Speaking as one scrupulously-law-abiding citizen who doesn’t do anything, ever, that would endanger the status of his concealed handgun license, I’m scratching my head over Greeley, Colorado school board member/DJ Brett Reese and his behavior. Well, kinda. You see, it also turns out he’s apparently a far-right whack job (hey, MikeB302000, we found one!), who’s got a hair up his…um…ejector port about the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, among other things . . .
In fact, his radio station is airing an editorial to that effect (I’ll spare you the vitriol and slanderous statements here), on his radio station, KELS-FM. Who knew Colorado even HAD right-wingers, much less right-wing extremists? Anyway. what put Mr. Reese in the category of former CHL holders: an outburst where he threatened a rival radio station sales manager with a ‘shootout,’ if he continued to try and poach Reese’s sponsors.
Listen people: a little heads-up here. We may live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but if you want to be able exercise your 2nd Amendment rights, you have to play by the rules. And since far too many people see “the norm” as “no guns,” in order to carry one, you have to act in a responsible manner. Like not threatening people with a shootout. Duh.
From what I’ve read, Reese seems to be an odd duck, to say the least. (Of course I suspect that’s also what acquaintances said about Jared Lee Loughner before last week, so you never know.) While he claims to be anything but a bigot, his editorial has his fellow school board members up in arms.
Now, I personally find the deification of Martin Luther King, Jr. to be at once misguided, understandable, and kind of silly. King strikes me as a man who would have had none of that. Everything I know about the guy suggests that he wasn’t some pompous buffoon who pretended to be better than the rest of us (a message lost on his inner circle and heirs to his movement), but a Gandhi-esque figure who was genuinely trying to make life better for blacks in this country.
And he accomplished a lot, albeit much of that success came about because of his martyrdom. And equality is good for everybody, white, black, Latino, and every other minority.
That’s King the public figure. King the private man, doesn’t really matter much to me. (I care about living leaders that lie, cheat, steal, or commit adultery, but the dead ones just don’t bother me that much.) But there’s no doubt about it, King had the proverbial feet of clay.
Fighting the tide towards deification at this point is gonna get you nowhere. (Don’t you find it a little odd, though, that the same people that want to strike the Founding Fathers names off buildings for having owned slaves [as did most landowners in the South at the time] are the same ones trying to award virtual sainthood to MLK, given his documented philandering, [which most ministers DON’T do] et cetera? Still…)
I don’t see someone pointing out facts to be inherently racist—which seems to be the knee-jerk reaction of anyone who dares suggest that King was anything but a saint and a martyr. But this guy is obviously going way past facts and arguing like some kind of mad zealot.
But when someone – anyone – decides to threaten another human being (especially publicly) and has a permit to carry around a gun, I think we have to applaud the sheriff for taking the step to pull the guy’s ticket. Reese’s behavior was irresponsible at best. I understand his anger at another station poaching his advertisers. But you don’t shoot someone over that – or threaten to do so. That’s just stupid. And reckless.
So, lets gird ourselves for the onslaught of comments from the Left. I can hear them now: See! SEE! This guy’s a looney! And he had a permit! That means ALL CHL holders are loonies! Burn them! Burn them! Or turn them into newts, or something.
Of course, I expect the Anti-Gun Nimrods of the Left to be vewwy quiet on the little dust-up where one of the Giffords shooting victims (and an aide-de-camp to Giffords) went all Travis Bickel on a Tea Party representative, threatened his life, and ended up under “observation” at the nearest psycho ward. (Gotta love the irony, though.)
Still I gotta call ’em as I see ’em, and when somebody – anybody – screws up, I don’t care which side of the political aisle they’re on, we need to make sure that we follow the law. And in this case (in the words of Monty Python), it’s a fair cop.
I don’t know what Brett Reese said or what he meant or how he said it, but I’m pretty sure that Americans don’t have to give up their Second Amendment rights in order to exercise their rights under the First.
It’s not what he said on the radio. It’s that he threatened the life of another human being. You can’t do that publically, and expect to keep your CHL. Essentially you’re held to what amounts to a higher standard, if you have a concealed handgun permit. It may not be fair, but it’s the way it is.
Based on the sparse reporting, Reese left the following message on his rival’s voice mail: “I’m hoping we can work something out from having your sales guys contacting all of my sponsorships at this particular time. … I’ll give you by the end of the day (Wednesday) to pull all of your sales people off of my sponsors, or we’re going to have a shootout.” I’d like the other lawyers here to chime in on whether that statement rises to the level of a threat.
According to the reports, the Sheriff didn’t pull Reese’s CCW license. Instead, the rival filed a restraining order, thus requiring the Sheriff to suspend Reese’s license unless and until the order is lifted. Reese did not have to turn in his piece and is still allowed to carry openly.
At the end of the day, Reese will have his due process on Jan. 21st and may have his CCW carry restored if the order is not made permanent.
I knew it! I knew you CCW guys were no good.
