Any lingering doubts about the political leanings of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews were forever erased when the commentator launched a verbal assault on New Hampshire resident William Kostric, who had protested outside a “town hall meeting” in Portsmouth Tuesday while openly carrying a pistol.
My colleague, David Codrea, writes about this incident here, complete with videos of the Matthews-Kostric on-air exchange, so I’m not going to load up this space with the same videos. CBS blogger Declan McCullagh writes about it here.
This meeting was attended by President Barack Obama, it was a canned event with evidently only Obama supporters in the audience who threw him nothing but softball questions. The only thing missing was a faked fainting spell by a member of Obama’s audience.
Matthews’ mouth needs to be scrubbed with Hoppe’s No. 9 and a phosphor bronze brush. The fact that he claims to have family members who belong to the National Rifle Association doesn’t mean diddly. Like an attack dog, a clearly outraged Matthews demanded to know why Kostric was “carrying a g--damned gun at a presidential event?” Perhaps we’re all lucky that Matthews did not instead choose to drop an “F” bomb into the interrogation.
...you're carrying a g--damned gun at a presidential event
Matthews is an Obama partisan, from the top of his head to his tingling leg. His rant clearly was meant to demonize Kostric, which puts the MSNBC commentator in the same league as the extremists from the Violence Policy Center and Freedom States Alliance. I wrote about their activities here.
Now, so there is no misunderstanding: No American politician, including the president, should have any apprehension about sitting down with a legally-armed citizen, or attending a public meeting attended by citizens who are carrying firearms. Obama would be far safer in a room full of gun-toting Nebraskans, for example, then he would be walking down the street in his South Side Chicago neighborhood after dark. (When he was president, Teddy Roosevelt occasionally carried his own gun. Eleanor Roosevelt carried a gun frequently when she was First Lady.)
After all, American gun owners are not out to hurt anyone, they merely wish to be left alone. This is a philosophy that even the so-called “conservatives” at Fox News don’t always appear to grasp. Perhaps in New York, where Fox is headquartered, it seems “reasonable” to require gun owners to get licenses, register their guns, and be subjected to all sorts of red tape nonsense simply to exercise a civil right. That’s not reasonable at all. Out here in the West, those ideas are anathema to gun owners, as they should be everywhere. One should never need permission from police or government to exercise a fundamental, individual civil right. One should never have to demonstrate a “need” to carry a firearm. It’s a right, and so long as citizens do it responsibly, it’s nobody else’s business, and if that alarms the hoplophobes, that’s just too bad. (Oh, but to sit down with Bill O’Reilly or Fox’s morning guy, Brian Kilmeade at a campfire, and explain this.)
On the other hand, opinions seem mixed about Kostric’s performance in all of this. His choice of holsters – a “tactical” leg holster that is strapped to the thigh and hangs several inches below the belt line – might be considered a provocative and stupid way to carry a firearm at a public event featuring the president. You be the judge. Kostric admitted to Matthews he wore the gun to get attention for the right to keep and bear arms (he certainly got attention, but was it beneficial or detrimental to his cause?), but added that he carries a gun just about everywhere. Yes, he acknowledged, it was loaded.
Why would anyone want to bring a concealed handgun into a community event intended to encourage peaceful and thoughtful discussion?
VPC’s Josh Horwitz was at it again this week on the Huffington Post website, fomenting hysteria about gun rights activists as “insurrectionists” simply because some of them are also concerned about the financial quagmire being marketed by Obama and the Democrats controlling Congress as “health care reform,” when what they’re discussing apparently is not health care at all, and they’re really not “reforming” anything.
Horwitz and others are fuming that some citizens attending “town hall” gatherings across the country to discuss health care legislation and other issues are carrying firearms. So what? Why shouldn’t it be okay for a law-abiding citizen to carry a firearm, even to a public meeting? The Horwitz crowd is paranoid about the prospect of violence, yet in none of these sessions – where tempers have visibly flared – has anybody been shot. Sort of lets the air out of their rhetoric when all of those armed citizens engage in sometimes heated debate without shedding any blood, doesn’t it?
