oregon capitol demonstration protest
(AP Photo/Noah Berger)

 

I once lived next door to a guy in Memphis who owned more than a hundred firearms, some of which were strewn around his two-bedroom house and even lying on the kitchen counter. I saw them when he asked me to come over one afternoon to help him move his 700-pound gun safe.

Neil, as I’ll call him, also kept two large dogs, one of which was a cane corso that was so unpredictable it couldn’t be allowed near his two young children. Neil was a nice guy but perpetually anxious and nervous, which in turn made me uneasy about his family’s safety. I worried about a gun accident or one of the dogs getting loose and mauling a passerby.

The fact is, there are a lot of Neils in America — white guys in a near-constant state of fear about their personal safety. And rather than being merely pitiful, guys like Neil are actually dangerous.

They’re the hyper-armed neighbors with itchy trigger fingers, who are convinced they’ll be the victims of a home invasion; who treat any Black or brown person as an imminent threat; who see foreign terrorists behind every bush; who believe the government is trying to poison them, plant a chip inside them, or take away their hunting rifles; who think that crime is far worse than it is and on the verge of spilling into outright anarchy.

— Joe Hayden in Cry macho: Why scared white guys are so dangerous

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

92 COMMENTS

  1. “They’re the hyper-armed neighbors with itchy trigger fingers, who are convinced they’ll be the victims of a home invasion; who treat any Black or brown person as an imminent threat;

    biggest DAMN lie i’ve read in quite a while….. and that’s saying something…

  2. It sure would be interesting to ask “Neil” what he thought of Joe Hayden, who assumed (without evidence) that because Neil owned guns and dogs, that he was an unstable, tin-foil hat wearing bigot. Project much, Joe?

    Jeepers.

  3. Unpredictable dogs, regardless of breed, are dangerous. We can agree on that. If my neighbor asked me to help move a 700lb safe I’d tell him to sell a few guns so he could afford a professional mover.

    • “…I’d tell him to sell a few guns so he could afford a professional mover.”

      Perhaps he’s concerned the mover’s ‘helper’ might tell a thug buddy about “A house packed with guns”…

    • Ddub says; If my neighbor asked me to help move a 700lb safe I’d tell him to sell a few guns so he could afford a professional mover.

      If my neighbor asked for help, I just help and don’t lecture them on having too many guns or too much money.

    • Ddub is a flub of a friend. If my neighbor asked……well several actually have…..to help move his 700lb safe (that’s a small safe) that would be an eight hour project…..maybe 1/2 hour to move the safe, 7-1/2 hours appreciating and talking about his guns. I’d be there in a heart beat with my UltraLift powered stair climber (or, depending on move specifics, the 6000lb capacity dolly set which I fabricated for such scenario) which I bought to move my numerous safes and those of my friends. If ole Neil were moving a safe, I’d expect to see guns sitting on the counter and leaning against the wall. You don’t move a safe with the guns in the safe. With 100 guns, Neil probably has multiple safes…or was moving one safe to make room for more safes.
      My only issue with Neil is his bad judgement to ask Hayden to help…..he needs better friend judgement. And, were are his gun friends. Never encountered a gun guy who doesn’t have many gun friends.

  4. A TOP MORON. Weasels like him are the tools of the communists. Useful Idiots. Yes There are people who have hundreds of animals, cars, radios, glassware. Collectors yes. Some are ill. But harmless ill.

    But tell me how many gun collectors with guns in every corner comitt murder and mayhem ? None as far as I know.

    Its the communists like this rat that are the existential threat to life. Not gun collectors.

    • You’ve picked the daily double… You can risk up to $1000. The question is ” can I nickname you Kneel instead of Neil?”. … the proper answer is. “what is Fuck No !!!”

      • Thanks Pb,

        I laughed so hard while reading your most excellent (and humorous) comment that my spouse looked in to see what was so funny (she thought it was a pretty good play on words).

    • complete and utter fabrication.
      house strewn with weapons, barely a path from the fridge to the couch. rabid pit bulls and aids riddled ocelots.
      and what’s this to do with a new clint film?

      • ‘…and what’s this to do with a new clint film?’

        I was wondering about that myself.

