Screen Shot 2014-03-05 at 2.22.53 PM

Underneath the recent Quote of the Day by P.J. O’Rourke, TTAG commentator dwb wrote “If you read amicus briefs on the 1st amendment in a gun blog . . . you might be member of the armed intelligentsia.” Or something like that. Dee Dubs was riffing on Jeff Foxworthy’s “you might be a redneck” routine. How about “If you read the owner’s manual for your new gun before you take it to the range . . . you might be member of the armed intelligentsia.” Or “If you can’t mention the Second Amendment without calling it your “natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms” . . . you might be member of the armed intelligentsia.” Or a hopeless pedant. “If you know that the word ‘pedant’ doesn’t indicate a criminal offense . . . you might be member of the armed intelligentsia.” Your turn. The best one wins a free Armed Intelligentsia “Stand Strong Connecticut” T-shirt. Click here to purchase one (half of profits go to Connecticut Carry) regardless.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

233 COMMENTS

  1. If through knowledge, history, and education of firearms and their history you turned from a flag-burning liberal to a goddamned proud red blooded American…You might be a member of the Armed Inteligemtia.

    *True story of myself.

    • There is nothing wrong with burning the flag as a sign of protest. There is nothing wrong with buring the flag out of respect to dispose of it properly. While I have done the second I have never been so mad at my government that I was willing to do the first.

      • Perhaps we should just remove a number of stars to symbolize the slave states that have abandoned the Constitution and burn those. The flag stands as the proud symbol of freedom, as intended, less the offending states.

    • Welcome. It takes intelligence to check the facts and integrity to challenge one’s own long-held beliefs from time to time. Not everyone has the personal courage to get out of their own safety zone to do so.

      I suspect there are many like you, on that journey, and I applaud those reading at TTAG for their first glimpses of the truth about guns and the wider culture sea-change underway.

    • a.k.a. if you think the simple act of carrying a self-defense tool is not by itself legitimate grounds for being deemed a criminal …

  5. You might be a member of the AI if…

    You had an opinion during the Israeli Supermodel Debate (ISD) of ’13.

    Dark times my friend, dark times. 🙂

      • You had to remind me,
        I went through 5 years theraphy because of that.

        Though one day they will return, not only Israeli supermodels, but from the entire world!

        *sniff*

        • I didn’t.

          No disrespect to Kirsten but one beautiful woman isn’t the same as a bunch of beautiful women.

          Why have quality alone when you can have quality AND quantity?

    • Why? You just wing it. See where the dirt jumps with the first shot and then holdover(holdsider too) to hit the target.

      Might be a tad expensive with .338 Lapua.

        • Then you ain’t sniping properly.

          Pop (sighter), pop (lethal), pop (lethal 2) then run to a new position. Rinse and repeat til you are out of breath or opponents.

          RIfles like the Dragunov SVD or M14 are particularily suited to this (lightweight while handling abuse like hitting the dirt).

    • Guilty as charged. I used to study ballistics tables every time I took a #2.

      And I emailed Cabela’s because they didn’t list the velocity of their Herter’s / S&B .338 Lapua with the 250 grain Sierra Matchking. Its 2878 FPS from a 26″ barrel, by the way.

  10. If you correct people by telling them “clips” are for hair magazines are for reloading

  11. If through some stroke of fate you have had children and friends involved in more than one mass shooting, and still realize that armed civilians are part of the answer . . .

    My son was in Arapahoe High school, had friends in Columbine and another in the Aurora theater. I am lucky enough to still have them all.

      • Oddly enough, I don’t live in CO anymore. Not as a direct result of those experiences. After all, it can and does happen anywhere.

      • Thank you for the sentiment, but the contest is for the best clever response. Everybody should get a fair shake at the shirt based on the merits of their creativity. Besides, I already have the best gifts/prizes of all based on my experiences. My friends and family have all come out of it needing nothing more than therapy and a hug. Well, lots of hugs.

        • Shirts for the whole family then. Sounds like your circle of friends and family have been truly blessed.

        • Thank you again for your generous suggestion but I have already entered for that contest once. As much as another addition to the safe would be enjoyed I would rather win it on a level playing field from that contests own merits. Should I be fortunate enough to win the shirt I will submit a write up of how these events have touched my family over the last nearly two decades. If not I will continue to sprinkle bits of it in various future posts.