So far, the only thuggery appears to be the work of Obamacare supporters, which columnist Michelle Malking writes about here.
More disturbingly, there have now been confirmed reports of "Tea Partiers" carrying concealed handguns into these events after being encouraged by conservative organizers to do so.
In the midst of this taxpayer revolt, the Second Amendment Foundation has filed lawsuits against two California sheriffs, and the District of Columbia, dealing with the right to carry firearms. At the same time, SAF and the National Rifle Association are pressing separate lawsuits against the City of Chicago to undo its handgun ban
The economy is in deep trouble, the public is raging over health care and looming higher taxes to meet the astronomical debt that this administration and this Congress have already piled up. (There's a popular movie based on a popular book called Twilight, about teen vampires in out in Forks on the Olympic Peninsula. You want to see real bloodsucking vampires, just look at the people in Congress pushing all of these bailout and health care "reform" packages. They're sucking the economic life's blood out of the next several generations, or so say the administration's growing number of critics who are attending these Town Hall meetings.) A few armed citizens exercising their right to carry seem the least of their problems right now.
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Comments
You don't seem to understand the term "bigotry." Everybody wants to cry "oppression" and tell everyone of how the world discriminates against them and their particular cause, but this is just silly.
What happened to adulthood? This childish piece of so-called writing is a prime example of why reasoned debate has become a thing of the past. It's sad. It really is.
Anti-gun bigotry? Obviously, the pro-gun people have taken the second amendment somewhere the Framers never intended: from a guarantee of personnel for a well regulated militia to a muzzle of personal freedom.
The so-called gun rights crowd are in the process of creating a seperate and superior political class. Their vision is to use their guns to intimidate the rest of us and to eliminate our political rights by declaring any criticism of them as biotry.
Guns ar dangerous. They have never used to protect political rights or private proerty,. They are alwways used for theft and repression.
It is too bad that so many American politicians are cowed by the vast wealth and political muscle of the NRa and writers like the one abocve
Would it be appropriate for black and hispanic people to be allowed to openly carry guns everywhere in public, as well as to Town Hall meetings with Republican Congressmen?
"After all, American gun owners are not out to hurt anyone, they merely wish to be left alone."
Not everyone who owns a legal gun is law-abiding. A man in Pittsburgh recently killed three womenand injured several more with guns he legally purchased. This writer has no common sense if he thinks the President of the United States is NEVER in danger from someone who owns a legally purchased firearm.
The right to own a gun is not unlimited. And lest I be labeled a anti-gun leftist, my mom and dad both own guns and hunted during my childhood. They have enough common sense not to take a gun to an event with the President.
if MSNBC is prejudice then so is examiner.com, do you guys even know what "honest, unbiased reporting" even means?
I seriously doubt you do...
oh and you have scientology ads too, nuff said...
Mr. Chapman, I assume you have heard of the American Revolution? And for a more recent example may I offer the Deacons for Defense during the civil rights campaign. Any weapon, gun or otherwise is merely a tool with no volition of its own. Whether it is used to oppress or liberate depends on the person using it.
Frank says:
Would it be appropriate for black and hispanic people to be allowed to openly carry guns everywhere in public, as well as to Town Hall meetings with Republican Congressmen?
As long as they don't threaten or attack anyone, they are more than welcome to carry a weapon, where ever they want.
MSC: Why should the president be treated any different than anyone else? He is just an overpaid government employee.
Frank: Why shouldn't they be able to carry? A more important question would be "Should government employees be allowed to carry weapons into private citizens meetings?"
Robert Chapman: You sir are wrong on many many levels. But I will agree with your one statement, if you add a phrase. "They are always used for theft and repression, when they are in the hands of government employees." On every other statement you made, Google is your friend, use it.
