NBC is dealing with an unexpected legal problem after a segment by David Gregory, who displayed what he said was a high-capacity ammunition clip on “Meet the Press.” D.C. law prohibits the possession of high-capacity ammunition clips. This may have been a case where a picture — or consultation with counsel — might have been in order. There is no exception for the media in such possession cases.
On the show with the National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre, Gregory showed him the clip and said “Here’s a magazine for ammunition that carries 30 bullets. Now, isn’t it possible that if we got rid of these . . . if we replaced them and said, ‘Well, you can only have a magazine that carries five bullets, or 10 bullets,’ isn’t it just possible that we could reduce the carnage in a situation like Newtown?”
The predictable response from LaPierre was “I don’t believe that’s going to make one difference.” The less predictable response came from gun owners and gun control advocates who noted that the possession of such a clip is a crime. The D.C. law states “No person in the District shall possess, sell, or transfer any large capacity ammunition feeding device.” This does not require that the clip be attached to a weapon and does not appear to require that it have rounds in the clip.
The reported investigation could also ensnare those NBC employees who obtained and transported the clip.
I honestly believe that Gregory is not blameful and that the law should have some flexibility for news or artistic speech when the clip is empty of rounds. What do you think?
Source: Washington Post
First of all I have not read everything you wrote. However. I don’t think is a hero! I dont know!! Do you??! I have NEVER said “he was right to kill the thug” I don’t know!!! Apparently YOU do!! There is NO evidence he sad”coons”! That was the media speculating on a muffled sound they later backed off on. And YES there is evidence of a struggle. Pictures ju st released in the last two weeks shows him with a blooded and beaten face. Some have said he was never arrested. Yes he was and then let go!!! Why not hang him now??! Who needs a open viewing of evidence??! Kill him!I don’t claim to be a “gun slinging expert”. Again you are simply trying to marginalize me. The experience of my family is only to put into context that the horrors of government out of control is real. Governments have murdered FAR more people than street crimes EVER H more ignorance.AVE. In fact governments have murdered more people than all the wars we have fought have killed people. Hollow points are designed to do what they do. Transfer energy to the target and not travel through it into unintended targets. I would use NOTHING BUT hollow points when I had carry permit.
Here is what we know: He showed what looked like a working “high-capacity” clip. Perhaps is was a non-working replica, or was a real clip that had been damaged in a way it was unusable after the D.C. authorities said they would not (not could not, but would not) allow him to posses it to confront someone as part of a media presentation.
If it wasn’t usable, then it wasn’t a violation of anything. No where in D.C., or for that matter in any law in the U.S., it is a violation of law to have a replica or non-usable part or complete firearm or even artillery or any other kind of weapon (yes, even a fake nuclear weapon). Done in fiction and documentaries all the time all over the country.
Sounds to me like certain people of a certain political side are trying to go after a certain journalist for doing his job. And, btw, I’ve been a member of the NRA since I was 13.. makes it 14 years now. Hard questions are *always* good in politics. And the NRA is a political organization – that’s why it’s a nonprofit that can’t qualify, and has never applied for, tax-exempt status.
The NRA and Gun Companies Stand to Profit From Newtown Tragedy
Lee Fang on December 24, 2012
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171913/nra-and-gun-companies-stand-profit-newtown-tragedy
Excerpt:
Last year, shortly after the shooting of then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a financial analyst asked Mike Fifer—CEO of one of the largest gun companies in America—if the incident would lead to a wave of new gun sales. “The commentary from the NRA that President Obama might be coming out with some sort of speech on some sort of gun control,” asked the analyst, “has that stirred gun owners and prospective gun owners to go visit the stores?”
Gun companies, like almost any profit-driven enterprise, must keep pace with investor demands. Unlike most consumer businesses, however, people generally only need to buy their product once. Guns are very durable, and a well-maintained one can last a lifetime.
That’s where the National Rifle Association comes in.