    • Dangerously paranoid white guys are always asking neighbors over to help move their safe while they leave guns all over the house (and wait patiently while the neighbor counts over 100 of them). Nothing at all doubtful in that story.

    • This Hayden is all over the place- he thinks he can take this story of helping a neighbor into foreign policy/chickenhawk/Donald Trump—

      “In foreign policy, this deep-seated insecurity results in chicken-hawk syndrome: men who couldn’t be bothered to serve in the armed forces yet pretend to be steely-eyed gladiators if it means sending someone else’s kids off to fight a war. But real American soldiers generally haven’t been its biggest warmongers. In fact, like Dwight Eisenhower or John McCain, they’ve usually cautioned against cheap talk and artificial courage.”

      Yeah- Ike- was cautious in war- although he threatened to nuke China if they didn’t negotiate Korea seriously. Ike never saw combat, by the way.

      I can put General Lemay, George S. Patton, and even Andrew Jackson as guys who saw combat and weren’t afraid to threaten/use it. I doubt the professor likes those guys-

      Oh- by the way- Joe Biden “dodged/avoided” the draft as well.

  6. Well, OK, pseudo-males like him don’t have the right equipment to be called men. That is brains, a spine and two functioning testicles. Unfortunately they also have the same rights to free speech that is protected by the 2nd. They are tough to ignore but….watch me. Oh, one more thing, the article was published in Salon magazine, the journal for traitors and sissies.

    • “Well, OK, pseudo-males like him don’t have the right equipment to be called men. That is brains, a spine and two functioning testicles.”

      Heh.

      Kinda like my demented troll, who’s gone missing a few weeks now.

      Crap, I hope I haven’t jinxed the recent peace and quiet… 😉

      • Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. I stopped responding to the one troll following me. It stopped.

    • “…Salon magazine, the journal for traitors and sissies.”

      Apt description that says all we need to know. Well put, sir.

  7. I wonder what Joe ‘Halfwit’ Hayden would make of the increase in gun and dog ownership by women. Some people collect stamps or coins while others collect firearms. I’d be far more concerned with people like Hayden as they tend to be driven by emotion. Their rage leads to murder while their self-loathing leads to suicide, the leading cause of death by guns. Granted there are exceptions but whenever there’s a mass shooting odds are the perp was a liberal or one who votes that way.

  8. This did not age well, crime in my county is worse than I thought it was until yesterday. I discovered murder has doubled since 2020, already. I guess I was not operationally paranoid enough. Now, I need more guns, more gun safes and a big fang beast dog. Thanks for the pointers, Mr. Hayden.

  9. So wait: do we need gun control because there’s too much crime, or because of the Neils “who think that crime is far worse than it is”?

    Keeping track of the lies is too much like work.

  11. Sounds to me like the perfect house to target for a break in. I’m not sure there is anyone in this story that operates on all cylinders.

  12. Well, if we’re going to talk about mental illness on the part of conservatives, we should also talk about liberals with mental illnesses too. As well as moderates … but I would hypothesize some mental illnesses drive people to extremes, political as well as anything else.

    Somehow, however, we never hear about that from people like Hayden.

    • ‘…liberals with mental illnesses…’

      That’s a bit redundant, liberalism is a mental illness.

      • Hey Gov., they are leftist not liberals.

        Liberal comes from Liberty which means Freedom.

        But thanks for playing their game.

        • What you’re talking about is called ‘classical liberalism’. FDR flipped the word liberal on it’s head and it stuck, so for the last 8 decades or so ‘liberal’ means socialist.

        • This is why conservatives lost the cultural war. They allow the left to define the terms, set the (ever-changing) boundaries and declare what is allowed.

          Conservatives are always reactive never proactive. So either words have meaning “..the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” or words means what the left says and The Constitution is a living breathing document.

          Calling them Liberals is an effing compliment. But they are not the freedom party they are Communists, Socialists, Marxists and Fascists…

          If you can not even correctly identify your opponent, how do suppose you will ever prevail? (Hint; you won’t) If politics is down stream of cultural then Conservatives need to start taking their culture back. This is a easy first step so…

          …they are Leftist, and therefore… “leftism is a mental illness.” FIFY

  13. I guess that I am one of those, though my dogs are much less intimidating. Do not tell my black son, daughter or grandchildren please.

