Wow!! He likes guns!! I will vote for him now!!….Typical fluff from a candidate with no clue.

A gun show is like a day in paradise? Which bible is he reading?

He's a washed up actor turned Neocon Nazi Satanist wanting blood and promoting his own Bush Agenda for the next presidency.
They need to be wiped out of office, all of them that feel the same way.

hppt://www.prisonplanet.com

Kucinich/Paul 2008

Kill the Neocons and PNAC.

When you people shouted "4 More Years," we the People (that the president wants to extinguish) shouted 4 more years of Death and Greed and the destruction of our Constitution if we keep these Satanists in office.

cc: v911t; People

As in "Happiness is a warm gun." And Thompson's view of paradise says a lot about what's wrong with American culture and politics. Violence and ballistics trumps compassion and caring.

Thompson would be controlled by big business, just like the present administration.
When he was in the senate he did nothing for those of us here in SC and why should he do anything if he were to win. This state will vote republican even if the candidate stole the treasury, that is what Bush has already done and gave it to the richest by using tax cut.

My big problem with the anti-gun-control crowd is this: For you guys it's all, "Me, me, me, me, me! It's MY right to buy 20+ guns a year." You couldn't care less about what is good for society. You only care about what is good for you. Screw everyone else, right?

Thompson is a nice guy, but it will take more than a "gun show" to pull me away from Mike Huckabee!

I can tell this was written by a bigot. Look, as you well know, 83 percent of gun related crimes are due to gang warfare. Gang members are the perpetuators and the victims. And, gang members simply don't their guns at gun shows for a number of reasons. At most gun shows, the purchase of a gun requires registration, or at least passing a background check. And, most of the guns sold are sporting firearms - bolt action rifles, good quality target pistols, competition semi-automatic rifles. Gang members do not spend a thousand dollars or more for a good quality rifle or pistol. They are looking for a piece of junk, a throw-away gun that is cheap. Cheap Chinese made AR47 knock offs and even cheaper pistols like the Russian Makarov are what they buy and these are usually not even legally imported. The other common gun used by gangs are stolen firearms,as a result of home burgleries. In fact, they are precisely the same guns used and bought by gang members in England, Austria, Germany, France, even Scandinavia (where legal firearm ownership is as common as it is in the U.S.). One thing that is different in Scandinavia is that their gun crime rate is lower than than the U.S. and all of those countries with firearm bans. They have strict laws about locking guns up in steel safes when not under the direct control of their owner. As a direct consequence, accidental shooting are extremely rare and stolen guns even rarer. Instead of bogus laws like the Brady Laws, why not just require a periodic firearm test and require that all firearms and ammunition be locked in a steel safe weighing at least 200 pounds (empty). Simply, effective, and so sane that no one from the NRA side nor the Gun Control, Inc. would ever propose it. Maybe it's time to grow up, cease publishing garbage like this article from the gun control crowd and cease looking to the NRA nuts and actually pass laws like this that are proven to work. It's time for the moderates to have their say!

And if any illegal activities were revealed he would declare it something else altogether if some of the chronic illegal transfer of arms activities is revealed while he's there or the circuit sales technics of certain gun traders that scoot under state/federal radar? Yes.. paradise indeed.

Neocon Nazi….setting the example for our children.
He has more in common with the gun loving people from the Middle East.

oh boy another dick cheney type in the white house… give him a shotgun for xmas and maybe he will do us all a favor..

Lobbying was his best gig. You can't look out for us small guys, by pretending to be with us. How about talking about who is supporting your campaign.

Without the Second Amendment, there'd be no First Amendment.

Is there something dreadfully wrong with Fred's utterance "paradise at a gun show" or is it just a liberal snide attempt to belittle those who attend such events? Because CNN is in a different world than most of America I'll bet its just an attempted political dig!

One will also notice at gun shows that the folks there, shoppers and vendors, are very polite.

Unlike an incident I recently witnessed in a national hardware store: a man walked past his wife and growled at her, "Oh, shut up!". You also don't see the folks at gun shows slapping their kids.

The better part of gun owners are the better citizens in most every way.

What a knucklehead!

