Aleem: Massie’s and Boebert’s Christmas Cards ‘Normalize a Spectacle of Vigilantism’

By
Dan Zimmerman
-
113

[T]he power of these images lies not just in the guns but who can wield them with cultural impunity, and toward what end.

On the latter point, these photos speak to a troubling kind of cultural and political outlook.

I don’t own a gun, and I think America would be much safer if it disarmed like Australia or regulated guns like Japan. But let’s make some distinctions here about American gun ownership. Hunting culture makes a great deal of sense to me; I respect it as a cultural tradition, and given how unethical our livestock industry is, I think responsible, ethical hunting is a defensible pursuit. And if one lives in an area in which it feels necessary to store weapons for self-defense, perhaps due to living in a remote or distinctly unsafe place, I am sympathetic to the desire for a gun that is stored carefully, even though there is data that suggests the safety they provide is questionable.

But it’s another thing entirely to stock up on weapons which are manifestly not for hunting or a last resort for self-defense, but in fact designed for law enforcement and military personnel to severely injure and kill people with extreme speed. Moreover, accumulating these kinds of killing machines and encouraging children to view them with casual delight is a recipe for prompting minors to misuse them. Consider that a prosecutor said the Oxford shooting suspect was given his semi-automatic pistol as a Christmas gift, and that his mother instructed him to avoid letting his teachers see him buying ammunition online. Consider how Kyle Rittenhouse, who obtained his gun as a teenager and fatally shot two people at a protest against police killings, said he chose an AR-15 style, in part, because he “thought it looked cool.”

Massie and Boebert are helping normalize a spectacle of vigilantism that weaves the possibility of warfare into everyday American life. It’s incredibly dangerous.

— Zeeshan Aleem in Lauren Boebert’s and Thomas Massie’s Christmas cards are disturbing

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

113 COMMENTS

    • RE: “I don’t own a gun, and I think America would be much safer if it disarmed like Australia.”

      Well zeeshan aleem instead of your pervert daydreams about seeing America disarmed by jack booted vigilante thugs you need to first prove your worth. Go get a box and you go door to door in your neighborhood and tell your neighbors you are there to disarm them and they must put their firearms in your box. One word of Caution…Do Not be surprised when the lady of the house plants a cast iron frying pan on top of that poop filled head of yours.

      • Debbie

        Leftists have to lie.

        As I have said many times over the years here I don’t like our gun laws but this “unarmed” Australian has two full guns safes, reloading gear etc.

        Personally I have found it easier to buy firearms here than in California (ok a easy target)
        Officially there are now firearms here than before the 1996 gun grab and I imagine a lot more.

        Three new gun shops opened within an hour of me in the last few years.

        • This is fascinating. I haven’t read a lot about Australia and guns in the past few years.

          In essence, what can you own there? What do the new gun shops sell?

      • If this Aussie is disarmed, then what do I have in my safe? Why are there 15 thousand registered firearms in my postcode, which is mostly suburban?

        My son is competing on a temporary license until he passes my club’s probation, which for him will be a formality. He is enjoying the sport and likes the challenges of service style shooting. The guns he is using are a Ruger Precision Rimfire and a Ruger Scout in .223.

        What can we buy? Depends on your category of license. If you want self-loading firearms and pump-action shotguns, you need a class C or D license which has stricter requirements for justifying and storage. Pistols are class H which has similar requirements.

        A class A is for lower stuff such as rimfire rifles, air guns, and single shot center fire. Class B allows for repeating center fire long arms and lever action shotguns.

        Because shooters are focused on accuracy, the anti gun groups are now “concerned” about the “sniper” culture.

  2. And their idea of a cute Christmas scene would be what…….masked thugs smashing display cases and carjackin folks!?

    • You mak-a-me laugh and speak the truth. Never owning a gun is not a virtue. Perhaps what’s-his-name should visit a shooting range and talk to the folks there. Take a lesson and see what it’s like to focus on a target and put a hole in it.

  3. I am completely shocked and repulsed that Ms. Boebert would pose in such a disgusting display ! By allowing her children to be used as pawns makes me ill. Christmas is not the proper venue to be displaying such a symbol of glorified violence…. I hope her constituents are as angry about the NFL jerseys as I am.

