Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (courtesy bostonglobe.com)

Back in the day, TTAG expanded its anti-flaming policy to beyond-the-pale comments about public personalities. We continue to delete violent, sexist, racist, homophobic and other types of nasty slurs against people arguing for civilian disarmament — no matter how much they deserve our readers’ ire. Our reason: the antis will use these off-color comments against the cause of firearms freedom. Use them to depict gun rights advocates as Neanderthals. And worse. Like this [via bostonglobe.com]:

[Massachusetts] Attorney General Maura Healey knew she would get blowback for trying to close a gap in the state’s assault weapons ban . . . her office was braced for pushback from Second Amendment absolutists across the country. What nobody was prepared for was how vile, sexist, and homophobic so much of that pushback would be.

Much of it is unprintable — ugly tirades full of antigay slurs, mysogyny, and profanity, including the c-word, slung over and over. Callers shout obscenities and hurl names at the junior staffers who work the AG’s hotline. On YouTube and Facebook and Twitter and gun-lover websites, haters are all over Healey for daring to fulfill the spirit of the law, signed in 1998 by Republican Governor Paul Cellucci.

“Hey witch . . . did you ban pressure cookers too?” somebody wrote, referring to the devices used in the Boston Marathon bombing.

“I hope you get throat cancer,” posted another.

“Another [expletive] woman passing laws based off emotional bias this is why woman[sic] should not have leading roles they’re emotionally to [sic] weak,” wrote a grammatically challenged charmer.

They’ve called Healey ugly, her agenda satanic, and taunted her for being gay. One person tweeted that he’d like to hire a homeless man to rape and disembowel the attorney general alive. A commenter on a gun nut blog tracked down her home address and posted it.

You get the idea: Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham launched an ad hominem attack on ad hominem attacks. Anonymous ad hominem attacks.

Are these flamers real? No conclusive evidence presented. Are they representative of the average Massachusetts gun owner, outraged by MA AG Healey’s anti-ballistic blitzekreig on their gun rights? Of course not.

Abraham is attempting to brand gun rights advocates as deviants. And Healey as a courageous fighter for “gun safety.”

Oh, good grief, you may be thinking, Can’t you just ignore them? These are just fringe-dwelling fools. They can’t even spell. The thing is, the fringe is wide. And when somebody sends you a note threatening you with rape and murder, it can get to you, even if you’ve grown inured to garden-variety torment.

You’re not supposed to admit this, of course. You’re damned if you call these cretins out — it gives them oxygen, makes you seem like a victim — and damned if you don’t, because they just keep doing it. The world, especially online, is replete with men who straight-up hate women.

For her part, Healey has opted for oxygen deprivation, declining to comment on the torrents of misogyny. She did say she was determined to keep fighting to control the spread of weapons designed to mow down as many people as possible. Which guarantees further abuse.

“I am not going to back down,” she said. “I believe this is right and appropriate and lawful and something we need to do.”

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. But why give “oxygen” to the Constitutional issues at stake when you can marginalize any and all debate by demonizing the opposition?

If Abraham thinks the flamers are shameful, she should take a good hard look in the mirror. She is no better than them. In fact, she is far worse.

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66 COMMENTS

  1. So… she trolls IRL with actions that directly and demonstrably harm certain people and infringe on their rights then expects that the trolls on the interwebz will let it pass without even a snarky comment? Are these people crazy or is it their first day on the net?

    Christ, you can’t even voice a general opinion on YouTube about ANYTHING without getting trolled and flamed for it and yes, those trolls often use threats of real-world violence in a pathetic attempt to cow you into silence. Just ignore it.

    Also be aware that non-2A supporters likely make up a decent portion of the trolls. They can do this anonymously in an attempt to make 2A supporters look bad. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them are actually paid to do it.

    I’m not defending the behavior but it’s to be expected these days. Get over yourself and if you can’t take the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.

    • Maybe the vitriol against anti-Constitutionalists would be toned down, if you know, they stopped with all the infringement…

      Just a thought…

    • Whistle – MICROAGRESSION, …ism, mysa… etc etc.

      Didn’t you get the memo? You can NOT say kitchen in a way the is any manner directed to a female personage. In particular if she is a flaming dyke. You you you ………………………… man.