    • I begin to see a pattern here, Ian. Anybody that’s close to you gets shot at. May we never meet.(Yellow smiley face)

  12. If your response to gun control legislation is citing three or more Supreme Court cases off the top of your head, you might be a member of the armed intelligentsia.

  13. If a small part of you dies inside every time you see someone rack the slide of a pistol before getting ready to shootemup in a movie, then…

    • …Or you cringe whenever you hear the sound of a safety clicking off whenever someone draws a Glock in a tv show or movie…

  14. If you know your firearms manual says “product not intended for use by criminals”…..

  16. If your favorite night of television is Wednesdays on the Outdoor Channel… and your Youtube subscriptions include NRA NEWS, Mr. Colion Noir, and Hickock45. You might be member of the armed intelligentsia.

  17. If you can ID the make and model of an obscure gun used in a movie WITHOUT going to IMFDB…

    • How obscure? I can’t ID some prototype Nam’ era ARs but can ID some rare guns from WW2 (and WW1 to some extent).

        • How didn’t you know about IMFDB? Where do you go to find out what weapon was used in that movie or to confirm that it was indeed a AKM and not AK-47 in that other movie?

      • I’m starting to do that these days. Between guns and cars, I annoy my wife a good bit between identifying things then explaining.

  20. If you discuss Boyle’s law and hoop stress and how they directly correlate with one another in the development and use of firearms and suppressors….

  21. If movie gun fights have begun to annoy more than entertain…

    You might be a member of the AI.

    (O/U shotguns magically making pumping sounds, revolvers dispensing brass, thousand round magazines)

      • I second both the annoyance and watching Heat. Also recommend Collateral, also by Michael Mann. I don’t normally like Tom Cruise but he was excellent. There’s a scene with a shootout at a night club that is just awesome.

      • +1

        My favorite shoot out scene. Might have to do with the fact I had just finished basic training when Heat hit the theaters. 🙂

    • I am usually annoyed when friends blab during a movie, their revenge is to play any flick that involves heavy usage of firearms. Then I become that guy that will not shut up. Most recently I was watching Revolution with a friend, it was the first time someone had to pause Netflix and ask me to shut up or leave.

  22. You might be a member of the armed intelligentsia if you firmly believe the Second Amendment is the bulwark that defends the rest of the Bill of Rights, directly and indirectly.

    Additionally if you repeatedly remind people that bees have killed far more Americans than AR-15s you may also be a member of the armed intelligentsia.

  24. If you feel compelled to ID the make, model, and caliber of every gun on TV, OUT LOUD, even when nobody else is in the room- you might be a member of the AI.

    • My in-laws get a strange mix of annoyance and respect when I do that.

      Annoyed that I do, respect that I can.

      • Give Gregolas the shirt.

        Though I never get a good reaction when I do that. It is always “weirdo” this “psycho” that for me, so I keep it to myself.

  25. Guilty. I usually just say heavily armed weirdo instead of ‘armed intelligentsia’

  27. If you comment under gun blog articles and, convinced that your point isn’t coming across, write a 4-part series of articles instead.

  30. If you accidently reach for the Hoppe’s No. 9, instead of creamer, when making your coffee. You might be a …

  31. If you have literally screamed at your television when they get something firearm related horribly wrong.

    See: click hello, Glock 7, .28 caliber chinese plastic gun, the 30+ shot revolver, bullet impacts causing badguy to fly back 10yds, unnecessary shotgun pumping, magic guns with no recoil, magic guns with way too much recoil, Glocks and revolvers with safeties, and my favorite, the bullets that spark on car doors that dont even damage the paint.

  32. If you find yourself increasingly incapable of reducing your reasoned arguments against gun control to pithy one liners, instead relying on overwhelming bodies of reference materials, precedent court cases, and memorization of the last six years of the FBI uniform crime report to intellectually bulldoze your opponent………..

    • I’ve actually gone in the opposite direction, the antis who actually try to argue with me won’t be convinced if I said gun ownership would cure brain cancer. Pithy one liners keep me on the moral high ground with the fence sitters around me, and they generally think the anti is the douche at the end of the convo. Most importantly it keeps my blood pressure from spiking as it tends to do whenever I run into a prog of any type.

  33. Your 14yr old goes to see to see “Son of God” with his youth group and his take-a-away is the inaccurate depiction of the use of Roman Arms/Armor (and materials in the boat scene (steel)).

