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August 20, 2009
Conservative Idiots Toting Rifles
Of course you've seen this story abut a hundred times:
PHOENIX - About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday -- the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.
Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.
The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said.
You've probably also heard any number of conservative idiots on the radio defending this as "it's perfectly legal!" and "they're just exercising their Second Amendment rights!"
Oh please.
Don't be blinded by partisanship. A grand total of two times some conservative had a gun - legally - at or near an Obama rally, and now every liberal columnist in the country includes this in their editorial denouncing the right. Liberal bloggers are going nuts.
Don't give the other side... ammunition. Carrying a gun near a Democrat rally, or defending those who do so, plays into the worst liberal stereotype of conservatives.
The issue is not whether this is intimidation or a veiled death threat, or racism, or militia members in disguise, or whatever. Any reasonable person could see this as intimidation.
I've been a member of the NRA for at least 20 years, own several guns including an AR-15, and am quite vociferous in defending our gun rights, do don't give me any Second Amendment crap.
The issue here is perception and public relations. If you act like a nut, if you're loud and offensive, you lose in the court of public opinion no matter how logical or legal your case may be. And at the end of the day if you lose elections you don't get a chance to enact your agenda
Carrying a gun and toting outside an event where anyone is speaking is stupid in the extreme and makes us look like a bunch of redneck racist gun freak militia anti-government kooks.
Look at what's happening. There have been what, two instances of this happening? And yet the media (and I suspect most leftie bloggers) are trying to say that this is typical behavior from the right. We can complain about media bias, but the situation is what it is, and complaining doesn't help. We must use the media to our advantage, and not let it set the agenda. By doing stupid things does not help our cause. Cut it out.
Posted by Tom at August 20, 2009 7:11 AM
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Comments
It definitely made me proud to be an American to see those men open carry. I hear that patriots around the nation are being emboldened to open carry.
I don't think you understand the court of public opinion. It's not won by appeasement. It's taken by assertive behavior and strong leadership. Peace through strength.
These men have potentially turned the time back to liberty by showing we the people the real strength of American - as any sound constitutional scholar will tell you: the 2nd Amendment.
Negotiate, compromise, posture, try to win in public opinion polls by manipulation and marketing all you'd like. Peace through strength.
We need to be STRONG!! Not weak. Not appeasing. Not beggars at the door of opportunity.
Not leaving our fate in the hands of others. When strong men arise, the people follow. Open carry - just what we need: the very emblem of freedom, an armed citizenry.
Posted by: laura at August 21, 2009 1:06 AM
Tom, you said, "There have been what, two instances of this happening?" No, there have only been two instances where you have seen this.
Here on this little island, we have those "militias" and they have been "open-carrying" all kinds of weapons in our parks! This was way before any serious talk about health-care. I think it started around the time of the election when the other party won and the first black man was elected president.
I am afraid this business of wanting to carry weapons openly will take us back to the lawless Old West. My great-grandfather was killed by gunmen in 1900. He was one himself. There were shoot-outs in the streets. New Mexico was not allowed into the union until all the pistoleros were brought under control. Decent law-abinding citizens couldn't live there until they were brought under control to make the communities safe for normal living.
There was a time for armed citizens. We had just won independence from the British. The militias weren't fighting Americans! (Native-Americans, maybe). What kind of "appeasing" is taking place in our parks and town-hall meetings that requires citizens to be armed there?
Yes, we need strong men to arise----they should join the military and fight our real enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is those enemies who would bury us if we don't fight them, and then we wouldn't have to worry about health care plans, etc. because the jihadists or communists don't care about such things.
Yes, we need strong men to arise, go and fight our wars overseas instead of staying here posturing with paranoia about the 2nd amendment at gatherings at parks and town halls. Or are some such cowards that they would rather just talk the talk and not walk the walk---ust stay here safe and sound while others brave bullets in the Middle East? Just merely carrying a weapon is not patriotism.
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
Posted by: Emilie at August 21, 2009 5:36 PM
"the real strength of American - as any sound constitutional scholar will tell you: the 2nd Amendment."
Huh? The whole post by "laura" kind of proves Toms point here.
Posted by: jason, live from Red China at August 22, 2009 7:13 AM
Great post, Tom.
A minor technicality, but... Emilie says that communists don't care about health-care plans. They most definitely do.
Posted by: Mylne Karimov at August 23, 2009 10:18 AM