      • Why is it a gay slur when the person you call gay is…gay?
        Why is it hate to call someone a baby killer who…facilitates the killing of babies?
        Why is it misogynistic to call a bitch a bitch?
        Why is it un-American to call an anti freedom activist un-American?
        Why are we not allowed to show hatred towards those who we have every right to hate?
        I keep saying this, the left hasn’t experienced what pure hate is. They are messing with people who appreciate the importance of the armed citizen. They will know to appreciate it one day. Keep pushing MFers. Our side is showing incredible restraint…for now.

  2. “TTAG expanded its anti-flaming policy to beyond-the-pale comments about public personalities. We continue to delete violent, sexist, racist, homophobic and other types of nasty slurs against people arguing for civilian disarmament…”

    So the comment I was about to make about all anti-gunners being deaf-mute, syphilitic lepers would be too on-the-nose?

  3. Funny shes upset about getting her address published. I believe that happened to gun owners by some nut job in new jersey a couple years ago.
    But thats okay because we are the fringe…. what ever the hell that is supposed to mean.
    To quote one of my favorite movies…. we are the people who collect your garbage etc. So not all that fringe. Could be your neighbor. Or the person standing next to you.
    Sad. So sad. People sending messages like that are not helping. They are proving a point.
    Or are the antis trying to make us look like we are doing this?

    • More than one TV station and Gannett owned newspaper has published names and addresses of pistol license holders. But if you do it to a public official, public officials consider that to be a crime.

  4. I am one of the people who went to the state house rally and took time out to lobby my legislators on the directive. I am the complete opposite of what people expect. A female gun owner who is accepting and welcoming to LGBT people whether they are gun owners or not. I don’t like what the AG did and I personally don’t like the idea that the only solution that’s open to me is to pick up my roots and leave the state, probably forever. There has to be a remedy for people like myself who followed the laws in good faith and with every intention to follow them without resorting to expensive protracted legal battles. Sadly I feel let down by the fact that the legislature could have easily fixed this. Let’s hope that cooler heads prevail.

    • If you were in any state but MA, and about five other states, I would agree with you. But IMHO you should move.

      • I have actually given the idea of what exactly does it mean to me to own an AR15. Is it evil? I don’t think so. It’s just a rifle like so many other rifles. I actually really like it and I understand why other people like them as well. The thing is, even if I turned it into the cops, I could be found guilty of illegal possession of a rifle I legally purchased with my LTC. I can’t sell it or transfer it to anyone. The only other option left to me if I have the possibility of facing prosecution over owning a specific rifle is to simply gather up my guns and possessions and move out of state as quickly as possible, even if to an apartment while I sell my house back in MA. At least in another state I remain legal and law abiding. It’s just such a mess.

        • VT, NH, ME – you’ll love it up here (lean towads the later 2 – property tax in VT insane due to teachers union)

        • As someone who lived in MD for 10 years, if you value your gun rights, move. There are only a handful of “problem child” states when it comes to gun rights anymore, and I’m sorry to say that, after 10 years in MD, I’ve taken the position that they are not worth saving. None of them have any especially redeeming qualities about them compared to pro-2A states next door who for the most part leave gun owners the hell alone. Let them have their little anti-gun experiments and if other gun owners want to suffer living there, that’s their prerogative. But I’ve got one life to live and I’m not about to live it under the thumb of politicians and bureaucrats who openly hate me and take every opportunity to thwart my 2A rights. While your need for a pro-2A/pro-LGBTQ state may limit you from the 45 states available, you have options. I lived in NH for a couple of years. Helluva a nice state (unless transplant Massholes have since ruined it).

        • I’m sure there are actually plenty that fit the “pro-2A/pro-LGBTQ” bill. I wouldn’t suggest that moving clear across the country is the right solution, but, certainly, both OR and WA are actually pretty pro-2A (at least when compared to the likes of NJ, NY, CA, MA, and MD), and both are undeniably pro-LGBTQ at the state level. That varies at a local level, of course.

    • “There has to be a remedy for people like myself who followed the laws in good faith and with every intention to follow them without resorting to expensive protracted legal battles.”

      There is. When they come to confiscate your guns, shoot them in the face.

  5. “…when somebody sends you a note threatening you with rape and murder, it can get to you…”

    Yes, but – she has the ability to have armed protection details and even to carry a firearm if she wants. What about all the other women in Mass who have been threatened with more sincerity and reality of carry-through that do not have that option?

