Al Sharpton Quotes
We must work to stop gun violence. I’ve consoled far too many parents whose children were taken too soon. We need to come together across party, racial, and religious lines. It’s time to take responsibility for making sure our babies grow up.
Al Sharpton, Protestant Minister & Unsuccessful Candidate for the Democratic Nomination for President Public Service Advertisement, “Lean Forward”, MSNBC, Mother Jones, July / August 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In Colombia, as in the U. S., there are many more deaths and injuries to family members caused by guns in homes, then there are deaths or injuries caused by intruders, robbers or other bad actors. However, for many Americans—especially men—they would prefer the risk of a gun in the home, than the indignity of being unable to defend their families and themselves. In essence, this is the crux of the gun control debate. Both sides are right and just reflect different values.
This quotation was particularly shocking to many conservative Republicans for whom it was a fundamental principle that the government should do nothing about gun control and the issue of gun accessibility. Hyde, breaking what had been a conservative wall of silence, had generally been a legislator of great principle who put national and public interest above that of party when critical problems as he saw them were at stake.
There were very few people who believed that a pistol would have no defensive value then and there are very few today. The advocates of gun control grant its defensive value, but argue that the rise of using a gun is greater than the benefit of the use. Add to that the deaths from suicides and gun accidents which kill more Americans than those who are shot and killed intentionally.
This was his commentary in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre by a deranged student who bought two powerful guns and killed 32 people on campus.
Like many other ideologues, the Senator was a better politician than he was a historian. He had a tendency to not be very accurate in his facts. In this particular gaff, which was castigated by critics, he was wrong about both facts he gave. First, not only was it not the case that there were few gun crimes “back then”. See {640086} and {640085} . Second his implication that everyone carried guns, and the guns were responsible for the “low” gun crime rate, was also false. Gun crime was so prevalent that most towns and cities in the West had gun control ordinances prohibiting carrying guns in the city limits. The famous Gunfight at the OK Corral which the Senator cited was in Tombstone, AZ in 1881. At that time, it was illegal to carry a gun in Tombstone. See {640063} for the gun control ordinance. As a matter of fact, the OK Corral gunfight was fought because Sheriff Wyatt Earp was disarming some cowboys who brought their guns to town. Glen Kessler, The Washington Post fact checker gave this quotation “3 Pinocchios”.
Even though the research was done by the U. S. CDC (Communicable Disease Center), the finest public health research center in the world, it was still attacked by the National Rifle Association and many of their supporters in Congress. The response was so intense that in the appropriations for the CDC there was an amendment that required that Federal Money not be spent for “Gun Safety Research”. So Federal Health Agencies were actually barred by Congress from doing any research as to how guns can be used, stored and manufactured more safely.
Although written by a science fiction writer, this is one of the best quotations arguing for widespread gun ownership.
Alfred Charles Sharpton is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes regular guest appearances on cable news television. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show. In 2015, the program was shifted to Sunday mornings.
