Gun Control Group Endorses John Conyers
DETROIT (WWJ) - Proponents of re-implementing the Brady Bill ban on assault weapons were in Detroit on Monday to endorse U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, in his bid for re-election.
"You don't hunt rabbits with an AK-47 and you don't try to protect your home with it either," said Conyers, who is calling on President Obama, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and others and support the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence.
Brady Campaign Vice President Dennis Henigman said that, under the Brady Bill had, the movie theatre mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, would not have happened.
"If that law had been extended, the Colorado shooter would not have had access to the kind of assault rifle and 100-round drum magazine that he used in that shooting," said Henigman. "Would someone justify allowing 100-round ammunition magazines to be available to the general public that allows a shooter like that to fire 100 rounds without even pausing to reload?"
Conyers became the first to sign a "Brady Campaign Statement of Principle" seeking to ban convicted felons and domestic abusers, terrorists and "people found to be dangerously mentally ill" from buying, owning or carrying a gun.
Opponents say owning guns is necessary for self-protection and any form of gun control would be the first effort by the government to take away Americans' constitutional rights.