Ala. Lawmaker: 'Empty the Clip' on Immigration

Scott Beason says remark was taken out of context, not violent

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 9, 2011 1:41 AM CST

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Ala. Lawmaker: 'Empty the Clip' On Immigration — "I didn't think about what happened in Arizona but I wish I had." Beason says. "I think it was maybe the wrong example to use, but honestly I didn't call for violence to solve political problems." (YouTube)

An Alabama state senator being slammed for using incendiary gun rhetoric says he wasn't advocating violence when he told a Republican audience that the party needs to "empty the clip" on illegal immigration. Scott Beason says his remarks were taken out of context and he wasn't thinking of the Tucson shootings when he made them, Politico reports.

“Look, I’ll take my beatings when I mess up," Beason tells the Birmingham News. "But no way was I urging anyone to do harm to Hispanics or illegal immigrants. I would never do that.” By "empty the clip," he says, he meant that such problems should be tackled with "everything we have, with all of our brain power, our imagination and with courage."
(More Scott Beason stories.)

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