Actually, what I always say is that some of you are bad apples. The debate is,1, over what the percentage is, and 2, what to do about it. I, and as far as I know, nobody serious is saying anything like you’re all dangerous.
Thanks for not inventing an elaborate apology for the guy and admitting that the sheriff needed “to pull the guy’s ticket”.
About the other nut in Arizona who said “you’re dead” to the wrong person, I guess he’s right where he belongs.
James Fuller, the “you’re dead” guy, is under psychiatric observation. Let’s not forget that he was shot twice by Jared Loughner. Also, according to reports (always to be taken with a whole box of salt), Fuller is a Vietnam vet who is considered to be kinda “troubled” by some who claim to know him.
“The Mountain States Anti-Defamation League has asked Reese to stop broadcasting the editorial, which contains statements that appear verbatim on a website with links to a white supremacist group. ”
When did the ADL merge with the NAACP? Or are these another long lost Jewish tribe ripe for Aaliyah to Jerusalem? That’s funny you asked if there even are RW’s in colorado, I was asking hth did ADL found a ‘mountain states’ chapter?
OT: And speaking of the ADL, anyone hear michael medved bagging on Palin Friday for the “blood libel” terminology? i.e. ( if it has White skin, speaks English and possesses any of the following letters WASP, consider it fair game, targeted).
Reese actually did withdraw the parts of the editorial, or whatever you’d care to call it, that first appeared on a White Supremacist blog. Reese says he isn’t one of those, he’s just not a fan of MLK. Speaking as one who is a fan of MLK and a big supporter of MLK Day, my reaction is that Reese can say what he wants. If that upsets the ADL or anyone else, all I can say is: Free speech is a bitch.
I’m agnostic, atheistic on MLK day-worship of an Earthly figure (now I want Charleton Heston day), of questionable background is abhorrent: hasn’t done anything noticeable for ‘black pride’. Even certain crucial government operations were shut down for it (that’s a good thing any day, point is this particular function only shuts down for Christmas and one other).
OT: Greeley, the typical small farming/college town that has resisted the metastatic liberal cancer of Denver [basically the 3rd gay capital of the US, a 2nd home to 50% of San Francisco and with a permanent AWB]. The populace of Greeley, Ft. Collins, Boulder, etc. have no politics largely, but a limp spine from years of…you name it…liberalism, illegal mexican immigration, etc.
He’s an idiot crank, obviously.
But he’s far from alone, if an extreme version. Conservatives love to talk about MLK’s problems. I don’t know what the infatuation is with having to give demerits to MLK – having to always acknowledge his shortcomings when giving him his due. Ultimately, like the author, they may be right. MLK wasn’t perfect. But his imperfections are at least as important to most conservatives as his accomplishments, and that’s a little crazy considering those accomplishments. The author frets about deification. OK. I’ve got two words for you: Ronald Reagan. Suddenly all that worry about historical deification evaporates…
If we want to stick to historical figures, conservatives never seem to add these caveats to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin, and any of their personal failings put MLK’s to shame.
Racism shouldn’t be a conservative value – i.e., there’s nothing inherently racist about conservative values or a conservative world view. Yet somehow it always is. Go figure.
Wow, this site attracts more insane liberals than Medved and Larson combined, I’ll have to stay tuned, check in regularly. MLK was a Republican, I’ve nothing racial against him.
My comment did not go far enough: MLK divides us racially, and keeps us in the hole. This liberal insanity must end for our full moral and social recovery.
And BTW, you a pro gun Lieberal…what an oxymoron, leaching off our conservative preservation of the 2A: we again have to carry your dead weight yet again. Why don’t you just stick to the Huffington Post gun section. That also makes me physically ill, the HuffPo famous for anti gun articles and dnc support.
I agree with what you are saying. People doing things of this nature is going to cause this country to rid itself completely of the constitution. Which, after reading the constition a few times, I’ve noticed has been happening gradually since its signing. (conscription just to name one)
I do need you to clarify one thing for me. You spoke of founding fathers and slave owners in the south. This confuses me. When I hear the term ‘founding fathers’ I think of the original 13 colonies. At the time of the 13 colonies, slavery was legitimized throughout the colonies. The slaves of this time were African, native American and little remembered and rarely admitted, whites. Also, at this time, what we now know as the south, barely existed. Most of what we consider the south now, at this time, was still settled by the Spanish and the French. Granted, some of the ‘founding fathers’ may have been still alive once the states were purchased, and others acquired during the Spanish American wars. But, correct me if I am wrong, slavery still existed in the north during those events as well. I can not remember the date that slavery was abolished in the north. But, I’m certain that most of our founding fathers did own slaves (of many different races. Again, including whites who were brought over on British prison ships).
The guy is still a shady character, ripping off suppliers and venders; he does business with. Still making treats and proving he is just another unstable person with a gun.
For some reason, the FCC, just renewed his licensee for 104.7FM, in April. It use to be, you had to be of good character to own a radio station; clearly that is not the case anymore!
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