"<B>NOBODY WANTS TO TAKE YOUR GUNS</b>"
âOur ultimate goalâtotal control of handguns in the United States â is going to take time.â âThe final problem is to make possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition-except for the military, police, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors-totally illegal.â
Richard Harris in The New Yorker, quoting Pete Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc.
âIt will happen one very small step at a time, so that by the time people have âwoken upâ â quote â to whatâs happened, itâs gone farther than what they feel the consensus of American citizens would be.â
Stockton, California Mayor Barbara Fass: Speaking of the banning of firearms in the US, beginning with âthe banning of semi-assault military weapons, that are military weapons, not âhouseholdâ weapons.â
âThere is little sense in gun registration. What we need to significantly enhance public safety is domestic disarmament . . . . Domestic disarmament entails the removal of arms from private hands.â
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros and Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, upon signing the Communitarian Networkâs âCase for Domestic Disarmament.â
âI shortly will introduce legislation banning the sale, manufacture or possession of handguns (with exceptions for law enforcement and licensed target clubs).â
Sen. John H. Chafee (R.-R.I.): In View of Handgunsâ Effects, Thereâs Only One Answer: A Ban, Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 15, 1992, at 13A.
âMr. Speaker, my bill prohibits the importation, exportation, manufacture, sale, purchase, transfer, receipt, possession, or transportation of handguns and handgun ammunition.â
Rep. Major Owens (D-Brooklyn, N.Y.), 139 Cong. Rec. H9088 at H9094, Nov. 10, 1993.
âThere is no reason for anyone in this country, anyone except a police officer or a military person, to buy, to own, to have, to use a handgun.â âI now think the only way to control handgun use in this country is to prohibit the guns.â
Michael Gartner (then president of NBC News), Glut of Guns: What Can We Do About Them?, USA Today, Jan. 16, 1992
Speaking of the Assault Weapons Ban: âIts only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.â
Charles Krauthammer (nationally syndicated columnist), Disarm the Citizenry. But Not Yet, Washington Post, Apr. 5, 1996
âI think there should be a law â and I know this is extreme â that no one can have a gun in the U.S. If you have a gun, you go to jail. Only the police should have guns.â
Rosie OâDonnell. Shannon Hawkins, Rosie Takes on the NRA, Ottawa Sun, April 29, 1999
âWeâre talking about limiting people to one gun purchase or handgun purchase a month. Why not just ban the ownership of handguns when nobody needs one? Why not just ban semi-automatic rifles? Nobody needs one.â
Statement by Time Magazine, National Correspondent Jack E. White
L. Brent Bozell III, Lock-and-Load Mode Against the 2nd, Washington Times, May 8, 1999
âWe will never fully solve our nationâs horrific problem of gun violence unless we ban the manufacture and sale of handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons.â
Jeff Muchnick, Legislative Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Better Yet, Ban All Handguns
âThe goal of CSGV is the orderly elimination of the private sale of handguns and assault weapons in the United States.â
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence,
http://www.csgv.org/content/coalition/coal_intro.html (visited June 20, 2000)
âWe Are NOT âGun Bannersâ-and never have been⦠Handgun Control, Inc., has never advocated banning firearms used for legitimate purposes such as hunting and recreation.â Measures We Donât Support,â Handgun Control Inc. March 16, 1999
As Eugene Volokh of the UCLA Law School points out: âHopefully you noticed Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Campaign) doesnât include self-defense as a âlegitimate purposeâ for owning a firearm.â