    • Oh yeah! The bane of the history major. Fighting to be silent over historical inaccuracies at the movies.
      ” Choke ,sweat, gag… Must NOT ….tell friends… the caliber of those spears… Gasp!”

      • 1873 Springfield carbines and 1873 Colt SAA’s in a civil war movie. Trap door springfield rifles dummied up to look like flintlocks. German soldiers in movies from either ww carrying Lee Enfields. American soldiers in a ww2 flick carrying Lee Enfields.

  35. If you comment that the gun babe shouldn’t have her finger inside the trigger well, you might be a member of the armed intelligentsia.

  36. If you’ve ever shut down the militia clause argument with:
    “Every other amendment in the Bill of Rights endeavors to empower the people and/or restrain the power of government. Why on earth would the Second do the exact opposite?”- you may be a member of the A.I.

  38. If you sit at your work compute and refresh TTAG page every five minutes… every day, you might be a part of the armed intelligentsia.

    • …… quote the 4 rules as the NRA states them, the Jeff Cooper version and the version posted at your local range.

      • If you can quote all of the “Four Rules” versions and then discuss reasonable scenarios in which they may not necessarily apply…

  41. If you know that:

    Regulated = In good order
    Militia = all citizens
    Shall not be infringed = Shall not be infringed

    you are probably a member of the AI

    • If you understand that a carry permit is not a license granted by the government to exercise your right to keep and bear arms, but a “Get out of Jail Free” card…

  46. If you know that “immanentizing the eschaton” is not a step in the Geissele SSA-E trigger installation instructions.

  47. If you subscribe to Hickok45, Iraqveteran8888, Panteo, Magpul, training videos Jerry miculek, Mr Colion Noir and TTAG and read them ALL daily…

  48. If your favorite movies are

    BraveHeart
    Gladiator
    The Patriot
    Zero Dark Thirty or Seal Team Six
    etc…

  50. If your family, friends, co-workers, fellow church members, etc., come to you when they finally make up their minds to learn to shoot, …

  52. If, as a police officer, you chastised people for not being armed.
    Then gave advice on how to legally carry without paying for a stupid permit…

      • If you have told a cop, or soldier, or fireman, in the last six months-
        “thank you for your service, protecting my family”,
        with sincerity and a firm handshake.

    • heh.

      If you agree that the Glock is the ONLY handgun you need, in .40 S&W as the one round to rule them all…

      INCOMING!!!!

      (and get the joke…)

  54. When you see a story on another website about a major gun rights court decision and wait to read about until it appears on TTAG…

  55. If your Form 1 taught the new Chief of Police in a major metropolitan area how to handle NFA paperwork…

  57. If your daughter knows she can get you to write her term paper for her if she picks “gun control” as a topic…

  58. If you point out that governments do not and can not GRANT any rights, and that they only PROHIBIT people from taking actions …

  60. If your sentence structure consists of single words. Again. Still. Often. Brain-numbingly…..

  62. You might be a member of the armed intelligentsia if you appreciate the irony of Connecticut being known as the “Constitution State”

  63. if you go to huffpo, washpo, etc. only for the purpose of 2nd amendment debate in the comments section…

  66. If you’re willing to take either side of GLOCK vs Browning/1911 for the sake of a good discussion…

  67. If you are familiar with the carry laws in your state and at least two adjoining states.

    If you have spent more money on gun rights causes than ammo in the same month you’ve spent more on ammo than food.

  68. Your screen name gets a free ride on Shannon’s Twitter feed and reminds everyone here of fun, fire, freedom and noise!!

  69. If you’ve ever been drooling over a new gun and you wife walks up threatens to hit you if you DON’T buy the gun, you are lucky, and your wife may be a member of the AI.

  72. if you agree with these quotes, and share them with prog-tards and anti-gunners:

    For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
    Nelson Mandela

    Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
    Patrick Henry

    Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. ~ John 9:41

    Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the right to make mistakes.
    Mahatma Gandhi

  75. “If you know it’s always been the Moral Obligation and Duty of all Freemen in America to Keep and Bear Arms — and have wisely chosen to do so…you already are a member of the Armed Intelligentsia.”

