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Assault weapons ban becomes a critical divider among Senate candidates

In the recent interviews on MSNBC’s Hardball, Republican Pat Toomey emphasized one of the biggest cultural differences between his campaign and the campaign of Democratic Senate candidates Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter.

Last week, that difference was exacerbated when Joe Sestak urged his colleagues to reinstate a Clinton-era ban on assault weapons, pointing for justification to the recent shootings in Allegheny County, as well as the killings of police officers in Pittsburgh.

“As we continue to see the effects of the violence in our state and nation, we must enact legislation banning assault weapons with the necessary sense of urgency,” Sestak said in a statement. “The senseless shootings of so many innocent victims during an aerobics class in Allegheny County, and of the three police officers in Pittsburgh this past April, are heartbreaking reminders that we must immediately address the loss of the commonsense ban earlier this decade.”

Sestak joins several other Congressmen and high-profile Pennsylvania lawmakers who have called to reinstate the ban, including Gov. Ed Rendell and Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-8).

The push to ban assault weapons has elicited strong reactions from Pennsylvania’s pro-gunners, who believe that the ban is too expansive, containing too many guns to make it reasonable. Sestak’s ban calls to reassess the definition of “semi-automation weapon” to include conversion kits, which are used to convert firearms into semi-automatic weapons, as well as any semiautomatic rifle or pistol that can accept a detachable magazine clip.

While Rendell has argued in the past that such guns have no purpose other than to kill, gun owners see the issue differently, saying that even these guns are used to hunt.

Toomey’s campaign has made it clear that he will stand with gun owners in the fight for gun rights. In a statement released in April, Tim Macey, vice-chairman of the organization Gun Owners of America, said that “Gun owners of America knows from experience that when we’re in the trenches battling the anti-gunners over re-instating the semi-auto gun ban… Pat Toomey will be with us shoulder to shoulder.”

While each candidate promises fiscal responsibility and job creation when in office, their stances on gun rights provide voters with a clear window past campaign slogans and economic policy into the true liberal or conservative cultural determinants that will impact policy decisions in the Senate.

August 10, 2009 at 7:01 am

--Kenneth Elder

Tags: Joe Sestak, Pat Toomey

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