Brady vs Ashcroft
The Brady Campaign now wants to prevent us from repairing the firearms that, due to their cosmetics, fall under the auspices of the 1994 “assault weapons ban”. To make their point they are actually suing the Justice Department for allowing manufacturers to replace worn out receivers with new ones. Bushmaster seems to be the focus of the Brady lawsuit as they have:
manufactured at least 96 new receivers since 1997
96? Oh the HORROR! The thing is that under the current laws anyone, individual or manufacturer, can build any of the “banned” rifles legally by using the proper number of parts manufactured in the United States and leaving off the “evil” features provided for in the law (no bayonet lug, folding stock or “flash hider”) and the weapon is perfectly legal despite Brady’s protestations. As a matter of fact the availability of semi-auto weapons is as good as it’s ever been in the United States.
Chris Cox of the National Rifle Association sums up my own thoughts very concisely, as he usually does:
“I would suggest the Brady Campaign go back and read the law,” said Chris Cox, the chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. “The law does not prohibit the manufacturing of receivers or replacement of receivers in a grandfathered firearm.”
Cox, quoted in USA Today, called the suit a “desperate attempt” by gun-control advocates to resurrect the debate over the soon-to-expire assault-weapons ban.
This, the lawsuit by Brady Campaign, is a political strategy employed by the Brady Campaign and minions to further dis-information in the guise of news via a politically sympathetic media. There are many things that most Americans don’t understand about the whole so-called “assault weapons ban” and the Brady Campaign has carefully nurtured these misunderstandings and outright falsehoods for the past decade and they will endeavor to keep these myths alive and well until the law, which sunsets in November, is renewed.
Among the common misconceptions are that it’s about machine guns; that “assault weapons” are heavily used in crime; that semi-automatic rifles are already banned. All of these are false yet lead credence to the Brady Campaign’s agenda. ( For more info see AW Ban Sunset and the Clinton Gun Ban site ).
Lawsuit coverage links: New York Newsday, CNS News, USA Today