NRA-stoked fear about the government coming to seize America’s guns has been a useful marketing tool to the gun industry, which must continually encourage gun-owners to buy more and more weapons.
This dynamic drives rather macabre incentives. Horrific gun violence leads to calls for gun control, which in turn leads to NRA-organized fear-mongering and conspiracy theories that inevitably results in more gun sales. What the financial analyst pondered last year with the Giffords shooting is playing out with Newtown—and the NRA and the gun industry is earning what is likely to be an unprecedented fortune.
While pundits and politicians debate the possibility of new gun restrictions in the wake of the Newtown massacre, the NRA is playing it’s now-familiar role spreading paranoia, and Americans are flocking to stores to stock up on weapons—lots of them.
NRA-Backed Law Spells Out When Indianans May Open Fire on Police
By Mark Niquette – Jun 5, 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-05/nra-backed-law-spells-out-when-indianans-may-open-fire-on-police.html
Excerpt:
Every time police Sergeant Joseph Hubbard stops a speeder or serves a search warrant, he says he worries suspects assume they can open fire — without breaking the law.
Hubbard, a 17-year veteran of the police department in Jeffersonville, Indiana, says his apprehension stems from a state law approved this year that allows residents to use deadly force in response to the “unlawful intrusion” by a “public servant” to protect themselves and others, or their property.
“If I pull over a car and I walk up to it and the guy shoots me, he’s going to say, ‘Well, he was trying to illegally enter my property,’” said Hubbard, 40, who is president of Jeffersonville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 100. “Somebody is going get away with killing a cop because of this law.”
Professor Turley, I address you directly right now. You can ban me if you don’t like it; otherwise I respect you for not doing so. I think BarkinDog’s having boldly said: “The Trayvon Martins of this world need to be shot” is a direct result of your having given permission for such an outrage by your somewhat sophisticated but nevertheless inappropriate ueberdefense of Zimmerman. YOU came out showing a picture of his noggin with a few insignificant capillary-type lacerations on it with the headline announcing “SERIOUS INJURY.” It was not serious injury. Had there been serious injury, you know as a lawyer that the photograph was not evidence of serious injury. YOU came out blaring that Zimmerman had “passed a lie detector test” when you know full well (and have been to conferences where it has been discussed by experts) that a voice stress test is not a “lie detector test” and furthermore that the phrase “lie detector test” is itself a misnomer. You have been with the “excuses excuses” team behind a man who profiled and unnecessarily killed a kid who then was slandered post-mortem (yes I know it is not the technical definition of “slander” but I will use it and stand corrected; we all know what happened) liberally all over the web for something that no law says he ever did.
When you give permission for people to behave like this, there will always be a dog or two who will say “shit” while he has a mouth full of it. I hope this goes through the moderator and if not, I hope you get what I’m saying.
BarkinDog has earned my contempt and disdain. I don’t often attack other bloggers ad hominem, and certainly not until after they have attacked me ad hominem. The exception I make this time is that I am a mother; Trayvon Martin was not my son but in some way they are all my sons. I would never shoot a hollowpoint bullet into BarkinDog. But I regret that he feels so free to emit such vile and reprehensible talk on your blog, to approve of someone shooting a hollowpoint bullet into a kid named Trayvon Martin whom BarkinDog never met.
I read it here. I’m going to take anti-nausea medication now.
BarkinDog, you do love to flaunt your little thing dontcha. “The Travon Martins of the world need to be shot. Ask Martin Niemoeller.” If in fact the Travon Martins of this world (who are they exactly, how many of them are there exactly, and please provide their names and addresses so they can be shot) need to be shot, I wonder how come you (a) have never shot any of them but keep flapping your jaw about what they need; and (b) have never even tried to bite them, but growl so much before you tuck tail where it fits so good and run squealing behind the poopdump.
Get out there, big dog, and kill your own “Trayvon Martin of the world.”
