to get a education , free everything else, and you best bet they got guns too. pay no tax, etc, etc, etc, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE ? everything ? I tell you we Americans got the shaft big….Bill Clinton (communist) He is part of the problem too … WHY do people put people like Bill and Hilary who HATE everything American.. in public office???? THEY are crying all the way to the bank…

  39. I weigh 140 and can dump 5 rounds of 12gauge high brass with the best of them, people that think the weight of the shooter matters need to learn proper stance.

  40. Y’know, for my next project I think I’ll make a wind-up 30+ round drum mag for my TT-33, just because.

    I love Kansas.

    • You could pattern it after those drum mags that were made for the lugers. 30 rounds of high stepping 7.62×25 is nothing to joke at.

      I feel confident that a man that can make a steel repeating crossbow can handle this project. Rock on.

      • Thank you for your confidence, but I didn’t make a repeater. Wow… what an idea – I’ll have to think on that.

        It was an over/under: one stock, two bows and a two-position trigger. The business end of the stock is a 7″ blade.

        Effective weapon, but slow to reload.

        I was thinking of patterning it off the PPSH-41 mag, but the Luger was cool as well. A Tok is indestructible, so I have some leeway here.

        It’d be silly to have a mag which when loaded weighs twice as much as the gun, but what the heck. It’d start more than a few conversations, methinks.

        I’ll post here once I have the kinks worked out.

  41. Intensity of support is right. Here’s the thing, I asked my anti-gun acquaintances how far they’d go to implement their policies.

    “Would you be willing to kill honest people who don’t agree with your policy in order to take their weapons?”

    Because that’s what it would take to disarm America. Heston’s “from my cold dead hands” wasn’t just theatrics, it was an intellectual argument.

    It doesn’t matter if 51% of the country hates guns, or even 90% or 99%. It’s not about what percentage of people don’t like guns, it’s about what percentage of people are willing to kill the remaining percentage of people for disagreeing with disarmament.

  42. My 5 alarm bullsh*t detector goes off whenever the Slickster opens his mouth.

  43. “Trust me. It’s not even close.”

    If he didn’t wag his finger when he said that, he was not sincere.

  44. “Before, when I passed an assault weapons ban it had a ten bullet ammunition limit.”
    [Can anyone among the TTAG AI verify this? Just curious.]

    “And… it did just fine, and it was a sick day for me when it was allowed to expire in 1994.”
    Uh, no, it didn’t actually do just fine at all;
    it didn’t expire in 1994 but did in fact expire in September of 2004; and
    if true that the expiration actually was a sick day for you — certain I am that many are, at least slightly elated to have now been so informed.

  45. Under the old ASB they could not make or import anymore mags of more that 10 rounds, unless they were made before ban date,,,(that was the reference used pre-ban) they stopped all ammo and firearms imports from China,even Bill Ruger gave in and only would sell 10 round mags or less, same for firearms….no bayonet holders on rifles or military copies, ( post ban had thoumb hole stocks or wood ),and no flash hiders on firearms…also import of some rifles like H @K 91 or 93 , and all Ak’s made after ban date,were banned unless 3 or more parts were USA made,the SKS ,M1 carbine, M1 rifles and bolt action military was ok… Handgun mags limit was 10 rounds…. and the ATF kept changing import rules as they liked, some parts were ok to import, most were not , so a lot of parts were then USA made…Shotguns also had a 10 rd limit, no shotgun mags or steet sweeper shotguns allowed….

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