Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took actress and activist Alyssa Milano to task over remarks she made questioning Second Amendment rights.
On Sunday, Milano questioned the validity of the Second Amendment in a tweet following news of a mass killing that took place Saturday in Texas.
A 36-year-old suspect shot and killed at least seven people on the streets of Odessa, Texas, in what appeared to be random attacks. The incident resulted in the injuries of nearly two dozen other people. The Midland Police Department announced that the suspect was killed in a police exchange of gunfire shortly after the suspect carried out the heinous attack.
What happened during the exchange between Cruz and Milano?
In a pointed tweet, Milano wrote, “Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby.”
She was responding to a tweet from Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Texas), who promised that he would not allow the mass killer’s acts put a damper on the Second Amendment rights of Texans.
Schaefer wrote, “I am NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans. Period. None of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent.”
Cruz noticed Milano’s complaints, and responded in kind.
He wrote, “An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give [sic] but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”
The Texas lawmaker continued, “The right to self-defense is recognized repeatedly in the Bible, eg Exodus 22:2: ‘If a thief is caught breaking in at night & is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.’ (Note, though, verse 3 says it IS murder if during daylight (ie, not self-defense).”
Cruz backs up his point
He went on to cite a passage from the Declaration of Independence to bolster his explanation.
“The Declaration of Independence acknowledges our rights thusly: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,'” he quoted. “And, for that reason, the Second Amendment provides ‘the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, SHALL NOT be infringed.’ It wasn’t to protect people’s ability to hunt, or to shoot target practice, but to defend their lives, their homes & their families.”
Cruz invoked the name of Texas resident Stephen Willeford, who risked his own life in an attempt to stop the Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass murderer.
“Stephen Willeford exercised that fundamental right when he risked his own life to stop the Sutherland Springs murderer, saving countless others as a result,” he added.
Cruz continued by pointing out the ideas of St. George Tucker as further reading for Milano.
“St. George Tucker, one of the most important scholars in early America, explained the reasons behind the Second Amendment as follows: ‘This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty. . . . The right of self defence is the first law of nature … in most govts it has been the study of rulers to confine this right w/in the narrowest limits possible. Wherever…the right…to keep & bear arms is, under any…pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.'”
“That’s also why, post Civil War, disarming Black Americans was a critical objective of the KKK, and was memorialized in countless Jim Crow laws — to strip African-Americans of their God-given right to self-defense from violence,” he reasoned. “I’m a Texan. What happened in Midland-Odessa — and El Paso, Santa Fe & Sutherland Springs — was sick, deranged & horrifying. We need to do MUCH more to stop violent criminals & those w/ dangerous mental illness BEFORE they murder & I’m leading the fight in the Senate to do so.”
He concluded that “playing politics” with such heinous crimes is not the way to carry out lasting change.
The left never offers solutions, only reactions. Their reactions are not designed to solve any issue, merely take advantage of it.
I’ve seen it asked numerous times (sarcastically) why a “good guy with a gun” did not stop this shooter? Well, because the police were in pursuit and a TRUE good guy with a gun does not interfere with police work.
The left hasn’t offered any solutions to stopping gun crimes since Dayton and El Paso; what makes anyone think they can conjure up an intelligent response for this shooting?
People have come to disregard human life. Numerous factors are involved, the least of which is the abortion culture which teaches us human life is disposable when it becomes inconvenient. Likewise, leftist dogma promotes the concept that denying rights, including the right to life, of those who disagree with their ideology is an acceptable response to differing points of view.
Another easily circumvented law is not the answer; a complete cultural shift, led by Democrats (most importantly including Hollywood and the media), IS.
I think Ted Cruz must have left out a sentence in the middle, because there’s not a damn thing that logically connects the first one with the last two.
@Greg: There is nothing that connects the Declaration to any of the freedoms protected by the Constitution, is there? But, they were two separate documents, one declaring we are now a free, independent nation and why and another that describes what kind of nation it is going to be. But, the Constitution is written with the Declaration accepted as the state of mankind.
