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(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Predictably, it's begun: Blaming "conservatives" and gun owners for the act of a deranged hatemonger.
"Does Holocaust Shooting Validate Homeland Security Report?" asks Ed O'Keefe in The Washington Post.
We talked about that report here. Now, with an almost "I told you so" glee, outlets like Politico are propagating a meme:
“I think this latest round of killing once again shows how ridiculous the criticism from the right of the Department of Homeland Security report was. That whole brouhaha was absurd,” said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center...
“We felt the DHS report was pretty right on,” said Deborah Lauter of the Anti-Defamation League.
There's a word for blaming a group for actions of an individual: it's called "prejudice." Let's put things in perspective.
The lawless acts of someone reportedly distraught because "his Social Security had been cut and that he was barely making it" hardly qualify him as a Constitutionalist, that is, someone who believes in "the supreme law of the land."
Based on a percentage of the whole, it makes more statistical sense to tar members of Mensa, to which he alctually belonged at one time, with the guilt for the alleged actions of James W. von Brunn than it does to blame "conservatives." And clearly, that makes no sense.
But being pegged as something we're not isn't the main danger facing not just the people of the right, but all of us.
One of the frequent criticisms leveled at "gun rights" advocates is that all we care about is the Second Amendment, and we're perfectly happy to ignore the others as long as we can keep our precious guns. This, of course, is unfounded, and has its origins with those who wish to disparage and lie, and count on some of the mud they fling sticking, at least as far as shallow and impressionable minds are concerned.
So very real efforts, like NRA joining with ACLU to fight McCain/Feingold so-called "campaign finance reform" on First Amendment grounds are either not known about or conveniently not talked about.
The even more "conservative" Gun Owners of America is and has been a leader in criticizing "Patriot Act" infringements on liberty, including during the Bush administration, citing concerns about "privacy and unlawful searches...Big Brother...arrests and supensions of Constitutional rights..."
And Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership originated the concept and actively promotes December 15 as "Bill of Rights Day," providing us with a template to have it so recognized by our local governments.
OK, but this seems to have wandered pretty far afield. What about that "danger" for all of us I mentioned?
It's this--coming from the left that supposedly reveres all rights but the one to keep and bear arms:
[W]e know that there are groups out there hiding behind their twisted interpretation of the First and Second Amendments to the United States Constitution , who seek to cause us harm. We must band together and educate the public of this threat and seek to strengthen the Hate Crimes Laws that are already on the books.
I am calling on those from my own community as well as the Jewish Community, Hispanic Community and all others who are targets of these hate groups to join together and let us seek to put an end to their exploits of our Constitution. Hate Speech is not Protected Speech and it's high time that the excuses and defenses of this type of behavior be confronted and halted and not just when incidents such as the one today, occur.
This "progression" (Bolsheviks call themselves "progressives" nowadays, don't they?) will lead to "civilized" speech laws, like the ones in Canada, where...oh, just read it for yourself. Look at the ordeal commissars on boards like the Orwellian "Alberta Human Rights Commission" have forced publishers like Ezra Levant and writers like Mark Steyn to endure.
Then ask yourself if how you would like being summoned to explain how and why you dare to express your thoughts, beliefs and motivations--with real penalties imposable by government should you get the answers "wrong":
Gun owners are going to be seeing a lot more calls for gun control, for "hate speech" control, for denying rights without due process...we're going to see many more attempts to paint us in the most negative of ways.
Remember the adage: It's not about guns, it's about freedom.
What else would we expect from freedom's enemies?
Also see:
Holocaust Museum shooting not the 'proof' the gun control crowd is looking for
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Two bills advance
Per Oregon Firearms Federation:
"READILY ACCESSIBLE" BILL PASSES HOUSE.
"MENTAL HEALTH " BILL GOES TO WAYS AND MEANS...
Click here for more information.
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- Cleveland:
Holocaust Museum shooting not the 'proof' the gun control crowd is looking for
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Comments
But it will be, and we can't stop that. Paul Helmke was already doing the Danse Macabre, even before the bodies were cold. And now, the Gestapo, er, DHS will rub that damned document in our faces, and use the Constitution as toilet paper. As of now, our government is our enemy.
