Gunslinger McCain

He's a "War Hero" right? He's a "Maverick", right? He's a "Republican", right? And now he's trying hard to convince us he's a "Conservative", right?

Yeah..right.

From a single source from a single Google search...

This is what McCain said on his Website in 2000

"We need to focus on halting the spread of violent crime and punishing violent criminals who abuse their Second Amendment rights, while preserving those same rights for law-abiding Americans. -- www.mccain2000.com

Bearing arms is a constitutionally protected right. With rights come responsibilities. I will continue to support effective, common sense measures that help keep firearms out of the hands of criminals, children and the mentally incompetent; that assure Second Amendment rights are exercised responsibly; and that do not impinge upon law abiding citizens in the free exercise of their rights, including the right to protect themselves and their family. "-- www.mccain2000.com

Sounds good so far. But wait. Let's see what he actually DID...

From National Review Online 2000

So if McCain remains sincerely committed to Second Amendment rights, then he should have read the fine print on the Colorado and Oregon "gun show" initiatives that he is backing. For in truth, both of these initiatives are classic "bait and switch" tricks of the gun prohibition movement, and contain controls far more onerous than background checks at gun shows.

For example, the Colorado initiative says that a "gun show" includes any gun transaction where three or more people are present, or where 25 or more firearms are displayed. Thus, parents who give their 17-year-old daughter a BB gun for Christmas are running a "gun show" around the Christmas tree. (The Colorado proposal defines "firearm" to include BB guns, model rockets, and many other things that are not real firearms.)

Quote from Michael Barnes, President of Handgun Control, Inc.

Senator John McCain has appeared in two TV ads supporting the Gun Registration ballot initiatives in Colorado and Oregon. "Senator McCain has shown courage and just plain common sense in offering his voice in support of these measures,"

From the Second Amendment Project of the Independence Institute 2004

Republican John McCain posed as a strong Second Amendment [supporter] during the 2000 Republican Presidential primaries. But in the next session of Congress, he sponsored the McCain/Lieberman gun show bill, which would have given the federal government the administrative power to prohibit all gun shows, and to register everyone who attends a gun show. And of course the McCain/Feingold campaign finance law is the most extreme Congressional assault on First Amendment rights since the Sedition Acts of the Woodrow Wilson and John Adams administrations.

In a separate search, here's what Gun Owners of America has this to say in brief:

Arizona Senator John McCain is running for President (again). He has been courting various conservative leaders in his quest to secure the Republican nomination. McCain wants voters to believe that he is a conservative... but his record would certainly suggest otherwise.

Take, for instance, his record on gun rights and political speech affecting Second Amendment activists. Abysmal, wretched, and pathetic are words that come to mind.

I feel my mind is clarified on the subject.

The Gunslinger