    • The other women don’t matter. The AG has a political career to further. Others be damned. Reason be damned.

  6. When the left has no real facts with which to argue (gun control) they go to the Saul Alinsky playbook and demonize their opponents. And, unfortunately, the complicit media cheers them on rather than holding their feet to the fire. This is the case in Massachusetts where the facts show that ARs are used in only a fraction fraction of that state’s homicides.

  7. Heh, so she’s a crusader in the fight against the hordes of Internet trolls, defending against the rage she brought upon herself by infringing on the rights of Americans. I’m not entirely convinced that all of what is being “reported” isn’t inflated and sensationalized to lend credibility to her cause, and used as a tool to further prop up the argument that gun owners are unstable nut bags, ready to explode at a cross look, or a rolling battle overy the last thirty rack of naty light.

    • Maybe she can sit next to Anita Sarkeesian at the next UN gripe-fest complaining about (mostly) made up threats.

      As I read the article, it rang awfully familiar. When stories like this follow this familiar pattern, I begin to doubt, without evidence to the contrary, the truthfulness of the claims.

      We’ve GOT to remember:

      SJW’s Always Lie.
      SJW’s Always Double Down.
      SJW’s Always Project.

      All three are demonstrated in this story.

  8. When your civil rights are being stomped on by evil people you’re not a fringe. You’re a victim being targeted by those supposed to take care of your interests.

    100 million + is quite the fringe.

  9. Ummmm…these people want you DEAD. Or at the very least enslaved serfs. It’s a wonder comments aren’t MUCH WORSE. There’s a war coming…

  10. Hey BLM is nothing but arsonists, looter and rioters if we go by her standard.

    This is the same sort of thing Obama says, don’t cast generalizations that is my job.

    • The principal owner of the Red Sox bought the Globe for a song but sadly he is an elitist limousine liberal in Hillary’s pocket.

  12. Some would argue that those infringing so strongly against the Constitution deserve more than nasty emails. Somehow I don’t feel all that upset that she’s being called a witch.

    • Actually didn’t they tar and feather a few government officials in Boston back just before the Revolution?

  13. Is this beyond-the-pale?

    “I Will Give Up My Gun (assault weapon) When They Peel My Cold Dead Fingers From Around It.”

    Or this?
    Molon Labe.

    Or this?
    I’m the NRA.

    Or this?
    Don’t tread on me.

    No, not coming from us, but to them you know they see these as an expression of antipathy. I get your point regarding the personal insults, but I bet the majority come from the civilian disarmament ilk, in an attempt to make the POTG bad.

  14. My wife will attest, I am a lesbian trapped in a mans body, that supports and defends the second amendment. How anyone with a stroke of a pen, make a legally purchase rifle no longer longer legal.
    This is why you give anti gunners nothing and mock them at every opportunity.

    • You know you can just wear doc marten’s if you want. You don’t need to justify it.

    • There was a comedian who had a routine I’ll never forget. He said, “Guys all want to be someone feared by men and loved by women. So, basically we all want to be lesbians. But, guys, I’m sorry. We can’t be lesbians. I checked. It’s a union thing.”

  15. Boston globe only allows subscribers to comment, hence their entire comment feed being filled with AG sympathizers. If there were masses of “vile misogynists”, then that says more about the readership of the Boston globe than of 2a supporters.

    Also , someone seriously should profile who provides security to the AG , the governor, and other members of the state politicos, and see if any of those bozos are using only MA certified guns.

  16. What about all the hate, racism, bigoted and racist comments the supposed mods turn a blind eye to.

    I’ve witness a person who called a TTAG terrorist out on their homophobic rhetoric get unfairly banned while the same creep was still allowed to run free.

  17. “…sexist, racist, homophobic…”

    RF,

    As we PotG frequently note, when the other side frames the debate and coins the terms, we are already behind.

    In that spirit, one of these terms is different from the others.

    A) sexist: attitudes & behavior toward someone based on their gender

    B) racist: attitudes & behavior toward someone based on their race

    C) homophobic: a persistent and irrational fear of homosexuals

    The answer is “C”.

    I would posit that people who dislike of homosexual behavior and/or people don’t actually fear them. Have you ever heard of a sex-phobic or race-phobic? I suspect not.

    (I would say the same for “Islamophobia” as there are real reasons for the fear.)

    Could we come up with an better term?

