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Perry: 2nd Amendment trumps Obama, any president

Wednesday, 16 January 2013 22:00

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry expressed outrage Wednesday at the president's plan to curb gun violence, saying he's "disgusted" by the "political left" using the Connecticut school massacre to push for greater restrictions on guns and that the Second Amendment trumps Barack Obama or any other president.

At a White House ceremony, Obama unveiled plans to press a reluctant Congress to pass universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used during the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., last month.

He also used his presidential powers to enact 23 measures that don't require the backing of lawmakers. Obama's executive actions include ordering federal agencies to make more data available for background checks, appointing a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence.

Perry's reaction came a short time later and was especially bombastic — even for a Republican governor who rarely shies away from strong language.

"The piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally," Perry said in a statement. "The Second Amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president."

Obama promised to use "whatever weight this office holds" to urge lawmakers into action on a plan that will cost $500 million. He is also calling for improvements in school safety, including putting 1,000 police officers in schools and bolstering mental health care by training more health professionals to deal with young people who may be at risk. His proposals were based on recommendations from a task force led by Vice President Joe Biden. They mark the most comprehensive effort to address gun violence in two decades — since Congress passed the 1994 ban on high-grade, military-style assault weapons. That ban expired in 2004.

Perry responded that "the Vice President's committee was appointed in response to the tragedy at Newtown, but very few of his recommendations have anything to do with what happened there."

"Guns require a finger to pull the trigger," he said. "The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror."

Perry also said prayer can be stronger than laws, imploring: "Above all, let us pray for our children."

"There is evil prowling in the world — it shows up in our movies, video games and online fascinations, and finds its way into vulnerable hearts and minds," he said. "As a free people, let us choose what kind of people we will be. Laws, the only redoubt of secularism, will not suffice. Let us all return to our places of worship and pray for help."

Perry's comments came after first-term Rep. Steve Toth introduced a bill in the Texas House seeking to ban in the state any federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.The bill by the Republican from The Woodlands would allow police officers across the state to arrest federal law enforcement officers who attempt to enforce any such ban in Texas. Toth has since appeared on television stations throughout the state and the country, promoting his legislation.Even though the Texas legislative session opened last week, House committees have yet to be appointed, meaning legislation cannot yet be debated much less approved. Still, the U.S. Constitution mandates that federal law prevails when contradicted by state law.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, released his own statement saying, "President Obama has put forward a common sense plan to increase gun safety in the United States. How many more tragedies must we endure before we step up and take action?"Ellis said he planned to introduce a bill that would stop Texans who cannot pass a background check at a gun store from going to a flea market and buying one there, "no questions asked."

Published in Around Texas

Father's teachings prove gun violence rhetoric focusing on wrong steps

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:53

My father would have celebrated his 59th birthday Feb. 7. I have been trying to think of a way to honor him in these pages, to a group of readers that didn't know him at all. How do I explain a man that still means everything to his family, even though he has been gone for nearly a decade?

Then it occurred to me. I could have been Adam Lanza, had it not been for my father.

I don't write that for shock value, nor do I write that to draw attention. I write that because it is true.

You see, I was a lot like Adam growing up, kind of an outcast – the kid with the brains, but scrawny and awkward. The kid that had glasses as big as his head and big dumbo ears. The kid that got straight A's without even trying.

I was picked on, made fun of, pushed, punched, kicked and laughed at from the time I started kindergarten. I never pushed back, never lashed out – I just quietly performed in school and even got into the gifted kids class.

Yeah, the bullying bothered me, but I tried not to let it show. I still had friends, rode bikes, played baseball and basketball and had a typical early childhood. I had a family that loved each other and parents who saw something special in me.

Did I get upset? Of course. I even remember a time in elementary a kid brought a gun to school, because he was being picked on. I remember understanding why he did it, but the thought never crossed my mind to do it as well.

Then something changed. Something happened inside of me. I started talking back to nearly every adult, my grades started slipping and I became bitter. I lashed out at my parents. I closed off from other kids and kind of withdrew into my own world. I now know that part of it was because we all were changing. Hormones and liking girls replaced riding bikes and throwing rocks into the woods. I was that nerdy, awkward kid that none of the girls liked. I was alone.

I very easily could have spiraled out of control, but I didn't. My father was a big, strong guy that was the cool kid in school, yet he always told me I was better than him, smarter than him and could do whatever I wanted in life.

Both of my parents continued to push right and wrong in me. They encouraged me to get involved in debate and the school newspaper. With their help and encouragement I eventually regained some of that confidence and started to do better, started to become me.

I also grew up in a household that had a lot of guns. My father was a self-taught gunsmith. He taught me to respect what these weapons can do in the wrong hands and raised me to be a person that never had those kind of hands. I don't ever remember thinking about grabbing one of those guns and getting revenge on those that tormented me.
I very easily could have though, had it not been for my father teaching me that vengeance doesn't equate to justice - that my justice would come at the end of my life. The end of my father's earthly life reinforced that. He had hundreds of people show up to both his visitation/wake and his funeral. The county courthouse closed and flew its flags at half staff (he was the county's clerk of the circuit court).

My father was my hero. He loved guns. He loved his wife. He loved his daughter. He loved his son. He loved people.

The talk about gun violence following the Newtown shooting is justified, but my father would have been upset with the tone and direction. He would have said something that people have ridiculed as ignorant bumper sticker talk – that it wasn't the guns that killed, it was a sick, broken and troubled young man that did.

He would have said that the talk needs to be about parenting, bullying and mental health – all of which are lagging or downright broken in today's society.

He would have said to fix the real problems, without blaming the tools used.

He would have been right and I am living proof.

Published in Opinions