GOP senator: 'The problem is not owning an AR-15'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY BRETT SAMUELS - 02/18/18 10:57 AM EST

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said Sunday he supports improving the background check system for buying a weapon, but said he doesn’t think it needs to be harder to buy an AR-15, which was used in a Florida high school shooting last week.

“I actually don’t think it should be. I think what should be is difficult for any person with any kind of criminal background history, domestic violence, mental instability, all those things, regardless. I don’t care whether they’re buying a .22 pistol or an AR-15,” Lankford said on “Meet The Press.”

“The problem is not owning an AR-15, it’s the person that owns it,” Lankford added.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, faces 17 counts of premeditated murder after he allegedly opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last Wednesday, killing 17 and wounding more than a dozen others. He reportedly used an AR-15 that he was able to purchase legally.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/374446-gop-senator-the-problem-is-not-owning-an-ar-15

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. FU too.

[duforsure]

2. Stats show he's wrong.

When there was a assault weapon ban it WAS reduced, and the numbers showed it helped. I believe it said it was 37% less with it. That's not better Senator? Sounds like a NRA paid response to me. Republicans are essentially killing our kids , and refuse to stop this from continuing.

[Abnredleg]

6. Yet AR sales increased during that time period

The AWB didn't hamper sales of rifles since the manufacturers just redesigned their weapons to make them legal. The issue is magazine fed semi-automatic rifles, and that's what needs to be dealt with.

[cvoogt]

19. Indeed

and a reinstated AWB should address that, along with bump stocks

[truthisfreedom]

3. The problem is republicans.

Vote them out.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. There are mentally unstable people in all countries.

But even in countries where gun ownership is common, the rate of gun violence is vastly lower. Maybe that's because even gun-owning countries don't let people buy AR-15s.

[dlk]

5. This is Just Another Disgusting Parroting of the Irrational Argument, "Guns Don't Kill People..."

Of course, if civilians didn't have access to weapons of war, they couldn't commit mass shootings. Take away the weapon, take away the outcome. Since the expiration of the previous assault weapons ban, in 2004, there has been a continuing escalation of mass shootings with assault weapons. In this case, correlation is causation.

[B Stieg]

7. No, Senator, the problem IS the gun and its CAPACITY for mass killing

These weapons have nothing to do with self-defense unless you're under mass invasion, and we have an army to deal with that. AR-15's are "spray and slay" weapons.
You can't own a cruise missile for the same reasons; it's a mass killing device.
And the law is always interested in what motivates an action...

[mpcamb]

33. Take him down, kids. He's got coffers full of NRA money. Guilty as sin.

Get the mothers and kids to vote his Oklahoman ass out of office.

[Wounded Bear]

8. If they would actually vote for the platitudes they obfuscate about...

I could take that as a start.

Typically, that is ordinary Repub blather. Not to be believed.

[Rebl2]

9. He supports

improving background checks. Who doesn’t. Unfortunately background checks don’t always work. I seem to remember the Las Vegas shooter passed his background check. The only answer is to ban the sale of military weapons to individuals.

[bluestarone]

10. Same NRA argument OVER AND OVER AND OVER

They are all singing it in Sync!!! like NRA gave each of them the same message!!!!!!!!!!!!

[customerserviceguy]

22. Why not

It always works for them. Why do anything different if the news a week from now will surely be about something else? The American people have a short attention span, and that's why the "October surprise" is so powerful.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

11. Right wing whackos - if you want to take up arms against govt then go get your weapons off the

black market like every other self-respecting revolutionary on the planet. This idea that the second amendment means they can just go roll down to the local Walmart to get their weapons of mass destruction is just plain ludicrous.

[Toorich]

12. The Supreme Court.....

can just rule that the Founding Fathers, when discussing the right to keep and bear arms, were obviously referencing
flintlocks. After all, the Court does have the "strict constructionist" republican appointees. So if we only have a right to
possess a flintlock then all other firearms can be totally regulated or banned. Easy peasy.

[Calista241]

23. Yeah, a decision like that wouldn't have any unforeseen consequences.

God forbid they revisit the 1st, 4th, and other Amendments with a strict constructionist bent.

Even the 13th Amendment only abolishes slavery "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Should we interpret that as it was written?