Like most in Hollywood, Milano is an abject coward. It is the easiest thing in the world to be a blathering, America-hating liberal in Hollywood. True courage is having an open, independent mind that can withstand the intimidation of the “tolerant” left. There are far more cowards than courageous individuals in Hollywood.
Twitchy has found some even more fun at Milano’s expense.
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/09/02/who-wants-to-tell-alyssa-milano-that-her-rock-solid-argument-for-gun-control-isnt-as-rock-solid-as-she-thinks-it-is-pic/
Leo Daniels Ent.
✔
@LeoRules1
Replying to @Alyssa_Milano
Guess what else? When the first amendment was written there were no computers or cell phones or wifi or even electricity, so according to YOUR logic we have no 1st amendment rights except when speaking in public.
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pneumataster
@neontaster
Replying to @Alyssa_Milano
Your phone didn’t exist when the fourth amendment was written. That shouldn’t mean the police should be able to search it without a warrant. Constitutional rights are broadly worded by design. It’s done to benefit YOU.
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Dustin Dale
@DustinDale16
Replying to @Alyssa_Milano
Get off your phone. You can only use an old style ink pen. Also no more car. Get your@horse and buggy out.
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Robert Page
@rlpage_insp
Replying to @Alyssa_Milano
What was the internet speed back then?
@Deplorable Me:
It doesn’t end with Milano’s cowardice. She is also a self centered hypocrite who worries about people being killed with guns but had no reservation when it came to having some abortionist kill two of her own children because (according to Milano) “I would never had been free to be myself — and that’s what this fight is all about: freedom.” The life of her two children had less value than her blooming acting career.
Why in Heaven’s name would anyone pay attention to such a self-centered dimwit?
@retire05:
Because they don’t have the ability to do any thinking of their own.
King George III ordered the seizure of any firearms imported into the colonies. Just after the Redcoats’ attempt to seize the arms of the rebel militia at Lexington and Concord in 1775, Gen. Thomas Gage ordered all the inhabitants of Boston to turn in their arms at Faneuil Hall for temporary safekeeping.
So we Shot them.
End of the Story, no just the birth of a Nation.
The first rule of all tyrants is to disarm the people so they can be easly rounded up and sent to Concentration camps and gulags just like Hitler and Stalin did
McConnell vows to give gun bill a vote if it is backed by Trump
Yeah, right. They’re in the process of talking with some people about some things that they’re talking about, which they might or might not be willing to support. And this kabuki play will be repeated after the next mass shooting.
@Greg: What is the proposal that will stop shootings? The Midland/Odessa shooter was denied the purchase of a weapon due to failing a background check. That saved how many lives, exactly?
What are Democrats proposing that would stop a single shooting?
We do not need a single additional gun law. What we need is strict enforcement of what is in place, better administration of what is in place, violent behavior entered into a data base regardless of age or race and harsher treatment of those that commit gun crimes.
What was it Biden said, years ago?
Tell me how that makes any sense at all.
@Nan G: It makes liberal-sense. That’s why liberals support such stupidity.
Translation: We need more efficient and more effective laws than what we presently have.
Because what we presently have isn’t working. Just enforce the laws we have is a meaningless recommendation, unless you’re wanting to greatly expand the number of enforcers, and the taxes it takes to support that expansion.
@Greg:
More laws wont have the same effect?
What does this have to do with Harlots in hollywood who think their opinion is higher than facts?
Luke 22:36 36He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
The same deadly weapons that the armies carried at that time.
@Greg: So, if you have no idea what is wrong with the laws we have or how to enforce laws better, what is the point of MORE laws? You make as much sense as that idiot Biden.
Charlottsville could have possibly been prevented by federal employees doing their job; Roof’s background check was properly submitted, but the execution was poor. Parkland could possibly have been prevented if Obama’s racist rules for disciplining minorities and filing their offenses hadn’t prevented Cruz from having a violent history. Cruz used 10-round magazines. Had the Brower County sheriff and resource officer not been a coward, the shooting could have been stopped.
