Following the tragic “Dark Knight Rises” shooting in Aurora, Colorado last month, U.S. Senator Frank “The Laut” Lautenberg (D-NJ) pounced like an ancient tiger, Save Jerseyans, aggressively politicizing the tragedy with the goal of pushing new gun control laws on the American public.
It was as gross as it was wrongheaded.
Senator Lautenberg’s response to this weekend’s equally tragic shooting at a Wisconsin Sikh temple was, thankfully, a little less obnoxious:
Our hearts are heavy today with the weight of another shooting massacre that has shattered a peaceful community, and our thoughts are with those in mourning and others still recovering from their wounds. The ability to worship freely and without fear is a bedrock principle of our nation, and a threat to any religious community’s freedom is a threat to all Americans that must not be tolerated. We send a message of sympathy to the family and friends of the victims and ask colleagues in government and Americans across the country to join together and redouble our efforts to prevent gun violence.” [Emphasis Added]
Well, you didn’t really expect him to drop it, did you?
But you also can’t deny that the Senator is adopting a different tact on this one. Wondering why? The Laut’s S.A. 2575 to the recently-defeated Cybersecurity Act (a revamped version of a January 2011 bill) sought to ban the sale of “high-capacity” gun magazines. The alleged perpetrator of the Sikh temple massacre reportedly used a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. No high-powered rifles, exotic weapons or military-grade munitions factored into the assault.
In other words, the Laut’s bill wouldn’t have done a damn thing to protect those innocent worshippers.
Wisconsin just didn’t fit his narrative, Save Jerseyans. Most untainted facts don’t. Hence, his muted reaction. Someone should ask the Senator how his bill would’ve stopped Timothy McVeigh’s attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Sick and crazy people will always find a way to commit evil acts. Disarming good, sane, responsible people is asinine and counterproductive. Wisconsin provides just the latest sad example.
