There are more than 5k comments underneath the Washington Post article profiling yours truly. They’re running roughly 5000 to 1 against. The bit that’s attracted the most derision: “After he bought his first gun, he says, ‘I felt grown up. It was like a coming-of-age thing. I felt like an adult.'” The WaPo commentators reckon this statement indicates retarded moral, mental and yes physical development. Haters gotta hate, but this much is true: the moment I started carrying a gun was the moment I became fully independent. I stopped relying on “them” and started relying on myself. Until and unless a person takes that step, they can’t understand its transformative power. And if they don’t understand why anyone would want to take that step it’s not for them. For the rest of you, I’ve got news . . .
Yup, they’re nasty people alright. Liberals on Twitter celebrate murder of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle examiner.com
I wonder if they know the difference? Media calls Obama’s shotgun a ‘rifle’ washingtontimes.com (Emily forgot to mention hiphopwired.com)
There’s many a true word spoken in jest Gun Sales Soar on Photo of Armed Obama newyorker.com
A TV ad that you didn’t see during the Superbowl.
Lawyers resign in protest (check out the comments section) as ABA supports assault weapons bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein abajournal.com
A New York-style rush to disarmament in the Constitution State: Newtown Hearings Giving Way To Expedited Legislative Schedule ctnow.com
That would be the same Lanny Breuer who forgot to stop ATF Operation Fast and Furious, which supplied U.S. gun store guns to Los Zetas’ rivals. ‘Mamito’ [above] Pleads Guilty in U.S. borderlandbeat.com
Forget universal background checks (for a moment). How about a universal magazine (above)?
Same way a 16-ounce soda is legal, in some places. ‘Bump fire’ devices turn rifles into machine guns: How is that legal? csmonitor.com
How is it they treat us like children? “Some weapons have their place in the hands of law-abiding citizens. But not high-powered, assault-like weapons and not magazines that can hold 30 to 100 shells.” Local view: Assault rifles don’t belong in society deluthnewstribune.com
whenever acquaintances try to argue ‘it can’t happen here’, i just send them to borderlandbeat. Really opens their eyes quick.
And I hope you direct them to the WSJ’s Feb 1 article, showing how a group of fed up villagers in Ayutla, Mexico, took the law into their own hands and stopped the killing in one day. They don’t even let Federales through. More later.
I read about that. Good for them.
I was kind of disappointed by that particular criticism as well, Rob. I know exactly what you mean. I spent 28 years being in that sort of, “it won’t happen to me,” denial, but I had the same sort of coming-of-age just recently myself. It is tricky for me to talk about with friends and family as well because it’s so easy to be misconstrued as equating your 1911 for your manhood, when it’s in truth more about accepting responsibility than it is about acquiring power.
I know exactly what you mean. The recent legislation has burst a pretty substantial mental bubble I hadn’t even known existed until the new AWB started coming onto the scene. I was throughly convinced that as long as I treated folks with respect they’d treat me in kind, and that people talking about government encroachment were exaggerating (I never liked big government but thought it would never substantially affect me). Now I learned that some arguments can’t be resolved with compromise and that there are people in power who would destroy what I hold dear and shoot me for not thanking them for doing it. At least this awakening is happening to me at a young age. Oh lucky me. 🙁
Well at least the Universal Mag looks cool. Show of hands, who else wants to throw their money at this guy?
Well said, and agreed.
I read here recently that a liberal is a conservative who hasn’t been mugged. Bingo.
I didn’t feel ready to have a concealed carry until I had to pack a beretta around 24/7. I knew then that I was ready for the responsibility. The wapo comment section people do not understand that carrying a firearm is a great deal of responsibility. It boggles my mind how they equate penis size to firearms. It shows how idiotic their internet screaming is.
…profiling this writer.
While it is true that not everyone gets profiled by WaPo, writing about yourself in the third person is just a wee bit pretentious.
On the contrary, this commenter believes it’s actually appropriate.
Robert – when you are taking heavy flak you are over the target. BravoZulu and Press On!
“… They’re running roughly 5000 to 1 against. …”
I read those comments for a while. I don’t know why, it just gets me so upset. So many people have this seething hate of firearms and firearm advocates yet they’ll cheerfully use the guns of Government to hurt and kill those who disagree with them.
I wouldn’t say it’s so many people – a lot of the comments are the same people in a back and forth discussion.
Anyhow, Robert, I think you really have them nervous which is why they are coming out with the personal attacks. Good job!
Yes. The RF story was a natural lightening rod. These comment writers are reading everywhere else that the AR ban is not favored by Reid and won’t make it through the house. They are upset. They thought they had their fantasy made. And no, the readers did not understand the plain meaning, RF, of your comment. And no, they could not if they did not have the experience. They think an AR, er SCAR, leads automatically to mayhem. Fortunately the story did not cover your Ferrari days, since a Ferrari does automatically lead to excessive risk taking and, well, firing something or other.