  4. I fail to see what’s wrong with normalizing the spectacle of vigilantism.
    It’s pretty obvious that the various law enforcement bodies are unwilling to do anything about actual crime while opting to harass parents who object to the state sponsored indoctrination of their children.
    If regular folk don’t put down the thieves arsonists, murderers and pedos who will?

    • Vigilante and self defense are two entirely different things. Like ‘gun violence’ is a made up turn trying to paint you in a bad light if you use a weapon to defend yourself. Or even own one.

      You’re not a vigilante if you shoot a tweaker kicking in your door a 3 am. The 14yo that shot a robber in the face at a Philly pizza shack is not a vigilante.

      • We can always count on ‘jwm’ to give us the perspective of the ‘Hitler had some great ideas’ crowd.

        • Meds. You need them. The only hitler fan around here I know of is dacian the nazi.

          And nobody takes him seriously.

        • Exercising your right of self-defense puts you in the ‘Hitler had some great ideas’ crowd?

          You’re nuts.

      • The young man saved his mom’s life. I’m surprised, though, that a bullet in the head did not render him unconscious and then dead shortly thereafter.

    • @Shire-man,

      To follow up with jwm’s comment, vigiliantism is the act of non-sworn members of the community taking criminal suppression into their own hands when law enforcement is able and willing to do so. When LE is not able (overwhelmed) or not willing (corruption, Leftism at high echelons), the community stepping in to fill the need is exactly that…addressing the void their LE has left due to breach of societal contract.

      • My dad was a 30 yr cop in a medium sized metro pd 50s-70s. He often said some neighborhoods were quite good at handling certain problems themselves. They knew who were causing the issues and delt with it themselves. Today that probably wouldn’t work so well.

        • That still happens today, depending on where you are…

      • Just going to say the few small protests we had in Lebanon PA were actually peaceful. Had nothing to do with cops or governments. The protesters had an ounce of common sense and we have more guns in the community than the nasty guard has in Fort Indiantown Gap.

    • I don’t see self defense or vigilantism. These photos say “we like guns, and it’s Christmas.” They aren’t threatening to kill anyone, they aren’t saying how they look forward to a year of gunning down minorities in 2022. Likely these weapons went into whatever safe or bag they came out of right after the photo… If not, they went to the range with them and shot paper targets.

      But an AR is automatically menacing to the left just sitting around.

      • that’s what is so great about the Ruger Mini 14Ranch Rifle. Same round, same capacity, looks like Grandpas hunting rifle. Eedjits have no clue what reality is.

      • The concept of “safes” is great and all, but I must admit I owned more than one firearm for over 50 years before buying my first safe.

  5. Zeeshan Aleem. I wish I had read the author’s name first!
    The comments relative to Kyle RIttenhouse clearly demonstrates the left’s ability to ignore facts.
    In their minds had Kyle been killed it would have been justified and those who killed him would
    have been declared victims.

    • No, if Kyle had been beaten to death, he would have been just another nameless statistic. Just like all the other victims of riot violence. If he had been killed, we wouldn’t have ever heard his name, or the names of his killers.

    • The media is doing what they always do: pushing the narrative. They’ll never give up. Proving them wrong doesn’t slow them down one bit. Over time, they’ll make sure the public has an even worse and more ignorant opinion on the Rittenhouse situation. They did the same thing with Justice Thomas. Soon after his confirmation, most people believed Thomas. The media kept pushing the narrative, and public opinion on Thomas got worse over time. They’ll do the same thing with Justice Kavanaugh.

      • Yep. Being a law abiding citizen that pays his way in society I’m pretty dang entitled to protect me and mine and no one should have the right to limit what I use. I’m good with my hands one on one but a mob of 10 calls for a bit more substantial gear. Living in an urban area is probably more dangerous than living in the middle of nowhere hete in Arizona.

  7. I love that silly canard that more remote you are the more justifiable home defense weapons are when its just the opposite.

