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Usual suspects line up to exploit Giffords shooting

“A right to bear Glocks?”  a New York Times opinion piece by columnist Gail Collins asks in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.  It’s one of two “What’s Popular Now?”  Facebook offerings promoted on that Times website page, the other being “Climate of Hate,” by Paul Krugman.

Both repeat themes familiar to gun rights advocates.  And behind both themes are motivations to swindle the public into further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms and shame political opposition into silence.

Quick to exploit the obscenity in Tucson—and to prove my point--is the Brady Campaign of “People Dead—Send Money” notoriety. Paul Helmke and Dennis Henigan are both in full blame guns and rhetoric mode.

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The NRA, meanwhile, offered a respectful and appropriate statement, devoid of jockeying for advantage:

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this senseless tragedy, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, and their families during this difficult time. We join the rest of the country in praying for the quick recovery of those injured.

Illustrating the Orwellian projection that defines cheerleaders of the statist left, hate mongers in support of the Brady position did their best to incite ideological lynch mobs—representatively illustrated by the obscene ranting of a—surprise—New York Times contributor who I will neither name nor link to.

I guess we can’t use the term “teabaggers” anymore. It’s no longer appropriate. They’re bodybaggers.

And the evidence that “Communist Manifesto”– sympathizing/skull shrine-worshiping suspect Jared Lee Loughner was motivated and provoked to action by advocates of government dedicated to “secur[ing] the Blessings of Liberty” is…?

I also guess no one with “progressive” sympathies is unhinged enough to act on such rhetoric?  Which is it? Either such language provokes violence from the weak-minded among us, in which case the writer is intentionally encouraging retaliatory bloodshed, or else the entire theory that we must moderate ourselves to accommodate the deviant evil freaks among us is bunk?

Not that the obvious answer has stopped Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik from doing his bit to side with the mob and show everyone his seasoned grasp of cause and effect, which, hopefully, constituents he wants to slander as racists will remember  the next time he stumps for an extension of power. 

Unsurprisingly, Carolyn “Shoulder Thing That Goes Up ” McCarthy is ready to hit the ground running, which suggests nothing so much as having a plan waiting in the wings to be implemented at the very first opportunity:

McCarthy’s spokesman confirmed the legislation will target the high-capacity ammunition clips the Arizona gunman allegedly used in the shooting…

Considering the source, that’s to be expected.  But another development of insidious subversive un-American exploitation should concern not just gun owners, but everyone, even more:

Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Brady, a Democrat from Philadelphia, told CNN that he also plans to take legislative action. He will introduce a bill that would make it a crime for anyone to use language or symbols that could be seen as threatening or violent against a federal official, including a member of Congress.

So, Bob, if your new law passes and I send you this, should I expect a visit from federal enforcers?  Is that really the America you expect my children to live in?

Really?

Also see:

More commentary from Gun Rights Examiners:

UPDATE: I'll be discussing this tonight on "The Watchmen" with Doc Bean.  Click here to listen live at 6:00-7:00 pm PST (adjust for your time zone).

UPDATE: Additional reports have been filed on this by fellow GREs Liston Matthews in Knoxville and Steve D. Jones in Fort Smith.

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David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Email him at dcodreaAThotmailDOTcom.

Comments

  • BrianF 1 year ago

    I'm not familiar with Bobby Brady's legislative feats of stupidity, but I'm wondering if he would find the ol' Hammer and Sickle to be violent or threatening?

  • Sean 1 year ago

    Largest capacity "clips" I've seen hold ten rounds. Magazines, now, that's a different story. But c'mon, Carolyn, let's have some more of you ignorant spew. Disarmed, I'm sure we'd all be safer. But as I understand it, that only happens in the EU, Heaven, and Hell. Two of those places you have to be dead to get into. One, you have to be the living dead.

  • Profile picture of Kurt Hofmann
    Kurt Hofmann 1 year ago

    Rep. McCarthy is showing what I guess she thinks of as "restraint," by waiting until today to introduce her magazine capacity limit bill. She introduced a similar bill, H.R. 1859, on the VERY SAME DAY as the Virginia Tech. killings. Must have just been waiting for an atrocity to exploit.

  • Mama Liberty 1 year ago

    Every crisis or emergency is just another opportunity to increase the control of the state, and therefore can't be wasted. Isn't that what one of them said?

    Would we actually expect anything else from politicians, bureaucrats and statists?

  • Profile picture of Jason Greene
    Jason Greene 1 year ago

    I couldn't agree more. There is no end game to these statists, they view these events as opportunities to enhance the state's power.

  • Carl Bussjaeger 1 year ago

    I guess the ridicule that Politico article garnered must have stung enough to cause them to revise it: Originally it stated that McCarthy wanted to ban high-capacity AMMUNITION, not clips. Glad I saved a screen shot of the original.

    As for Brady's insanity... what can't be seen as threatening by a paranoid schizophrenic congresscreep? A NH scumbag had a tax protester arrested for sending her a tea bag.

  • Saladin 1 year ago

    Such short memories the left wing has. Where were all these self-righteous anti-"haters" when this sort of thing was going on? Or maybe whats good for the goose is criminal for the gander?
    http://www.illinoisloop.org/stopthehate/
    Hey, what's that? I see a map...

  • Anonymous Rex 1 year ago

    The past few days has seen a nauseating number of articles, editorials, and internet posts blaming Sarah Palin and her "cross-hair" graphic for the outrage perpetrated in Tucson. i have a question for them all.

    In 1968, The Beatles released "Helter Skelter". Somewhere in the twisted brain of one Charles Manson, the song's lyrics became a call for a race war in the USA and for Manson to be the man to get it all started. Are you folks who are so quick to blame Sarah Palin ready to blame The Beatles for the Tate/LaBianca murders too?

