And try really hard to not run against someone named Gunner.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/article ... news13.txt
DeLay aims at McDaniel about gun lawsuit
Friday, August 11, 2006 10:16 AM CDT
By JIM WILLIAMSON
Texarkana Gazette
The scope of the campaign for Arkansas attorney general is taking aim on the “right of self protection� and the Second Amendment to bear arms, said the Republican candidate, Gunner DeLay.
“One of the key issues in this race is going to be the right to bear arms. It is one of the most precious rights we have. I have been steadfast in my support of the Second Amendment, having co-sponsored the concealed weapon bill, voting in favor of the ban on municipal lawsuits against gun manufacturers and voting against mandatory trigger locks. I am an NRA member and have been endorsed by the Gun Owners of America,� DeLay said in a news conference Thursday morning in the Miller County Courthouse in Texarkana, Ark.
He was stressing the differences between himself and his Democratic opponent Dustin McDaniel concerning gun owners’ rights.
DeLay said McDaniel was a “major attorney� in the lawsuit filed against Remington Arms in 1998 by the McDaniel & Wells Law Firm. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the victims of the Jonesboro school shootings.
“McDaniel needs to come clean with the voters of Arkansas about the role he played in one of the worst junk lawsuits ever filed in our state’s history. To date, he has tried to the put the lawsuit off on his father, but the facts clearly show he played an equal, if not greater role than his father did, in handling the frivolous litigation,� DeLay said.
Part of the lawsuit alleged the parents of one of the shooters in the “Jonesboro tragedy created an antisocial or dysfunctional environment because he was given firearms and was taught how to use them,� said DeLay.
“It is enormously disturbing McDaniel contends giving firearms to your child and teaching them to use them in a responsible manner is ‘antisocial and dysfunctional’ behavior and cause for legal liability. If that is the case, then an overwhelming majority of Arkansans who hunt or shoot for sport together as a family activity would be found guilty of negligence in the eyes of my opponent,� he said.
DeLay also said it was “flat wrong� for the lawsuit to claim the owner of the guns should face legal actions despite the weapons being stolen.
“According to McDaniel, if you make a reasonable effort to secure your gun and it’s stolen and used in a criminal act, you should be held responsible. That is flat wrong,� said DeLay.
“A legal document filed with the court showed the owner had his guns stored in a locked basement that was broken into with a crowbar, and had the guns locked in a case with a cable running through each of the triggers and the key was hidden. The suit alleged the owner was negligent because he failed to secure his guns in a vault and the guns were not equipped with trigger locks,� said DeLay.
The lawsuit alleged Remington Arms was negligent because the gun it made did not have a trigger lock installed when it was sold, which made it defective.
“It seems my opponent believes that every gun that does not have a trigger lock is defective. Does that mean as attorney general he would use the power of the office to confiscate guns that do not have trigger locks under the guise of consumer protection? McDaniel needs to answer these and other tough questions about the issues raised in his lawsuit that stomped on the constitutional rights of every gun owner in Arkansas,� DeLay said.