  8. “Hunting culture makes a great deal of sense to me; I respect it as a cultural tradition, and given how unethical our livestock industry is, I think responsible, ethical hunting is a defensible pursuit.”

    Again with the hunting. Another tool that thinks the 2A is about the tree stand with Amy and her Uncle Dick.

  9. ” I am sympathetic to the desire for a gun that is stored carefully, even though there is data that suggests the safety they provide is questionable.”

    Let that quote sink in. “sympathetic to the desire”, doesn’t mean agreement to possession. Then the storage method is questionable, illustrates, enough is never enough for the left. The entire article is bull.

  10. The author is probably a jihadi awaiting orders to slaughter the infidel. Disarming us will make it easier. Ain’t happenin’ muhammed. Get back in the sand box.

  11. Wow. I can feel the whining from here. Here is an idea. If you want to be disarmed like Australia, or regulated like Japan, move there.

    • No please. Send her to a location where her leftist authoritarian dreams are realized. China or North Korea. For a religious theocracy Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia.

      • I was thining of Somalia. fitting in so many ways. Uppity females do not fare well in that place. Even i if they are jihadists.

      • If all she wants is normal, completely disarmed and destitute Communist autocracy, no reason to go farther than Cuba, they’re as completely failed as anyone. If you wish more active violence, Venezuela is likely your bet.

  12. Remember when Sarah Palen was ridiculed when she said ” I can see Russia from my house.”? …… Well , some twenty years later, I guess we can ALL say that

      • Yeah, I got sidetracked with our 20″ snow from last night ; I was gonna ask if you remember when the right wingers took over the Capital Bldg. on January 6th and nearly burned it to the ground? You made my point for me , that they are fabricated ” known truths “

  14. So we can have guns to hunt or for self defense, just not the ones your security or the people we are supposed to rely on to defend us carry. Also, “remote or distinctly unsafe?” I see crime in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Further, if I’m in harms way and drop the harm with a well timed and well placed shot or three, I’m no vigilante. I did what nobody else was there to do. How many rounds I need should be determined by how many attackers not an arbitrary number from the mighty government who likely let my attacker out early or without bail. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal.

    • Love that old ad…”gives more than a thrill”. Ain’t that what real men do for their gal?!?😎You should try that Zeeshan Alem.

  15. Looking at this guy’s bio tells you everything you need to know, dedicated hard Leftist/Communist so nothing he says is any different than the usual crap you get from a dacan/miner AOC myrmadon. So nothing worth spending time on, basic tldr and move on.

  16. “Massie’s and Boebert’s Christmas Cards ‘Normalize a Spectacle of Vigilantism”

    More like – Massie’s and Boebert’s Christmas Cards ‘Normalize a Spectacle of You Do What You Want On Your Cards And We Will Do What We Want On Our Cards And If You Don’t Like It Too Bad’

    • Blowbert may have given birth to those kids, but a cursory review of her criminal past makes clear she’s no mother. As for ‘dad’, he must have been too busy exposing himself to minors to bother to show up. Seems fitting that people like this are heroes of the fascist right wing gop death squad.

    • Are we going to hear the Left cry about the underlying sexist message in the photo? Maybe it’s a subtroll by Boebert.

  18. I think their card kinda says ‘Hey, you criminals the Democrats let out of jail, ya don’t wanna come here.’

  19. Politicians send out Christmas cards with their families holding scary, black guns for two reasons: fundraising and trolling the Left. Mission accomplished. I get it, they’re politicians. But I find it lame that people can’t let their personal obsessions take a back seat to the reason for the season for just one measly second. Most of you guys wouldn’t like it if you got a family Christmas card in the mail with a Marxist BLM message on it.

    Zeeshan took the bait. He isn’t smart enough to realize that he contradicted himself. On one hand he thinks it’s okay to defend yourself with guns. On the other hand he thinks weapons designed to “severely injure and kill people with extreme speed” are only for the military and police. If Zeeshan had to defend his family from a home invader, and he had the choice between a gun that could severely injure and kill with extreme speed or a gun that might somewhat injure very slowly, which would he choose? What would his priorities be?