They’ve done the same thing in the local paper who featured Guns Save Life’s growth on last Sunday’s front page.
Bottom line: While almost all are negative, it propelled the story to the second most commented story at the paper.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2013-01-27/pro-gun-group-growing.html
The good side is that it’s like a liberal echo chamber. And they are mostly commenting to themselves. I mean, who reads more than a few comments?
John
The number of WaPo commentors that are obsessed with Robert’s penis size is disturbing.
Low-hanging fruit makes an easy target.
…
That was not meant to be innuendo. But it’s funnier that way.
The point is that penis size and “it took a gun to make you feel like an adult” are the easiest things for them to criticize and base their aspersions on, and neither require any real brain power or critical thinking.
Well, it’s nice that they’re taking an interest.
Ironic they employ the same tactics they despise in their political opponents.
Okay, so they’re showing interest, this is promising. Next, he needs to determine which ones are hot Israeli models…
😉
Maybe RF has a future career as a liberal male stripper lol 😉
It’s called an ad-hominem attack — a tactic used by those who have lost an argument.
They better keeps their hands off of Robert’s hominem.
Im Sorry RF for the attacks on you. All I say id liberals are fascist pigs and most GI who did for our freedoms role over in there grave because of liberal scum like anti gunner are. May they be flushed down history’s toilet.
It’s not so easy to distinguish people like that anymore. As you’ve seen on this blog, there are a lot of social liberals who support the 2nd Amendment. I just say “gun-grabbers” now.
Sadly, ALL the gun grabbers are libtards. Its a liberal problem.
no, they aren’t. anytime you say “all” or “none,” you’re setting yourself up for a big fall.
Pat, every night you come through like a retarded pigeon and crap on every active discussion. Despite the fact that nobody ever agrees with or appreciates your offensive and idiotic comments, you persist in making them.
Have you nothing better to do than troll TTAG with ignorant slurs like “libtard”? Is your life so devoid of meaning that you must vent your bile here where the rest of us must see its tiresome effects night after night?
No, there are conservatives and moderates who speak or have spoken up for gun control too. Peggy Noonan is an example.
Huh, I didn’t know Bill O’Reilly and George Will were liberals who supported civilian disarmament. Thanks so much for clearing that up for us pat. Makes so much sense.
hear, hear!
that, my friends, is a successful and positive change designed to stop alienating potential alllies.
Liberals are your “allies” in the same way that the USSR was our ally in WWII.
+1
+2
I’m 20, and started carrying a few months ago. It must say it definitely was a “growing up” moment. That doesn’t mean I was particularly foolish or irresponsible compared to now, it means that taking that personal responsibility for the wellbeing of myself and my loved ones gave me a healthy dose of reality and respect. The day I carried for the first time was one of the most “real” days of my life.
Do the Wally Walk and you’ll really get the feeling.
Do not fall for the Urban Myth;
It is not a hunk of steel that makes you an adult, it is the adult that accepts the RESPONSIBALITY of taking-up arms and all that entails.
Accepting the eons old burden of being an adult male does not come lightly to a demographic that has been Trained to remain an emasculated child since birth!
There was no real significance to the first day I carried. There was to the first day I owned a gun, though. I remember my father giving me that 1911 as a gift. That’s the first time where I really thought: “Okay, I can protect myself and my family if need be.”
It turns out the gun is half the equation. I’ve been educating myself and training ever since I was 18, which was almost a decade ago now.
When one becomes a functioning adult male and accepts the burden of his role in life one instantly becomes a protector of the young, weak, and elderly against those that would harm them, I.E. Progressive Liberals and their useful idiots.
From that moment foward life changes for the individual, they stop being a Dog and become a Sheepdog.
I’m hearing from reliable sources that pro-2A folk in the CT are being pressured to support the Civilian Disarmament measures by their neighbors and peers. There is no room apparently for dissenting opinions. Groupthink and mass hysteria – knida the same thing. I’ve seen all this somewhere else before…
“universal magazine”
Especially for pistols. Whenever I go to the range I always wish my magazines would fit in more than just a a single weapon. I can understand the want of each manufacturer to create a completely innovative design and feel, but I end up carrying a shopping bag full of mags.
Jeff P.,
I try and limit myself to a single caliber and model every time I go to the range. It is a lot less fuss to fumble around with multiple calibers and mags than those days that I take my Wife with her different caliber gun and share a lane.
Also, when I do carry, I do the same thing … limit myself to a single caliber and model for that carry day.
Warning to all non-firearm owning, adult-age males:
“Extreme Caution is Strongly Advised.”
Highly consequential outcomes may be caused to occur as a result of reading anything beyond this point.