Thank God we finally have a presidential candidate who will address the ongoing problem we have in our country of too few guns circulating. This has been keeping me up at night. How will we keep the violence level up if we don't go to enough gun shows and support our friendly gun dealers? Thanks so much, Fred, for taking on the things that really matter to me!

Guess this makes Old Fred a murderer just like everyone else who illegally and immorally trade arms at these shows. These guns and people kill thousands. And NO, it isn't in the Constitution!

I'm very liberal, and like guns, hunting, and trap shooting. I don't care for Fred at all, but I see no reason to have disdain for all folks that own guns.

I cannot even imagine the type of uneducated, angry, self-righteous fanatics that he is trying to impress with this gun-swoon. With all the real suffering and issues effecting our society and the planet, why focus on flippin' GUN??

Don't waste all that money you earned on law and order, man. Go home. Nobody will ever vote for you.

How pathetic Fred is! Its so sad, during the summer he had the perfect opportunity to jump in back when the media frenzy was all over him. And yet he waited till September.

Thats just retarded.

thompson should go hunting with cheney.

Gun control is a joke. It just keeps Republicans in the White House. As mentioned before, vast majority of gun violence comes from a gang members. This is the one topic the GOP pulls working middle class votes they can't get otherwise. Have you noticed the Democrats aren't talking much about gun control? Because it is pointless and fruitless.

Maybe Fred could use a hunting trip with Cheney to wake up instead of pandering for votes.

Anthony DiPaolo - a real mensa!

He's the pride and joy of every trailer park in the country.

And just wait until someone actually explains the meaning of the second amendment to him - I'll sell tickets!!!

As Important as the second amendment is. It is not the only amendment and we all need to keep that in mind.

No wonder so many countries hate the U.S. when we have school shootings, drive-by shootings, road rage with guns, and now, a Presidential candidate thinks paradise is strolling down aisles in some gun show? Americans need to get a grip on this 2nd Amendment crap. We DO NOT have a militia anymore! When that Amendment was written, U.S. citizens were forced to own guns simply to repel the British and American Indian invasions. Duh?

Wow! I don’t know about you, but man I am glad that these presidential debates are around the corner! That means that Bush’s term is coming to an long anticipated end. We can finally get our country back on track. 500 billion dollars lost, wasted, thrown away in Iraq. We seem to care, well at least our politicians and Bush, about Iraqis more than the over 36 million Americans that live in poverty. Is this America? Is this the country our founding fathers created? Are we living the American dream or are we forgetting about everyone else? Well at least we are world police and not police for our own citizens. Right? Well all I know is that we are sitting and watching all of this happen before our eyes! We could have helped starving children of Africa, but our government decided to buy big jets and lose thousands of innocent lives! How about the 1 billion children living in poverty! Imagine your kids like that! Do you agree with this? Did you decide this? If no then use your first amendment and challenge YOUR government because I wont sit here and watch our country turn into a dictatorship!

Jake Frazer
Highland Park
Illinois

And Mr. Hill is going to vote for him on the one premise that he likes guns?? Has this guy heard we are at war in Iraq, still trying to quell Al Queda, get health insurance for millions who don't have it; stem the growing foreclosures . . . etc. etc. As long as Mr. Hill has his gun, the rest of the U.S. can go to hell, I guess. . .

"There are about 200,000,000 privately owned guns in the United States. About 40% of all households have at least one gun and 24% own a handgun. One-third of those households keep the gun loaded and unlocked for ready access and half keep it unlocked. About 30,000 people die annually from the introduction of a bullet into their body for one reason or another. Perhaps twice that number is shot but not killed. About 600 women and 125 men are killed annually by a spouse with a firearm. Products such as toys and cars must be manufactured to meet certain safety standards, but there are no safety or product standards that apply to gun manufacture. Those who have been convicted of a felony are much more likely to own a gun than those who have never been convicted." - http://www.liberalandproudofit.com