    • Zee-sham is not sort to protect himself at all. He’s the sort that would take LAPDs advice and “comply, cooperate and be a good witness.”

  20. How about this, you people who are anti gun, woke, whatever, leave me and mine, and all the other law abiding citizens alone, and we will have our guns for hunting, range shooting, and for the protection of our families and ourselves, and you all can shut up and not have guns to protect you families and yourselves, and we can all live together. Oh, is that to complicated? I’m sorry. To bad, don’t infringe on my rights, and I will not infringe on yours.

  21. ‘…designed for law enforcement and military personnel to severely injure and kill people with extreme speed.’

    Why is it OK for law enforcement to weild weapons designed to severely injure and kill people with extreme speed.

    Also, just my two cents but Boebert rocks the best mom bod in Congress.

    • Why? Simple! “They’re HIGHLY trained professionals!” Also: “They’re racist killers that wake up every morning looking to take out black men!”

      Logic isn’t exactly their forte. The truth is, they don’t believe a word of what they say. It’s merely food to be lapped up by the useful idiot mob.

      • Like the big black burly cop handgun safety instructor who was prattling on and on aobut how he was part of an elite class of folks who are “the only ones well qualified to handle firerams, then unnholstered his own and as he did so proceeded to blast his own foot with a round from hus service weapon……… I had a hard time really feeling his pain and embarrassment.

        I think that slick move ended that class…. wonder if they got their nickel back they paid for the class?

        • I got some private instruction after I purchased some firearms a few years ago. Showing me that video was the very first thing he did.

    • @Gov,

      Besides being attractive, she’s a walking, talking example of how iron strapped to her hip puts her diminutive 5’0″, 100 lb frame on a more equal level with any attacker. And the “Squad” (Tlaib, Cortez, Omar, and I never remember the fourth because she’s completely forgettable) hates her for standing up for personal rights over government tyranny, so chalk up another reason to like Boebert.

      • Man, do right wingers really believe that Lauren Boebert is ‘attractive’? She’s a skinny, small chested, buck toothed, barely literate mind corpse who couldn’t competently manage a third rate restaurant. Her ‘Only Fans’ page was at most 2.5 out of 10 Faps. Speaking of, how does the average conservative square standing behind someone who’s so bereft of morals that she’ll display herself on what amounts to a porn page for all to see? I just don’t get it…

        • (1) “She’s a skinny, small chested, buck toothed, barely literate mind corpse who couldn’t competently manage a third rate restaurant.”
          You just described AOC. This article is about Beobert.

          (2) I’ve never visited OnlyFans, so if you’re giving details about an alleged porn site’s page, you just outed yourself as a porn consumer. This site’s about guns and related topics.

        • It should come as little surprise that someone who identifies as ‘conservative’ finds a woman built like a preteen girl ‘attractive’. After all, these clowns worship notorious perverts Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh, who didn’t even bother hiding their disgusting attraction to young girls (and in Rush’s case, boys). Ronald Reagan would be absolutely disgusted by what the once proud conservative movement has become under the leadership of grifters and perverts.

        • It’s hard to win an argument on female beauty with someone who Toobins himself watching Hillary read her presidential acceptance speech she never got to give…

        • BTW, both Boebert and AOC have kind of goofy faces but Boebert lacks the Mr. Ed incisors, Smeagal eyes and scoop shovel hips. Still, if either pulled up their shirts and showed me their boobs I’d take a good look.

        • Hi again, nameless troll. Have you considered immediate self-defenestration? You should. Soon. You will NOT be missed.

        • Oh, and . . . way to be a misogynist, body-shaming, objectifying, cishet, patriarchal POS, nameless troll!! Lauren Boebert is 5′, and weighs a buck. If she had D cup boobs, it would look ridiculous – and if you judge women by the size of their mammaries, you are ridiculous, too. Personally not a fan of tiny girls (being rather tall, myself), but she is definitely not unattractive. And both sides of attraction (physical appearance AND personality/intellect) are basically personal taste, so . . . perhaps you should become more “woke”, eh???? You misogyinist, objectifying p****. Those are the rules, aren’t they??????