    Do No Harm / Successfully Defend
    Gw

  76. If you yearn for the ‘good ole days’ when .22 ammo was less than 5c/round and readily available….

  77. If you’ve come around to believing that all persons not in jail (even convicted criminals) should be able to own firearms. And that if someone can’t be trusted with a firearm, they likely can’t be trusted in public without direct supervision

  78. If you decline a date with that hot waitress because “I want to oil my Mossberg and study up on Heller,” you might be a member of The Armed Intelligentsia.

  79. If you’ve worked text from Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” into a pickup line, you might be a member of The Armed Intelligentsia.

  80. If you frequently watch “Never Talk to Police” on YouTube purely for entertainment, you might be a member of The Armed Intelligentsia.

  81. if people who want to get rid of firearms and those who misuse them infuriate you equally…

    if you read peer reviewed papers, ballistic tables, first hand accounts, history, and Supreme Court cases, and consider them all equally important…

    if you’ve waded through entire books arguing for gun control- desperately searching for any intellectual coherence anywhere in there, you might be a member of the armed intelligentsia.

  82. If, when a gun dealer hands you an ATF 4473 and you inform him/her you’ve got your own. Pre-printed.

  83. If your wife has ever complained about all the brass she finds at the bottom of the washing machine…

    If you have a German shepherd named Walther…

    If your cannot visit the local WalMart without checking to see if they have any .22LR in stock…

    If you are ever in the car with a school-teacher, a nurse, and a lesbian; and you can turn the conversation to the second amendment… (true story)

    If your largest supplier of junk mail is a guy named Wayne…

    You might be a member of the armed intelligentsia

  84. If you consider the holy trinity to be Jeff Cooper, Mas Ayoob, and Clint Smith, then you might be a member of the AI.

  85. Ref: Violations of ‘Rights’ in Connecticut

    Regardless of the intent expressed by the legislators, the evidence is now irrefutable that their actions have resulted in transposing many among the vast numbers of Morally-conscious, ‘Rights’-respecting, Law-abiding, Dutiful and Peaceable Citizens into ‘criminals under law’.
    Given these and other facts, the only logical, rational and reasonable solution to the legal problems lawmakers have created for themselves, the Citizens and those now trapped in the tenuous position as law-enforcement officers — is to immediately rescind the laws as enacted.
    Suggestion to de-escalate the legislatively-created conflict as follows:

    While our initial intent was purely in the interest of making an effort to enact laws with a mind toward preventing gun violence and enhancing safety and security;
    upon further review and given ancillary considerations;
    We as representatives, find that;-
    the laws as enacted were beyond the scope of Constitutionally-permitted authority and inconsistent with our Moral, Ethical and Legal Duties to ‘Secure Rights’ of all Citizens of the Great State of Connecticut.
    Therefore, all laws under Public Act 13-3, Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety are hereby rescinded.

    [ Simple point of inquiry: What better reason can there possibly be for legislators to avoid enacting ‘Rights’-violating laws than simply adhering to laws already written into Constitutions as ‘Rights‘ they‘re Duty-bound to protect, secure and defend?
    In the case at hand all that’s necessary is to simply rescind those erroneously written. ]

    • You are forget they also have on file at this time a register of over 50,000 residents who foolishly complied with their unconstitutional demands.

      Part of any action rescinding this law must be a provision that this registration information be destroyed and that any government official found to be in possession of this information after a date certain is guilty of a Class D felony.

  86. Guys, gals, folks, it’s much simpler than that: If you know the difference between a clip and a magazine, you are a member.

    A couple more:

    If you can spot anti-gun politicians on the news, you are a member.

    If you’re not fooled by the phrase, “we’re not after your guns”, you are a member.

  87. If you have been banned from every blog and facebook page you have posted in for injecting facts and dispelling disinformation from the conversation…

  88. I was thinking more along the lines of, “If you reference 19th-century speculative fiction when discussing whether a large man beating a small woman senseless should result in a DGU, you may be a member of the AI. Or even, if you actually understand the reference (and know what DGU means).”

  89. If you know that Freud considered a fear of firearms to be a sign of emotional and sexual immaturity.

  90. If your bathroom bookshelf is filled with volumes from Palladium Press, you may be a member of the Armed Intelligentsia.

