Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Candidate, Bill Weld, is Still Pro Gun Control
Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Candidate, Bill Weld, was once a proponent of some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. His supporters maintain that Weld has changed his view on guns, since he enacted this legislation more than two decades ago. Weld even assured delegates at the Libertarian Party Convention that he made mistakes as governor of Massachusetts, and is now firmly in favor of the second amendment.
It seems Weld wasn’t being so honest with the delegates that voted for him. In an interview with Revolt last week at the Democratic National Covnention, Bill Weld said:
“You know the five-shot rifle, that’s a standard military rifle. The problem is if you attach a clip to it so it can fire more shells, and if you remove the pin so that it becomes an automatic weapon. And those are independent criminal offenses. That’s when they become essentially a weapon of mass destruction. The problem with handguns is probably even worse than the problem of the AR-15. You shouldn’t have anybody who’s on a terrorist watch list be able to buy any gun at all.“
Watch the interview here:
If you’re legitimately on a terror watch list, he’s right. But Johnson has also said that the terror watch list is a menace to civil liberties and needs to be tightened up so that only people that represent an actual danger to society are on that list, assuming we have one at all.
It’s a shame you children can’t be intellectually honest.
And what makes one legitimately on a terror watch list?
That’s where the problem is right there. Figure out a way to have that list without circumventing due process.
If you have been accused of terrorism, afforded due process, and convicted of terrorism, sure, you should not be able to purchase a gun. But being put on ANY list without a chance to defend that accusation should NEVER be ground for denying civil rights…including the right to self defense.
If you have been accused of terrorism, afforded due process, and convicted of terrorism, sure, you should not be able to purchase a gun. But being put on ANY list without a chance to defend that accusation should NEVER be ground for denying civil rights…including the right to self defense.
Once a gun grabber always a gun grabber, it is a mental disorder….no reforming them…
Once a gun grabber always a gun grabber, it is a mental disorder….no reforming them…
I don’t think that’s true. People can learn; there’s just not much opportunity to learn about guns when you’re the governor of Massachusetts. Hopefully he can be educated before he’s interviewed on this again.
You have heard the old adage, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. This guy is a old dog.
This guy is a tool! Add a “Clip” and. Pull out the Pin for full auto
What a idiot!
I don’t see how this isn’t “middle of the road” I’m all for guns. ‘An armed society is a polite society’ But I don’t see where a fully automatic weapon is needed either. The problem isn’t the gun itself. It’s the tampering with the item after purchase that makes it illegal. That seems to be what he’s concerned about. The act of tampering with the way the firearm works should be criminal, but not simply owning it.
IF you knew ANYthing about firearm laws, you’d know that it is a federal offense to convert any gun to fire fully automatically and can get you years in prison. Weld is NOT “middle of the road” because he is a complete idiot when it comes to firearms and how they function. A “five shot rifle” hasn’t been the standard military weapon in the U.S. for over 50 years.
Here is what you can expect if you convert ANY gun to full auto: A violation of the national firearms act results in a felony punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison, a $100,000 fine, and forfeiture of
the individual’s right to own or possess firearms in the future.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/05/21/machine-guns-legal-practical-guide-full-auto/
The tampering you mention requires more than “removing a pin” like Weld suggested, and it is already illegal.
ok, I’ve built multiple AR-15’s. Can this idiot tell me which pin needs to be removed to make it select fire or god forbid fully automatic capable of shooting planets out of their orbits around the sun? Now the whole premise of the Libertarian party is to follow the US constitution, to reduce the influence, impact and size of gov’t on the lives of citizens and generally embrace freedom. Nowhere in his drivel did he make any mention of those idealisms. I would call him a tool but tools have purposes. He’s just an ill informed idiot who needs to step down from any form of public service.
The 5 shot rifle has not been a standard military rifle since the M1 Garand replaced the Springfield 1903A3 in the mid 1950s. And you can not “attach a clip so you can fire more shells” to a 1903A3 Maybe Mr Weld needs to update his military history. If he knew anything about military weapons, he’d know that you attach a magazine, not a “clip”, which also went out of use with the 1903A3.
I’ve handled all sorts of military weapons since the mid 1950s and have owned an AR15 since 2001. I have yet to find Mr Weld’s magic “pin” that I can “remove…so that it becomes an automatic weapon”. The man is an idiot.
The M1 Garand Rifle (with 8-round clips to load its en-bloc magazine) was adopted as the standard service rifle of the U.S. Army in 1936, and it remained in that role until it was replaced beginning in 1957 by the M14.
True, and no doubt!
(Except, the M1 Garand uses a clip as well).
This guy just said that if you EVER get put on a watch list, you should NEVER be able to get off of it!
I think the “standard military rifle” he refers to is the Springfield M1903. It was used through WWII where it was replace by the M1 Garand. The US modern standard military rifle is the M4 & its variants. The closest thing to it for civillian use is the AR-15; which is based on the M-16 (the predecessor to the M4).
To make a semi-auto AR-15 into full auto requires that the lower be drilled & machined and replacement of many internal parts. There is no pin to remove to make it full auto.
Weld is ignorant of anything modern in firearms as he has so clearly demonstrated. But as has been clearly demonstrated this election; ignorance (nor dishonesty or criminal behavior), is not a detriment to candidacy or even electability.
The main problem with gun laws in this country is the fact that they were written by people who are totally ignorant on the subject of guns.
If you bless the gun with a Harry Potter wand it will become a gunship capable of killing god.