PA Bill Number: HB2300
Title: Authorizing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to join the Counseling Compact; and providing for the form of the compact.
Description: An Act authorizing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to join the Counseling Compact; and providing for the form of the compact.
Last Action: Referred to PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE
Last Action Date: May 20, 2024
New twist on Stephanopoulos flap: Memo that said gun control ineffective :: 05/21/2015
The Washington Times yesterday offered a new twist in the unfolding flap over former Clinton press aide George Stephanopoulos, now the embattled ABC News anchor, and it involves a memo on gun control reportedly written by an aide to former President Jimmy Carter that bluntly acknowledged most gun control laws don’t impact crime.
Today, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell savages Stephanopoulos in a Town Hall piece for what Bozell calls his “shameless” ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Stephanopoulos – who seemingly labored to discredit “Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer in an April interview – admitted the other day to having given $75,000 over the past three years to the Clinton Foundation.
But the Washington Times piece about the apparent memo from former Carter press aide Jody Powell could be raising more eyebrows in the Second Amendment battlefield. That’s because of what amounts to an admission that gun control laws don’t work to reduce crime. The newspaper cited "documents from the Clinton Presidential Library" as its source.
“As much as I hate to say it,” Powell reportedly wrote in his memo, “the NRA is effective primarily because it is largely right when it claims that most gun control laws inconvenience and threaten the law-abiding while having little or no impact on violent crime or criminals.”
This memo, says the Washington Times story, allegedly led Stephanopoulos to try to “spark a gun debate inside the White House in 1994.” Translation: At least some Democrats – those who read the Powell memo, anyway – have apparently known for more than 20 years that gun control laws impact the wrong people.
This raises a prickly question. If Democrats know these laws are largely ineffective, and only serve to penalize honest citizens, why does the party continue pursuing such legislation? Why do Democrats embrace such things as background checks, bans on modern sport-utility rifles and their original capacity magazines, and registration schemes if they have known for years such measures don’t really work?
Coincidentally, The Hill reported yesterday that Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York has reintroduced the so-called “Gun Show Loophole Closing Act.” It’s essentially Initiative 594/Oregon Senate Bill 941 on a national level.
By another remarkable coincidence, this new Stephanopoulos story broke yesterday at about the same time that Washington, DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier was trying to downplay Monday’s federal court ruling that the District’s arbitrary “good reason”/”proper reason” requirement for concealed carry violates the Second Amendment.
Lanier, quoted by the Washington Times, suggested that Monday’s ruling by federal Judge Frederick Scullin would not have a significant impact on the police department or the concealed carry permit program. The ruling was in a case called Wrenn v. District of Columbia, filed by the Second Amendment Foundation.
“We haven’t had a huge number of applicants,” Chief Lanier said during a Tuesday interview on a local talk station. “Our residents have been pretty clear this is not something that they wanted. A very small number of D.C. residents have applied for concealed carry.”
Perhaps the demand for permits was artificially deflated because of the District’s overwhelming licensing requirements. If people can more easily obtain a permit, and don’t have to justify it with some “good reason,” perhaps more people will apply. The story also noted that out of 107 applications, only 26 had been approved by Lanier.
All of this brings up an intriguing consideration. If Stephanopoulos still has any traction, he might put his Clinton connection to good use. Hillary Clinton has remained largely mute when it comes to answering questions from the press. Maybe Stephanopoulos could corner her about gun control, concealed carry in the District, and Maloney’s attempt to push yet another questionable gun control law.
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