I have never been confronted by a criminal with a gun, but I have almost been killed by legal shooters three times. My wife and I enjoy hiking in the desert near El Paso. While hiking in a large meteor crater near here called Kilburn's Hole, we were pinned down for a while by a skeet shooter who was having the little disk tossed over the crater. Of course, the pellets were raining down in the brush where we were hiking. Once I was almost shot by a cowboy with a pistol, taking shots at the cacti on the ridge. We were hiking behind that ridge. And finally as a teenager, I was walking along a gully that took a sharp dogleg turn and I came face to face with a mother teaching her teenaged son how to use a rifle. Both of them were looking at the rifle, not downrange, but the rifle was raised to fire when I yelled. My poor old mother in rural east Texas has the locks shot off her gates or the barbed wire fence cut by deer hunters, despite the PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESPASSING NO SHOOTING NO HUNTING GAME PRESERVE signs that were on the gates and the fence.

It is not the illegal use of guns that scares me so much as the use of guns by sportsmen, most of whom leave shot up beer cans and shattered bottles behind. This is the plain truth and the only people who will deny it are the gun users themselves.

Alright now, calm down.

First: '"It's a beautiful day in paradise," Thompson said when greeted by one of the people packing the show's aisles.'

How do you know he wasn't talking in general? I know quite a few people who say the same thing inside grocery stores, Wal-Mart, the DMV, and in gun shops owned by respectable people. Doesn't mean they're in paradise at that place, it means it's a good day for them. The headline is misleading, in my opinion.

Second: Would you call Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant, or George Washington a 'gun nut', even though all three had seen combat and had used firearms? He may just like guns for his sport shooting, but what are his Real views on keeping guns out of illegal hands? Check before you preach.

Third: The people I know who shoot skeet are some of the kindest people in the world. Hell, one of them used to drive my schoolbus, with no incidents in his many years of doing so. Many people see it as an honorable sport that takes concentration, coordination, and a lot of skill.

Guns can be a horrible thing in the hands of the careless and evil. They can, in retrospect, be something better than the sum of it's parts when used wisely and with care by those who are wise or just.

I won't vote for the man because he has no vision, with very few political ideas that I find right. Not for something posted on the Ticker.

Don't judge by the cover, everyone. It demeans your own intelligence.

I suppose it's not surprising that the bulk of response to this story is from whining, socialistic malcontents. Fred Thompson has more character than all of them put together. He doesn't whine about things. He simply states facts. For sure he gets my vote on election day.

Why is this an issue? Why are we concerned about having assualt rifles in our homes when we need to be worried about our children eating lead from our toxic imports? Ridiculous!!

I'd just like to point out that handguns are illegal in most of western Europe but they still manage to have our same first amendment rights. Actually at this point the western Europeans have a lot more civil liberties than we do and have per capita murder rates between a half and a fifth of ours, all without guns.

Ughhh. I think I'm gonna be sick.

Thompson's quote sounds pretty close to what a mentally unstable criminal, intent on murdering people would say at a gun show.

Sorry, but the strongest 2A supporter on the Republican side is none other than Ron Paul. Repealing Brady, repealing the '86 machine gun ban, repealing the GCA, etc.

Thompson is just another lip service candidate.

Idiocy. Thompson could drive through war-torn Iraq and have an orgasm. When is America going wake itself from its political stupor?

Water seeks its own level, I suppose.

YAWN, Ron Paul is the only candidate who supports the constitution as it was intended. RON PAUL 2008!!!!!!!

I guess, Fred Thompson's paradise is different than mine. In my paradise,there would be no need for firearms nor would there be any killing of any living creature. It seems, that Fred views his paradise where human life is superior to an animal's life but my God who created life would not differentiate between the two lives though they are in two different bodies. Maybe Fred's perception of his God is also different.

Mr. Thompson,

How do you think your comment sounds to those parents and students of Virginia Tech, Columbine, and the parents and schoolmates of those Amish girls who were killed by guns. And all of the other shootings that have happened over the years. PARADISE???? I believe that everyone who is legally responsible should be able to own a gun within limits. We do not have to have assault weapons on the streets or even in the hands of those who are legally responsible. But I am a firm believer in gun control and a waiting period. I don't want to take guns out of the hands of those who like to hunt or feel that they need them for defense but if they have nothing to hide why not a 3 day wait, what harm could it do?
I'm afraid that Mr. Thompson went overboard for the 'shcok' or oped value and it was a cruel thing to say!