        • Lamp! Pretty sire you’re suggesting exfenestration, defenestration seems like removing her windows.

        • Larry,

          Technically, of course, you are right. In common use, it is typically rendered as “defenestration”, but if you are an educated man (as you clearly are), your correction is quite valid. My bad, but I was pretty sure the troll would completely miss my point if I used “exfenestration”. With TTAG’s rather – inconsistent and incomprehensible??? – moderation policies, I TRY to work around them as best I am able.

  22. A D.C. born, Georgetown educated liberal letting everyone know about the issues of guns and vigilantes on msnbc. He should tackle gun violence head on and preach his message at night in Deanwood and Brentwood.

  23. Aleem, let’s see your Christmas card…oh right you don’t observe Christmas. But I bet you observe porn.

  24. Quite obvious that the author failed any civics class he ever took, and would not pass a test on the Constitution. First Amendment, people can print a photo of their choosing on Chridtmas cards, Second Amendment, “keep and bear arms,” both are RIGHTS, granted by the creator, so… STFU! As for vigilantism, if the author knew the history of the term, he would know that people turn to vigilantism when the authorities can’t, or won’t do their jobs. Such bastions of liberal bufoonery as San Francisco, and Sacramento, decorated lamp posts and trees with corrupt politicians in the past!

  25. I always thought those kinds of Christmas photoes were a bit cringy, but at the same time if it upsets a leftoid then I say everyone do it.

  26. Looked him up and he is a “freelance journalist based in Brooklyn. He has a newsletter”. Oh boy.
    Oh my how the word “journalist” is thrown around these days. This guy is just another communist based left wingnut working for the media arm of the Democratic party.
    STFU, Nobody cares what you have to say dirtbag!

  27. “Massie and Boebert are helping normalize a spectacle of vigilantism that weaves the possibility of warfare into everyday American life.”

    If anyone is weaving the possibility of warfare it is not Massie, or Boebert, it is The Left with their assault on dang near everything from the 1stA, the 2ndA, public education, heck, most of decent society.

  28. Vigilantism. Hmm. When I was growing up, I had to learn right from wrong, just like everyone. Always, throughout my youth, I just assumed that if I acted out, someone nearby would have something to say about it. Had I ever actually thought about shooting at random strangers, I would have assumed that the stranger, or an onlooker, or just SOMEONE would have confronted me, and stopped, or at least tried to stop me.

    Maybe we need more of what the liberal left are calling ‘vigilantes’. However correct or incorrect my assumptions were, my belief that others would step in to curb irresponsible and/or criminal conduct certainly did me no harm.

    Why DON’T we have vigilante minded people willing to step up?

    I suppose the answer to that question are the liberals themselves. They’ve spent decades preaching that only cops should intervene. All the rest of us should just submit, and be slaughtered when a bad guy waves a gun around.

    I have no qualms with that word, ‘vigilante’. Let’s recruit a whole lot of vigilantes. Arm any teacher who can meet minimal requirements. Since teachers are generally rejected for employment if they have a criminal history, that should mean any teacher who asks. Most business owners should qualify – big and small businesses. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, commercial drivers. Anyone with no criminal history, and no crazy history.

    Oh wait. My mistake. I’m describing the 2nd Amendment militia here.

    Give everyone a gun, and be done with it. When a kid turns 18, if he has avoided serious trouble with the law, give him a gun. Soon, everyone has a gun, and anyone at all can intervene in a bad situation. Problem solved!

  30. The wishful thinking zeeshan aleem dances all around badmouthing this and that then turns around to bestow his nasty nice “blessings” on the this and thats he sees somewhat fit for America. Who the f does that pompous pos think he is and who the f does he think millions of law abiding Gun Owners are? A bunch of pushovers from him to look down his nose on?

    I for one do not need a NCIC on perverts like zeeshan aleem. His very own words say all I need to know.

  32. Using the term ” VIGILANTISM” in place of self defense or gun ownership was a carefuly calculated choice. Attempting to conjure up visions of armed mobs hunting down suspected criminals and hanging them with out benefit of trial or evidence. Anything to promote an anti gun agenda.