Frank, the answer to your question is absolutely! I personally would look favorably on anyone carrying a gun openly or otherwise as this right is for all men and women.
"They [firearms] have never used to protect political rights or private proerty"
Putting aside our War for Independence and the liberation of Europe in WWII, they have been used for exactly that purpose on a local level:
h t t p : / / w w w .constitution. o r g/mil/tn/batathen . h t m
(just remove the spaces)
Robert Chapman... guns are dangerous... if you are on the wrong end of one. However, cars are far more dangerous. Swimming pools are far more dangerous to my children than guns are. Knives are dangerous (even been banned in U.K.), baseball bats, playing with electric toasters in the bathtub.
Sir, firearms are far more safe in my hands and the hands of the folks I know as "the gun culture" than only being in the hands of criminals. Dare I say... they are far safer in our hands than even the police.
If you live anywhere near NC, come up one weekend and I'll take you shooting. I bet you'll change your mind. I am being completely sincere. Put your e-mail address down and I'll contact you.
Fister
Hip63,
Most people would quickly figure out that the GunRights Examiner is more of an editorial column that FAVORS gun rights. It reports news events but does not/has not purported to be a fair and balanced news column. I could be wrong.
However, MSBNC (supposedly a real "authorized" news source) does nothing more than peddle reality-TV-quality sensationalism with Chris Matthews' crap.
Frankly, the gun-culture crowd (the most law-abiding crowd I have been with) has had it's rights trampled on for long enough. What do you expect? To have someone with a national voice call one of us names and ridicule us for doing something LEGAL?
Go pound sand.
Fister
Yo Robert! You actually believe that the rest of the BOR acknowledges various civil rights for private citizens but yet the 2A applies only to states?
What does the phrase "the people" mean to you anyway?
And as far as your amazing generalization:
"Guns ar dangerous. They have never used to protect political rights or private proerty,. They are alwways used for theft and repression."
Visit here for an education:
www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/blogger.html
MSC,
You are correct. There have been many legal limitations & restrictions placed on owning and the use of firearms.
As Chris Matthews himself has pointed out, the man being interviewed did not break a single one of those legal restrictions.
So... I think we all need to consider if this guy has broken the law or not. He did not. Was it the smart thing to do? I don't know... I guess it depends on what the goals are.
Look, you've got police who are out BREAKING the law every day (not hard to find the head lines). This guy was there and everything was safe. No worries.
Btw, one thing that we may be able to agree on is that it is difficult to legislate common sense and personal responsibility.
Fister
Interestingly enough, the gun "bearer" broke no laws - but Matthews did. There are FCC regulations concerning cursing on air.
Somehow I doubt the bama FCC will do squat.
Chris Matthews is a moron, claiming to know the "history of people who carry guns around the president." All he KNOWS is when somebody out to get the president carried a gun and used it. He cannot humanly have any knowledge of how many times non-homicidal citizens carried guns harmlessly around presidents because they kept them in their pants and NOTHING BAD HAPPENED.
MSC/Robert/hip63,
For those of you who don't realize, the first step towards oppression of another ethnic/religious/etc group is disarmament.
The history of gun control in the U.S.A. comes from post Civil War events. These laws were designed to keep the black populace from fighting back.
Here is just one well documented example of where firearms, in the hands of the oppressed, were able to fight back. This is in your own backyard.
h tt p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deacons_for_Defense_and_Justice
I shouldn't need to give you a history lesson about Stalin, Mao, or Hitler... or do I? Gun control laws were the first part of their strategy. Now, as it applies to this country... gun control laws are the tools of racists. You are not racist are you? I doubt you are. Just do the homework. Think about this topic in more depth. Don't take an emotional position.
I sincerely extend to you an invite to go target shooting if any of you are in NC. Post your e-mail, I'll contact you.
Fi
Where would this gun totting guy be right now if Bush/Cheney were still in office? there is a related post at iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588
Life is never dull for lovers of irony, is it?
