Bill Clinton Slick Willie Gun Control
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By NRA-ILA

Proving there is no statute of limitations on political opportunism, this week former President Bill Clinton used the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the tragic school shooting in Littleton, Colo. to pen an op-ed pushing the modern gun control agenda. In doing so, Clinton adopted several of the tired falsehoods that have become attendant to this debate.

In recalling a White House conference on school violence that touched upon school shootings in 1999, Clinton noted, “This was a year before Columbine, when our nation did not foresee how increasingly frequent such attacks would become…” This passage is intended to give the impression that school violence and school shootings are common occurrences that have increased since the 1990s. This is not true.

As we note elsewhere this week, research from Northeastern University Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy James Alan Fox has made clear that schools are safer than they were in the 1990s. A summary of Fox’s research published by Northeastern in 2018 explained that “Mass school shootings are incredibly rare events.”

Citing an interview with Fox, the article also stated,

Four times the number of children were killed in schools in the early 1990s than today, Fox said.  “There is not an epidemic of school shootings,” he said, adding that more kids are killed each year from pool drownings or bicycle accidents.

Casting doubt on the efficacy of the gun control policies Clinton has offered to eliminate such violence, Fox went on to state, “The thing to remember is that these are extremely rare events, and no matter what you can come up with to prevent it, the shooter will have a workaround.”

Continuing his overheated rhetoric, Clinton stated that after the Littleton shooting, and another shooting in Fort Worth, Texas in 1999, “American schools and churches, which should be havens of learning, fellowship, and refuge, had been transformed into warzones of automatic weapons and explosives.” Here Clinton employed the well-worn anti-gun tactic of conflating comparatively rare automatic firearms with commonly owned semi-automatic firearms.

Automatic firearms have been extensively regulated by the federal government, including stringent transfer requirements, since the National Firearms Act of 1934. Moreover, the manufacture of new automatic firearms for the civilian market was halted by the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 (FOPA).

Gun control advocates like Clinton have long understood that dishonestly conflating the commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms used by Americans for self-defense and the shooting sports with automatic firearms accrues to their political benefit. Gun control group the Violence Policy Center has admitted to the benefits of this disinformation campaign. In their 1988 report “Assault Weapons and Accessories in America,” the group said of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms:

The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.

Later in the piece, Clinton referenced the hastily-enacted legislative response to the recent shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, stating:

More recently, the murder on March 15 of 50 Muslim worshipers in Christchurch in New Zealand led to an almost immediate ban on the kinds of semi-automatic weapons used by the killer, but their parliamentary system is different than our political reality in America, in which a minority with strong views can thwart even popular legislation, supported by hard evidence.

This passage gives the impression that a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms is politically popular in the U.S. and that such a ban is supported by scientific evidence. Again, this is not true.

An October 2018 Gallup poll asked survey takers, “Are you for or against a law which would make it illegal to manufacture, sell or possess semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles?” A scant 40 percent of respondents supported such a measure, while 57 percent were opposed. Previous iterations of the same poll from 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2017 found that more respondents opposed a ban on semi-automatic firearms than supported it.

As for Clinton’s purported “hard evidence,” a 2004 federally-funded study that sought to determine the effects of the 1994 Clinton “assault weapons” ban came to the conclusion that “the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.” Further research by the RAND Corporationfound no convincing evidence that banning “assault weapons” or “large” capacity magazines has an effect on mass shootings or violent crime.

A 2012 Department of Justice National of Institute survey of gun research came to a similar conclusion. The memorandum pointed out that “[a]ssault weapons are not a major contributor to gun crime” and that “a complete elimination of assault weapons would not have a large impact on gun homicides.” The report also explained that so-called “universal” background check measures would not be effective absent further intrusive gun control measures, including national registration requirements.

In the closing paragraphs, Clinton attempted to wish a mass movement for gun control into existence. The former president wrote that following last year’s shooting in Parkland, Fla., “Young people from all corners of the country are making gun legislation a voting issue … .” Clinton went on to add “the powerful example of today’s young activists, and the enduring commitment of Columbine survivors and their supporters give us hope that we can … reverse the political polarization surrounding the gun safety issue.”

To be clear, Clinton does not want to “reverse the political polarization” on guns. Rather, the former president wants his opponents to acquiesce to his gun control positions.

However, even his notion that tragedies will dampen political polarization is flawed. Recent political science research out of Tufts University and published by the British Journal of Political Science suggested the exact opposite.

A piece for Tufts.edu summarized the study by noting that it,

…showed that after each mass shooting, rather than moving toward consensus, public opinion became more polarized, with no net movement toward or away from stricter gun regulations. Democrats were more likely to support greater gun control, while Republicans were inclined to support fewer regulations.

As for today’s youth making support for gun control a voting issue, there’s not much evidence of that either. A March 2019 Gallup poll asked Americans “What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?” A grand total of one percent answered “Guns/Gun control.”

Rather than provide any insight into the ongoing gun debate, Clinton’s inaccurate op-ed will remind readers why he was known as “Slick Willy” during his White House tenure and will have gun owners breathing a sigh of relief that he is penning columns as a private citizen rather than as First Gentleman.

