US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta fired off a strong defence of gun control legislation on Thursday, in front of a decidedly sceptical audience.
Speaking to about 150 members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Mr. Panetta said steps can be taken to protect kids in school without undermining the Second Amendment.
“Who the hell needs armour-piercing bullets except you guys in battle?” Mr. Panetta told the soldiers at the U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza in northern Italy. “For the life of me, I don’t know why the hell people have to have assault weapons.”
Mr. Panetta, who said he believes in the Second Amendment, was asked about the issue by a soldier who wanted to know what steps the Obama administration was going to take to deal with attacks in schools that “don’t have to do with tearing apart our Second Amendment.”
Known for his often blunt and colourful language, Mr. Panetta added that things can be done to protect children “so that the nuts that are out there won’t use these kinds of weapons to wipe them out.”
President Barack Obama’s sweeping gun control package includes calls for a ban on assault weapons and a universal requirement for background checks on gun purchases.
Keywords: Leon Panetta, US gun control legislation
“For the life of me, I don’t know why the hell people have to have
assault weapons.”
Martin Luther King was denied a CCW permit in Alabama in 1956 after his
house was bombed by racists. His family was surrounded by armed men after
that. How many bullets are enough when you're shooting back at the KKK
shooting at the King family?
After Katrina the police that remained in New Orleans turned on their own
citizens, abusing them terribly, stealing from refugees, even murdering
them. Who do you call then? No phones: How do you call at all?
Have we forgotten the Korean-American store owners who defended
themselves in the Los Angeles riots with exactly this sort of modern
sporting rifle? Mr. Panetta has.
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