    DDS -- NRA Life Member

  • fredccim 1 year ago

    Where were the police? Moments away when seconds counted. Also, where were the concealed carriers?

  • Henny Youngman 1 year ago

    Where were the concealed carriers? Probably somewhere else that day than at a Democratic political rally. To be fair, Giffords is very pro-RKBA (see her website). Not enough to be carrying herself that day, though. More's the pity.

  • Profile picture of triptyx
    triptyx 1 year ago

    One concealed carrier helped to tackle the gunman. According to his interview on Fox, he was inside the Walgreens, heard the shooting, and run outside to help - he said he "flipped off the safety when he heard the shooting" - I'm assuming he did so while his firearm was still in its holster. By the time he was eyes-on, one man was struggling with the shooter for the gun, while one of the shooting victims was simultaneously struggling for the magazine the shooter was attempting to load into the gun. The CCW holder decided (wisely) to help tackle the gunman rather than drawing and firing.

    As to the rest of the folks in line - they're mostly Democrats and Lefties. Finding a CCW'er in that bunch, while not impossible, is far more difficult than if there were a Repugnican or Conservative holding an event. Finding one in that line that actually carries daily is even more rare.

  • Drew 1 year ago

    I sure hope they don't ban my shoulder thing that goes up. I really like that thing.

  • Drew 1 year ago

    Gadsden Flag doubleplusungood. Unperson David Codrea ref crimethink. Rewrite GRE blog fullwise upsub antefiling.

  • Profile picture of Rick Oltman
    Rick Oltman 1 year ago

    This should prove beyond doubt--to people who are still thinking-- that the left wing media and leftist politicians are either stupid, or corrupt or both.

    For any of them to begin their the rants before one fact about the shooter was known, and then to repeat the lies after the facts are known should convince any reasonable thinking person that they are both dangerous and need to be dealt with.

    Let me be clear.

    Deal with the leftist pols by voting them out of office. Deal with the left wing media by contacting their sponsors.

    We know what to do, now we have to do it. The fate of the Republic hangs in the balance. (no emphasis needed)

  • Profile picture of island4diver
    island4diver 1 year ago

    Take a close look at the people who run Brady, HCI et al. They are all right wing with mild liberals as rank and file. Nelson Sheilds is a corporate executive, Brady worked for Reagan (no 2d Amedment friend himself) Joseph D. McNamara works for a right wing think tank called the Hoover Institution. Meanwhile workers vote Republican, the same people who send jobs overseas, ran up the national debt, lets the private insurance companies to rip us off, and lets wall street criminals to run over all of our other rights. Want all of the Bill of Rights?

  • Profile picture of leemcgee
    leemcgee 1 year ago

    "There are still places where people think the function of the media is to provide information." - Don Rottenburg

    "Reporters today are far removed from America's founding values and are alarmed and contemptuous of gun owners as dangerous lower classes." - Henry Allen, Washington Post

  • Anonymous Rex 1 year ago

    This post will be kind of off topic but parallel to it and sort of funny in a sad way but I thought you all might like to know.

    One of my google news searches yesterday led me to a Huffington Post piece on the use of an "assault weapon" in Tuscon. I'm sure you all know the Huffington Post. Great source of comic relief. In among the usual left wing loons and people pretending to be college faculty (I hope they weren't real faculty) were a few people that were making some sense. So I decided to sign up and respond to some of them. "Into the belly of the beast", charge the guns he said", and all that. Nothing I haven't posted here: definition of a militia, what "well regulated" meant in 1789, you've seen me post it all here. Four hours later on reaching home I logged back in to see if I got any intellegent responses only to find I had been banned from the site for life.

    So much for the free and open exchange of ideas on The Huffington Post.

    DDS -- NRA Life Member

  • justbite_me 1 year ago

    Now that life has been lost the buzzards are circling above and have come out to reap the benefits of the days shooting. The anti-gunners are more than ready and ever willing to take you freedoms away i.e., Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik. Leading the charge in Congress is good ole Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY. A "PUTZ" by any other name will be the same a "PUTZ".

  • Drew 1 year ago

    This is getting really old. If the murderer had said "Sarah Palin made me do it" then the "vitriol" argument might hold some water. But last I heard the murderer wasn't even talking to police. This is absolutely asinine, and a completely obvious power play.

  • Anonymous Rex 1 year ago

    The last few days have seen a number of new lows in the behavior of those on the left, both in government and in the media. One of the most outrageous is a new editorial in The Washington Post about Sarah Palin's "missed opportunity". What defines the difference between us and them is that like Governor Palin we don't see a national tragedy with 6 dead and 13 wounded s an "opportunity".

    DDS -- NRA Life Member

  • Screamin Eagle 1 year ago

    I'm wondering if there is a reliable list of names of those Democrat and Republican politicians that have concealed carry permits...How many of them do you think carry illegally ?..and if they carry illegally or legally how will they be able to be within 1000 feet of each other..???

  • Profile picture of island4diver
    island4diver 1 year ago

    Thomas Paine wrote in support of progressive income tax, as did Jefferson. They both also believed in an armed populas. John Adams started a system like "Obama care" and he was one of the writers of the Constituion. The gun debate serves as a distraction go get working people to vote against themselves and letting the trust fund babies and greed heads run us over. Liberals as just as willing saps in this scam. Take a close look at the people who run Brady, HCI et al. They are all right wing with mild liberals as rank and file. Nelson Sheilds is a corporate executive, Brady worked for Reagan (no 2d Amedment friend himself) Joseph D. McNamara works for a right wing think tank called the Hoover Institution. Meanwhile workers vote Republican, the same people who send jobs overseas, ran up the national debt, lets the private insurance companies to rip us off, and lets wall street criminals to run over all of our other rights. Want all of the Bill of Rights?

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