Lindsey Graham: Hurricane Victims Need Assault Weapons To Shoot ‘Roaming Gangs’

[Redfairen]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back against efforts to limit the availability of assault weapons during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday by echoing the paranoia of the National Rifle Association and insisting that Americans would need access to AR-15s to protect themselves from “roaming gangs” during natural disasters.

Speaking to Attorney General Eric Holder, Graham argued that an AR-15 would have been “a better defense tool” than “a double-barrel shotgun” in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy:

GRAHAM: Let me give an example. That you have a lawless environment where you have a natural disaster or some catastrophic event and those things, unfortunately, do happen. And law and order breaks down because the police can’t travel, there’s no communication. And there are armed gangs roaming around neighborhoods. Can you envision a situation where if your home happens to be in the cross-hairs of this group that a better self-defense weapon may be a semiautomatic AR-15 versus a double-barrel shotgun?

HOLDER: I think we’re dealing there with a hypothetical in a world…

GRAHAM: Well, I’m afraid that world does exist. I think it existed in New Orleans, to some exist in Long Island, it could exist tomorrow if there’s a cyber attack against the country and the power grid goes down and the dams are released and chemical plants are discharges. What I’m saying is if my family was in the cross-hairs of gangs that were roaming around New Orleans or any other location, that the turn effect of an AR-15 to protect my family is better than a double-barrel shotgun but the Vice President and I have a disagreement on that.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/03/06/1681261/lindsey-graham-hurricane-victims-need-assault-weapons-to-shoot-roaming-gangs/?mobile=nc

[Lint Head]

1. Use Drones to shoot at the Roaming Gangs.

[PDJane]

2. Sigh. Use drones to take out idiots like Graham, and I might even approve.

please note, that's a joke.

[pintobean]

16. If you didn't get the jury results

I'll pm them to you.

[apocalypsehow]

3. "Roaming gangs" = code-worded dog-whistling to racists. Indeed, the entire "RKBA" movement is

nothing less than a right-wing and often virulently racist cause, and asshat Graham's latest rant is simply more proof of that. The gun lobby and it's shills & sycophants simply have not a shred of shame or an ounce of decency.

[gollygee]

10. +1

That statement was certainly racist code language. No doubt.

[Squinch]

12. Yup.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. That's why a lot of the gunners got mad at your sig line

The truth hurts

[Arctic Dave]

15. "Roaming gangs" is their code word for racism,

"zombie apocolypse" is the code word for poor people.

They are racist, classist shitbags the lot of them.

[The Magistrate]

4. Fetishists' Fantasies, Ma'am, Are A Poor Basis For Law And Public Policy On Lethal Force

Nothing wrong with an active fantasy life, so long as one keeps it reasonably private, and does not demand laws be enacted in conformity with it....

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Exactly. n/t

[PDJane]

18. If that was aimed at me, I believe I stated it was a joke.

However, I believe that his fantasies are a really poor reason to enact gun laws, too.

[The Magistrate]

19. Aimed At Graham And His Ilk, Ma'am, Not You

It was you I was actually addressing, of course. I apologize for the lack of clarity in my expression.

[PDJane]

21. Perhaps you should, instead, be aware that i'm not envisioning changes in the law,

nor was I advocating graham's death. I was posting an outrageous hypothetical in order to promote thought, not a knee-jerk reaction. I shan't do it again.

[Mopar151]

5. Roaming Gangs

Does he mean free-range helpful folks like Occupy Sandy, or armed gangs from
"security" contractors like XE?

[arcane1]

6. Didn't the national guard disarm people in New Orleans after Katrina?

Or am I getting mixed up?

[PDJane]

7. yes, and no.......you're not mixed up.

[Squinch]

9. And we're gonna need a Thunderdome for when the government breaks down and we need a new

justice system. So let's make some laws about that too.

...and thn there's that plague of locusts... we gotta come up with something for that...

[LuckyLib]

11. Good grief, every time this idiot opens his mouth there is living proof

that he hasn't two brain cells that connect. That such racist crap goes unchallenged (we don't have a media, after all . . .) is tragic. His constituents should be ashamed. He's a reflection of their stupidity.

[pipoman]

13. The dog and pony show continues..

I've been wondering if on the first day of hearings the judiciary committee asked the one central question regarding constitutionality of any law they enact, that being, 'are AR-15 and other "assault weapons" "in common use for lawful purposes"?'. If so, they knew that day, there is little chance of a federal "assault weapons ban" withstanding SCOTUS based on the 70 year precedent of 'in common use...'. No, I suspect they are discussing it because they all said they would..ultimately the states will set their own standard..

[AgingAmerican]

17. The right wing world in a 'nut'shell

Gangs, tornado, earthquakes, asteroids, gargoyles and zombies running amok, seeking out Republican families.....

Brains... brains!!!

[HiPointDem]

20. armed gangs like this?

On September 4, 2005, New Orleans police received a call from an officer at Danziger Bridge reporting gunfire. Several NOPD officers—including Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius, Officer Anthony Villavaso, and Officer Robert Faulcon—arrived at the scene in a Budget rental truck. They proceeded to open fire with assault rifles and a shotgun on an unarmed family, the Bartholomews, who had been walking to a grocery store and were then sheltering behind a concrete barrier.[4] 17-year-old James Brissette—a family friend—was killed, and four other people were wounded.[5] Two brothers, Ronald and Lance Madison, fled the scene, but were pursued down the bridge by Gisevius and Faulcon in an unmarked state police vehicle. Faulcon fired his shotgun from the back of the car at Ronald, a developmentally disabled man who would later die from his injuries.[4] Bowen was later convicted of stomping him on the back before he died,[5] though this conviction was overturned for lack of physical evidence.[4] Lance Madison was then taken into custody and accused of the attempted murder of police officers.[6]

No weapons were recovered at the scene, and both police and civilian witnesses testified that the victims had been unarmed.[5] Later investigation showed that some shots had been fired in the area by trapped residents attempting to attract the attention of rescuers.[7]

The police shooters stated that while approaching the bridge, they had been fired on by civilians, and were forced to return fire.[4] Homicide detective Arthur "Archie" Kaufman was made the lead investigator on the case. He was later found guilty of conspiring with the defendants to conceal evidence in order to make the shootings appear justified, including fabricating information for his official reports on the case.[4] NOPD lieutenant Michael Lohman also encouraged the officers to "provide false stories about what had precipitated the shooting" and plant a firearm near the scene.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_shootings

[apocalypsehow]

22. ...