  33. Szechuan Aleem, thank you for your opinion on the US Constitution. You have the Right to make that opinion. Tens of thousands of Americans of all colors and beliefs have died throughout generations protecting your Right to spout your opinions. I read yours – I disagree.

    Eat your shirt and dye.

  34. “He was born in in Washington, D.C. and formally educated at the Sidwell Friends School, Oxford University, George Washington University (Presidential Scholarship), and the University of Chicago (University Scholarship). All of his higher education has been vigorously interdisciplinary across the social sciences, with a concentration in social theory, modern history, and political economy. Non-journalistic experience includes time at the U.S. House of Representatives, consulting for a Pakistani Member of Parliament, co-writing and directing a play at the Burton Taylor theater in Oxford, and a couple freestyling competitions.”

    Don’t know if his parents were American citizens or if he is one of those who back door citizenship by virtue of just being born on US soil.

    Regardless, I’ll never recognize the authority of left wing extremists like him to define my rights.

  35. To paraphrase the article: I, Zeeshan Aleem, shall determine which guns you may own, when and where you may own them, because I am a journalist and the therefore the arbiter of all things.

    I’ve said this before: the only thing you can say to a tr0ll is “go fvck yourself.” So, Zee, GFY. And I really mean it.

  37. Given the lawlessness, chaos, and criminal violence that inevitably follow the Left’s favorite policies and people, they’d better get used to the “spectacle of vigilantism.”

    There’s going to be a lot more of it before we can fix the mess they’ve made.

  38. Col Travis

    Briefly it is fairly easy to own anything in a bolt, lever or pump action rifle in my state, Queensland. Other states are different.

    Semi auto require a special permit and “reason”. Helicopter based shooters for feral animal control and similar activity are usual reason. Nothing like me at 16 when I walked in and bought a new Ruger 10/.22 in 15 minutes.

    Friends in the movie prop business have two complete M60s and other items but there are lots of rules.

    Officially about 1 in 20 people own firearms. I would imagine unofficial owners would be just as numerous if not more.

  39. There’s nothing wrong with being a vigilante. They are simply law abiding people who enforce the law, when the police are unwilling or are unable to do so.

    Having displayed the family weaponry I believe Congressman Massey will not be attacked like senator Rand Paul was attacked a couple of years ago. While he was mowing his front lawn. Attacked by his next door neighbor.

  40. Remember when Christmas cards were about Jesus, the Three Wise Men, the Manger, etc.? Now Christians worship guns on the days of the saviors birth. Politics much?

    • so WHO was worshipping guns? Are you dead certain they aren’t worshipping the tree with such fervour they felt being armed as they did so appropriate?

      Project much? Maybe YOU would be worshipping the ahrdware on display.

  42. I can fully understand how Christmas cards such as this, with a plethora of White people and guns, could lead to vigilantism in certain demented circles.

    After all, cards with a Santa Claus quite often inspire Liberal Progressives to attempt to put small children on their laps against their will for a round of Holiday Hair-Sniffing; Those with Christmas trees are just ASKING some Liberal Progressive to set such a tree on fire. And, worst of all, those with illustrations of the infant Saviour immediately inspire thoughts of Abortion-On-Demand-For-Any-Reason-Or-No-Reason-At-All-Including-Mere-Convenience-Up-Until-The-Moment-Of-Birth-Or-Maybe-Just-A-Little-Bit-Afterwards in Liberal Progressive Abortionistas.

    On the other hand, those with depictions of Christmas feasts featuring plum pudding only inspire sexual thoughts in Dacian.

  43. Tell me sir, what is a better weapon to use in self defense than one chosen for use by the first responders use to defend themselves?
    I am not as flush with money so instead of a “Kimber” “Wilson Combat” or even a “Sig”, I went with a Rock Island 9mm double stack, some where between a half to a third the price for the same defense and safety capabilties.
    I live in a safe little town in a constitutional carry state. and when my pants are on so is my holster.

  44. “…designed for law enforcement and military personnel to severely injure and kill people with extreme speed.”

    EXTREME SPEED! Like a ‘90’s era Dorito.

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