You called me out on purpose. You sitting there licking something you can reach because you finally got a response out of a b1tch when usually you can’t? Here’s the part that comforts me, BarkinDog: If and when somebody shoots you dead with a hollowpoint bullet, you won’t be able to raise a crowd of 2,000,000 to bark up a storm about it. They’ll dump you in a hole and cover you up and ItchinBay will whine a bit and then let dead dogs lie.
As they so often do.
The Travon Martins of the world need to be shot. Ask Martin Niemoeller.
In this situation with the “clip”. If they dont have it right after Dick Gregory had it then they cant say that it was complete and therefore illegal. If it is just a case without the insides then its a look-alike. And David Gregory does not look like Dick Gregory. Go to Hong Kong and buy one of those wallets which humans employ to store money, credit cards and hookers phone numbers. They are meant to look like a clip. But they are plastic and just contain the essential that we need to carry. If the wallet is in your coat pocket then its a concealed carry. And Dick Gregory is not brain dead. And the use of the words “liberal” and “conservative” on this topic is myopic if not gropic. If I believe in a constitutional provision like the First Amendment you call me a liberal. If I believe in the Second Amendment you call me a conservative. If I say I believe in the 26th Amendment you all say: Whats that? If someone says Never Again on this blog you all get curious. When the Koch Brothers quit trying to buy elections and just buy the cops with the guns and take over then you will want your own assault rifle. The Second Amendment was not just intended to deal with that fruity tutey kraut King and his lords and lassies back in 1776 and 1789. A well armed militia can not exist if its members dont have arms. And a militia might go home at night instead of to some army barracks. And the right to keep and bear arms has nothing to do with bears. And if you are gonna be a bear be a grizzly and get an automatice weapon. And dont name your newborn kid “Adam”.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/banning_assault_weapons_works/ Although there were some loopholes, it was generally effective.
Malisha-
“I support rational weapons control. I would support a bill that said no individual could own or use hollowpoint bullets, period.”
Do you know why police (and non) use hollow points? They serve two purposes. One is indeed greater lethality. In the very unlikely event that I have to use a firearm in self defense, I want to have the best chance to stop the threat as quickly as possible.
However, the other, believe it or not, is safety. Ball ammo will punch straight through just about anything it hits, including a person, and continue to travel with plenty of energy to spare. Which means even if you are accurate, you can still easily hit an innocent person. The same goes for if you miss and hit a wall. Ball ammo will go through many layers of dry wall. Hollow points expand upon impact, greatly slowing them and expending most of their energy on whatever they hit first.
The law is unconstitutional, so he shouldn’t be prosecuted, in a more perfect world.
In a slightly more perfect world, he would have handed it to Wayne LaPierre, and they would be in the doc together — and the reporters and pundits would be in a quandary.
In the world that we have, I’d recommend the maximum fine and a suspended sentence on the year imprisonment, provided he takes and passes a gun safety course.
And speaking of other worlds …
Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, numerous journalists and pundits are calling for the prosecution of Wayne LaPierre for bringing an empty 30-round magazine to NBC’s Meet The Press.
David Gregory, Scofflaw
By Charles P. Pierce
12/26/12
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/David_Gregory_Fought_The_Law_
My granting of the Christmas truce to the gobshites this week precluded me from commenting on the Dancin’ Master’s conversation with Wayne (Bats Flying Out Of Both Ears) LaPierre on Disco Dave’s Disco Dance Party this weekend. However, it seems that the Dancin’ Master used some visual aids, and may have broken the law and, as a result, all of the bats in the belfry are singing in harmony.
(And, by the way, in answer to the wisecrack there from Jubilation T. Cornpone, Professor Of Law, Tom Mauser also sent his son, Daniel, to a school with armed security guards. It was called Columbine High School. Professor JTC remains the worst waste of money in Tennessee higher education since they hired Phil Fulmer)
There’s only one thing for Gregory to do, if he’s half the journalist people on NBC keep saying he is. Go to court. Face the charges. Make your case and, if necessary, take your punishment. Demonstrate the absurdity of the attempts at misdirection and distraction that are the sum total of how the gun industry is trying to defuse the rising public revulsion against its efforts to profit from arming crazy people and criminals, of which this preposterous stunt would be a part.