    • You rock. I’ve a bit of a blended and mixed family background myself. Always hilarious when a self righteously arrogant and judgemental progressive sort makes assumptions about who I may like or dislike or which prejudices I may or may not harbor… yeah,Hayden sounds like a phony who’s secretly contemptuous or fearful of those he claims concern for.
      And I would give him ,at best; a ” D Minus” for his creative writing exercise and the character construction of ” Neil”.

  14. I’ll play along…Fortunately those haphazard “White” guys are not criminally misusing firearms like those “Black” guys in Chicago, etc. Are they? Well Are They?

    The author could have made his point about careless people with dogs that can eat their children without being sneaky and using it to drag along skin color, race, etc. The author did not expand on what “Neil” did with the safe. Was it for his dogs or guns or both?

    The Second Amendment is all inclusive period. Anyone who has been gun shopping at shows or stores especially in the last decade sees that, knows that.

    Furthermore…If the author assumes a “leader” like Jim Crow Gun Control joe would not do to America what he did do to Americans in Afghanistan clearly has their head buried deep in their foolish behind. Incompetence coming from biden and the democRat Party is a huge motivator to stay way ahead of the curve.

    Let’s not forget…The three biggest Gun Salesmen in US History…bill clintoon, b.h. obama, joe biden. All democRats.

    • Golly my neighborhood IS going to hell. My town was invaded by BlackLootersMurder last year. 75 feet across the alley a 70year women was raped & beaten. 2 years ago the local 5-O ran through my yard chasing carjackers. Burglaries galore,gunshots across the street AND pathetic po-leece response. And all perpetuaterd by young black folks. I’m an OFWG with “some” gats, no dog and and a beautiful brown family. I’ve never pulled a gun on anyone…this loser is massively projecting. If any of his “story” is true! Oh my neighbors have no clue I’m armed.

      • just lost a catalytic converter to the precious metal termites yesterday.
        remarkable how these incidents follow the stipends.

      • Former, l don’t comment as much as I used to, but I had to say something. All the incidents you mentioned rang a bell with me. Most people are not aware of what goes on around them. I used to answer a call and mention something that happened a block away two days before. Typically I would get, “I didn’t know that!” I thought to myself, “Maybe you should pay attention.” As for white men being afraid. What a stupid bit of liberal drivel. I remember years ago. My sister was home from Cincinnati for Christmas. (A high crime level time of the year. Everywhere.) We were going shopping, dinner and a movie in Tallahassee. I started strapping up. Mary asked, “Why are you taking a gun!?” (She’s my sister, but a flaming liberal. What are you gonna do?) I replied, “Because I might need it. Same as a spare tire.” Her, “What are you afraid of?” Me, “Nothing. I’m armed.” Her, “I don’t feel like I need a gun.” Me, “You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.” I was still a full time LEO at the time.

        • “She’s my sister, but a flaming liberal. What are you gonna do?”

          Learned that I never had enough time for everything I need to do, have to do, or want to do – let alone a moment to waste on anything outside those categories. Chose to spend it among people with shared values, interests, and goals; and never on the basis of coincidental / unreasoned / un-chosen relationships.

        • I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but with mine I also leave it (as in her) alone entirely. My time isn’t nearly as constrained as it used to be, but I still value it too much to waste a moment on that b!tch.

  16. All part of the anti white conservative narrative! Guess I’m one of the Neil’s , but scared? No! Angry? You bet!

  19. So he asked you to help move a 700 pound gun safe?
    Maybe that’s why the guns were out, instead of still in the safe.

    • It is not a good idea to have guns out like that when asking someone to come in your home. Particularly help moving a safe. All that accomplishes is advertising to people how big of a target you are. If you need your safe moved then of course it should be empty. That doesn’t mean you should be advertising. People would avoid much added grief in life if they operated in a more reasonable fashion. Obviously, he chose poorly someone to help him. Someone that does NOT have his best interest in mind. You must be careful who you invite into your home.

      But, if he has so many guns that he can’t handle them better than that, perhaps a 700lb safe is too small. Trade up the safe and have it installed professionally. It’s obvious that the money was there to do that.

    • Maybe that’s why the guns were out, instead of still in the safe.

      That’s what I was thinking.

      Neighbors help neighbors. You help me move this safe and my firearms might be available in defense of our neighborhood when the zombies (ANTIFA/BLM/whatever…) attack.