The attribution of paranoia to those who would act like normal life-forms and provide for their own personal safety is almost Pavlovian for the statists. (Clearly, Master has trained them well.)
Yet the first response of these same is to call upon a gang of armed goons to quash any semblance of defensive capacity in others. "Who is that guy? He obviously can't be trusted. Take him down!"
"Methinks thou doth protest too much", indeed. Whether it is technically projection or not is a matter for the psychologists, but it is certainly revealing. The specifics of the man's tactics aside, we certainly learned precisely how much a peaceable armed citizen is trusted by his "betters", and that seems to have been his point.
The message here is clear: if someone else controls your ability to defend your life, your life does not belong to you.
Apparently, that is not a problem to some people.
George - you are so right.
Here is where we let the FCC know how we feel the foul language.
h tt p://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
Here's the e-mail address to write MSNBC producers to tell them what you think about Chris Matthews, his "coverage" of the issues, their network, and what you plan on doing with your time instead of watching this show...
viewerservices@msnbc. com
Fister
@Robert Chapman
Separate and superior political class? You too have the right to bear arms. It's not reserved for some elite class, it is a right to be enjoyed by everyone. If everyone were armed (as many were even into the 20th century), then nobody would care if someone else carries a gun. It levels the playing field.
Guns aren't dangerous. If you put a loaded gun on your table, is it going to go off? Of course not. If you put it in the hand of a dangerous (or stupid) person, it becomes a tool of a dangerous (or stupid) person. In the hands of a good person, a law-abiding person, a smart person, a gun is also a tool. It is a tool to defend against the dangerous person. (Why do you think President Obama's secret service guys carry guns?)
Name any American city which has outlawed guns and I will show you an American city which has an extremely high violent crime and murder rate.
OH MY A GUN RUNAWAY !! MATHEWS IS AN IDIOT!!
Nona, you lose, simply because you said nothing on the issue at hand, most probably because you are wrong on it.
Chapman, you are a fool. The only times private property and rights have been protected anywhere in the world in history has been when an armed populace made it dangerous for those who would violate those rights. You are woefully undereducated.
As to your assertion that we advocate for a separate and superior polical class, you are partially correct. We do not advocate for a separate class, but we do advocate for a superior class. Yes, that's right, we advocate that the citizen, all the citizens, be the superior and the public officials be the servants, just exactly as the founders set it up to be. Therefore, we do not insist that you carry arms, nor do we insist you don't. You see, we aren't interested in removing your choices as a free man, while you are interested in removing ours. That makes you the offender.
Guns ar dangerous.--Robert Chapman
Uv course gunz ar dangerous, Robert.
What possible utility would they possess if they were not dangerous?
Danger is implicit in morality. Guns are dangerous. Sex is dangerous. Freedom is dangerous. After all, people make bad choices all the time. What do you propose we do then--confine them to playpens and spoon feed them? (Hat tip to Jeff Cooper)
Frank, yes it would be entirely appropriate for blacks and hispanics to carry arms at a Republican town hall meeting. They are citizens too. Too damn bad you think they are somehow untermenschen.
John, what has Bush/Cheney got to do with this. If they would have somehow harmed this man, they too would be wrong. This isn't about Party, it's about the rights of citizens. DUH!
Robert Chapman takes the cake for ignorant doomed to repeat it communist.
Besides the rules for radicals #5 exertion here, Bob's claim:
"They have never used to protect political rights or private proerty,. They are alwways used for theft and repression."
overlooks the american revolution, WWI, WWII, and damn near every other war as well as the innumerable cases where a gun was used to defend rights and property.
For all the obombabots following in the pResident's and Alinksy's footsteps here, the divide HAS become great because your side cannot even acknowledge history or facts. Until you can do that there can be no "reasoned debate" as nona (the self-hating jew?) claims. You argue emotions and we argue facts.
Oh, Nona, bigotry defined so you can understand it: stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own.