Fabien P, you seem to be doing three things in your most recent post.
[Here, let me say thanks to Darren for clarifying your position and I’m really glad you did. I have had exactly two experiences with an unholstered handgun, and in both of them, the person who had the handgun was a loose canon who should not have been armed and only luck made it come out all right.]
back to Fabien:
1. You seem to be establishing yourself as the authoritarian gun-slinger who tells me that I should not have made up my mind that George Zimmerman used a gun (WITH HOLLOWPOINT BULLETS, FABIEN) wrongly on 2/26/2012, to which I say HA HA HA now and more later;
2. You seem to be reinforcing without logic the idea that my take on the proliferation of weapons of “many-murders’-worth-of-bullets” (WMMWBs) is so faulty that it will lead to the destruction of democracy in a storm of innocent deaths and that we should all be grateful to you for standing ready to stop it; and
3. You seem to be bragging about the bona fides your mother and other relatives have given you to set yourself up as the authority on what the Jews of Shoah should have done to be more like heroes (like yourself and George Zimmerman) and less like victims (for whom your mom and others had to risk their lives).
Let me take #3 first and only in passing. I know a woman who told me, since 1988 when I met her, that her father spent the war years saving Jews and that even after he emigrated to Chicago from Germany he ran a kind of secret arm of heroic help into Germany to provide food for the hungry. I never met her father, who died years before these stories started. During the 1990s I helped her clean her basement and we discovered a valuable piece of original art work that had come from Germany. It turned out that her father’s business was not sending in food, but bringing out art work. That particular piece could not be sold to museums (although 70 others like it had already been sold to museums all over this country) because of the beginnings of the search for the lost artwork of the Berlin Jews. So whereas there are all sorts of stories of heroism from Europe relating to WWII and Shoah, I generally tend to go about my business and form my opinions from current observations rather than claims of past glory.
On to #2. I support rational weapons control. I would support a bill that said no individual could own or use hollowpoint bullets, period. I never even HEARD of hollowpoint bullets until George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin with one. There is, in my opinion, no excuse for anybody using a hollowpoint bullet for anything. There are probably plenty of other things I’d regulate about weaponry if I studied up on it; as it is, I am content to rely upon my elected representatives to take a position on it, reveal that position, and do the close work later. It is not the ownership of personal weaponry, but the ability to organize, that will ever, or can ever, defend us against tyranny. We do not have that, so a stockpile of guns filled with hollowpoint bullets will not achieve that. All that will achieve is a dangerous increase in the personal dangerousness presented by every individual angry disappointed person in our midst.
And that brings me to #1. People who say, “We should not decide about George Zimmerman because we don’t have all the facts and we should wait until all the information is in,” are embarrassed because they used to say, “George Zimmerman was right to kill that thug,” and then they got smacked down by the facts that WERE revealed in the various evidence dumps. Yes I have decided that GZ is guilty of murder. Since I am not a Floridian and will never serve on his jury, I’m entitled to that opinion. Furthermore, that opinion is the only logical take on the facts that we already know, for the following reasons:
=========================
A. There is undeniable evidence that GZ saw Trayvon Martin walking along and decided that he, GZ, should interfere with Trayvon Martin’s walking along.
B. GZ referred to Trayvon Martin with curses and with words showing ovious malice, before getting out of his car. (“These a55holes, they always get away”; “phucking punks [coons]”; “up to no good”; “sh1t, he’s running”; etc.)
C. GZ followed Trayvon Martin and admitted he was doing so.
D. GZ did not return to his vehicle after the dispatcher told him his following Trayvon Martin was not “needed.”
E. GZ did not sustain injuries “coincident with” the beating he describes having endured.
F. His bullet entered Trayvon Martin’s chest at no angle, straight front to back, at intermediate range, although in contact with the hoodie at the time.
