Big Dogs Weblog

Tuscon Was Bush’s Fault Too?

by Big Dog on Jan 16, 2011 at 21:01 Political

Among all the conservatives that were falsely blamed for the shooting in Tuscon, George Bush was surprisingly absent. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and any conservative with a platform from which to speak was blamed for the shooting. Before I go on, let’s be clear. The only blame lies with the shooter.

I had expected George Bush to be among the names mentioned as responsible and was finally rewarded by a commenter here who claimed that Bush was as guilty because he ended the assault weapons ban which restricted high capacity magazines like the one the shooter used. The argument is that if the magazine was not available he would have been reduced to a 10 round version rather than a 30 round one. Obviously a 10 round magazine would have allowed at most 10 people to be shot but this ignores two things.

One is that a person who is intent on injuring someone will do so and a skilled shooter can change magazines during a heated situation. This would be slower than using a 30 round magazine but skilled shooters (which this shooter did not appear to be) can do it.

The second and most important issue is that the weapons ban only prevented the manufacture of new high capacity magazines.

The shooter could have bought a used one or a new one that had been manufactured before the law went into effect and he would have had a perfectly legal magazine.

Therefore, the expiration of the AWB had nothing to do with allowing this psycho to obtain a high capacity magazine. He could have gotten one legally regardless.

And since he was not a particularly law abiding citizen he could have gotten one illegally.

The argument that Bush was also responsible is moronic at best and demonstrates a lack of understanding.

The only person responsible for this tragedy is the shooter who was mentally unstable.

Perhaps if the big mouthed sheriff out there had done his job the shooter would have had a mental evaluation. A diagnosis of a mental illness would have prevented him from legally buying the weapon in the first place.

Related:
Real Clear Politics

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

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Tags: assault weapons ban, george bush, lies, tuscon