A story that was overshadowed by the tea party pilgrimage to Searchlight, Nevada, was the grand opening of a new shooting range just north of Las Vegas, the Clark County Shooting Park, hosted by Senate majority leader Harry Reid. Prominent guests included executives from the National Rifle Association, Chris Cox and Wayne LaPierre.
This new shooting range, which Reid was instrumental in helping into existence, is believed to be the one of the largest in the country. It provides for archery as well as space for pistol and rifle sports.
www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/mar/24/harry-reids-gun-party-competes-searchlight-tea-par/
Not only did Senator Reid arrange for the sale of unused public lands in Nevada, with the proceeds returning to benefit Nevada communities. The park is expected to draw up to 40,000 tourists a year to engage in shooting sports events, benefitting constituents. Another focus of the park is shooting sports and gun safety education.
Reid joined in with some shooting practice himself.
Looking at Reid's record on firearms, courtesy of www.ontheissues.org/senate/harry_reid.htm
this shooting park is not the first time that Reid has taken a stance that was pro-gun, and pro-2nd Amendment.
Senator Reid's voting record re Firearms:
Voted YES on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains. (Apr 2009)
Voted YES on prohibiting foreign & UN aid that restricts US gun ownership. (Sep 2007)
Voted YES on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. (Jul 2005)
Voted NO on banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers for gun violence. (Mar 2004)
Voted YES on background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)
Voted NO on more penalties for gun & drug violations. (May 1999)
Voted NO on loosening license & background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)
Voted YES on maintaining current law: guns sold without trigger locks. (Jul 1998)
Voting yes to allow the open carrying of fire arms in national parks should be included on this list.
Once again, proof that all those tea party participants who are so worried about losing their right to legally carry might be better advised to do their homework. Contrary to their erroneous opinion, neither the Congress nor the President is making any effort to take away their guns or deny them the full enjoyment of them.
Using the carrying of loaded weapons intending to intimidate the elected government on the other hand might, too easily, if any shootings were to result, legitimately give rise to much more regulation limiting that 2nd Amendment Right.
I think that for the forseeable future stricter gun laws will not happen. During his campaign Obama said he would work for more gun regulation but a lot of southern and western democrats and republicans are against it. The supreme court has overturned outright gun bans in DC and is probably going to do so for Chicago. On top of that the FBI recently released a 10 or 12 yr study showing that violent crime went down when states enacted right to carry laws. With all that and Health Care, the economy, Afghanistan, and now Iran again I think the last thing on Obamas mind is some sort of gun control.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Harry Reid goes most Western states congressmen, other than California, support gun ownership. I think that is one issue that a lot of republicans and democrats agree on.
Obama stated that he favored getting guns off the streets out of the hands of criminals. That is not what is usually considered 'more gun regulation'. He elaborated that the 2nd Amendment was an individual right, but that local governments and state governments did have the right to some reasonable regulation (that it was not absolute).
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, a lot of mistaken information seems to circulate.
This is just a ploy to get people with guns in one place so the gummint can take them away.
ReplyDeleteNext, radio licenses will be expanded as a pretext to ban right-wing talk radio. Just you watch!
Welcome Discordian Stooj! We are all delighted to see you commenting over here!
ReplyDelete