Link

Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America was on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell. As I watched it live, my jaw dropped as he suggested that Ronald Reagan only supported gun control in “his later years” because his Alzheimer’s made him do it.

That’s pretty low, Pratt, even for you.

I thought I had misheard. I hadn’t. Via Think Progress:

Pratt:

President Reagan owned an AR-15.

Andrea Mitchell:

And he supported gun control. And he advocated for it.

Pratt:

In his later years. I think we have to keep that in account.

Mitchell:

In his later years he was almost killed by John Hinckley.

Pratt:

But all through his presidency he opposed gun control, that’s my point.

Here’s the entire segment. Watch at your own risk, and have some Valium handy:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rick Perry’s solution to gun violence? What else? “Pray for our children.” That sure has worked out well so far, hasn’t it? Here’s his full statement in a press release:

Gov. Rick Perry released the following statement regarding President Obama’s executive actions:

“The Vice President’s committee was appointed in response to the tragedy at Newtown, but very few of his recommendations have anything to do with what happened there.

“Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror.

“There is evil prowling in the world – it shows up in our movies, video games and online fascinations, and finds its way into vulnerable hearts and minds. As a free people, let us choose what kind of people we will be. Laws, the only redoubt of secularism, will not suffice. Let us all return to our places of worship and pray for help. Above all, let us pray for our children.

“In fact, the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president.”

Two things, Ricky: One, nobody is abridging the Second Amendment. Americans would still get to hang on to their firearms, just not the military assault style ones that “were created to spray the enemy… because it was ineffective to assume young soldiers could become marksmen…” And two, the hidden history of the Second Amendment? It was about “slave control.”

Okay, three things. As I said in a previous post:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Tyranny isn’t mentioned. A militia is. Regulation is. A well-regulated militia is.

Not the freedom to spray innocent Americans with bullets, not overcompensation for personal insecurities, and not keeping the gun industry’s and politicans’ pockets stuffed with currency. Those aren’t mentioned in the Second Amendment.

Neither is prayer.

By the way, per a new TIME/CNN poll, Obama’s job approval jumped, public favors stricter gun laws: 55% of Americans now approve of the job Obama is doing as President, compared to 43% who disapprove. That ratio mirrors the public appetite for tighter restrictions on guns, with 55% of respondents favoring stricter gun control laws and 44% opposed.

Stick that in your high capacity magazine, gun zealots.