Wednesday, May 12, 2010

This County Will Self-Destruct In...


States are passing laws allowing people to carry guns in airports. We're becoming a nation of gun-totin' brown-arrestin' citizenship-revokin' paranoid lunatics. Is this really where we're headed? Wild West justice, hang 'em first and shoot questions later? Vigilantes? Are we finally so destroyed by those guys in caves that we have thrown up our hands and said, "You win?" So frightened, so lacking in confidence that we're just turning on ourselves? Seriously.

Adding injury to insult was a show on PBS, part of which was devoted to the "open carry" movement. Featuring lots of guys walking around with handguns on their hips, it gave fair voice to that side of the argument. Mostly, it's that if you have a gun on your person, you might have an opportunity to prevent a crime. I get that; can't really argue with it, per se. In fact, if I had a gun handy were I to come across someone committing rape, for example, I might just pull it and saying something impolite.

Yet I had a surprisingly visceral reaction to seeing those guys packing so smugly, one of whom had the hammer of his weapon in cocked mode. Maybe it's that it took me back to my days in Vietnam, when, on flying missions, I carried a .38 pistol, per regulation, in my survival vest. Some of the fighter jocks added bandoliers with a couple hundred extra rounds. Me, I figured if I was on the ground in a situation where that much shooting was required, with a bitsy sidearm like that, alone, all I'd need was one bullet.

But I don't think it was that. It was the simpering macho certitude, combined with the showing of pro-gun rallies featuring speakers saying President Obama is the most anti-gun president ever, with signs saying something like, "Yeah, Barry, you can take my gun. Muzzle first." Because, as anyone should know, the only action Obama has taken regarding guns is to loosen regulation of them in national parks. As with many of the policies of this so-called socialist liberal, he's getting hot criticism from his left over his lack of action on gun regulation. So it's not simply that there's a large segment of the population packing heat openly and proudly. It's that they're Fox-fed, RWS™-brained nutjobs. It's that they're proof paranoid of how far back we're falling, based on falsehood.

I know we'll never be crime-free nor gun-free. But I really doubt the guys carrying are thinking much about being crime-fighters. They're getting off on that thing in their pants; they're reveling in the attention they get and the discomfort it causes. It's about intimidation; and people who need to intimidate indiscriminately are not nice people, or healthy.

Because we already have laws allowing concealed carry. You need a permit, though, which open carry, mostly, does not. (Why, after all, would we want to regulate people who need to walk around all gun-hipped?) So it's not about fighting crime. It's about show. It's about in-your-face. And, parenthetically, it's about taking us to a place where the Second Amendment has never gone.

It's like walking around with your dick hanging out, only not as subtle.

My question is this: was it really al Queda that brought us down so easily, so thoroughly, or was it the specter of a Black Guy in the White House? Whichever it is, or whatever combination of the aforementioned, it sure as hell didn't take much to get us to toss it all overboard.



16 comments:

  1. HEY!!! a Gun Control Post! watsa matter, got a cramp in your "Anyone who doesn't agree with me is an Idiot" arm????
    And PBS is where I go if I wanta be bored out of my skull, I mean, get a fair & balanced look at the issues...
    Gotta agree with ya on the wimpy 38special round, they've upgraded to 9mm since, which always seemed silly to me, cause the FA-18 has a perfectly good 20mm cannon...

    Oh yeah, those F-4 Phantoms didn't have a gun, because Missiles made them obsolete. Oops.

    And Mrs. D's the only one who has a concealed carry permit in my household, and last time I checked, she's totally XX.

    A Gun's just a Tool, like Joe Biden, I mean a Protractor or a Slide Rule, but just try deterring a rapist with a Slide Rule...

    Trust me, I CARRY a Slide Rule for protection, cause last time I checked, they don't do background checks when you buy a Slide Rule...

    Frank, "You can take my slide rule when you pry my cold dead fingers off of it"

    Seriously, you don't own any guns? oh yeah, your state doesn't have 3 Million African Americans, and even with 1/2 of em in jail, thats still alot of Rodney Kings driving around.

    Frank

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  2. See, Frank, it was OPEN carry I was talking about. Not your wife's permitted concealed carry.

    Check the hoses. Now it's actually creating fog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "or was it the specter of a Black Guy in the White House?"

    Specter? Are slipping a subtle "spook" past us? Hah! You libs are the ones fixated on race. Of course, you never noticed that the previious two Sec States were African-American. Didn't seem to bring out the gun-toters then, did it?

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  4. Um, Blue, I think you just sort of confirmed my point. I do thank you for that.

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  5. Actually Sid, Vermonts got the most "Liberal" gun laws in the Nation, basically no restrictions on carrying ANY legal firearm, ANY where, ANY time, and if you wanta carry it concealed in a body cavity, thats OK in the Green Mountain State.
    In fact, I once made a trip to Vermont just to be able to walk into trendy little coffee shops with a 6 inch Smithe&Wesson Model 29 44 Magnum on my left hip.
    Ironic, that the State where you least need a Gun is the State with the fewest restrictions.

    Frank

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  6. Interesting info, Frank. Might be a first.