“ It has been the Moral Obligation and Duty as an American Citizen of all adult-age males to provide themselves with, and to keep and bear arms for defense of self, family, other persons, property, possessions, State and Nation as required…for hundreds of years.”
For those to whom the aforementioned has now been recognized as applicable;
who are not physically or mentally impaired; and / or
have not been proven guilty of a crime sufficient enough to have had your otherwise inalienable ‘Right’ to keep and bear arms legally rescinded:-
Choices as follows:
Either assume your rightful position as a responsible adult Citizen by leaning how to safely handle, properly shoot, clean, care-for and store a Firearm, Or
become endlessly mired in the futility of attempting to assuage the sense of inadequacy you’ve just accumulated by attempting to make, uh…excuses.
Note: Anyone having want or desire to edit, copy, paste, save to file, and / or submit any or all of the above to any website, by all means, please feel free to do so. ( Not that anyone would, of course, but just in case. )
I sure didn’t see 5000 to 1 against, lol./// Reality can be a tough teacher, something I believe obama has yet to find out, Randy
Poor Chris Kyle…devoted his life to a country and a people unworthy of defense. Leftists truly are sub-human scum. Just shows how many of our “fellow Americans” we pass every day are enemies.
I truly pity any true patriot in the military right now. How must they feel knowing half of the country they’ve put their lives on the line for is, in actuality, the enemy?
Call it the dark side of technology. Yes, technology can voice to the voiceless (like this blog), but it also enables every TWIT with a TWITTER account to broadcast their worthless opinions and to be disrespectful. Sad that the only thing some people choose to do with their voice is piss on the grave of a man who sacrificed and served to protect their freedoms.
It’s a mistake to generalize about all leftists based on what some of them say on twitter. In the same way, it would be wrong to conclude that all gun owners are as extremist as you who comment here.
I don’t make insensitive comments about people like Kyle but I do recognize the ironic truth behind them.
My conclusion is guns do more harm than good.
Mikey,
There’s an old saying: Garbage in, garbage out.
“I don’t make insensitive comments about people like Kyle…”
No you let your lapdogs do that for you. They are free to post their ugly posts on the blog that bears your name and you don’t even leave so much as a disparaging remark about them. It is quite evident that you share the same opinion, but you are just too cowardly to say so.
Not cowardly, polite and respectful.
Posts like this are exactly why I recommend every leftist knows how to use a firearm.
By the way, if you think murdering civilians in a country we invaded for no good reason is “defending our freedom” then I truly feel sorry for your limited intellect 🙂
In the 20th century alone leftist governments with firearms brought about the deaths of more innocent people than all those who died in WWII and the Holocaust combined in the name of “progress”. How can you honestly say Lenin, Stalin, and Mao were such great guys when they surpassed Hitler’s kill count?
that number has been repeatedly debunked as ideological agitprop 🙂
The numbers are inflated, several different ideologies and regimes are conflated, and natural disasters are blamed on the economic system. Here is chomsky:
http://www.spectrezine.org/global/chomsky.htm
“We therefore conclude that in India the democratic capitalist “experiment” since 1947 has caused more deaths than in the entire history of the “colossal, wholly failed…experiment” of Communism everywhere since 1917: over 100 million deaths by 1979, tens of millions more since, in India alone.”
There are records of the death toll in Stalinist USSR, and they are no where near as inflated as western accounts would have conservatives believe. Most people survived the gulag.
Stalin bears little in common with Lenin or Mao. He is as different from Lenin as Napoleon was from Robespierre. Speaking of which, the death toll in any revolution is high. Here is a quote from mark twain on the subject:
“There were two ‘Reigns of Terror’, if we could but remember and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million; but our shudders are all for the “horrors of the… momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror – that unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.”
Lenin’s Ghost: The number has not been debunked, but rather has been increasing as to consensus estimates. Chomsky? For these numbers? LoL. Printed where, in an old copy of Ramparts?
When your argument is “They didn’t kill quite as many people as some say”, then you have already lost the argument.
Well that didnt take long for the Wapo’s reality challenged true believers to shamble over here like zombies smelling the living with still working brains…
chomsky? really? whats next? fisk? duranty? krugman?
So it’s within the GLG’s power to decide what’s murder for an active duty soldier?
And I encourage you to get your leftist buddies to train with guns. Those that decide they like guns and start gaining confidence in the craft will start to think for themselves and come into contact with other gun owners, who tend to be of an indepent mindset. These activities and contacts will lead them away from the hive mentality of the leftists and we’ll have some more new converts.
And those who learn guns and remain leftists will not be trusted to hold onto their guns by the party leadership. The guns will be collected for “safe” storage which means they will be easily neutrilized when the moment comes. Or simply taken by the non leftists when needed. Central armories are a great shopping area for rebels.
