Posted by Juan Non-Volokh: Drudge Misfires: 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, "[1]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 [2]this.) In Drudge's defense, it could be argued that [3]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 [4]this ain't it.
References 1. http://www.drudgereport.com/dncg.htm 2. http://www.lymanproducts.com/pachmayr/images/vndicatr.jpg 3. http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.1431: 4. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040906/ids_photos_ts/r2995855762.jpg _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://highsorcery.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