      But, I also agree with Prndll, don’t advertise.

  20. This “opinion piece” is another load of crap coming from people intent on creating fear of gun owners by non-gun owners. NONE of the things mentioned in his article have any relevance whatsoever. What the hell is this “itchy tigger-finger” thing he’s talking about? I’ll bet Joe would have a major problem coming up with ANY examples of someone like this actually perpetrating a crime. In other words, he’s talking out his a$$.

  25. “[White guys who own several firearms and are enthusiastic about firearm ownership are] the hyper-armed neighbors with itchy trigger fingers …”

    What evidence does this “author” have to support that claim? Last I checked, government data and reports clearly indicate that violent criminal gangs commit at least 80% of all violent crimes. Your nice neighbor with that allegedly “itchy trigger finger” is not a member of violent criminal gangs. That alone PROVES that nice neighbors who happen to own firearms most certainly do NOT have “itchy trigger fingers”.

    As for the author’s claims that crime is nowhere near as common as your nice neighbor with his/her “itchy trigger finger” thinks, I can attest to the fact that crime is far more common than the author realizes. For my entire life, I have lived in “nice” suburban or semi-rural locations with “very low crime rates”. I have experienced no less than four violent/felony attacks. (One occurred on my property where I was not the victim and I was the victim of the other three violent/felony attacks.) Being armed for the last two violent/felony attacks enabled me to stop the attack cold and virtually eliminated the possibility of my attackers imparting serious physical injury.

    To be absolutely clear, I most certainly do NOT have an “itchy trigger finger”–otherwise my two attackers would have extra holes in their bodies. Instead, consistent with the claims of countless people, my attackers IMMEDIATELY broke off their attacks the instant that they realized I was armed and ready to apply deadly force if necessary and legally justified.

    • “What evidence does this “author” have to support that claim?”

      You’re trying to apply logic to the illogical. Just remember that these people despise science. They despise it because it constantly proves them wrong. I’ve come to understand that science is a left wing euphemism for politics. Whenever they say science, replace it with politics, and it makes perfect sense.

      They are the party of politics.
      They believe in politics.
      Follow the politics.

  26. The people this Country should be afraid of are ones like Hayden who is part of small group of elitist hyper vocal racist bigots who seem to be having their way these days.

    I’m not scared, I’m pissed off at the constant carping, insults, and hatred thrown my way by assholes like him. He’s not interested in controlling crime, that would mean calling out the disfunction of “People of Color” in the inner cities and the political leaders of those dystopian cities – mainly black politicians who have run those cities for decades. It would mean doing the hard work of actually jailing criminals for their actions and not using their race or social conditions as an excuse for criminality.

    What has evolved in this Country is legalized, sanctioned, white hatred. And, strangely enough, self loathing whites like Hayden are among the chief practitioners.

  27. Funny- I just moved my gun safe. I took guns out. I didn’t have them on my kitchen table, but my ’60’s era formica bar in my basement. When you move a gun safe, YOU TAKE GUNS OUT, this overeducated dullard doesn’t seem to get that. Plus- a 700 pound safe?- I think this guy is taking safety seriously. If he has guns lying around normally- yeah- that’s not safe- but the author mentioned it in regards to MOVING A GUN SAFE.

    “Neil was a nice guy but perpetually anxious and nervous,” which might describe- what 25-50% of everyone? — ” which in turn made me uneasy about his family’s safety.” Is that a logical jump? The writer sounds anxious and nervous himself, should we call HHS on him?

    “Talk about demographic change also appears to scare some white people into more racist attitudes.”

    Maybe- especially when its presented, as the MSM often do- as “America will be majority non-white soon, we have to change”. As in- YOU have to give up your jobs, rights, not ME.

    If you react to that in any way other than “Thank you sir, may I have another!”- you are racist. When I hear about demographic shifts- I think “Can I get good Mexican food nearby?” I guess I’m racist.

  28. What about burned out, ambivalent, nihilistic white guys with guns who don’t really care much about anything anymore?

    Asking for a friend.

  29. It isn’t the hunting rifles I am afraid they will tave away. Living in Ca, They have already severly limited my right to own a firearm of my choice. Yes, I am afraid they will get even more restrictive. Personally, I am afraid they will try to take away my personal protection.

