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Smith Blasts Critz On NRA Support

Smith
Smith

Bradford County Commissioner Mark Smith spoke out against former U.S. Rep. Mark Critz (PA-12) in regards to Critz’s support from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

His criticism in the wake of the recent shooting at the Delaware Valley Charter School in Philadelphia.

“Mark Critz said he was ‘proud’ to receive the support of the NRA, an organization that has opposed legislation against common sense gun reforms like universal background checks and closing the gun show loophole. Strong universal background checks could prevent criminals, terrorists, and the dangerously mentally ill from getting their hands on firearms,” Smith said.

Critz did say when he first received the support back in 2012 that he was “proud” to have it.

“I will continue to oppose any effort to take away the fundamental right to bear arms that is guaranteed under the Constitution as long as I am fortunate to serve the people of Western Pennsylvania in Congress,” Critz said.

Critz has also previously proposed pro-gun legislation. In 2011, he introduced a bill that would allow people to hold on to up to $3,000 worth of firearms during bankruptcy proceedings with Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) acting as the bill’s co-sponser. Critz said that his reasoning for the bill was that he believed that everyone should have the right to buy and own firearms, even those that are facing bankruptcy.

It was because of this proposed legislation that the NRA gave Critz an “A plus” rating, while Governor Tom Corbett only has an “A” rating. The difference between an “A plus” and an “A” rating is that an “A” rating is earned by Congressmen who vote for and support the NRA, while an “A plus” rating encompasses both vocal support and legislative actions for the organization.

The NRA said that it has thrown its support behind Critz because he “has a proven record of defending the Second Amendment.”

“The recent school shooting in Philadelphia was heartbreaking,” Smith said. “It stands as a stark reminder of the need for common sense gun reform in Pennsylvania. Growing up in a household where firearms were owned and respected, I realize common sense gun reform is a necessity. We can no longer stand on the sidelines as tragedies like this occur in our Commonwealth and across the nation.”
Also in the Democratic field for the Lieutenant Governor nomination are State Senator Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia), Harrisburg City Councilman Brad Koplinski and Brenda Alton. State Rep. Brandon Neuman is also expected to jump into the race.

11 Responses

  1. @Joe I don’t think redneck hillbillies like yourself should have guns. What misinformed whiteboys like yourself don’t understand is that 70% of gun owners across America are Liberals, so we own the topic of gun control. But you go ahead and keep eating your lunch in your big redneck pickup truck everyday at high noon and keep sucking in what Mr. OxyContin abuser has to say on your local FM dial and you’ll be real smart around your co-workers and such (that is if you even have a job) for the rest of your dull life in rural Pennsyltucky! 😉

  2. @SchuylkillRiver:
    Considering that you happen to be of the Stalinist mentality, it is only natural for you to believe that anyone opposing Obama is put on the terrorist watchlist. You failed to address my point that only one person, since its inception, has managed to clear herself from the terrorist watchlist after essentially going bankrupt because of the horrid legal fees. What she went through is what political dissidents in the ex-Soviet Union and current Communist China went through and still go through. Only people who have been through due-process and then found mentally unfit should be prohibited from gun ownership as well as violent felons. No person should ever be stripped of their rights because of their opposition to an elected politician, especially the dictator we have in the white house right now!!

  3. @Joe – Being on the terrorist watch list does not prohibit someone from buying a gun in America. It absolutely should, but it doesn’t. There are non-criminals who are prohibited from buying guns, such as people who have been involuntarily committed for being a danger to themselves or others. However, I’d like to see where you got your breakdown of who’s been rejected.

    Conflating universal background checks with a gun registry is a way to avoid debating the merits of background checks. No one can make a solid case against it, so they have to pretend they’re opposing something else.

  4. @SchuylkillRiver:
    UBC= gun registry, and the current group of Stalinist democrats who have complete control of our government along with their armies, such as the police, have no business knowing whether or not someone owns a firearm. Of the 2 million people rejected from owning a firearm, the majority of them were and are non-criminals who had their names mixed up with actual hardened felons and fugitives. A young woman from Stanford University was just expunged from that bastardized “terrorist watchlist” after moe than $3 million in legal fees. A national gun registry will be a tool used to put people who oppose Comrade O’Stalin in the White House on the “terrorist watchlist”, and strip them of their 2nd amendment rights. Active gun owners will then be greeted by black masks and machine guns sent to their doors to take their guns by force, haul them off to jail, or just put them 6 feet under, and be given a fat ass paycheck as a reward.

  5. @bobguzzardi What I see Smith proposing here is universal background checks which would not conflict with your first priority and would support your second and third priorities.

    1. Anyone who can legally buy guns today would still be allowed to buy the same guns if universal background checks were in place. So there is no conflict with the Second Amendment or Article I, Section 21.

    2. Background checks are a means of enforcing current laws prohibiting certain people such as domestic abusers and felons from purchasing firearms. On the state level, it wouldn’t require a new law, but rather repealing an exemption.

    3. The background check system has rejected more than 2 million prohibited purchasers since it was created in the 90’s. The easiest way to stop criminals and people with dangerous mental illness from getting guns, is expanding background checks.

  6. Common Sense on Guns

    1) Total support of the U.S and Pa. Constitutional rights of individual citizens to keep and bear arms.

    2) We don’t need more laws. We just need to enforce the laws we have on the books now.

    3) Keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

  7. wow, Joe, calm down – you sound like the stereotypical gun rights nut that give those on the other side of the debate “ammo” (pardon the pun).

  8. So this is all based off Critz’s 2012 endorsement? Weak sauce. How does this even merit an article? Did they endorse Critz for 2014?

  9. I hope that Critz pulls it off and gets the Lt. Governor nod. We don’t need Maoist gun grabbers like the other wannabe Dem candidates for this position infecting PA. We already have Kane, a Bloomberg stooge, and that is more than enough. Take a look at our neighbors up north in NY. Hearing what Cuomo had to say about those who “don’t belong in New York”, I’m surprised he didn’t just announce an order to the police to just butcher anyone who didn’t surrender their guns or leave the state of NY within a given time period of his choosing. I really hope that isn’t PA’s future, but then again, Corbett has done nothing more than try to appease the leftists in the Philly metro area. Hopefully there are enough bluedogs in this state to keep us from turning into the Soviet Socialist Republic of New York, or simply put for you progressives, New York SSR. The little transplant Bolsheviks from that filthy cesspool, and others like it, such as New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts, have done a good job at turning Virginia, Ohio, Florida, New Mexico(Almost), Colorado, Iowa(Almost), Maine and New Hampshire into semi cesspools. They have been pounding away at PA, and see 2014 as a year to put into this once great state a big, fat, hammer and sickle shaped nail in the coffin.

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