Firearms? hocked from AIM
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man whose son was killed in the Columbine High School shootings literally walked in his child's shoes to the National Rifle Association convention, where he hoped Vice President Dick Cheney would address the federal assault weapons ban set to expire in September.
Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was killed with an assault weapon in the Littleton, Colorado, killings five years ago Tuesday, said continuing the ban is common sense.
Assault weapons "are the weapons of gangs, drug lords and sick people," Mauser said before his three-block march to the convention, which runs through Sunday. "It is a weapon of war and we don't want this war on our streets."
Mauser challenged Cheney to speak about extending the ban when the vice president delivered the convention's keynote address Saturday night.
However, there was no indication Saturday afternoon that Cheney would address the matter. He was expected to reaffirm President Bush's position that the Second Amendment protects individual gun ownership and tout statistics that federal prosecutions of gun-related crimes have risen significantly under Bush's presidency.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam called the assault weapon ban "nothing but an incremental effort to ban more firearms."
Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry issued a statement before Cheney's address, saying "most voters don't know that [Bush and Cheney] are standing against major police organizations and breaking their promise to renew the assault weapons ban -- which helps keep military-style assault weapons out of the hands of criminals and terrorists."
Mauser entered the convention hall where the NRA was meeting, but was turned away by a security guard as several conventioneers applauded. A couple of conventioneers yelled "Get a life" and "Vote for Bush."
Mauser said the NRA "is an organization with a Field and Stream magazine membership, but a Soldier of Fortune magazine leadership."
The NRA expected up to 60,000 people at the weekend-long convention, dubbed "Freedom's Steel," featuring seminars on whether to hunt in Africa, legislative agendas, methods of carrying a concealed weapon and a game-call challenge.
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Yes, because learning to carry a concealed weapon is not a threatening thing.
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