Pun Salad

Dave Kopel has a great article on the anniversary of Bill Clinton's signing of the Brady Bill. Almost as an aside, he demonstrates what a lying sack of poop Clinton was.

To make sure Dave had the quote right, I looked up the transcript of the signing ceremony. Here's what Clinton said:

Don't let anybody tell you that this won't work. I got a friend back home who sold a gun years ago to a guy who had escaped from a mental hospital that he hadn't seen in 10 years. And he pulled out that old form from the 1968 act, and said, have you ever been convicted of a crime? Have you ever been in a mental hospital? The guy said, no, no -- and put the form back in the drawer. And 12 hours later six people were dead and my friend is not over it to this day. Don't tell me this bill will not make a difference. That is not true. (Applause.) It is not true.

• "I got a friend back home who sold a gun …" Actually, two guns: a .45 and a shotgun.
• "… to a guy …" Actually, the perpetrator got a woman friend to buy the guns for him. Which the bill Clinton was signing would not have prevented.
• "… who had escaped from a mental hospital …" Actually, the perpetrator was probably only treated at a mental institution; which, again, would not have been a stopper for his acquisition of the guns.
• "… 12 hours later six people were dead …" Actually four people were killed.
• "… and my friend is not over it to this day." Actually, the dealer in question had died several years before.