    Thanks for noticing me.

  19. “…weapons designed to mow down as many people as possible.”

    So is this why the police are either carrying them or lobbying to carry them?

  20. What’s the deal with spelling? Should spelling challenged people like myself not have Constitutional freedoms? I’m sure they don’t have a problem excepting their votes.

  21. We have had a lot of rain in Kentucky, it seems like all Summer. I have decided to use my AR to mow the grass, I’ll bet I can destroy the whole backyard in seconds with my weapon of mass destruction….though in my community the discharge of a weapon including pellet guns, bows and arrows or BB guns is against the local laws. Guess I have to live with weeds!!

  22. Why am I not surprised Abraham wrote this? If somone proposed that all gun owners get their left arm cut off, Yvonne Abraham would be flummoxed that gun owners would be upset. She is an Aussie who thinks that what they did down under is reasonable. She hates guns and gun owners, and pretty much anyone who isn’t an elitist democrat. If it rains, she risks drowning, because her nose is held so high.

  23. Many of the once neat, clean and safe Boston suburbs have been turned into Third World hotbeds of crime, drug addiction and welfare dependency, thanks to cultural marxists like A.G. Healey.

    And they have the NERVE to blame GUNS ? ! ?

  24. These types of politicians and bureaucrats, through their actions, have declared that anything goes as long as 50% plus one of an elected body agrees on something. If 50% plus one of the elected body agrees that it is right and good for the Almighty state to suddenly declare your property to be contraband and you to be a criminal, so be it.

    Are they actually bewildered when they receive flack for such actions? If 50% plus one of an elected body declared that all women must immediately disrobe fully and prostrate themselves for full body cavity searches in public at the hands of any police officer, would that be kosher? If not, then why are some resolutions of 50% plus one okay while others are not?

  26. I think she’s kind of attractive.

    Of course, the whole left wing fascist tyrant is irotating.

    Nothing we haven’t seen before.

    The people of Mass will have to remove her from power or live with the outcome.

    This is true in every state and office. We also have the court system. Due process is all we can count on. Justice is rare and not guaranteed.

  27. well, for argument sake, suppose she was working for revoking, say, gay marriage. would she not expect brutal backlash for the supporters of gay marriage?

  29. ? Seriously?

    I wonder if King George III had his feelings hurt before the Revolutionary War went hot.

    Maybe he should have considered that a warning.

    • When can we acknowledge the gorilla in the room? The fact that the 2nd amendment protects all of our rights in one way. If you try to take my guns, I will shoot you in the face. This is the only argument we need to make. It was not a flame or ad hominem. It is the truth that we are afraid to admit for fear of being labeled violent extremists.
      There is a difference between violent and evil. Call me violent and I will call you evil. My violence brings peace, freedom, and prosperity. Your evil brings suffering.
      Is my statement of fact a threat? Yes. It is a threat. A threat is a warning. Why am I warning you? Because I really don’t want to shoot you in the face and I really don’t want you to take my freedom. I warned you. If you ignore it then you have brought the violence upon yourself through your evil act.
      The right to keep and bear arms is not up for debate. I will no longer debate this settled law. From now on when you try to suggest any infringement on my right to bear arms, my statement, just like the famous “from my cold dead hands”, will be “try to take my guns and I will shoot you in the face”. Politically correct? Hell no! Poetic? Hardly. Effective? Let’s find out.

  31. Anyone else have a hard time differentiating between actual deleted comments and ones where someone just facetiously mimics the deletion stamp to make a point about how FLAME DELETED

    …’Cuz I find it kind of amusing, myself.

  32. “Our reason: the antis will use these off-color comments against the cause of firearms freedom. Use them to depict gun rights advocates as Neanderthals.”
    Kudos for the policy, as far too many just put up with the illiterate trolls these days. I understand why, it is a large job to moderate comments, much larger than in the 1990s when I first got access to the net.
    But it is an error to think that if there are no antigunner flames, it will deprive them of the opportunity to attack. They will just make them up, as the globe probably did here, or else just post them themselves under a sock puppet, and then lay claim to being persecuted by the other side, after attacking themselves just to gain sympathy. So delete flames because it is the moral and correct thing to do(the high ground), not just to make the antis lives harder, because it will not.
    Its really one of the older tricks in the book. Just google “false flag attacks” and notice that they have been around for many centuries…

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