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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Occasional Mishaps"
Larry Pratt, a leading figure among hardline pro-gun activists, argues that tighter gun regulations are not the answer. In comments to the Times, Pratt called the hundreds of child gun deaths that occur each year "occasional mishaps":
"It's clearly a tragedy, but it's not something that's widespread," said Larry Pratt, a spokesman and former executive director of Gun Owners of America. "To base public policy on occasional mishaps would be a grave mistake."
MORE:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/top-gun-lobbyist-calls-hundreds-child-gun-deaths-occasional-mishaps
EX500rider
(10,891 posts)For contrast over 30,000 people will die in falls and around 38,000 will die in accidental poisonings, I assume a sizeable percentage of those will be children.
kpete
(72,056 posts)EX500rider
(10,891 posts)The parents could be charged with negligence in most states of course.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)When people get hurt in falls, we put up warning signs or guard rails. We label poisons and have programs for teaching youngsters about recognizing the label, even if they're pre-literate. Guns? Nope, the only solution we ever have is to have more of them in ever less experienced hands. Then, when the inevitable happens, we listen to people who just cluck their tongues in mock concern, spout irrelevancies, and pretend it's just the way of the world.
beevul
(12,194 posts)Nobody ever seems interested in the idea.
EX500rider
(10,891 posts)....a large number which would be children and, "eh, we did all we could do.."
.19 (that's point one nine) a day by accidental discharge and "OH NO, we have a problem!"
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)Larry "Prat" Pratt is a wingnut Republican pundit who also happens to be the founder and/or head of several organizations, such as Gun Owners of America (a "gun rights" advocacy group that makes the NRA look sane like radical gun-confiscating pinko commies in comparison), English First (an English-only movement organization), U.S. Border Control (an anti-immigration group with a name intended to cause confusion with the U.S. Border Patrol, the federal law enforcement agency that actually patrols the border), and Committee to Protect the Family (an anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage organization).
He was briefly a member of Pat Buchanan's Constitution Party campaign staff during the 1996 U.S. Presidential Election [1].
Larry Pratt also has been affiliated with the Libertarian Party, despite being a dominionist and thus, as Ed Brayton said, the exact opposite of someone who believes in individual liberty.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/larry-pratt
Larry Pratt is a gun rights extremist who also advocates a theocratic society based on Old Testament civil and religious laws, and a pivotal figure in the militia movement.
Larry Pratt: Liberals Have 'Plans To Enslave An Entire Nation' - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/larry-pratt-liberals-have-plans-enslave-entire-nation#sthash.i2ucdZxL.dpuf
Along with his gun work, Pratt was involved during the Reagan years in a wide range of social and foreign policy issues. He was a member of the Council for National Policy, a think tank bringing together leading conservative figures to generate policy for the new administration. In 1980, he founded the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation, which raised money for anti-gay campaigns and assisted the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue with legal defenses. In 1986, during the depths of the AIDS crisis, Pratt bought ads around the country highlighting a D.C. law forbidding health insurance companies from denying coverage and raising rates for people who test positive for HIV. "We don't think AIDS should have civil rights," Pratt told the Los Angeles Times. "The law is a dangerous and outrageous precedent for other wacko legislators to follow. [Those who support it should be] held accountable for voting to support homosexual privileges."
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-zealot-larry-pratt-is-the-gun-lobbys-secret-weapon-20140714#ixzz47zq8Bseg
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