tony286

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcbogus.html
its bogus claim

here are two common "strains" of the Sarah Brady bogus quote, one short, one long:

"Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us are totally disarmed."
"Our main agenda is to have ALL guns banned. We must use whatever means possible. It doesn't matter if you have to distort facts or even lie. Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed."
The most common citation for both versions is: The National Educator, January, 1994, Page 3 (link is off-site). As you can see, the long version does not exist for the citation given.

This tall-tale gets further embellished by claiming either Sarah Brady made her statement in a letter to Howard Metzenbaum or the quote appeared as an article, again the National Educator, page 3, is usually cited.

Here is a small sample taken from the sadly large number of Web pages mentioning the bogus quote and illustrating the above points (visited September, 7, 2007):

http://www.newswithviews.com/Hayes/gianni5.htm
http://usa-patriot.net/page1.shtml
http://www.americanchronicle.com/art...rticleID=25482
http://www.newswithviews.com/Evensen/greg2.htm
http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis...truction1.html
A footnote (193) in this law review article purports to cite the Congressional Record of 1989 and 1994 when Congress was considering a ban on certain semi-automatic weapons. The footnote reads:

140 CONG. REC. S1864-01, S1866 (daily ed. Feb. 28, 1989) (statement of William Pattison). Sarah Brady has been cited as stating that, "Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who could resist us have been totally disarmed." 140 CONG. REC. H3063-05. H3071-H3072 (daily ed. May 5, 1994) (statement of Joel Carlston). Such a result is exactly what the Framers of the Second Amendment sought to prevent. James Madison stated, "Americans need never fear their government because of the advantage of being armed. . ." Id.
William Pattison made no such statement regarding Sarah Brady. In fact, it is highly unlikely he would have, since he was speaking on behalf of the National Association of Police Organizations urging Congress to approve the "assault weapons" ban. A check of all statements for that day reveals no reference to "the quote." (Mr. Pattison's entire statement can be viewed here.)

The 1994 instance, (statement from Joel Carlston, Wyoming President of Americans Against Gun Control), not only mentions the Brady quote, but incorrectly quotes James Madison from Federalist No. 46, and recites another bogus quote falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson. ("The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.")

Rather than employ an apocryphal quote to expose the Brady Campaign's (formerly HandgunControl, Inc.) agenda, why not emphasize their actual record on guns which includes supporting an outright ban on civilian ownership of handguns and handgun ammunition? (