That sure as hell sums up the anti-rights hoplophobes of your side!
Hey John next time you point to propaganda pieces make sure they don't disprove Nazi Pelosi's claims of "swastika signs"
Gee, "obama" with the swastika inside the "O" really must be a sign of a white supremacist in action there. Or the "outrage" over the effigy... but none here reuters.com/article/sarahPalin/idUSTRE49Q79N20081027 or the unidentified "bullet in the head" crap? Who said it, sounds more like someone who was "astroturfed" into that side of the lines.
When you actually have something for the discussion at hand come back and continue to show your ignorance.
Matthews is the leader of the "Media Tongue Bath for Obama" crowd. His feeble attempts at cornering Mr. Kostric into saying something that would label him as a loony resulted in Matthews suffering a televised smackdown by one of the unwashed that the media finds so contemptible. As for the anti-self defense crowd posting here? Disregard them. They know the facts; They just ignore them because they are evil.
"Would it be appropriate for black and hispanic people to be allowed to openly carry guns everywhere in public, as well as to Town Hall meetings with Republican Congressmen?"
Darned well better be. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is for every peaceable citizen. That includes those dark-skinned people you seem to be afraid of.
Now that we have confirmed reports of the Obamessiah's union thugs beating people up, we have damn good reason to carry, open or concealed.
If one is not pursuing a career of parasitism, one has nothing to fear from an armed gun-owner. The reaction shows a person's heart and intentions more clearly than any oily words or assurances.
"Frank says:
Would it be appropriate for black and hispanic people to be allowed to openly carry guns everywhere in public, as well as to Town Hall meetings with Republican Congressmen? "
Yes.
If they think thats scary where were they when 100's of citizens carrying firearms met with Most of Georgia's Gubernatorial candidates...
examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m8d3-Georgia-Right-to-Bear-Arms-Convention-a-Success
"Politicians and hundreds of armed Georgians showed up for the two day event, including gubernatorial candidates from the Democrat, Libertarian, and Republican parties and the state's Attorney General."
Chris Matthews has already demonstrated he has no journalistic integrity. He's nothing more than a Liberal Media Whore, and hopefully soon he'll be pimping his butt down on the street corner instead of shoveling his drivel down peoples throats.
"anti-gun bigotry?"
Is that a conundrum or what? Seems to me you've finally lost your mind. Been inhaling too much lead "fumes" haven't you? Lol
Robert claims that "Guns ar (sic) dangerous. They have never used to protect political rights or private proerty,. (sic) They are alwways (sic) used for theft and repression." Perhaps Robert would like to talk to my Grandfather, who at the onset of WWII, alongside fellow villagers, used a privately owned firearm to fight a guerrilla action against Japanese soldiers searching for him and his family in the hills above Babalasang in the Philippines.
Or maybe he'd like to tell that to a good friend of mine who used a revolver to save his own life when a man broke into his house and attacked him with a 12" screwdriver. Perhaps Robert would like to stand up and say that to the many thousands of people each year who use a legally owned firearm to save their own life or that of another. Or maybe Robert should demand that Police Officers disarm. If guns are "always" used for evil, the Police most certainly don't need them!
Meanwhile, Frank pulls out the race card with his retort - "Would it be appropriate for black and hispanic people to be allowed to openly carry guns everywhere in public, as well as to Town Hall meetings with Republican Congressmen?" I would *love* to see more people peaceably carrying legal firearms. Fortunately I, unlike Frank, understand that race does not play a role in one's Constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Thanks Frank, but I already carry a concealed firearm anywhere I go where it is legal, which in Texas is most places.
In fact, I fail to see a single logical argument in any reply by our anti-gun "friends" here. All we have are generalized (and completely incorrect) assertions, personal attacks, and no real rebuttals of any merit whatsoever. But then, that's how Statists operate. Keep the lights off and the truth hidden; misdirect, spin, and lie, lest those the Statists feed off of wake up to their predicament and remove them from power.