  30. I could cite the FBI homicide statistics that document that African Americans are only one-eigth of the US population yet commit over half the homicides and nearly two-thirds of the gun homicides. However; I can also cite the case of Yamhill County Judge Ladd Wiles who gave a marijuana bootlegger a free pass for shooting at his landlords children because the bootlegger is lilly white and the judge is to stupid to understand that a 12 gauge shotgun is a deadly weapon and that trafficking in marijuana remains a Federal felony even though his own wife was invoking civil forfeiture of properties utilized for marijuana grows when she wasn’t to busy performing fellacio on her subordinates at the US Attorneys office.

    (Google “Amanda S Marshall)

  31. “Fear sells — literally, in some cases — and it also turns out the vote and increases audience share.” – So says the guy telling us how dangerous white gun owners are.🤔

  32. It’s an article about a man who lives in a self-constructed prison of fear inside his own head, and his neighbor who owns a lot of guns.

  33. Guess I fit, partially, the stereotype. Older white guy with a bunch of guns and a cranky dog.
    Fully half of my gun collection is from before 1900, with several dating back to pre revolution, late renaissance periods. My dogs are just mutts who make plenty of noise if someone comes on the place. As for guns laying around, nope, either hung up or put up. Shotgun hangs near the kitchen door along with a couple rifles on a small gun rack. Mostly for varmint/pest control. Side arm stays with me at all times from when I get dressed to when I go to bed. Wife has her weapon with her. Kids are grown and grandkids have been taught guns are not toys.
    Where I differ from the made up neighbor is I am not in fear of anyone or anything. No reason to be. As for being concerned about crime, well, if anyone wants to come out here and try to do something stupid, most of us out here will be happy to call the Sherriff’s Dept. and have them pick up any remains, or drag off the fool we caught. But, it could be a few for them to get out here. whether law enforcement or ambulance.
    All in all, I can say I’ve run into some gun nuts who would have guns all over the place. Thing is, those folks never struck me as being afraid or scared. Just dumb. Dumb enough to have unsecured, loaded weapons around.
    And I do wonder just who is scared of what. Sounds like both people in the story are more than a little paranoid. The 1 I would be concerned about is not the fictitious neighbor, but the author who is frightened of white guys, not committing crimes, with more than 1 gun. Might be better served to be concerned with and try to counteract the actual criminals with guns.

  34. Well if your upset about what ya saw lying around and in the safe then you certainly don’t want to know whats in here…….
    😂

  35. Hayden thank you so very much for being so much more emotionally and intellectually superior then the rest of us common hicks and dunces!! You know, gun owners. After all our inbreeding who knows what our capacity for rational thought is. Thank you for being there for us!! A$$hole! You sound like the kind of superior human being that thinks that an inanimate object will suddenly spring to life and engage in a demon possessed orgy of death continually shooting and reloading itself; all directed at random superior minded people like yourself. The good thing is that your kind could never get hit with a head shot because your collective heads are so far up your a$$es that it would resulted in a big miss.

    As for the dogs, wow are you a dog whisperer too?? Your superiority leaves me in absolute awe. Please show me how to wipe my own a$$ using your missives as the sheets.

  36. If you think white guys are scared you should walk in a possums tracks. It seems every human is out to get us, brown , black, yellow ,white and red.
    Even the dogs got something against us.
    Hate is something you learn to live with.

  39. My daughter belongs to a prison ministry. She talked to a young man that was our neighbor when Tammy was around 12 to 14 years old . After getting saved through the ministry he confessed to her that he had tried to break in and rape her multiple times but our Shepherd , Doberman , and one just down right junkyard mutt prevented it multiple times . We always had multiple mean dogs but as anyone that has had them can tell you they bond with family and are better than any security system . And they are fun .

  40. I’ve got at least one itchy finger on each hand, also have a few stoned A2 sears, Professor SFB needs to find a safe space and STFU.

  41. How is someone with 100 guns more likely to have an accidental discharge than someone with 5? The author claims his neighbor thinks crime is higher than the actual amount and paranoid that the government will take his rifle. Maybe if libs and their corporate media lackeys weren’t claiming that we need gun control/confiscation due to high crime, the neighbor wouldn’t believe it.