Lad, government has ALWAYS been the enemy of any freedom lover, since time immemorial. That is its function, after all. We CAN stop them COLD from exploiting this.
Yes, a madman with a gun perpetrated a heinous crime. Madmen have been using fists, knives, rocks, fire, drowning, dismemberment, cars, disease, and every OTHER conceivable way of doing harm to another human being to inflict their atrocities probably since man first walked the African savanna.
I won't even conceded the argument that firearms make their murderous sprees easier. Given things like the Sarin gas attack in Tokyo some years ago, it is quite apparent that the substitution effect criminologists talk about operates here, too.
What the hoplophobes completely miss is quite clearly illustrated by this incident. GUNS SAVE LIVES. Had those armed PRIVATE security guards not been there, the death toll would have been much higher. Kudos to those brave officers. And lets have MORE armed people out there - stop the ma
You're that concerned about a DailyKos diary that had a total of three comments? Seriously?
God, what a hateful, irrational column and comments. Now, gun controllers want to use the Constitution as toilet paper? Guards need guns - duh!!!!!
How about addressing the POINT that crazy people get their hands on guns. So, either you go round up all the crazies, or you make gun/ammo ownership more sane with sane regulations and background checks.
DUH!!!
Perhaps you are unaware, but before a gun may be purchased in these United States, the buyer ALREADY must pass a background check administered by the federal government. Yet madmen still get guns.
What EXACTLY do you propose to do to stop them? You are right, the solution is to have people ON THE SCENE armed and trained to deal with an incident of insane violence. The best, PROVEN way to do this is to train and arm as many citizens as possible. I and a lot of other readers and commenters here have ALREADY at great personal expense and with opprobrium heaped upon us by a certain bigoted element of the population taken up the responsibility for our own defense. Just ONCE I'd like to see some of the hoplophobes gain just a little understanding of how vast a positive good it has been to have American gunowners fighting for not just firearms related rights, but defending freedom in general AND deterring crime on a day to day basis. Too much to ask I suppose.
alka
Standing up for our rights is hateful?
I bet that one more "sane" gun law would have stopped this von brunn character. Did he ingnor any of the 2nd Ammendment infringments that are currently law?
Thoughtless comments like yours make it difficult to refrain from name calling.
Sorry - typing a little fast...
Malka
Standing up for our rights is hateful?
I bet that one more "sane" gun law would have stopped this von brunn character. Did he ignore any of the 2nd Amendment infringements that are currently law?
Thoughtless comments like yours make it difficult to refrain from name calling.
Maxomai--no, I'm concerned about the tip of the iceberg it represents and the growing volume/increased frequency I'm seeing in the wake of both this and the Tiller murder. This sentiment unchecked has resulted in laws in Canada and Europe. The Kos piece was merely a convenient illustration.
Right on, David.
Just curious, for those who think "hate crime laws" will change anything: Just which actual crimes (actions that cause bodily harm) are NOT motivated by hate of one kind or another? Are there "love" crimes?
How does the emotional state of the criminal harm the victim more than the aggressive action itself? And does someone's emotional state, absent any action, qualify as aggression and harm others?
Of course not.
It IS ironic that it took another man with a gun to stop this hateful creature.
Jesus tapdancing Christ! The commenters over at those pages live in a world of heads in the sand. Was there any outrage when the leftist talker said on the air (paraphrasing here)I want Joe the plumber dead
It's frighting to watch the rise of another hitler and the worship of his anti-freedom policies. The controlled media denies any coverage of those on the right denouncing folks like this, but defends those on the left who do things like this themselves.
I'd almost prefer seeing outright war instead of all the psyops and perpetual felation towards the left leaning puppets and operatives.
This nutbag was just that. No law, no ideological cleansing will ever stop folks like this. You can pass all the laws you want, and you do, but your own actions mr giant .gov do more to fuel the fires than anything else.
Look at Obama's take on Israel and his "former" pastor's jew slurs yesterday if you want to see the left's hypocrisy. Time to pass a law silencing Wright's antise
No, Tom. I WANT Reverend Wright, and his ilk to continue to spew their bile for everyone to hear. For that matter, much as I despise the neo-nazis, the Klan, the Brady bunch, and all the other hate groups out there, I'll never advocate silencing them.
