December 21, 2012

The federal judge who sentenced Jared Loughner — the man responsible for killing six people and critically injured former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona last year — wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times that said the assault weapons ban, as well as a ban on high-capacity magazines, shoiuld be re-enacted.

The AP reported that “It’s unusual for a sitting judge to make such high-profile comments about public policy.”

But the judge, who claims he’s a gun owner and a conservative appointed by a Republican president, wrote that as he sentenced Loughner, “I lamented the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, which prohibited the manufacture and importation of certain particularly deadly guns, as well as magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.”

He lated explained, “Bystanders got to Loughner and subdued him only after he emptied one 31-round magazine and was trying to load another.”

While he admitted that there will always be those “bent on mass murder” who cannot be stopped, “we might be able to take the ‘mass’ out of “mass shooting,” or at least make the perpetrator’s job a bit harder.”

He went on to write that civilians simply don’t need assault weapons. “Gun enthusiasts can still have their venison chili, shoot for sport and competition, and make a home invader flee for his life without pretending they are a part of the SEAL team that took out Osama bin Laden.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/21/conservative-federal-judge-re...