When republicans are the one's stripping away our civil liberties,why do these people think gun's will be any different.It won't be a democrat that takes away your guns.Wake up.

"I like Fred Thompson's stance on firearms," he said. "I don't want to see anymore assaults on my Second Amendment rights."

I'm glad this young man is protective of militias and indicating the "my," he himself must be in one.

Fred Thompson on the 2nd Amendment:

I strongly support the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. Gun control is touted as a major crime-control measure. But some of the places with the strictest gun-control laws also have high violent-crime rates. Disarming law-abiding citizens does not prevent crime. The answer to violent crime is smart, effective, and aggressive law enforcement. The real effect of these gun-control measures is to place onerous restrictions on law-abiding citizens who use firearms for such legal activities as self-defense, sport-shooting, hunting, and collecting. I am committed to:

* Strictly enforcing existing laws and severely punishing violent criminals.
* Protecting the rights individual Americans enjoy under the Second Amendment.

i like Huckabee but Thompson is a real America too!!

Good move, Fred. I'm impressed.

Now take the kneepads off and go pander to the Christian Crackpots or some other whacko religious group and tell them how much you hate guns and violence.

Talk about a cheap hooker, Fred is it……..

How did Rudy "handle" the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Perhaps he kept the city calm and people together but he did nothing to prepare the city for another attack after the 1997 WTC bombing, he did nothing to prevent 9/11, and he did nothing to go after the people who attacked us. So how did he "handle" 9/11?

Paradise? Somehow I missed the verse where Eden was described as chock full of guns.

Criminals don't go to gun shows. Criminals don't buy guns. Gun laws don't affect criminals. Criminals steal guns and kill innocent people.

Ah, another call for "rational" gun control. While we're at it, l would propose rational and moderate controls on abortion, also. No woman should be allowed to have an abortion without the explicit permission of the father. As things stand, if a woman chooses not to have an abortion the father is forced to pay support for 20 years or so, essentially enslaving him. So, no abortion without the father permission. And, in the case of minors, both families need to okay it, too. Then, there are "rational controls over the excesses of the press. We know that Al Qaida and similar groups play to the media, so let's have some rational controls that forbids the press from printing anything that might provide "aid and comfort to the enemy". Soap opera's and similar television programs demean men and families leading to increased divorce rates, weight problems, child neglect, so let's ban them, too. If you think about, we can come up with some very good reasons for chucking the whole of the Bill Of Rights. To the CNN writer and those that find private ownership of firearms so inconvenient and gun owners such a bunch of Republican clodhoppers that you are going to get even with - The Bill Of Rights are a package, either they all mean something or none of them do. If the Second Amendment is done away with or it's meaning twisted to make it apply to a "national guard", then choice, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right against self incrimination, and all of the rest aren't safe either.

Does this comment scare anyone else? And Fred wants to be president…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

That god this moron has absolutely no shot at the presidency!!!!

Why is it that the NRA nuts consitently vote for the people they claim their guns are meant to protect them from?

Guns guns guns! Get them now before the Brady Bill kicks in! Come on down to the local gun show and learn the truth about Waco!

- Radio ad I hear a lot when the gun show is in town.

The GOP loves the 2nd amendment but hates the first amendment. Ever wonder why it came first? Because the founding fathers thought it was the most important one of all.

"When republicans are the one's stripping away our civil liberties,why do these people think gun's will be any different.It won't be a democrat that takes away your guns.Wake up."

Posted By Mike P Austin,Tx. : November 24, 2007 7:17 pm

You have got to be kidding ! When one looks at the gun-control restrictions across our great land, those states dominated by Democrats, like MA, NY, NJ, MD, have the toughest gun control laws. States that are historically conservative have the least restrictive. Argue about gun-control any way you want, but the Democrats take away the guns my friend. Get you facts straight next time before "shooting" off with your absurd conclusion.

Its very unfortunate that you have another narrow minded gun toting cowboy running for president. He advocates all that is wrong with your society..almost everyday you read or hear of a terrible shooting somewhere in your country be it a mass school shooting, husbands killing children etc etc. As someone previously noted i the 2nd ammendment was put into law when you were involved in defending your country from the British.. hundreds of years ago. I really think Fred need to wake up and join the rest of real civilization. I wonder if Fred would say the same stupid things if one of his family was gunned down !!

