23 January 2008

Jeff Knox On Bush And The DOJ/DC Brief

Updated Jan. 25, 2008, 8:26 am -- Faux paus on my part. Neal Knox was head of NRA-ILA from 1978 to 1982. Chris, thanks for the correction!

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Updated Jan. 23, 2008, 10:57 pm -- BTW, Jeff was present for the "lie-in" gun show protest, where some 200 pro-self defense activists, quietly observing the goings-on, picked up more publicity than the gun grabbers. He noted to one of the protesters that he was armed when he was in college, though it is illegal now, and that if students had been armed at Virginia Tech, the massacre would have been stopped shortly after it started. The young man, who survived four gunshot wounds during the attacks, told Jeff he felt sorry for him.

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Jeff Knox, along with his brother Chris, run The Firearms Coalition. Great thinkers, even better writers. They carry on a tremendous legacy left to them by their dad, Neal Knox, the first executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

Here is Jeff's take on the Department of Justice brief backing the District of Columbia's handgun ban:

"It appears that the "pro-gun" Republican Department of Justice fears that any decision from the Supreme Court which held that banning any class of weapons was an infringement of the Second Amendment, might open the door to challenges against bans on dreaded machineguns. It is worth noting that Congress recognized back in 1934 that banning machineguns would be a violation of the Second Amendment, so they instead devised a plan whereby they could control such firearms with burdensome taxes and paperwork restrictions."

You should take a moment to read his full commentary. Nicely written Jeff!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Brent --

Thanks for the kind words. We certainly appreciate it.

Just a minor correction — Dad was Executive Director of ILA from 1978 to 1982, but he was not the first. That job belonged to Harlon Carter. Bob Kukla then took the job. After the 1977 Cincinnati revolt, Carter was elected NRA EVP and eventually persuaded Dad to make the move. He planned to stay no more than two years. Funny thing about plans.

Thanks again for the shout.

Chris Knox

Brent Greer said...

Gentlemen, I stand corrected. I will make that change.