Detroit Mayor ‘Finally Gets It’ About Thugs With Guns Following Shooting

As one OFCC volunteer put it upon hearing news of this shooting, "this is EXACTLY why I carry in parks and why we need to be able to carry in parks. You never know where there is (as the Mayor called the shooter) an "idiot" like this."

For Immediate Release: 6/25/2004

BELLEVUE, WA— The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today applauded Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for “finally getting it” about fixing responsibility for a violent act on the perpetrator, and not holding firearms owners responsible as a group.

In the wake of a Wednesday nights shooting of nine people during a fireworks show, a man apparently pulled a handgun and shot nine people. In response, Kilpatrick was quoted by the Associated Press insisting the man was a lone “idiot.”

“This is not who we are,” Kilpatrick reportedly stated. “This is who he is.”

SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb stated, “We would like to congratulate Mayor Kilpatrick, who has apparently figured out that the conduct of one thug with a gun does not represent the conduct of millions of law-abiding American firearms owners. He most assuredly does not represent the tens of thousands of Michigan residents who are licensed to legally carry firearms for their personal protection.

“Unfortunately,” Gottlieb added, “it appears Kilpatrick arrived at this epiphany not because he’s suddenly decided all gun owners aren’t bad, but only to do damage control for his city, out of concern for potentially lost revenue. Tell us it’s not the money, Kwame. Tell us it’s about good guys and bad guys, and that you really do recognize the difference.”

Police reportedly have a suspect in custody, and they’ve recovered a gun, identified in one report as a Glock 9mm pistol from which the serial number has been “obliterated.” Incredibly, one newspaper, and Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, have used this crime to call for renewal of the ban on so-called “assault rifles” before it expires in September.

“The gun in question was an illegally-altered handgun,” Gottlieb said, “making its possession a crime. The ‘assault rifle’ ban has nothing to do with handguns, and using this crime as an excuse to press for renewal of that failed legislation amounts to inexcusable grandstanding.

“Law-abiding gun owners deplore such senseless shootings,” Gottlieb stated. “The individual who did this should be held responsible, but it is he who is guilty, not the millions of legally-armed Americans who had nothing to do with this, or any, crime.”

The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

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