That you think the democratic party is “leftist” is so precious and an obvious sign you are on the extreme right wing fringe 🙂
This must be one of the new visitors that were mentioned…
GLG, you were the one that said you encouraged the leftists to learn how to shoot. I mentioned no party in my reply of training leftist with firearms.
You are the one labeling the dems as leftist. I mentioned no party.
“By the way, if you think murdering civilians in a country we invaded for no good reason is “defending our freedom” then I truly feel sorry for your limited intellect ”
All the people he killed were armed jihadists. **If** you had bothered to read the book you would realize he was forced to do document(like get a witness to testify to the presence of weapons on the jihadists) the killings to avoid prosecution for murder.
At one point in the book Chris Kyle briefly described finding two mentally handicapped Iraqi men in a basement. The men had suffered deadly tortures at the hands of the “insurgents”, as they called, not for punishment, not for information, just to amuse the terrorists’ sadism.
Those are the people Chris Kyle “murdered”.
Here is a manual put out by the “insurgents”:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/torture-al-qaeda-style
“Most people survived the gulag.” He says it like its a good thing.
LOL (*wipes tear from eye), so that’s what we’re dealing with. Most people survive torture but that doesn’t make it any more correct. GLG is by far the scariest individual on here. He’s what we call a true believer, the kind that would turn his family in to the KGB.
Brad, he’s not the scariest. He’d be openly derided in this society for his lunatic beliefs and never electable. The stealth genocidal statist control freaks who paint themselves as reasonable are the scary ones.
What was the good reason for Lenin’s crimes?
I think 99% of Americans left or right are not “the enemy”. Its a big country with alot of folks who think differently than you do Silver, that doesn’t make em sub-human. We can all appreciate Mr. Kyle’s service to our country, even if we don’t agree on whether or not he should’ve been sent to all the places he was. Most folks who were against both wars just wouldn’t have wanted any of these guys to die.
Besides, I’ve never met anyone more anti-war than guys just back from the Korengal.
This isn’t Vietnam, its a new generation who doesn’t demonize soldiers. A couple of chuckleheads on twitter doesn’t represent everyone else.
Lets be real, theres at least a couple folks who comment on this site who’d be making tasteless jokes if Mike Bloomberg was killed in some ironic twist of fate, doesn’t mean they speak for everyone.
The “10 questions” video was interesting. Makes me wish I could have known him. Seems like he would have had a lot to teach (and I don’t mean “how to kill people”).
Also, I can’t decide if she looked a little frightened of him by the end or not.
The most shocking part of that Article, to Me?
…
Robert’s age.
Why agree to any “profiling” by the leftist state media? Just why?
What could possibly be gained by providing them ammunition for their political agenda? Baffling to me why anyone would willing chose to participate. I enjoy your blog but WAPO and their ilk just need to be told to pound sand. Their are no “fair shakes” in liberal media’ville.
Many politicians and political figures or celebrities have learned that lesson the hard way. Screw them.
Agreed. They made Robert and David look paranoid when I don’t believe either men are.
**** them. If they want to ask you questions why not just answer them through the site instead of giving them the authority to selectively edit?
See, progressives know they are smarter and better than you, so if you disagree with them that means you must be retarded morally, mentally and physically. Progressives are beneath contempt.
Progressives are beneath contempt.
No they’re not. They’re perfectly worthy of contempt.
I agree, I have no trouble finding mass quantities of.
I guess that guy from the Duluth tribune article has no clue what he is talking about. Since I was 12, I knew that the M1 Garand held 8 .30-06 bullets. It never changed, it’s always been 8 not 10 like he mentions. It may be a small point, but it shows his ignorance in the rest of the article (yes the original held 10 .276 Pederson bullets but not any M1 he touched). Next he lists the M-16 as a spray and pray 100 bullets with a trigger pull weapon. Again, he is clueless. He must have slept during his entire military service because he didn’t learn anything. The M-16 was a precision rifle firing a smaller rounds so more can be carried by the soldier.
Then his idiotic school shooting scenario about pulling his assault rifle out of his brief case took the cake for stupidity. This guy is a professor emeritus of education at the University of Minnesota Duluth? He needs to educate himself before he starts writing any articles ever again.
Agreed. Totally full of fail–or more accurately outright lies. The .30-06 has a muzzle velocity of 2800 fps, a .223 around 3200 (depending on bullet weight). And the 30 is a “slow moving bullet”???? Plus it has three times the energy of a .223 at 200 yards. To suggest that the .223 is more powerful must be intentional misleading of nongun folk. Nor have I ever seen an m16 in standard issue configuration that had a 100 round magazine. Or a rifle that sends “shells” down range. I don’t think the author was even in the military, but is instead a gun control troll with a planted story. Unfortunately, uninformed people actually buy this crap, since it fits with their preconceptions.
