More Gillibrand on guns
“It’s a false debate,” she said. “It’s political rhetoric that’s sucking you in to believe that hunters owning a gun or an American citizen who wants to protect his home owning a gun somehow increases gun violence.”
Asked if she owned a gun, she said, “We own two.”
I think she just called the ant-gunners and the press (but I repeat myself) liars.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
“It’s a false debate,” she said. “It’s political rhetoric that’s sucking you in to believe that hunters owning a gun or an American citizen who wants to protect his home owning a gun somehow increases gun violence.”
That doesn’t sound like anything that her predecessor Hillary would have said.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
“We own two.”
Well, that’s a start, I guess. 🙂
Definitely two more than Hillary every owned–I offer, as evidence, that Mr. Bill is still with us.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
She still got it wrong though. It’s not “gun violence” since guns do nothing by themselves.
Even with that she’s still sounding better than most dems and many Repubs.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
She still doesn’t get it … guns protect the people from tyranny, and that includes the tyranny of the majority. As a political theorist, Madison’s most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.
Hence the need for a written Bill of Rights.
“Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.” — James Madison
February 16th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I think it is as good as a statement as we will hear from a NY senator. And it’s a pretty good statement.
February 16th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Re. quote at end of Tarpon’s post.
Well they’ve acheived two of the three.
Only one to go and you’ll all be official subjects of the United Socialist States of Amerika.
I, on the other hand, will be dead because disarmament of the American people will NOT happen during my lifetime.
February 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
TAMPA – Freddie Vasquez II was sentenced to 10 years in prison today after pleading guilty to killing two men during what prosecutors say was a gang-related dispute in 2006.
Vasquez, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in connection with the Feb. 20, 2006, shootings of Michael Roberts, 20, and Sebastian Luengas, 16.
Hillsborough County Circuit Judge William Fuente imposed the prison term and also placed Vasquez on five years of probation when he is released from custody.
Vasquez admitted to firing a shotgun into a group of rivals who had circled his house in their car, gotten out and were pelting it with rocks.
The victims’ families told the judge of their loss.
“The people who did this have totally turned our lives upside down,” said Katherine Delgato, Robert’s mother. “They can go see their sons in prison. We have to go to a grave site.”
Her daughter, Heather Austin, echoed the sentiments.
“The day will come when God will sentence him the way he should be sentenced,” she said.
Along with Vasquez, authorities say Brian Lima, 21, fired a shotgun that February night into the group of people. Lima was sentenced to 50 years in prison in September 2006. A jury found him guilty of manslaughter. He was also convicted of seven counts of aggravated assault.
“It was a good resolution for both sides,” Prosecutor Barbara Coleman said of the plea.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys were in the midst of picking a jury when the possibility of a plea arose. Negotiations continued throughout the morning.
Defense attorneys had been arguing Vasquez fired in self defense, defending himself and his home. They contended he had fired in the air.
Vasquez said nothing about the incident when pleading guilty.
Authorities said Lima and Vasquez hung around with a group that called itself the Bloods, though it was not affiliated with the infamous Los Angeles-based street gang. The victims were associated with a group in Town ‘N Country called the TNC Boys.
Prosecutors in Lima’s trial said a group of Bloods drove past a TNC Boys hangout and yelled taunts and Roberts fired a .38-caliber handgun at the car.
Later that night, a group of the TNC Boys headed to Vasquez’s home.
Prosecutors said the incidents on Feb. 20, 2006, were a carryover of a rumble that broke out at a school fair two days earlier.
Two months after the shooting, then-U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales came to Tampa to bestow a $2.5 million grant to fight gang violence in the area.
Families of those involved denied any gang involvement.
Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com
February 17th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
“We own two.”
She’s got a pair!