The Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate will not be a free-for-all of new gun regulations following the shooting at Sandy Hook, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid. Instead, Senators will focus on passing legislation that can move through the Republican-controlled House, Reid said.
That could spell doom for an assault weapons ban. Speaking on Nevada Week In Review, a news show on the PBS affiliate in Las Vegas, Reid said there’s no real chance of a new ban passing the House.
“Is it something that can pass the Senate? Maybe. Is it something that can pass the House? I doubt it,” he said in video of the program provided to TPM by Vegas PBS. “So I think there are things that we know we can do.”
The National Rifle Association has praised Reid in the past for his opposition to the assault weapons ban, as well as his support for other legislation favored by the gun lobby.
“We have to be fair. I was surprised with the poll results that came after this terrible situation that occurred at Sandy Hook. the numbers around the country — most people favor having the ability of people to carry guns,” he said. “So I think that the American people want us to be very cautious what we do. I think they want us to do things that are logical, smart, and make the country safer, not just be doing things that get a headline in a newspaper.”
The generic statement “carrying guns” and the specific statement “carrying assault weapons” are tow very different things. Two recent polls showed that 55% support a ban on assault weapons, so Reid is cherrypicking his statistics to cover his failure to represent majority opinion. Support for the right to bear arms is not the same as supporting the right to bear weapons of war — and Reid knows it. This is an incredibly dishonest lie of omission.
It doesn’t matter that an assault weapons ban wouldn’t pass the House, since who voted for or against it would be information voters would use to decide whether someone was worthy of reelection. And, since majority opinion is not pro-assault weapon, Reid’s merely protecting blood lobby tools from having to face voters armed with that info. Any other explanation he gives is bullshit.
You know, we were right on the verge of putting the worthless, spineless Bush-era Harry Reid behind us. I guess that sort of fecklessness never really goes away.
