More from the interview, and more of McCains
voting record.Senator, throughout your career you have opposed waiting periods on firearm purchases, bans on commonly owned ammunition, and efforts to register and license gun owners. What are your reasons for these positions?
Throughout my years in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, I have consistently opposed these measures, because they are arbitrary restrictions on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Gun bans, waiting periods, ammunition bans, registration and licensing of gun owners -- each of these has a common theme: They only affect law-abiding citizens. And they have another common theme: They dont work as crime-fighting tools. The way to reduce crime is to prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of existing laws -- which, if elected president, gun owners can count on my administration to do.
Senator, you were a co-sponsor of, and helped lead the effort to pass, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in the Senate -- a bill to stop the reckless lawsuits that were designed to bankrupt the American firearm industry. Why did you feel so strongly about that legislation ?
I was proud to co-sponsor and work hard for the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. For too long, big-city mayors were trying to sue the American firearm industry out of business, by forcing them to spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars just to defend their innocence in court. Holding the manufacturers of a lawful product responsible for the unforeseeable acts of criminals is not the way we do things in America. It was important for Congress to step in and protect this key industry -- an industry that President Franklin Roosevelt called the arsenal of our democracy. I was proud to help lead that effort.
Senator, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there were efforts to confiscate legally owned guns from citizens at a time when there was a breakdown of public services, including police protection. What is your view of this?
I was disturbed to see the actions of authorities attempting to disarm law-abiding citizens, especially at a time of crisis or emergency when public authority was in doubt. I was pleased to support and vote for an amendment that prohibited such confiscation in 2006. One of the core purposes of the Second Amendment is to enable our citizenry to protect themselves, their families and their property. Government should never undermine this inalienable right.
Can your Dem do this ?