I hope you anti-gun pundits are correct. A Supreme Court decision against an individual right under the Second Amendment will destroy the political effectiveness of the Democratic Party for 50 years.

Remember most legislators and judges today ACT as if the Second Amendment doesn't exist and the NRA still manages to block almost everything. They do this with 80% of gun owners suffering from total apathy. They are apathetic because they think the Bill of Rights protects them. Eliminate that security blanket and they'll all feel a personal threat.

There are more gun owners than homosexuals. If the gun owners get as active politically as the homosexuals (who have no Amendment to hide behind) they'll be even more successful in terrifying politicians into compliance with their desires.

All the while blaming the Democrats for the need for action. It'll be a multi-generational disaster for the Democratic party.

I sure hope that all you Anti-Gungun's don't go Jarjar when the Pope comes to town.

http://www.golden-lamp.com

Empty Vessels make the loudest sounds.

WHAT assaults on your "Second Amendment rights?" Which candidate is speaking about taking away guns?

Do right wingers ever come down from their hate high? Stupid robots.

A gun show is "paradise."

For Fred, fingering a trigger must be "sex."

And that crap in his head passes for "brains."

Just the candidate for the rednecks currently losing control of the nation.

Why do so many hardcore Republicans simultaneously denounce homosexuality and yet have such fixations with phallic symbols like guns? (sarcasm)

I'm all for the second amendment, but let's keep in mind that guns are instruments of death and that they should be taken seriously. A gun show is no paradise, and some of these gun enthusiasts are just plain scary.

Thomson couldn't count the number of bullets in a six-shooter–who is he kidding?

I'm fairly liberal, I have no problem if people own a *registered and legal* gun if they feel they need the protection or like to hunt. I have a problem with people thinking the 2nd Amendment says you can own automatic weapons or even semi-automatic weapons. I believe in the right to bear arms, but I doubt the Founding Fathers would have ever comprehended am Uzi…waaay different from a musket. I agree w/ a previous poster, bearing arms in those days was different, there was no US military in the revolution against England, Washington rounded up the states militias to form a force against the British. In those days, even in England, there wasn't a central police force. It wasn't until Bow Street and the Robin Redbreasts that a state sanctioned police force came into fruition. If you only watch the movie for this reason, watch Gangs of New York and the scene when the man's house is burning in the Five Points, five different fire brigades turned up, the police force was the same way!

Breathing… and still with a pulse…
but SOOOOoooo….. out of touch with reality.

hee hee hee! Oh Fred, you silly old man! This isn't paradise, it's the coldest part of a desolate hell where only violent, power-hungry "sportsmen" can justify gun laws that allow anyone who satisfies a few minor requirements to own, and use at their discreation, a semi-automatic weapon that was designed expressly to destroy human life. Why, you're just so silly Fred! Now, go talk to the few moderates that there are in this room and promise them the world! Nevermind the majority of idiots in the room who can't own only one well-secured shotgun for the purposes of protection. Sometimes, you need an Uzi to feel that extra layer of "protection."

Its all about me,me,me, from B from phila pa,,,,,, thats been the democracts whole basis for being for the last 20+ years. free stuff for everyone at the expense of a few.

Republicans have fixations with phallic symbols like guns (sarcasm) from christian Tampa FL,,,,,,Cigars are considered phallic symbols also (SARCASM) just ask any whitehouse intern,,People kill people by whatever means they have some people just look scarey ,some people are scarey, Its not the gun its the person. we have a republican vice president with a lesbian daughter in office christian, what else do you need to hear ? Geeeese,,,

Nice to see the bigotry and psychoses of the few truthers & authoritarian nutjobs who still come to CNN on a Sunday morning. Haven't seen this much irrational hate since the last time I saw what goes on at dailykos. Glad I wasn't eating.

I am shocked and ashamed to see some of the comments here.

You people call yourselves Americans???

The left has done an outstanding job brainwashing and dumbing down the sheeple.