[Voltaire2]

13. Fuck you. Yes it is.

[bobbieinok]

14. And he and climate denier Inhofe are my senators!! And son and DIL have Grassley and Ernst

[Ohiogal]

18. You have my sympathy!

I have one good senator (Brown) and one complete imbecile (Portman)

[bitterross]

15. WRONG! No one needs to own an AR-15. No civilian needs an assault rifle.

The ammosexual senator is just wrong.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

16. Another one who'd sacrifice his own child to the NRA!

[Ohiogal]

17. But,

the Florida kid killer hadn't committed any crimes, so he wasn't in any crime database. At least he'd never been charged with any .... was the domestic violence incident brought to charges or not? Anyone know?

What these complete idiots like Lankford don't realize .... is that any cave dwelling mouth breather who gets riled up by Rush and Pox and their like-minded neighbors or family members or whatever, and who owns a gun, and gets foaming at the mouth enough about something, will go ahead and do something like this heinous massacre. If they didn't have the gun, the one that sprays bullets at a rapid pace, they wouldn't be able to do it. Period.

What good does it do to "report on someone who's acting wacky"? Good God, that's 90% of all Republicans!

[turbinetree]

20. Lankford-----------(FUCK YOU) you got $18,995 of blood money, check out line 149

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-7PdCI2NawSgP1QE-cGYVYedetYqepR-4jBweaJyqFo/edit#gid=1782600961


Just by taking $18,995 dollars in money you have fucking blood on your hands................and just for debate asshole, you passed a law that gave immunity to gun manufactures to sell assault weapons to the public so that they would not beheld accountable--------------your a dick head





November 2018 cannot get here fast enough

[forgotmylogin]

25. Thank you. VOTE HIM OUT. (n/t)

[turbinetree]

32. Your welcome

[Kber]

21. I call B.S.

[KatyaR]

24. Lankford is my senator.

Tell me, you f***ing piece of shite, what the f*** do you need an AR-15 for? Are you going quail hunting with it?

You worthless shadow of a man, how much money have you taken from the NRA? You aren't worth the shit my dog produces every day....

(Sorry, I'm so fed up with the representation we have from Oklahoma, both local and national, that I want to puke. Thanks to these assholes, they're turning my state into a haven for the rich and a third-world country for everybody else.)

[lastlib]

30. I'm very sorry...

You don't have a senator, you have Lankford and Inhofe. Corporate right-wing whores.

[MGKrebs]

26. Taking money from the NRA needs to be made as offensive as taking it from the KKK.

The NRA needs to be made a pariah.
You can be a gun owner, and a hunter without supporting the horrid catastrophe that the NRA has brought upon this country.
Given the choice, reject any candidate who takes NRA money.

[Skittles]

27. problem with THAT, Lankford (R - Fucking Asshole)

is YOU REPUKES DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE. You are perfectly happy ALLOWING THEM TO HAVE GUNS while DENYING THEM HEALTH CARE.

[randr]

28. Sorry Sanders

Assault rifles belong in the hands of well trained and regulated militias, not the general public. Let alone children.
He really has his head up the NRA ass doesn't he?

[mwooldri]

29. He has a valid point.

“The problem is not owning an AR-15, it’s the person that owns it."

Great! So gun licenses. Gun registration. Gun insurance. Where are they? There's none of that here in North Carolina, save for the need to get a permit to buy a handgun.

I don't think it should be harder to buy an AR 15 vs a double barreled shotgun. It should be harder to buy ANY gun.

There's also the issue of the ammunition and magazine capacity. In my opinion, high capacity magazines should not be available for civilian use.

[lastlib]

31. Lankford you idiout dipsh&it--it's already illegal for felons to own firearms.....

The common thread in nearly all of these mass killings is that "they obtained the weapon(s) legally."

We need to ban the sale and purchase of these industrial-strength killing machines, and do it NOW--before another child dies from one. Run over the god-damned NRA, with an Abrams tank, if necessary. Same with their congressional toadies. I would personally drive one over Wayne LaPeeError's fetid carcass, without batting an eye, to save a kid from another massacre.

[BaronChocula]

34. You know what else isn't a problem?

Being in possession of meth. Let's legalize it.