There is no Tom Boman on staff.
Surprised?
You also forgot to mention his “.20-gauge shotgun.” He must’ve bought it at the same shop that sells “.9” mm. Oh, and he notes that he likes to go “plunking” rather than plinking. Yes, full of fail. The guy’s a phony.
I don’t give a rat’s fat ass what side of the gun issue you’re on, those comments directed at Mr. Kyle’s death are disgusting and reprehensible. These are same people that call for peace, love and to cherish every life and they are laughing at the death of another human being.
Ironically these are the same folks calling for a “reasonable dialogue” with gun owners but how in the hell can any of us walk into a discussion and expect anything “reasonable” with people that are not only perfectly fine with Mr. Kyle’s death but show satisfaction with it?
+1
Schadenfreude is counter to peace, love, and joy, but not to hypocrisy.
I skimmed through the first 50 or so comments. Most were done by the same seven or eight people and most of the time they were making puns at each other’s comments. Today was Superbowl Sunday (with many people away from the computer) and I question how representative today’s commentators were of their regular Sunday crowd.
“Lanny Breuer who forgot to stop ATF Operation Fast and Furious,”
On January 22, 2013, PBS’s Frontline aired “The Untouchables“, a documentary about Lanny Breuer’s failure to prosecute Wall Street bankers for the fraud that led to the 2008 economic collapse.
Appearing on MoxNews (that’s not a misprint), Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone) observed that
at 5 minutes and 30 seconds in the MoxNews video.
However, I don’t hear too much complaining from the political Right about the crimes committed by Wall Street. I remember pundits on the Right defending the bonuses paid to executives of the bailed out banks, simply becuase it ired the Left, while rationalizing that these bonuses had been promised in the bankers’ employment contracts. The ability of executives to “hide behind the corporate veil” is fundamental to conservative and libertarian beliefs, and what happened in 2008 can’t be blamed on Obama. Oh sure, there is some token bitch’n’ about “bailouts” and the condemnation of borrowers, but on the whole the Right supports an economic system where the manipulation of wealth is rewarded more than the creation of tangible wealth (e.g., Mitt Romney). Fraud is considered too essential for the functioning of our capitalist markets. To believe otherwise would be to admit that those Occupy Wall Street hippies weren’t wrong about everything, and that ideals of capitalism and free-markets have been co-opted by Corporatists. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic.
The day after “The Untouchables” was broadcast, Lanny Brauer announced that he was resigning, although it is “unclear when Breuer will leave, and didn’t offer a reason.”
Stay strong, brother.
OK, RF, you’ve educated your Lola very well. You’ve built a great blog. The Post comments are perhaps down on you a bit, at least all those that were written by 15 year olds. If it gets to you, I suggest trading in the Benz. Something Ferrari would provide such a lift. It seems you are single for the moment. I double down on my recommendation. Switching cars could make single-for-the-moment so fun you never wish to give it up. Besides, it would go well with the Benelli.
Well I know RF knew this would happen. It was a fair article, and that drives them nuts. They can’t even fathom the idea. It makes their veins bulge, and there hands sweat. I think we can call this mission accomplished!
Still isn’t fair with some of the remarks.. I could only stomach reading a few..
“It was like a coming-of-age thing. I felt like an adult.”
Kinda sounds like everyone getting their first car!!!
Except we have less training in order to drive and it is far more likely to die in a car than with anything related to a firearm. Actually, where I grew up (suburban area) it was common for a certain type of people to drive a car without any attempt at getting a driver’s license and no training at all.
If you were an individual that depended on the government an article like this shakes the cage and forces denial. To even acknowledge the idea that the entity which you have deemed your ultimate protector cannot in fact protect you would mean the structure of your entire life would be shattered. That which you considered safe is no longer safe. This is the difference between two ways of life; those that are ultimately responsible for themselves and their family, and those that defer the responsibility to others. Those that defer the responsibility may not want that responsibility or may not feel up to the requirements. Neither side will understand the other because they have completely different views of the world at pretty much every level.
The question of need has come up for me a couple times now. “Why does anyone need 30-round magazines?” “Why does anyone need an assault rifle?” Well, why do we *need* life insurance? Why do we *need* homeowners or property insurance? Why do we *need* car insurance? Do you play to kill yourself, burn down your home or place of business, or ram your car into the first thing you see? After all, why would you purchase those things if you don’t plan to use them? That’s usually the assumption, if you buy an AR, or any gun, you plan to use it with malicious intent. From the statistics we know that is not the case. Our (mostly) unrestricted Second Amendment Rights are our form of insurance policies (read protection) against crime, bodily harm, and government tyranny (in order of likelihood). I may never (and pray I will not ever) need to use those any of those protections, but denial does not protect you or your family.