How about addressing the low value of human life the left promotes? How about addressing the ready acceptance of violence as a political tool by the left? What if the liberal media and Democrats denounced ALL violence, not just that they find of no use to their political agenda?
There is lots that could be addressed before another useless law is added to the books as salve for the left’s emotions.
@kitt, #14:
Do you not think it’s possible that some existing laws and systems have failed to accomplish what was originally intended, and should therefore be replaced by better laws and systems?
How about ceasing such slanderous generalizations?
@Greg:
Not until the current laws have been properly enforced to determine their effectiveness or what modifications are needed.
Nothing slanderous about it. That fact is well documented.
That statement is also b.s. Outside of Donald Trump’s reality TV propaganda bubble, a distinction is still made between what someone claims and what is actually true. Stating that something claimed is a well documented fact doesn’t make it so, either. Neither does endless repetition.
@Greg: Your support for Democrats is well documented. YOU documented it. Your support for late term partial birth abortion for ANY reason at ANY time is well documented. YOU documented it. Your support for those who would attack young kids and falsely accuse them of racist chants is well documented. YOU documented it. Your support for open borders, unrestricted illegal immigration and the sanctuary ideology even though it results in thousands of deaths of citizens, rapes, drug proliferation and human trafficking. YOU documented it.
Supporting all that insanity is in direct conflict with a regard for human life. Human life is secondary to the liberal agenda… that which YOU support. YOU have documented it.
@Greg:
No, there is no proof that the law was not valuable.
No. The problem is not the value of the law, the problem is that the laws are not enforced.
“A man who killed seven innocents in Odessa, Texas, over the weekend was barred from legally obtaining a firearm because he was deemed mentally unfit, law enforcement officials revealed to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
“The gunman had tried to buy a gun in January 2014 but failed because a nationwide criminal background check system flagged the mental health determination by a local court and prevented the purchase, according to the officials,” the report said, noting that “[f]ederal law bars individuals who have been found to be mentally unfit from purchasing or owning guns. Records of the gunman’s mental health ruling would have been submitted to an FBI database (the National Instant Criminal Background Check System) used to check the backgrounds of prospective gun buyers.”
Lying on ATF Form 4473 is a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison. But here we are, five years later, and the Permian Basin shooter was never prosecuted for falsifying Form 4473.
Now, before you go off the rails and blame Trump (your only fall back position) who was president in 2014, 2015 and 2016 after this slug applied for a permit to purchase a weapon? It wasn’t Trump.
“During the National Rifle Association’s meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and the White House gun violence task force, the vice president said the Obama administration does not have the time to fully enforce existing gun laws.
Jim Baker, the NRA representative present at the meeting, recalled the vice president’s words during an interview with The Daily Caller: “And to your point, Mr. Baker, regarding the lack of prosecutions on lying on Form 4473s, we simply don’t have the time or manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.”
https://dailycaller.com/2013/01/18/biden-to-nra-we-dont-have-the-time-to-prosecute-people-who-lie-on-background-checks/
Remember, Biden is the same guy now running for POTUS who said the “president” didn’t have the time to prosecute gun laws. Could the Permian Basin shooting have been prevented? Damn right it could have, Greggie Goebbles, if only Obama would have instructed his DOJ to go after those who committed a felony lying on Form 4473.
Write all the laws you want, Greggie Goebbels, write them until the cows come home but if those laws, including the existing laws, are not enforced, what the hell good are they except to make liberals who want to force their beliefs on others feel better about themselves?
@retire05: Recall further that Democrats blocked a law that would report illegal immigrants that fail a background check for purchasing a weapon. First…. WTF? WHAT is an illegal immigrant even having the AUDACITY to apply to buy a weapon in the country they illegally reside? Second, why do Democrats not worry about illegal immigrants buying weapons when they want US citizens to be banned from owning a weapon for self defense?
There is NO evidence the left cares about public safety but AMPLE evidence they want citizens to be disarmed and defenseless.