G. Trayvon’s body was found face down with his hands underneath him.
==========================
So from that, I do not find myself confused about the matter at all. I think GZ kept guns because he, like many people who love guns, felt that he needed to be ready at all times to kill somebody who was going to be threatening HIS rights and HIS freedom and HIS this and HIS that. And I think he killed somebody he imagined was threatening HIS this and HIS that. Mostly, HIS right to control and dominate the neighborhood.
That’s pretty much what the Nazis were doing. If you don’t like the way I characterize it, so be it. The American NRA types running around seeing bad guys to shoot behind every non-existent bush are more dangerous than we imagine. AND they will not be defending the victimized against the tyrannical any day soon. They line up, nearly every time, against the weak and the peaceable and the unarmed and the young and especially against those who are not expecting an armed attack.
If government is worth anything, it should be regulating guns more credibly than it is regulating marijuana.
Quit watching the show when Gregory took over. If I watch a Sunday morning talk show while exercising or reading the Sunday NYT, it is “Up with Chris” or the Melisa Perry show. Both shows have had some very productive discussions on gun restrictions.
Of course we are talking about worse case here. The truth is I seldom fire my guns any more. I grew up in the country and still live in the country and honestly don’t think much about firearms until people that have armed guards protecting them want to take them away from us. A comment was made by idealist 707 that someone my loose their cool and nut up, that is true of law enforcement too. We call the police when criminals attack because they have guns, not because they have nice uniforms. When criminals attack the police are seldom there. However the victim always is. Empower the victim. The UK doesn’t have the extreme gang problem and fatherless children we have. It is getting worse though.
As much as I think Dancin Dave deserves to be in the big house I don’t think this is the crime that should get him there. His obsequious fawning over GOP mouth pieces and strong support for beltway conventional ‘wisdom’ has made Press the Meat more useless than even little Timmeh did.
I’m sure John McCain will be on next Sunday since he wasn’t on this Sunday. Maybe he can help get Dave out of this.
The Warsaw Uprising
August 1, 1944 – October 2, 1944
by Łukasz Pajewski
http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/pajak.html
Excerpt:
The Warsaw Uprising was probably the largest single operation organized and executed by a partisian organization in World War II. It lasted two months, and when it was over, 200 thousand people were dead, and the entire city was in ruins. In trying to achieve its goals, the uprising was a terrible failure. In showing the courage and the dedication of the Polish nation, it was a remarkable success.
*****
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188
Excerpt:
Between July 22 and September 12, 1942, the German authorities deported or murdered around 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. SS and police units deported 265,000 Jews to the Treblinka killing center and 11,580 to forced-labor camps. The Germans and their auxiliaries murdered more than 10,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during the deportation operations. The German authorities granted only 35,000 Jews permission to remain in the ghetto, while more than 20,000 Jews remained in the ghetto in hiding. For the at least 55,000-60,000 Jews remaining in the Warsaw ghetto, deportation seemed inevitable.
In response to the deportations, on July 28, 1942, several Jewish underground organizations created an armed self-defense unit known as the Jewish Combat Organization(Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa; ZOB). Rough estimates put the size of the ZOB at its formation at around 200 members. The Revisionist Party (right-wing Zionists known as the Betar) formed another resistance organization, the Jewish Military Union (Zydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy; ZZW). Although initially there was tension between the ZOB and the ZZW, both groups decided to work together to oppose German attempts to destroy the ghetto. At the time of the uprising, the ZOB had about 500 fighters in its ranks and the ZZW had about 250. While efforts to establish contact with the Polish military underground movement (Armia Krajowa, or Home Army) did not succeed during the summer of 1942, the ZOB established contact with the Home Army in October, and obtained a small number of weapons, mostly pistols and explosives, from Home Army contacts.