Secondly, why should there be a double standard? When there is a potentially dangerous situation the police escalate to an AR with 30 round magazines. Before the police arrive, which can be quite a long time, you are the only responder. Why should your response as a law-abiding citizen be less effective than the police? Personally, I want the same effective response as soon as possible, whether it’s from my wife, my neighbor, or the police. As we’ve seen from real situations on the DGU of the day page, sometimes all it takes is the gun, most times it just takes defensive shots fired, a few times it takes hitting the intruder, and in a few cases it requires lethal action. Assuming the popular notion that police are better trained why is that even a factor when most times simply having the gun can save your life and lethal action is rarely needed. Knowing the police aren’t as well trained as most assume why would you want to wait for them? I have the utmost respect for law enforcement, but I am under no delusions, most of the time they’re there to file the paperwork after the incident, they are not in any position to stop it in the first place. That’s where our Second Amendment Rights come in.
Robert’s words about coming of age and feeling like an adult are pretty embarrassing. Plus, they support the gun-control theory about why you guys like guns so much. There’s a fear or insecurity in you that’s partly repaired by owning and carrying a gun and the fantasy of security that goes with it.
To me the biggest thing in the article was that Robert and the Rabbi both carry guns every day everywhere they go and have never had occasion to use them in self defense. This makes perfect sense since they live in one of the more safe and crime-free places around but it highlights the foolishness of their fear-driven decision.
“Robert and the Rabbi both carry guns every day everywhere they go and have never had occasion to use them in self defense”
That’s what we all hope for dipshit. Do you wear a seatbelt when you drive?
Well, I can see I have nothing to add here.
+1
Pretty embarrassing? I felt more like an adult getting my driver’s license, learning how to fly, working my first job, going off to college, and so on. Those are all stages in a one’s life where one becomes more independent: a driver’s license represents freedom to travel (this is also the category flying skills would fall under, I think), working a job represents a freedom to earn wages for labor instead of being dependent on parents, and going to college a long ways from home represents the start of a fully independent life. Owning and legally carrying a gun is basically the last stepping-stone into full independence and adulthood that a guy can take; why on earth is recognizing this “embarrassing”?
As to RF and Rabbi’s “fear-driven” decisions, I’ll ask you this– is it unreasonable to have airbags in your car even if you haven’t ever been in an automobile crash? To have a fire alarm and extinguisher in your house, even if you haven’t EVER had your domicile burn down? To keep a week or two of spare food during the winter, even if you haven’t ever been iced in? To know how to do CPR, even if you’ve never had to resuscitate somebody before?
Mike, it’s just a matter of knowing that bad things sometimes– not always, or even frequently, but sometimes– happen to good people. I plan on having more than groveling words and a meek attitude at my disposal if I or a loved one is ever threatened (unlikely as that may be).
That’s not fear-driven; it’s sensible.
Your passionate justifications notwithstanding, it is not sensible to own guns when the chances of ever needing them to save the day are so low. The possibility of experiencing a misuse of the guns is more likely, and some of them are as severe as your fantasy about armed intruders. No, Robert’s and the Rabbi’s personal experience proves me right, as well as the total lack of first hand reports of DGUs from among the commenters.
About that embarrassing description of Roberts, I suggest that when a 16-year-0ld gets his drivers license and feels like a grown up, that’s good, but when a 50-year-old does because he just bought his first gun, that’s not.
Again, do you wear a seatbelt when you drive?
That’s it for tonight, folks! Join us next time when Mike will address fire extinguishers, seat belts and spare tires. And remember: when the likelihood of “need” is remote, the consequences of “not have” can be safely ignored. Good night!
Hey, Moon, when 32,000 people a year are killed with either ” fire extinguishers, seat belts [or] spare tires” come back and we’ll talk. Until then, you need to find a comparison that makes sense.
It’s entirely sensible to own/carry guns– mainly because I put a very high premium on my own life.
Example: I put you in a room with a button on this big pedestal, and tell you that you have to push it (there’s absolutely no choice in the matter). There’s a 0.1% chance that you’ll get into a violent encounter right after you push it. But then, there’s also a ninety-nine-point-nine percent chance nothing will happen. Would you strap on a gun before you pressed that button? I sure would. Replace the mandatory button press with the similarly mandatory process of waking up every morning for a year, and you have my philosophy in a nutshell. However unlikely that one-in-a-thousand chance is, I’ll do what I can to be able to confront the issue if it does come up, even if it means sacrificing the comfort and convenience of not carrying a gun. Now, you say that any potential benefits to keeping a gun are drastically outweighed by the risks. “Experiencing a misuse of the guns” is the passive construction you used. This can be broken down into two categories: accidents and crime-of-passion-esque misuse. In terms of accidental deaths per year from firearms, the number is shockingly low. And I’m certainly a very safe individual with guns, so that statistic should hold true with me as well. Moving on to a crime that might be committed in the heat of the moment, I have no idea what statistical justification you have for thinking that guns turn non-lethal situations into bloodbaths. Postulate all you want, but I don’t think there’s much hard data to back your position up.