YOU DESERVE HILLARY and her socialist menu.

Wake up, NRA and gun fanatics. There is nothing in the US Constitution which grants the right of individuals to own and keep firearms for their personal use. If you read the Second Amendment, you would realize this. It grants only the right of citizens to own arms as part of an organized militia; part of a body raised to protect a community, state, or locality composed of individual citizenry. This would be analagous to a supplement to the armed forces or as a member of the National Guard, policepersons, or any other body recognized by the state to protect it. In other words, just because you are an individual who likes to own guns to hunt, it doesn't mean you are automatically empowered to do so! Hence, there is certainly an argument for regulation of guns and the sooner the the people realized that, they can also understand that the NRA is protecting its business interests by continuing the sale and distribution of guns under a faulty interpretation of the Second Amendment. Anybody who thinks that ordinary people are protected from the responsibility of owning a gun by the Second Amendment like a magical cloak are delusional.

Regular people don't need guns to protect themselves, and if stricter laws were enacted, criminals wouldn't have access to them either. Grow up, people! Freedom is great, but ignorance doesn't mean freedom. It's only logical that less guns = less violence.

Nope, no pro-choice hypocrites here…

"The left has done an outstanding job brainwashing and dumbing down the sheeple." Substitute "right" in this sentence and you've got it correct.

We need control on liberals not our right to bear arms.

Why don't you liberals move to Canada or some other sissy joke of a dump high tax country?

"I'd just like to point out that handguns are illegal in most of western Europe but they still manage to have our same first amendment rights."

Bzzzzt. Wrong answer. Try printing up some material about holocaust denial and distributing it in any western european country and see how much freedom of speech they have. Now, of course the holocaust DID happen, but people should have the freedom to state their opinion about it, even if it is wrong. Also note that this is only one example.

"My big problem with the anti-gun-control crowd is this: For you guys it's all, "Me, me, me, me, me! It's MY right to buy 20+ guns a year." You couldn't care less about what is good for society. You only care about what is good for you. Screw everyone else, right?

Posted By B, Phila, PA : November 24, 2007 2:34 pm "

And I bet you support an unrestricted right to an Abortion too.

Screw the baby, you only care about what is good for you.

An NRA moment… Guns, Cameras, and a Politician with no morals.

Why is it that republicans feel it necessary to beg the NRA vote by playing with guns? Talk about bowing to special interest groups. Guns shouldn't be used as a reason to vote for anyone. Now responsible legislation and policies concerning the registration, training, and ownership of guns would be the best information to know about a candidate. The days of the wild west are long gone. It's time to enter the 21st century and gun laws need to be apart of that.

Telling it like I see it,
Wynter

Fred should move to Baghdad where almost everyone has a gun…what a paradise on earth American policy has produced there!

There's two ways to read Thompson's "paradise" statement, only one of which is even vaguely controversial. He could be saying that he really likes gun shows or he really likes South Carolina. None of the ant-gun faux sophisticates even thought for a second that Thompson might be doing what *every* candidate does, praise the state he's campaigning in. Living around Chicago, I'd think S. Carolina winter weather was paradise too.

For the record, I own no firearms but I support the 2nd amendment as recognizing an individual right.

A gun show is like a day in paradise? Which bible is he reading?

Posted By LQ, ROCHESTER MN : November 24, 2007 1:49 pm

"The Gospel According to Ted Nugent".

I'm relieved to know that at least one candidate for President will protect my Constitutional right to shoot myself in the crotch while defending my home and family.

Well from some of the comments left here, I'll say this you will meet better classes of people at gunshows, than say a golf or boat show.
99% of the guns out there are never used in crime, & the vast majority of gun owners never commit a crime. I find it odd that in 2006 in Ohio, 7% of drivers licenses were suspended or revoked, but only .004% of Concealed Handgun Licenses were suspended or revoked. That say's something about law abiding gun owners & the rest of the population.

Thompson…you scare me. Paradise? Hand guns are paradise to you?

Go Romney!!

I like this guy, and I like guns!

"The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest possible limits. … and [when] the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."
– St. George Tucker, Judge of the Virginia Supreme Court 1803

This wisdom is old and still holds true today.