Campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire
Jack Kemp’s one-liner fired at the gun owners of New Hampshire was a blast. “My idea of gun control,” quipped this congressman who would be President, “is a steady aim” (Part I, Feb. 3).
Wow! So many famous steady aims we recall--in Dallas, in Los Angeles, in Memphis. So many lesser known steady aims there are every day, so many bullets right on target.
But in promising with other dauntless Republican presidential candidates unyielding opposition to gun control, Kemp proves that he comprehends the National Rifle Assn.’s wondrous creed, the doctrine that holds the gun harmless. It is the finger on the trigger and not the trigger that is lethal.
How does that clever canon of the bumper sticker go? “Guns don’t kill ducks, deer kill ducks.” “Guns don’t kill presidents, people kill presidents.” Or, when a steady aim is deflected, “Guns don’t wound presidents and their press secretaries, people wound presidents and their press secretaries.”
MICHELE MILLER REGAL
Idyllwild
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