Heh. My old congressman Joe Barton doesn't give a rat's backside if someone shows up at a meeting armed. Neither does Ron Paul, John Cornyn, or my new rep, Samuel Johnson.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1
From my perspective it's absolutely pathetic that only 1 person out of all those in attendance chose to exercise his rights. Wake up people use your rights or loose your rights, it’s that simple.
Notice how this health care reform demonstration turned into a anti 2a bashing by the media. I don't like that this happened but now that it is out there we should all consult our state pro gun advocacy groups to see what the appropriate response should be to our local media and legislators.
Freeman - there were a LOT more than one person there armed. The rest simply chose to carry concealed. Like any other personal decision, that's completely up to the individual.
Matt, you're spot on. If you review the national crime statistics released annually by the Department of Justice, you'll find that over half the violent crime in America is committed in about eight major cities with stringent restrictions on the right of armed self-defense.
The facts speak for themselves.
With respect other presidential candidates, I was armed with my Glock 30 in a belt holster in this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/mvpel/2702903003/
... and in this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/mvpel/2158548361/
My gun lays here next to me on the table.
Unmoving.
Inanimate. Mindless. It has never caused a crime. Has never shot anything I did not want it to.
Won't do anything unless I use it for the tool it is
Kind of like a hammer, Chris Matthews, the anti gun crowd and the Obama lemmings.
No independent thought amongst any of them.
I saw a very appropriate bumper sticker today "God hates pussies and Liberals". MSNBC are a group of pussies! They could not muster up enough testicles between all of the male gender working there to impregnate Hillary Clinton!
Just stay away form real Americans second amendment. go save a death row criminal!
I love it!!! The more these lack luster representatives of the so-called media open their mouths the more raw sewage they spew out. Good job on putting people in their rightful places everyone. I love this web page. The only facts that are stated here come from intelligent, well informed masses that truly care for OUR country and what it stands for. Thanks to each and every one of you for standing up for what is right.
Trying to disarm minorties is were America gun control in the first place. By the way, that was also the Democrates who couldn't stand blacks and other minorites armed.
Funny how some things never change.
My copy of the Constitution says that the Right of the PEOPLE, to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. That means it is not the Federal government's, nor the State's, business. Certainly, not Chris Matthew's business. He can run his mouth about it, but I noticed Matthews declined to disarm Kostric. :) Maybe he is not as silly as he sounds.
III
This issue of non-whites legally carrying firearms is curious. As an independent-minded African American, I implore every other African American I know to purchase, keep, and bear firearms in accordance with local laws. I encourage every non-white I know to do the same. Why? Because I keep sacred the Constitution. It is not some document that only whites can use. Too many African American have also died defending this document. I know many whites who carry weapons in their vehicles or on their person. And, I say, as long as I am doing the same, we are cool. We might not go to gun shows, but we are around. The conservative media uses code words to suggest that all is good with EVERYONE carrying. This is as much a lie as the liberal media using words to suggest that NO ONE should carry. Obama will not TAKE our guns. That's a lie. I am letting all my friends know to purchase firearms, train their kids, and carry when they need to. This WE all remain free.
Kris Mathews is my hero.
This is for InsideJob: I agree 100% with you. Even though the Constitution was drafted during times of slavery, I think, for a fact taht it is to be followed for every Legal American that resides within these borders. Evil does not discriminate. I also agree and emphasize that proper knowledge of safe firearm handling is indisputable. Sure, firearms are dangerous and not to be taken lightly, but as I said, knowledge is a damn good prevention tool. My biggest concern is all of the people in past situations that felt the need to have a gun in the house bought one without any inclination to learn how to handle and use it. This is the primary reason we hear about firearm accidents. Remember those anti drug commercials in the 90's? Two kids sitting at home smoking pot, one asks the other if he wants to see something cool. Then BANG. Needless to say drugs and guns DO NOT MIX, but there was also a hint of anti gun propaganda also.
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