In accordance with Reichsführer-SS (SS chief) Heinrich Himmler’s October 1942 order to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto and deport its able-bodied residents to forced labor camps in Lublin District of the Generalgouvernement, German SS and police units tried to resume mass deportations of Jews from Warsaw on January 18, 1943. A group of Jewish fighters, armed with pistols, infiltrated a column of Jews being forced to the Umschlagplatz (transfer point) and, at a prearranged signal, broke ranks and fought their German escorts. Most of these Jewish fighters died in the battle, but the attack sufficiently disoriented the Germans to allow the Jews arranged in columns at the Umschlagplatz a chance to disperse. After seizing 5,000-6,500 ghetto residents to be deported, the Germans suspended further deportations on January 21. Encouraged by the apparent success of the resistance, which they believed may have halted deportations, members of the ghetto population began to construct subterranean bunkers and shelters in preparation for an uprising should the Germans attempt a final deportation of all remaining Jews in the reduced ghetto.
Malisha. I support our absolute right to criticize the government also. (1st amendment)The right to own firearms is more important than actually owning them. You seem to have already passed judgement on Zimmerman. I don’t know what happened. Do you?? We do know that the news media Dr. the audio and video recordings to make him say something he didn’t. Lets wait and see what the process finds out.
“Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice.moderation in the face of tyranny is no virtue”
Btw the way my mother and her mother hid Jews in an underground railroad in Bordeaux France during the war. They risked their lives in the resistance for people they didn’t even know. It was th e right thing to do.My mother spied and counted men and materials for the preparation of D-day. Her older bother went north and were involved in sabotage. I’ve been there and walked the trails my mother walked. I stood on the spot my mother received the scars all over her body after being caught up in barbed wire escaping a German patrol. Been to the room that served as a “field hospitable” that her step father and other men held her down as het mother stitched her up without anesthetic. If have seen the burn scars on her neck from an artillery shell passing so closes to her it k locked her down and burned her in fight during the D-day invasion and the Germans started fighting with each other because many new it was the beginning of the end and many were not Nazis just people caught up in a very bad time for humanity. It is from this background that I refuse to allow the government disarm the law abiding people of America. You can call names and make innuendo about manhood and macho crap if you want but that changes nothing.
“You don’t have to be a over confident, trigger happy nut to arm yourself with the knowledge, state of mind, and equipment to defend yourself with….”
But there is a risk that you will become one, or in rage use one unwisely, or someone you loan the gun to will do so..
Every gun is a death looking for a place to happen. The more guns, the more deaths. UK stats prove that.
Oh, yes, we have kitchen knives, but there is no culture supporting their use in stopping assailants. Yes, we even have knifewielding thugs, but you can be assured that he will buy a “piece” as soon as he has the cash.
Malisha
I apologize. I did not at all intend to imply the Jewish people and others who were murdered and horrified by the nazi murder spree were responsible for their own deaths. I’m sorry if my words seemed to convey that. The nazis were responsible and well as those who ardently supported them and allowed them to remain in power.
I am just saying that if people collectively fought back, the outcome would have been different. But you are correct in that people get lulled into passively accepting impending doom cast upon them by governments.
I would also point out there are many examples in history where people have fought back using weaponry to oust a government that was repressing them, murdering them, or leading them to tyrrany. Sitting quietly and hoping for the best seldom brings about a reversal of a murderous government quickly. And sadly these governments tend to linger around destroying the lives of too many. Look how long Pol Pot had free reign to murder anyone he or his followers desired. It wasn’t put into check until Vietnam invaded militarily and cast him into hiding.
It is not that people should turn themselves into survivalist types who suddenly live and die by the sword. There is nothing in my view wrong with law abiding citizens having arms to defend themselves. And having arms does not mean a person is a Rambo. It is a tool for the worst case situation that no reasonable person ever wants to happen. If the worst happens and the people have arms to defend themselves it is a decidedly better situation than not having them and getting killed. I am not proud of this but I will tell you that I have been in that situation myself several times where I have had to pull a handgun on someone to protect myself or one of my coworkers. I don’t care to think what would have happened if I did not have a means to defend myself. I hope that I won’t ever have to be in that situation again and I especially hope that nobody else ever will. But sadly in our state of development of human society we are not likely to see a farewell to arms within our lifetimes.