And a “fantasy” of defending myself against armed intruders? Talk about putting word’s in a person’s mouth. I have no illusions about what a potential defensive gun use will be like: fear, shock, weapon confiscation, legal battles, and so on… all on top of the traumatic experience of having to point a lethal weapon at another human being and pull the trigger (God forbid it ever come to that). That’s something I hope never happens… but the only thing I’d hate more is being in that same kind of situation without an effective defensive tool.
And then you say that you’re “proven” right by Robert and Rabbi’s experiences, because they’re a sample size of… two? Please, be serious here. Is there a lack of DGU reports from commenters? Yes. But are stories of gun misuse prevalent among the same? No. So what’s your point, then? Because if the lack of DGU reports proves that guns have little to no benefit, then the lack of reports of their misuse on this site also proves that they carry little to no risk. Unless, that is, you care to appeal to outside data to make your point. In that case, I’ll happily defer to Mr. Bruce W. Krafft– you may have heard of him.
Finally, is it weird for a fifty-year-old to finally feel fully grown up when he gets a gun? Yeah. But would a fifty-year-old have that same feeling getting a driver’s license for the first time, and would that be weird? Yeah. So the issue is one of timing; get a driver’s license at age 16-18 and a gun at 18-25 (if you’re so inclined), and the weirdness/immaturity problem’s solved.
Mike,
Cars accidents kill tens of thousands of people a year. Guns kill/injure tens of thousands of people a year. I wear a seat belt to increase the chances of my surviving in case I just happen to be involved in an accident and I carry a gun to protect myself just in case I am ever involved in a situation where I need a firearm. That is the true comparison.
Brian, how can it be a true comparison when you leave out the down side. Zero downside to wearing a seat belt, not so with gun ownership.
Sometimes bad things find you, no matter where you are. My friends are astonished at what has happened to my wife and I the last 10 years – we’re not people that look for trouble, but it seems to find us at times.
You dont realize how vulnerable and naked you are until that moment you find out the cops cant do anything until after the fact:
1. We had a stalker threaten to get rid of me and take my wife. We called the cops, they couldnt do anything because it wasnt overt enough and he hadnt harmed anyone yet.
Step out of your house after you get a letter like that (and others) and realize you dont know if the perp is waiting for you. Tell me you dont want to be able to defend yourself (ok, maybe you dont.. your choice, not mine). That was when I realized the cops arent there to protect my individual self, but only keep society in general safe.
2. Brother in law in a very nice neighborhood gets jumped by a bad guy with a gun in his backyard, demanding they go in the house where his wife and 2 little girls are cowering. No crime for a long time there, until the criminals figured out that it was relatively easy pickings). My brother in law got very lucky and someone didnt get shot, while the perp went next door and took a family hostage. Luckily no one was killed but it was very very close. Unforunately he got the wrong message and now feels invulnerable.
3. A good friend was gunned down in cold blood in broad daylight when visiting california. All the martial arts and begging didnt do cr*p for him.
4. Had to let someone go at work and got a threat against my family for the trouble. Again, cops couldnt do anything. Thank God it worked out peacefully.
5. Wake up at 3 am with police helicopters shining flood lights into your backyard and someone (bad dude) moving around the house. Definitely was glad to have armed up but was really wanting a AR15 instead of my hand gun at the time. The perp wasnt able to break into our house and moved on to another yard. (and we live in a well to do area, but have seen more crime lately).
I do not want to ever harm or hurt someone, but rest assured I take responsibility for protecting my family, and will fight to the bitter end to protect them.
and I’ve been shooting for over 40 years, never had a negligent or accidental discharge, and no one I personally know has either. My daughter at 9 already knows how to handle firearms safely. Dont give me that cr*p that it’s more dangerous to have a gun in the house than not. It’s only dangerous because people dont learn how to be safe around guns
mikey, my odds of meeting you are low but I still carry a nose plug, just in case. It’s all about being prepared.
again, a liberal is a conservative who hasn’t been mugged
Petit family mikeyb. All the rebuttal needed for your trolling argument.
mikey your projection is showing again…
On June 3rd, 2012 there were three armed robberies that took place right in RF’s “safe” neighborhood at around 9:30 at night.
http://www.providenceri.com/efile/2825
Carrying in RF’s neck of the woods makes a lot of sense to me.
Just because a few slack-jawed nitwits post hateful stupidity on Twitter does not mean that all liberals are bad people. If that were fair game, then I could blame you guys for every dumb thing that comes out in National Review.