 

This article originally appeared at nraila.org and is reprinted here with permission. 

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69 COMMENTS

  1. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed…. What part don’t they understand?

    • Gun-grabbers totally understand the Second Amendment. The problem is that they don’t care what it says. Rather, they want what they want.

      • At this juncture that’s pretty much a rhetorical question. Like you said, they don’t care. We can’t stop pointing this out.

        • Until they forego their armed security I don’t care that they don’t care. They can all kiss my big ol’ rusty.

    • It is not that Progressive/Elitist/Anti-gunners don’t understand “….shall not be infringed.” In fact they completely understand that concept……. and, they FEAR it for their own safety in their tyrannical vision.

  2. “…Clinton adopted several of the tired falsehoods….”. Beginning with “I did not have sex with that woman.”

    • True.

      He had sex with portions of her face and with her dress.

      But not with the rest of her, so in percentage terms it all rounds down to zero sex.

      Allegedly.

      • Oral sex is not sex? Guess it depends who receives it.
        Monica was looking to become famous and make money off the incident but she did not have the abilities of Paris Hilton or Kim K to make money off sex scandals.

        • “Oral sex is not sex.” I was told that by adult Libertarians liberals and the left, when I was a kid in the 1970s.
          The adults called it “heavy petting”. All of them said it was ok to lie under oath about sex.

          Most of the politicians who think this way, are also gun grabbers. They say morality is outdated, along with civilian gun ownership.

        • So, Monica takes a dress to the dry cleaners. She explains to the proprietor that it has a stain she wants removed. It’s rather noisy in the shop and he doesn’t quite understand her so he asks, “Come again”? To which she replies, “No, this time it’s ice cream”.

        • Oral “sex” is NOT sex! ORAL sex is “MASTURBATION” by mouth! Masturbation is no more sex than a ‘wet-dream’ or nocturnal-emission! Sex is an effort to procreate! Having ‘sex’ with a partner is mutual-masturbation!

    • The 1994 Clinton Assault Weapons Ban gave us the AR-15 rifle industry of today. Gun owners weren’t paying much attention to it before then. I know I wasn’t. But Americans do not like PROHIBITION. It raises their curiosity and their sense of wanting a thing simply because they are told they cannot have it.

      The 1994 AWB created enormous interest in the Armalite Rifle design and the industry responded with tremendous growth, new guns, designs around the silly restrictions, even Hello Kitty got into it.

      If the anti-gunners want to know who to blame for all those scary black rifles haunting their dreams each night, look no further than Bill Clinton and Joe Biden.

      The anti-gun side would have been better served leaving Bill alone to chase after pudgy interns.

      Which is not an attack on Monica. Always felt sorry for that gal.

      • Yes….and this may sound silly. But what if there were a ban placed on 10 and 12 gauge percussion double-barrel muzzle loading shotguns (modern reproductions of course)? This might instantly trigger a great public demand for such. Granted the 19th century originals were fabricated of Damascus or Belgian “twist” barrels, and no doubt probably remain unsafe to shoot today. But these were worth their weight in gold for farmers,
        homesteaders, trappers, wagon train emigrants who came out West on the Oregon and Apple-gate Trails, including miners, and others. Is it possible a “percussion double-barrel muzzle loading shotgun ban” would elicit historical and nostalgic instant interest among the masses? Maybe.

      • The AWB was much like the 55 mph national speed limit. The latter created a boom in CB radio and radar detectors.

      • Yeah but JFK and Marilyn Monroe compared to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky?

        At least one pair were aiming high and scoring big!

        I mean, it’s still wrong of course, cheating on your wife. But at least JFK and Marilyn showed some standards about it. Unlike Clinton grabbing Monica for a quickie in a closet.

        • JFK was doing his interns too. Mimi Alford was the most (in)famous of the bunch, but she was one of many. Dave Powers was his chief procurer.

      • Phirst Philanderer…

        “First”, BTW, indicates top dog at this point in time, not the first to bang someone other than his wife in the WH. A President Pete would perhaps be a first first although I have questions about obama. Ya know- any gay guy with the word “butt” in his last name is something you just can’t make up.

    • Most of our leaders were “horn dogs”. Houses of ill repute have always thrived in our nation’s capitol servicing lawmakers, upper ranks in the pentagon and our leaders. This is not even to mention the paramours of these men.

      • Jimmy Carter admitted only to committing adultery in his mind. Or was it in his hand? I don’t remember.

        In either case, he was a sh!tty President. The only good thing I can say about him is that he killed fewer Americans than Lyndon Johnson.

        • Jimmy Carter was also the only President in history to not go to war during his term in office. That makes him the best President in history! Also he has done some very good things since being out of office.

  3. Like all Democrats That came along after J F K , Clinton was a crappy president & the First Lady Bill was a ugly loudmouth parrot.

  4. Looks like Slick Willie found some daylight now that The One stepped way back and Herself crashed bwleyond recovery.

  5. More than anybody else, the Clinton’s put Trump into office. And Hillary has to wake up every day and live with that. I LOVE IT!!!