  91. If the only way you can locate the F5 button on your keyboard is to pick the one between F4 and F6 because the paint is worn off…

  92. If you intentionally buy your jeans one size larger to accommodate IWB carry…

    If the mere mention of the names Eric Holder, Shannon Watts and Mike Bloomberg make your blood boil…

    If you get off on identifying the guns actors/cops are using on TV…

  93. If you chastise your son for not practicing strict muzzle discipline while playing Call of Duty…
    ——
    If you won’t wash your MultiCam with your Kryptek Mandrake in the same load in the washing machine…
    ——
    If you’ve ever quoted Heller v. District of Columbia during Grace…

  94. You might be a member of the AI if you gave up surfing p0rn to spend more time commenting on TTAG.

  95. If you can’t say Bureau of Alcohol, Tabaco, Firearms and Explosives without adding (and really big fires), you might be a member of the armed intelligentsia…

  96. If you study every picture of soldiers in the New York Times to identify the weapons they are carrying,

  97. If your book shelf has authors like Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, Mas Ayoob, and Jeff Cooper and you can go to the page you need in any book to refresh your memory, then you ARE a member of the AI.

    If you know what each of the 4 local gunsmiths specializes in, then you ARE a member of the AI.

    If you actually possess a copy of your state’s regs for carrying a firearm, then you ARE a member of the AI.

    When times get hard and you cancel your cable TV, and all of your magazine subscriptions EXCEPT the American Rifleman, you ARE a member of the AI.

  98. if you hired a professional team of photographers to take your “Stand Strong, Connecticut” photo, you might be a member of The Armed Intelligentsia.

  100. If you scan armed people (LEO and soldiers) to see what they are carrying and how many rounds they are carrying.

    If you automaticaly scan for alternate exits in crowded areas like airports.

  103. If you carry a gun 24/7; including home carry; If you know the difference between Cover and Concealment; if you can say what color relates to what level of situational awareness; and when you scan a crowd; you can pick out those that are the sheep; sheep dogs and the wolves simply by their demeanor.

    Then you’re probably of the AI.

  104. If you have never used the word “but” after saying “I support the second amendment.”

  105. if you think that the first letter of Shannon Watt’s last name is T, you’re a member of the AI.

  110. If you get get into arguments with your coworker over articles you both read on TTAG. And you agree with each other.

    • Also, if you bought a waterproof cellphone so you can read TTAG in the shower, you might be a member.

      If you find YouTube DGU montages soothing, you might be a member.

  111. If you write a massive expose of the horsecrap your sheriff is doing with regards CCW issuance in California:

    http://www.ninehundred.net/~equalccw/posse.pdf

    …and the local paper picks up the story of you complaining about this (and presenting this to county board of supervisors) and the paper writes a headline titled “Sheriff Denies Allegations Of Local Gun Nut”:

    http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?s&threadid=105426

    …which mentions you BY NAME…

    🙂

    Bonus points if you have the weirdest carry gun in America, bar none:

    http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/03/03/maurice-frankenruger-magazine-fed-revolver/

  112. If you’ve named your dog Heller, Peruta or McDonald… you might be member of the armed intelligentsia.

  113. If your only daughter comes to you on her 21st birthday and states that she wants to get her CWP and a Ruger SP101…

  114. If you see a box of bullets on sale, at a fantastic price, but pass, because it has a crappy ogive and a horrible drag coefficient.

  115. If the government has done nothing but convince you to purchase a gun and become part of the armed intelligentsia…

  116. If you can participate in an entire debate without offering insult or appealing to emotion, then you might be a member of the armed intelligentsia.

  117. If you pick your favorite characters based on how good their trigger discipline is, you might be part of the Armed Intelligentsia.

    If you can quote, from memory, Dirty Harry’s “Do you feel lucky?” speech, explain how it is often misquoted, and then explain categorically how the “most powerful handgun in the world” quote is false, you might be part of the Armed Intelligentsia.

    • I prefer this one from Clint Eastwood:

      Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is. — Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales

  119. If the only news you really look at is gun related.

    If when you were in school you found the way around school computers filtering to look at gun sites (look it up in the other languages).

    Youve ever seriously considered making a part for your gun.

    You gone back and read all of the back pages on a gun blog. (Thefirearmblog)

    And are going to do the same for other gun blog sites.

    Youve read all of the pages on world.guns.ru
    you know which manufacturers arent hand biased.

    You know all of the guns in a game before you look it up.

    You watch robocop and hear that the armor is only damaged by a 50 caliber and see that none of them had anything that would do damage to him.

    Youve been thinking of your comment for this page for the last couple of days and got more than one answer.

  121. You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be
    really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex
    and very broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to
    get the hang of it!

Comments are closed.