Paranoid Joe Huffman

In response to my claims that genocide "can't happen here," Joe had this to say.

I think you are correct, "It can't happen here." But the reason for that is that the most likely victims are those that happen to own firearms. The ownership of firearms changes your attitude and your relationship with your government. With that attitude change and the presence of firearms in the hands of the most likely victims those most inclined to commit genocide are severely discouraged from doing so. You might challenge my assertion that the most likely victims are those with firearms but look at all the great genocides committed within a population (not across cultures such as whites against American Indians or the Japanese against the Chinese). All of them that I can think of were committed by leftists and other statists upon those that resisted their authority. Gun owners, as a group, are more self reliant and oppose the big government involvement associated with leftist governments. Just look at the violent rhetoric and actions of the anti-gun people in this country. There are far more people advocating that gun owners kill each other, themselves, and their children than the other way around.

You claim it "won't happen here"? You are correct but you don't understand the real reason. It is because the gun owners won't let it happen. We regard the protection of innocent life as a responsibility of gun ownership. The lefists regard genocide as just part of the cost of achieving and maintaining power.

His other answer about Washington D.C. was pretty flimsy too, but I wanted to concentrate on this one.

He said, "You might challenge my assertion that the most likely victims are those with firearms."  Yes I might indeed. This sounds like more than paranoia. This sounds like paranoia and egocentrism. It's not uncommon for the gun rights extremist, like Joe, to think the world revolves around him.

He said, "You claim it "won't happen here"? You are correct but you don't understand the real reason. It is because the gun owners won't let it happen."

Aside from the comical condescension, what he apparently believes is pretty funny too. Imagine the federal government with the largest military spending ever known to man, coming after the gun owners. Those gun owners, banding together perhaps someplace in Idaho to make a stand, would fight off the stealth bombers, nuclear and chemical weapons, all guided by the most advanced satellites. These intrepid warriors would emerge from the ashes free and victorious.

That's Joe's vision, and not only Joe's. Thousands read his blog every day.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Gun Manufacturers

via Robert Farago

Chris Brown wrote a wonderful article for Media Matters about the false advertising used by gun manufacturers.

The gun lobby ceased to be about hunting and hunters long ago, but maintaining that image is a critical marketing tool for the NSSF and the NRA. The NSSF's idea of a modern hunting rifle are AR platforms, such as the M-16 civilian variant AR-15. The blurring of the lines can be explained by the gun industry's need to sell new firearms products to the eroding percentage of the population which owns firearms, when the firearms currently owned by Americans have very long lifetimes. While NSSF may present AR-15's as the modern hunting rifle don't expect them to redo the logo anytime soon. 

The individual gun owners who spout all the NRA buzzwords, perhaps shouldn't be the primary focus of gun control laws. Even the FFL guys who make straw purchasing easy by turning a blind eye, or worse, perhaps are nothing more than pawns. The real guilty parties are the gun manufacturers. They produce more product than can be consumed by the law-abiding. They build into their sales strategies the fact that their products are flowing from the factory to the FFL to the individual owner, and too often to a criminal. These are the guys who pitch guns like the KSG shotgun that Robert was talking about as quail guns.

What's your opinion? Do you think more needs to be done about the producers of these weapons? Do you think they need to be limited more or controlled better?

Please leave a comment.

Mississippi Youth

via Dog Gone of Penigma

Yahoo News reports.

A 15-year-old boy was beaten and branded with hot metal after a confrontation with a 12-year-old girl at a party in Mississippi where teens had been drinking, authorities said Friday.

Five people are charged in the case, including the 12-year-old girl.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said Denise Randall, 46, was hosting the party in the east-central Mississippi community of Meridian last weekend when the victim bumped into the girl. Someone then called the girl's 15-year-old boyfriend.

Sollie said the boyfriend arrived and held the victim, who was not identified, at gunpoint while he was beaten and branded with hot metal.

What's your opinion? Are these typical young people, using guns, vengeance and torture? Where do you think they learn that stuff?

Please leave a comment.

Iowa - Breathalyzer for Gun Carriers

Fox News has the story.

A new bill advancing through the Iowa Senate would compel gun owners to take a breathalyzer test if an officer suspects they're intoxicated while armed.

Under the proposal, anyone who declines would automatically forfeit their firearm permit.

Isn't Iowa that place where they just relaxed the requirements for getting the CCW permit? Maybe it's one step forward and two steps back for the pro-gunners over there.

What's your opinion? Wouldn't controlling for drunkenness among gun carriers be a good thing? If they're sober and responsible, what would they have to object to?

Please leave a comment.

The Confederate Flag and Racism

Norwegianity had some interesting remarks about this one.

In a rare moment of sanity, an Oregon school has suspended a bus driver for displaying the Confederate flag in his pickup.

Nothing says "nigger, nigger, nigger" like the Stars'n'Bars. Germany banned the swastika after WWII but the Confederacy never really surrendered, and has never stopped fighting racial equality in these United States. Look at every civil rights vote ever and then tell me I'm wrong.

What's your opinion? I've long held that there's a strict relationship between conservatives, gun owners and racism. When you throw in that Southern Confederacy nonsense it naturally increases.

What do you think? Like a lot of other things in the gun debate, why is it so difficult for gun owners who are not racists to admit that many of their confreres are? Can they blame people for painting with a broad brush when they deny all? Isn't such denial another way of painting with that same broad brush?

Please leave a comment

Rep. Paul Broun on HR-45

via Winston Dorian

A few observations of my own:

1. the main theme: Obama is coming for your guns
2. point 5 at 1:55 is the old pro-gun lie which misuses the word "ban"
3. at 2:33, in quoting the Bill of Rights, he omitted the first part of the amendment.
4. restricting the 2nd Amendment rights is tantamount to "you have no rights."
5. after a flurry of silly and alarmist exaggerations, at the 4:00 he said, "send your most generous contribution." The whole thing is a pitch for the National Association for Gun Rights.

The Eastern Cougar is Extinct

via Desdemona Despair I wonder how long ago it was that hunters and gun owners were shooting at this wonderful animal.

The Service initiated the review as part of its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. The Service will prepare a proposal to remove the eastern cougar from the endangered species list, since extinct animals are not eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The proposal will be made available for public comment.

The Service's decision to declare the eastern cougar extinct does not affect the status of the Florida panther, another wild cat subspecies listed as endangered. Though the Florida panther once ranged throughout the Southeast, it now exists in less than five percent of its historic habitat and in only one breeding population of 120 to 160 animals in southwestern Florida.