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1. 60 Minutes/VCDL segment to air on Sunday
2. A hit piece on guns tomorrow night on ABC's 20/20?
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1. 60 Minutes/VCDL segment to air on Sunday
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A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Leslie Stahl with CBS's 60 Minutes for an upcoming show dealing with gun shows, the non-existent "gun show loophole," and the future of our right to keep and bear arms with the House, Senate, and Presidency controlled by Democrats.
Part of it was filmed at the C&E gun show at the Showplace in Richmond, part of it in a quieter environment in a hotel conference room at the Richmond Marriott, and part of it at Dominion Shooting Range in Richmond.
I have no idea how it will turnout, of course, but we will all know this Sunday at 7 PM.
Here is a preview of the show. Note the chilling reminder that Senator Feinstein is waiting for **the right time** for her next "assault weapon" ban. Remember it was Feinstein who said, "If I could have banned them all - Mr. And Mrs. America turn in your guns - I would have!" on 60 Minutes on February 5, 1995, two years after her AWB bill passed.
We need to make sure there is NEVER a good time to ban any of our guns ever again:
Feinstein: Not The Time For Gun Control
60 Minutes: Gun Companies, Dealers Report U.S. Sales Going Through The Roof Since Election
April 9, 2009
(CBS) The California senator who authored the nation's now-lapsed 1994 ban on assault weapons says she will hold off trying to renew that ban.
Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) tells 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl that the political timing isn't right and she will move to renew the ban at a future time of her own choosing. Feinstein appears in Stahl's report on the increase in gun sales taking place in America to be broadcast this Sunday, April 12, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Asked by Stahl if trying to renew the assault weapons ban would start a culture war and pose a distraction for an already overburdened Obama Administration, Feinstein replies, "I agree with you." "So you are going to hold off?" asks Stahl. "That's correct. I'll pick the time and the place, no question about it," Feinstein tells Stahl.
But even if she pursued the renewal, the votes may not be there today in either the Senate or the House. Both Houses of Congress gained pro-gun Democrats this past election, some of whom won the support of the National Rifle Association. "I am not going to disagree with that at all," says Feinstein. "The National Rifle Association essentially has a stranglehold on the Congress."
Has Congressional leadership or anyone from the Obama administration influenced her decision to put off the fight for renewal of the assault weapons ban? "No. Nobody said a word to me," Feinstein tells Stahl.
Feinstein appears in Stahl's report on the increase of gun sales in America. Stahl talks to gun enthusiasts who tell her Americans are buying more guns now, in part, due to fear of impending social unrest as a result of the financial meltdown.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a pro-guns advocacy group, explains: "We're being told all the time that, ‘The economy could just collapse and we could fall into chaos.’ Well, chaos is a good reason to be able to protect yourself… You could imagine if we truly had a collapse of the economy and it was hard to find food, those that did manage to hang onto food-might…find themselves in a precarious position.'" Van Cleave tells Stahl the other main reason is fear of potential gun control under new President Barack Obama.
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2. A hit piece on guns tomorrow night on ABC's 20/20?
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ABC's 20/20 is having what sounds like a hit-piece on guns tomorrow night. They are keeping the lie alive that there is some kind of legal loophole that can only be found at gun shows. Very poor reporting on ABC's part.
And it looks like they are still trying to blame gun shows for what happened at Virginia Tech.
It just makes my head hurt.
Here is the argument on gun shows with just a few words changed to show the absurdity:
"We need to make it harder to get a drivers license because John was killed by a drunk driver."
"But, why? That drunk didn't have a license."
"But he COULD have had a license!"
After Binghamton, Questions Linger About Easy Access to Guns
Battle Over Access to Guns Renews After Shootings in New York, Pennsylvania
By CHRIS STRATHMANN and SARAH NETTER
April 6, 2009—
As the nation gets a clearer picture of two killers who have made headlines in recent days -- one near Pittsburgh, one in Binghamton, N.Y. -- some are wondering whether Americans have too much access to guns.
Watch the "20/20" special on "If I Only Had a Gun" Friday at 10 p.m. ET
This morning, Shirley DeLucia is recovering from gunshot wounds in a New York hospital. Hailed as one of the heroes of Friday's massacre in Binghamton, DeLucia called police after being shot along with another receptionist who was killed.
Doctors say she should make a full physical recovery, but her brother, Lyle Fasset, said the emotional impact could take its toll for a long time to come.
"I think she's going to have a few problems," he said, adding that she worried about paying the bills the last time he visited her in the hospital.
As the gunman, identified as 41-year-old Jiverly Voong, blasted his way through the American Civic Association, DeLucia, 61, stayed on the phone for 38 minutes, guiding police and trying to provide them with information to prevent more people from being shot. Voong killed 13 people before turning the gun on himself.
"We're always there for her," Fasset said. "Chances are she's not going to ask for help. That's the kind of person she is."
On Saturday, one day after the Binghamton shootings, three Pittsburgh-area police officers were gunned down after responding to what they thought was a domestic disturbance call. Richard Poplawski, 23, the alleged shooter, was shot several times in the leg.
Police responded after his mother called 911 concerning an argument over a urinating dog. When the first two officers arrived, she opened the door, not knowing her son was standing behind her with an AK-47 assault-style rifle.
Police say he also had a .22-caliber rifle and a revolver and was wearing a bulletproof vest.
His close friend told ABC News that Poplawski had long feared losing his right to own guns.
"They were all legal," his friend Edward Perkovic said of the weapons. "He had about four guns. I've been in houses where they have gun cases with 20 guns. He had a small, small amount of guns."
"We have 32 people being murdered by guns every day in this country," said Michael Wolkowitz, a board member of the Brady Center, which lobbies for tighter gun restrictions. "If peanut butter or pistachio nuts or spinach killed that number of people once in one day, they'd be pulled by the [Food and Drug Administration]."
Purchasing a Gun, No Questions Asked
In the last month, seven U.S. shootings have killed 48 people.
Investigators believe Voong was an isolated man who couldn't find work. Authorities said that people had been making fun of him and his inability to speak English and that he had made weekly visits to a gun range.
While the Constitution protects Americans' right to own guns, do laws make it too easy for potentially dangerous people to own firearms?
This weekend's mass shootings come nearly two years after the massacre at Virginia Tech and two years after the Virginia governor and authorities urged lawmakers to close what's called the gun show "loophole," where customers can buy guns, no questions asked.
For more than a year, ABC News has followed Omar Samaha, whose sister, Reema, was among the students killed at Virginia Tech. His quest now is to keep authorities to their word.
When ABC News traveled with Samaha to a gun show in Richmond, Va., he had about $5,000 in cash and one hour to see what he could buy.
He was approached by a seller before he even made it inside the door. Samaha was able to buy a gun -- a Glock-- no questions asked.
It was a purchase that chilled him. It was the same kind of gun used to kill his sister and 31 others at Virginia Tech.
Private sellers at gun shows in Virginia are not required to conduct background checks. It's a loophole that exists in 33 states.
Gun rights groups argue that the Virginia Tech shooter bought his weapons at a gun shop, not at a show, and that they shouldn't be held responsible for background checks that didn't work.
They say their privacy rights -- and business -- could be hurt, if the loophole is closed.