Brady Campaign on Fort Hood shooting

From my column in Examiner.com

Never missing an opportunity to turn tragedy into a press release, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Control, Inc., said the following:

"

When I heard of the tragedy yesterday, we were in the midst of planning a
response to the latest dangerous legislative proposal from the gun lobby in the
United States Senate - language to automatically restore access to guns to
veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice
Department as ‘mentally incapacitated' or ‘mentally incompetent.' In light of
what happened yesterday - a violent attack by an emotionally unstable soldier -
it is even clearer that the proposal being pushed by Senator Richard Burr of
North Carolina should be rejected.

Of course, the shooting at Fort Hood has nothing to do with Senator Burr's bill and the Brady Campaign knows it. They are referring to S. 669, the "Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act". We'll discuss Burr's bill in another installment.

Major Hasan, the alleged shooter at the Fort Hood massacre, is an active-duty soldier. His mental status is not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Veteran's Affairs, which is what S. 669 addresses.

...make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition - except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors - totally illegal. -- Handgun Control's, Incorporated's Pete Shields

None of that stops the Brady Campaign from again turning a tragedy into a Press Release. As always, they play from Rham Emanuel's playbook and not let "a serious crisis go to waste."

The Brady Campaign's predecessor, Handgun Control's, Incorporated's Pete Shields told the New Yorker Magazine in 1976,

"... the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition - except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors - totally illegal."

The Brady Campaign has become more subtle in their rhetoric, but no different in their direction. It is just too bad they have to rely on tragedy to misdirect the public's eye.