The Not-Sweet 16

THE NOT-SWEET 16

As reported in last week's Alert, on July 13, 2006, all 55 Republicans, joined by 28 Democrats and 1 Independent, voted to pass Senator David Vitter's (R-La.) amendment to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds allocated under the Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 5441) to be used to confiscate lawfully-possessed firearms during an emergency or major disaster. Sixteen Senators opposed the prohibition.

In passing this legislation, the United States Senate acted on a bi-partisan basis to protect the self-defense rights of citizens when those rights are most vital, in the aftermath of a major disaster, when law-abiding citizens are left to defend themselves and their families.

Sixteen Democrats (including both Senators from the states of California, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York) voted to defeat this commonsense legislation (Déjà vu Note: Under the unblinking eye of the C-SPAN cameras, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) voted against the Vitter amendment, then minutes later he reversed course and voted for it.) These extreme opponents of the Second Amendment are:

Daniel Akaka, Hawaii
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts
Barbara Boxer, California
Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey
Hillary Clinton, New York
Carl Levin, Michigan
Christopher Dodd, Connecticut
Robert Menéndez, New Jersey
Dick Durbin, Illinois
Barbara Mikulski, Maryland
Dianne Feinstein, California
Jack Reed, Rhode Island
Tom Harkin, Iowa
Paul Sarbanes, Maryland
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii
Chuck Schumer, New York