Put them away PERMANENTLY if they step over the line and try to put any of their twisted ideas into action, but let them speak. No better way to expose them for the evil they truly are. Part of the genius of our system - we have nothing to fear from speech, for we are armed and can take care of ourselves if someone decides to step over the line and commit a crime. The hoplophobes never stop to consider how important that is to the functioning of free speech in a free society, do they?
Hateful, Malka? Angry, yes. Angry because the Left continues to lie about us and slander us. They show great hatred to us, and we're tired of it. DUH!!! So, if you don't like it, stop doing it to us.
As a group, we gun owners are not a danger to you. Yes, there are criminals and psychos, but they are a tiny part of those who use guns. They are not enough to deny us a Constitutionally protected right. Yet, you want more "sane" gun laws that only hamper the average citizen, while having no effect on the bad guys? Why? We have 20,000 "sane" gun laws, and they don't work. DUH!!
That "damned document" to which I refer is the leaked Gestapo--er, "Homeland Security" document that called veterans and Constitution supporters potential terrorists. I find that insulting, and a clear indicator of government's ever growing lust for power. "Using the Constitution as toilet paper" is obviously a euphemism for the utter disdain the Left shows for it as they grasp for more and more power. DUH!!
Hunter, Yeah I know they SHOULD be able to keep on spewing their hate and racism, but what damn good does it do if they're never called on it? The media ever call them on it? Ever hear any on the left call them on it or denounce them? Hell no.
The "right" calls em out in the few venues left (radio, net, person to person) but the .gov control system and the media bury it fast.
Look at David's "only ones" and remember they include these Wright type in their ranks.
The goal here is to program the masses that "right/conservative" is bad, terrorists, to psychologically abuse the right/conservatives. It's negative reinforcement. Look at the wiki (yeah yeah) for it and tell me that's not what we faced for the last 8 years.
It's a win win for the .gov, news, left, and all the rest trying to remake this country and the relationship between master and servant.
They make the rules, they control the info, they're taking over. They're winning.
"These are the times that try men's souls", Tom. Though I do something of a disservice to the man who penned those words in a cold, dirty Continental army camp somewhere on the run from the British army. The situation we face is not so dire as that yet, by any stretch of the imagination.
To quote a more recent patriot, "let not your heart be troubled". What these folks are saying bothers you? SPEAK OUT! If you don't feel confident enough in your speaking or writing abilities, help support those who DO say what you agree with.
I'll agree the situation is dire, but even now we win battles. Our esteemed host here has particpated in and chronicled several since Beloved Leader Obama was elected.
Above all, KEEP FIGHTING. If you haven't figured it out, these bastards are scared to death of us. Exactly as it should be - every tyrant wannabe on earth should tremble in their booties at the thought a freedom loving American may rain on their parade.
"gun/ammo ownership more sane with sane regulations and background checks."
Canada has many more "sane" ownership laws, regulations, and background checks. Even including "Authorizations to Transport" (ATT) for all handguns and short-barreled rifles.
Strange, then, how handgun violence among gangs continues unabated (and increasing in some major cities: Vancouver and Toronto). See, the thing is that gangbangers get there guns the same place they get their drugs (smuggled illegally). And they NEVER apply for an ATT, a license, or register their guns. Gun control is not crime control.
You are a fool if you can think you can catch these fringe criminals and extremists by casting large, regulatory nets of useless gun restrictions on law-abiding owners. When a fox is eating your chickens, it doesn't matter how short your dog's leash is.
So - the ADL defames a whole group of people.
How convenient that they're called the Anti Defamation League...
Exactly, Shane. And here's the other thing for the statist to consider. There are a whole bunch of us out here who have taken THEIR advice (with a twist). To whit:
"You can't have any more gun laws until you use the ones you've got."
Starting with this one:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Now, hoplophobes, when you're in compliance with that, get back to me. Don't like it? Look up Article V on amendments, and get to work. In the meantime, you're conspiring to violate the civil rights of free Americans by advocating disarming us. You DO realize that's a federal crime, right?
Rights are being slowly taken, an inch here a mile there. The smoking bill is one, who are the government to tell people they can't smoke an apple cig in their own home? Obviously the same ones who want our guns!
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