Never heard of the National Review till now.
I don’t think all liberals are “bad people”. However the majority of “bad people” who want to limit or remove my rights tend to label themselves as liberals. It’s a bit of a conundrum.
Outside of 2A issues, I see Republicans the exact same way on virtually every other issue of civil rights.
There are no easy answers where people’s beliefs are concerned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WimIqHEhCL8
Sniping, not so a glorious thing, but sure beats the bomber men.
Since he won’t answer the goddam question apparently Mikenumbers DOES wear a seat belt, like the rest of us, on the off chance we might actually need it and is thus completely avoiding my question because he can’t justify why wearing a seat belt every time you get in your car despite the remote chance it will help is any different than strapping on a gun despite the remote chance it will help.
Suck on that Mike.
Arguing with Mike is a waste of keystrokes, unless you just enjoy poke’n the trolls.
I don’t always wear my seat belt, nor do I always carry…in either case I figure it’s my choice. Others who insist that they know what is best for me have disagreed. So now I can be fined for one of those decisions. Seems freedom always carries a price.
Seat belts and fire extinguishers are really silly comparisons. 32,000 people a year are killed with guns and over 100,000 more are hurt. There’s a big downside to gun ownership. Not so with seat belts and fire extinguishers.
Besides, I didn’t use seat belts until it became the law that I do so.
Miniature schnauzers in doggie parkas? Oh the humanity! My opinion of RF’s manliness is forever tarnished. Mr. Farago, if you ever move to Texas, I suggest you get a real dog.
I walk my daughter’s miniature schnauzer every night, with a pink harness and leash.
I joke that I need a pink holster to go with the dog. The things I do for my daughter
Good job Robert! I didn’t read all the comments, so I don’t know how many times or in how many ways it’s been said: If freedom-loving people support your cause and fascists oppose it, that’s a pretty good indication that you play for the right team. Further, when fascists attack you personally, that shows you are making a difference.
Read a comment years ago that pretty well sums it up:
“The Second Amendment is a serious right for serious people.”
What can be said of an adult-age male, fully aware of the numerous and heinous acts perpetrated by predatory criminals, who not only refuses to provide himself with a firearm for his own defense, but insists on trying to convince others of the dangers…
of guns?
Beyond that is, “Well, not much really.”
Some might be inclined to point out the sheer lunacy of having volitionally assumed such an illogical, irrational, irresponsible and unarguably indefensible position.
Others might be at least casually curious as to how a person can value their opinions so highly, yet remain totally oblivious to the simple fact that by volitionally refusing to carry a firearm, they’ve effectively rendered the value of their entire Life to no more than the cost of a single bullet.
Some undoubtedly just recognize excuses for what they actually are.
Robert, really enjoyed the article, thanks for the heads up. Don’t sweat the bad stuff; you’re hitting bullseyes [especially re women: “If they’re not into guns, I can’t hang w/them…” Priceless]. I had your site bookmarked for about a year & never got back to it until after the shooting in December and am now back soaking it up at least twice a day…my new one issue newspaper [actually connects w/a number of issues as well…]. You’re well spoken & a great beacon; keep it up. No compromise, not an inch. Cheers. 🙂
I didn’t know there were 5000 people still reading the vanishing WaPo. Since there are, that’s about the reaction(ary) you’d expect.
Hey! That’s BILLY MUMY (LOST IN SPACE) in that snubby ad!!
Hate to break it to you, but all of the invective and hate spewing forth from The Post’s commenters isn’t because a gun made you “feel grown-up.”
It’s because you’re rich.
Sam, Believe it or not, a lot of liberals are rich too. But no, we don’t think rich people should get government handouts, and we don’t think that gun owners should have more rights than everyone else.
So this is what the stupid little runts at TTAC were blogging about!
TTAC went down the toilet when you left, RF. Now it is just like all other car websites with their stupid publik skewl commentators.
The liberal parasites are in full-on disarm-the-people mode now because they are going to collapse the dollar soon. Can you imagine what their gimme-gimme liberal cesspools (aka, Cities) will be like when the food, water, and energy is cut off? You want to be far away from these violent tapeworms when the dollar collapses…UN Agenda 21 will be put into affect at that time so the rural self-sufficient won’t be safe either.
TTAC has become a joke of sniveling little effeminates along with finger wag nanny liberal sociopaths, and Bertel Twit is just a laughable little goof with his obnoxious headlines and articles. I really think he lacks self awareness like any normal human being. The only car website worth reading anymore: ericpetersautos dot com.
Keep up the good [rational] work Robert. You are one of only a few journalists out there who isn’t an amoral statist psychopath.
What’s up, every time i used to check blog posts here early in the break of
day, because i love to learn more and more.
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