    • I have a friend who fishes a lot. He has roughly 100 fishing poles. He is SO at risk of getting a hook in his eye!

  42. Read this when it came out. My first thought was that the guy with the guns was the only one smart enough to realize that it would be much easier to move a 700lb gun safe without the guns. That would explain why the guns were all over the place.

  44. I just have to ROFL at the comical description of “white guys” – a patently FALSE description of the VAST majority of white guys, and the MSM’s use of AP photos of Boogaloo Boys… Boogers are anything but nervous. Most are calmly yearning to start SHTF and bring about chaos, anarchy, and a stateless society (kinda like Somalia or Yemen, but American Style). Boogers in all likelihood fancy themselves as ‘Local Warlords’, and are heavily infiltrated with feds because they have no OPSEC – it’s a movement, not an organization. They provide the MSM with the scary imagery that allows them to peddle false narratives. Meanwhile, constitutional citizen militias are mundanely training discreetly for the SHTF in order to end chaos and protect their communities. This is why boogers are scornful of average patriots who do not want to see a collapse of American civilization.

    What we REALLY need to be concerned about, however, are the marxists who are currently overthrowing our Republic, supplanting the rule of law with the rule of party agenda. They’re nearly at their endgame, which is disarming us and herding dissenters & idelogical enemies off to gulags. Some marxists here have even gone so far as to call for the genocide of all whites on the false premise that systemic racism won’t end till the last white is executed. These domestic enemies of the Constitution present a far more immediate threat.

  45. Nice page filler Joe. The fact of the matter in a country with a population of around 300 million, there’s every type of person or personality. Picking one set out for page filler seems about right for a “professor” Why not go after something really fun like religion, or smokers.

    You’re such a putz.

  46. I only have two firearms. Neither of which has killed anyone. Then, no one has ever tried to kill me that I am aware of (as a civilian) or broke into my house while I was at home. Had first two firearms, both revolvers, I bought in 1965 stolen from home while I was at work in 2005. Replaced them with .380 semi auto and a pump action 12 ga. To say I never have been scared would be a lie, but I never fired out of fear. If white people are scared what motivates the rest? The thrill of terrorizing others? This National Front for Organized Crime in office now wants to make it safer for savages to prey on others. Then run protection rackets to keep us “safe”.

  47. I’ll be Captain Obvious. They were moving a gun safe, thus the contents of said safe had to be removed.
    Which means this guy is a total pearl clutching Karen of all Karen’s to get the vapors over seeing said guns being temporarily laid about. Which casts everything else he said about the gun owner in to question.
    Most likely the only thing wrong with the guy was his choice of who he let in to his house.

  50. Methinks he saw a few firearms and a couple non pocket sized canines and now need his diaper changed. Also, every single Cane Corso I’ve ever known is a profoundly family based dog. The dog probably didn’t like the Mr. Karen that came over to “help” but I doubt the kids were ever in any danger. If any of this is even real or ever happened that is.

  51. LOL little joey

    there are a shit ton more of armed crazy drugged out blacks out there too!

    then add you bitch about a ‘white guy’ going crazy at an airport
    here is a WHOLE tweet page nearly 100% full of blacks going nuts at ,airports, restaurants, anywhere you can name…and there are DOZENS just like it

    what is that stat…15% of the population does over 50% of the crimes===blacks?

  52. Joe Hayden’s article is more full of exaggeration and hyperbole than even my wildest fantasy novels!

    First, a “700 pound” safe, and he asked ONE PERSON to come help him move it?
    Unless Joe Hayden is built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime, LOL, I seriously doubt that any safe able to be moved by only two people can move weigh 700 pounds.

    Second, A large dog “so unpredictable it couldn’t be allowed near his two young children”? Another exaggeration, for sure.

    The above two whoppers of exaggeration make me think it’s also an exaggeration that his friend Neil had “more than a hundred firearms, some of which were strewn around his two-bedroom house and even lying on the kitchen counter.”

    If there were guns strewn around at the time, Joe Hayden should have realized that obviously the REASON Neil’s guns were “strewn around his two-bedroom house and even lying on the kitchen counter” was BECAUSE he was moving his gun safe, duh!
    You know, the same “700 pound gun safe” that he was helping move, duh.

Comments are closed.