I understand what violence does. I don’t know how many people I have seen killed or maimed by shooters or those using deadly weapons. It is probably over 100 and proabably quadruple that number assaulted badly by fighting. It is senseless and terrible every time. There are people out there who either as individuals or leaders of groups or even governments that for various reasons have evil intent both on their minds and in their hands. These people will victimize anyone they can. Fortunately they are rare in the world but they do exist and you can never be sure where they will crop up.
As you might expect, I have a different perception than others do about violence in society. I have owned arms, yet I do no “live by the sword.” because I know that people that do tend to “die by the sword.” Living on the edge preparing for the zombie apocalypse as some fringe types do can lead to disasters. People should not live thinking weaponry is the answer to everything. Life is more about living than engaging in a cult of dying and killing. Yet, there are times when people have to step forward and defend themselves or others from these tyrants or thugs.
I would like to live in a world where the only use of a firearm might be for target shooting or, if some choose, hunting game. We need to change the thinking at every level of human society so that murder is not even thought of as a possible outcome or answer to a disagreement over issues.
I agree with you that it is abhorent for an othewise civil people to be cast into the role of defenders of their families, race, or society. Forcing people to take up arms is an awful thing. But the sad truth is that has been necessary for survival at times.
Life is worth defending, but life is not always ideal or fair.
Well Rafflaw, like Robert Zimmerman Jr., apparently Fabien believes mentioning or discussing racial issues makes the discussant a racist or something like that. Then you get a Hallmark Card “scolding” about not understanding that we are all brothers blah blah. Meanwhile, a short course about how the Jews were not allowed to be armed before Shoah got into gear. So how was it the Jews’ fault that they were driven off to the ovens while unarmed? And all this has to do with the idea that we need lots of guns and clips full of lots of bullets right now so we can be free from prejudice here in America and so we can defend ourselves against “knife-wielding thugs.”
Here we go, Fabien, here’s my take on it: The government will disarm those it wants to dominate, exploit, and disempower. It will, meanwhile, increase the power coefficient between those intended victims and its agents of control and disempowerment. Meanwhile, individual paranoids will use their weapons in ways THEY DECIDE to use them, and most of the time, that is a factor that tends to provide more of an excuse for a repressive government to do more of what it was doing before anyway. While this goes on, certain people want to feel powerful and they’re not; to them, guns are important so they can feel better. Many of those who can’t feel better without lots of guns and ammunition will misuse them and hurt or kill innocent people, but they will be protesting all the while that they are protecting their freedom and nobody should deprive them of that right. They’ll kill people like Trayvon Martin and people like the grade schoolers in Connecticut and the movie-goers in Colorado. And they’ll kill whomever they hate. And that will make the NRA insist that it has to pump more guns into the equation, for self-defense.
It’s dumb. Using unrealistic and arrogant fictional depictions of the Holocaust doesn’t imbue it with any dignity, either.
There are plenty of people around who feel that their own need for “manhood” (or it could be womanhood, theoretically) trumps everybody else’s sensibilities to the point that they can use, misuse, and distort any historical event for their own jollies. Shoah is particularly and unfortunately suited to this kind of disrespectful conduct; not that the First Amendment doesn’t allow it, just that the First Amendment also enables people who want to criticize it and point out how essentially low-class it is to do so.
Author Vladimir Nabokov’s brother, a non-Jew who happened to be a homosexual, perished at Auschwitz. This proves that homosexuals should be armed, preferably with BIG BIG clips full of lots of bullets. You’d have known a lot better and you’d have taken care of business, had you been there. If only if only if only — but alas, our hero was not there, long ago and far away — (and besides, the wench is dead).