The Drudge Report often displays banner headlines trumpeting the latest political gaffe or mistep. These tidbits are often amusing, and sometimes telling. Today, however, Drudge misfired with the headline, “Kerry Cosponsored Bill Banning Gun He Waves.” According to Drudge (or at least the version of the story still up around noon EST), Kerry co-sponsored the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2003 which would have banned pistol-grip shotguns. Yet the gun in the picture is not a pistol-grip shotgun. Rather it has a traditional stock grip. (Pistol grips look like this.)
In Drudge’s defense, it could be argued that the bill in question has a broad and vague definition of “pistol grip”: “The term ‘pistol grip’ means a grip, a thumbhole stock, or any other characteristic that can function as a grip.” This definition is quite broad, and would seem to apply to just about any gun with any type of grip — and that would almost certainly not have been the intention of Senator Kerry or the bill’s other supporters. For anyone who knows just about anything about guns, what constitutes a pistol grip is rather clear, and this ain’t it.
Update:Folks at The Corner have also noted the discrepancy. Apparently someone told Drudge, as the language in the item is softer than what was posted this morning (and the silly additional claim that this would somehow violate the Brady law — which covers handguns — has also been removed from the story.) Now Drudge has added the additional — but less-compelling — story line that Kerry received the gun as a gift when the law would have banned such gifts. Perhaps, but that sort of thing rates awfully low on the hypocrisy meter.
[As a sidenote, I appreciate it when Drudge — or any other web-based writer — corrects misstatements, but it would be nice if such revisions were acknowledged. Except for typos, I’ve tried to acknowledge any mistakes in posts that are subsequently corrected.]
Second Update:Glenn‘s on the case as well, while Publicola e-mails that the gun in question would have been banned after all — but due to its magazine capacity, not the grip. [Update: Publicola has a new post here.]
Another Update: David Kopel weighs in, concluding that the gun in question is “not a “pistol grip” in the ordinary meaning of the term, but it is a “pistol grip” as defined by S. 1431.” Fair enough, as I readily defer to Kopel when it comes to guns. Whatever the impact of the bill
Kerry once supported, the Kerry campaign says Senator Kerry is now against such a ban, even if before he supported it.
Last Update:Then again, a reader e-mails:
I worked my way through law school by, among other things, doing gunstock work. If you put me on the stand and asked me if the shotgun Kerry is holding has a “pistol grip” stock within the common meaning in the trade, my answer would be yes. The other type (no protuberance ) would be an “English,” “straight” , or “straight hand” stock.
See, for instance, catalog entries here, here, and here. So, in the end, maybe Drudge didn’t misfire so much after all.
And another reader writes:
I was a juror on a case involving a shotgun-inflicted double murder, and from what I learned, I’m reasonably sure the involvement of the
grip is fairly minimal in that sort of crime. (It’s the metallic end that does the damage).
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