Pleas by Law Enforcement mean nothing in America

In a feature article in the Minneapolis Star, Police and members of Congress at events on Capitol Hill and in the Twin Cities gathered to express their dismay at the expiration of the assault weapons ban.  
Larry Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist, thinks that while recent national surveys show that a majority of Americans favor extending the ban, election-year politics might be behind Congress' inaction.  In short, bowing down to the NRA. 

The Republicans don’t want to raise the issue before the November elections because part of their liberal base supports more lenient gun laws in America. 

I quote: “Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said she is frustrated that Bush hasn't made an effort to extend the weapons ban similar to his recent effort to garner support for Medicare legislation. "We do not need AK-47s and Uzis on the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis," she said.” 

Further, and I quote: ” At a news conference Wednesday in Washington, Scott Knight, Chaska police chief and president of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, joined law enforcement officials from around the country, several members of Congress and family members of those killed by assault weapons to call on congressional leaders and the president to extend the ban. 

In Minneapolis, more than a dozen police chiefs, county attorneys, politicians and anti-gun activists from Minnesota gathered in City Hall on Wednesday to express their concerns about the end of the ban. 

Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus pointed to a table where a few confiscated weapons were displayed. When he was chief in Dayton, Ohio, McManus attended the funeral of an officer who died 2Ѕ years after being shot in the neck with an AK-47 and being paralyzed. He said most bullet-resistant body protection isn't effective against assault weapons. 

Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels, whose North Side ward has one of the highest crime rates in the city, said that "young people with guns and attitudes are already holding us hostage. God help us if they can have an assault rifle in their hands." 

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., took another stance when he said: “The ban has done little to make Minnesota families safer".  There are thousands of guns to choose from, why does it have to be an assualt weapon, Coleman?  Is this was that money from the NRA was for - to buy a vote? 

If readers will remember, in 2000, Bush pledged to extend the 1994 ban on assault weapons. Now, we find out he lied to us.  It is a sad day when a nation’s leader is this dishonest.