    Okay, I shouldn't have said that last thing. I should encourage it. Anyhow, it is interesting. Wonder how many Vermonters actually carry, and who they are.

    I think your flash of self-awareness (ie the pleasure of being seen carrying) serves to confirm my point as well.

    Amazing. Two commenters, two confirmations. What's next?

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  7. Ask Nicole Simpson how useful a gun can be....
    BTW, laws requiring "Permits" in order to buy/own firearms started during reconstruction, in order to keep the recently emancipated Slaves unarmed.
    Laws passed and signed by Democrat Legislatures/Governors for the most part.
    And except for Burlington, Vermont might as well be the Moon. Even the Capital city seemed deserted, and if you blink you'd miss it.

    Frank

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  8. You need to read more carefully. If black high officials causes gun increases, it would have started 10 years ago. I'd suggest it's incompetent, inexperienced governments that cause it. Pretty clear we're going to run out of money pretty soon--trillions at a time. And unemployment is still at 10%--after all the money Obama already spent.

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  9. Nice, Blue. I was talking about, y'know, presidents. But it's a pretty typical response, so don't feel bad.

    And if it were about incompetence, it'd have started in 2000. But then, you have a pretty strange definition: auto industry, rescued; economy and markets, improving; terrorists, captured; world standing, improving; wars -- well, that's still a little unfinished, all right. But it's only because Iraq is impossible and Afghanistan was left to fail. A guy can only do so much to correct so much in so little time.

    And, yeah, we know about deficits. I guess there's no point in stating when and how and by whom they began, and the reasons for having to increase them for now... That's a little complicated. I have, of course. But it's like all the rest of that factual stuff... who needs it, right?

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  10. Franky, you're such a crazy guy! Would you mind braggin about your pay check a little more? That would really compliment your braggin bout your big magnum 44! You're such a silly little boy- just makes me all giddy. Blue- you n' Franky hang out together?

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  11. DrekMan... (DissBeUponYou)- so... for you, guns are for shooting black people?

    Why does it not surprise me that the Atlanta Talibubba thinks that?

    SSWoman, is he being facetious again - or was it fatuous?

    "if you wanta carry it concealed in a body cavity, thats OK in the Green Mountain State"

    But you don't carry your "slide rule" in a body cavity when visiting the Green Mountain State - or any other place for that matter, do you?

    There's no room, is there; because you already have your head up there, don't you?

    EugeneInSanDiego

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  12. auto industry, rescued

    Owned by the socialist pres. Paying back government money with government money. Nice job.

    economy and markets, improving

    10% unemployment, despite spending a trillion dollars. Despite promises and predictions. Nice job.

    terrorists, captured

    Terrorists now active on US soil. Universal first response from the pres: "lone wolf" Nice job.

    world standing, improving

    You're kidding...right? Everybody knows BO is an idiot. World leaders laugh openly about him. Except our formerly best ally, the UK. Nice job.

    wars

    Still there, huh? Despite promises. Nice job.

    You forgot to mention the crisp response to the oil spill. To the Nashville flood. To the 2009 freezing winter in the Midwest. Nice job.

    And by the way...it would be kind of a narrow fear and racism that only reacted to a black face in one particular office. But I'm seeing your logic is kind of like that.

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  13. I only publish your latest empty comment because it shows who you are and how you think: talking points regurgitated, based on nothing. You are aware, for example, what the governor of Tennessee said about the government response, right? (You might have to break away from Fox "news" to have heard it...) Same, of course, with the response to the oil spill. What, pray tell, would you have preferred that he do, when, and how might it have affected the outcome?

    But, of course, that requires more than spewing the same old crap.

    The rest of your points, well, see, just saying a thing doesn't make it true. It's a lesson you and Sarah have yet to learn. But you will, when she's elected. She won't, though. She'll just do what she always has done: quit when it gets hard.

    See, there's hope.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good idea, except my TV only gets Fox News.

    Maybe I can find some news elsewhere:

    The NYT? What do they say about Barry's 8 day delay on the spill?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/opinion/01sat1.html


    ABC News? Do they have thoughts on Obama's world standing?

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/sources-say-sar.html

    Here's a source I'll bet you find credible. Do they think there's been terrorist activity on American soil?

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/pakistan-arrests-man-call_n_575868.html

    Of course, these are just talking points. The same old crap. Just stuff I heard...

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  15. 1) I ask again: what response at what time would have altered the outcome? I appreciate that you consider the NYT opinion page credible now, however.

    2) World opinon ≠ Sarkozy opinion. I was, of course, referring to polls of citizens of various countries. Quite a different -- is possibly too subtle -- matter. I appreciate that you consider a leader of France credible now, however.

    3) Terrorists on American soil???? Really??? Next you'll tell me the sun rises in the East. And that it's Obama's fault.

    That there are terrorists on American soil is exactly the point I've been making since before we invaded Iraq -- the war whose rationale (among many many others) was so we'd fight them "over there" instead of over here. I said it would do no such thing, and I appreciate that you consider that point of view credible now, however.

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  16. P.S:, Blue, as long as you're committed to broadening your news horizon, you should read this.

    ReplyDelete

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