    • I despise Trump but do agree that Hillary and Bill Clinton owe this country a massive apology for helping to get Trump nominated and elected.

  6. Nothing quite like being moralized-at from a creature with a moral stature and moral compass lower than a slime mold.

  7. Slick Willie is playing the part of a useful fool in this. He didn’t write any part of it, he just took what the anti-gun industry handed him and delivered it. Probably got paid a goodly amount for his time. There was no thought or intellect on his part. He is not dumb and can be bought.

  8. Between him and obama, which one should get the award for best firearms salesperson of the last two centuries? Who cares, so long as they both hit the ground at the same time…come the Rising…

  9. What do you expect from a guy who lied to his wife and girlfriends the way he did and probably still does?

  10. Personally Im sick of the other side telling the same old bullshit over and over again. They are self convinced the truth doesn’t matter. Tell the lie long enough and even they believe its true.
    As stated in the article. Pools and bicycle accidents kill more kids then guns ever will. No one calls for the end of bikes and filling in pools.
    The gun control side is just a bunch of old tired ninnies and Bill Clinton is the King of Ninnies.
    A real piece of work he and his wife.

  11. What a shock — a top officer of a crime family wants his victims to be unarmed.

    “Gun control? It’s the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I’m a bad guy, I’m always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You will pull the trigger with a lock on, and I’ll pull the trigger. We’ll see who wins.”

    — Sammy Gravano

    “What Sammy said.”

    — Bill Clinton

  12. Hilkary(and BILL😄)for prison 2019! Oh Slick Willie is just trying to make some coin after the Hildebeast failed. I think some Russians and A-rabs are looking for some quid pro quo…

  13. We need to differentiate between gun control and civilian disarmament. We also need to use language that is more in line with reality. The Left is great at coming up with labels and making them stick. We in the center should do the same.

    What Slick Willy is advocating is not gun control but civilian disarmament. We should point out that his opinion is not to remove guns from criminals to reduce crime, but rather, remove all guns from the general population. He does this by targeting one class of guns at a time. Once modern sporting rifles are banned, they will turn to magazine capacity, then semi-auto guns of all types, the all guns in general.

    They, the civilian disarmament people, view this as a generational crusade, inline with their attempts at free speech censorship under the guise of political correctness. How else to suppress free speech but by slandering speech that they don’t abide and taking away the tools to maintain it, our right to bear arms.

  14. Aren’t Willy and the Shill supposed to be doing a tour this summer? If so this preview tells me it’s a loser.

    • I think the tour might have been cancelled due to lack of interest. I saw a news article some time back that said ticket prices were down to under $7. Can’t even go to a movie for that.

  15. Automatic firearms are protected by the 2A, the people have just allowed them to be illegally banned from new ownership.

  16. And frozen Easter eggs from a belt fed potato Canon to you too. … ex Prez security, I certainly hope it’s up to snuff, because when they get the number 9 number9 number9 they better not screw it up.

  17. Bill Clinton the Rapist in Chief just wants to ensure that rape is more easily done in the United States when the civilian population is disarmed.

  18. What amazes me is that this womanizer, who preyed on young women, received oral s*x in the Oval office, lied about it to the American public, is still upheld by democrats as an elder statesman. Is that really all they’ve got?

  19. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    Becomes
    Alexandria Occasional-Cortex
    Help popularize this truism!
    Alexandria OCCASIONAL-CORTEX !
    😊😜

  20. Reagan said politics may be the oldest profession, but it politics is not the oldest, they both have a lot in common because they both screw you for money.
    Seems that Ms Lewinski was bad at either profession…. but Mr Clinton….

  21. Columbine happened during Clintons regime, 5 years after the start of his vaunted AWB.

    According to his “logic” his AWB killed a bunch of kids.

  22. Ole Billy Bubber out pounding the Anti American/Anti Constitutional civilian disarmament routine,guess there aren’t enough interns to keep him otherwise occupied these days.

  23. We like to make jokes about “Slick Willie” and JFK for being Womanizers , but at least they were not FREAKS of nature and didn’t love and Marry other MEN.

  24. People making up terminology to emphasize their point are relying on ignorance to strengthen their position!

    A single-shot .22 can be called an assault-weapon with complete accuracy……as can a rock or a bat or a screwdriver or, or, or, or ad nauseum!
    Any object used as a weapon to assault another person IS an assault-weapon!
    I have a friend that was at one time a rabid anti-gunner. I then pointed out that she would willingly use a loaded gun to save her adorable niece from being stabbed by a predator. She is no longer anti-gun, but is NOT willing to own a gun personally. And THAT is perfectly alright!

  25. It is very simple “Bill Clinton” belongs in prison. He is guilty of treason, sexual assault, rape, conspiracy to commit murder (multiple times – always had someone else do the deed because he is a gutless wonder) and was a cocaine addict and as governor sent other people to prison for the same problem. That is not even the complete list and all those who voted for him will go to their death beds screaming “he was a wonderful President”. This is America?????

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