Politidumb of the Week

PEZ and Spring
Loaded Dispensers

You would think that someone who creates a persona and advertises oneself as a reformer and advocate would invest some time and effort in learning about the object of their advocacy.   It's a pretty simple concept.   

When it comes to gun control, anyone who has ever seen or used a PEZ dispenser knows how a gun ammunition magazine works.  But taking a minute or two to figure that out was apparently too great of a burden for Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), a lead advocate and sponsor of “fundamental" "common-sense” gun control legislation. 

When questioned about the efficacy of banning new high-capacity gun magazines when there are already large numbers in circulation she said, 

“These are ammunition, these are bullets, so the people who have them now are going to shoot them.  And so, if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines will decrease over time, dramatically, because over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available.” 

Just like a PEZ dispenser becomes useless when you eat through the initial candy supply?  Or how you dispose of a car when it runs out of gas?  Sure.  Right.

The Denver Post reported,

Rep. Diana DeGette came under fire for an egregiously incorrect statement last week. And deservedly so.

The Denver Democrat, who's led the charge on many high-profile issues in her lengthy career in Washington, demonstrated complete ignorance of how gun magazines work during our forum on gun bills Tuesday, telling the audience that magazines are unusable after bullets have been fired.

I've heard elected officials say things over the years that were regrettable, insensitive and just plain wrong. The stunning thing about DeGette's remarks, however, was that they showed a lack of knowledge about a topic on which you'd expect her to be well-informed. She is, after all, primary co-sponsor of a bill that would regulate magazine size.

As for the issue of bad guys having access to weapons she would prohibit law-abiding good guys from owning, Ms. DeGette told an elderly man not to worry about defending himself, that he’d “probably be dead anyway."

Ms. Degette’s assertions are politidumb gifts that keep on giving, no doubt to be recited and played back many of thousands of times in the years to come by the NRA.