The great thing about the items in TTAG’s Pro Shop (and the new Armed Intelligentsia gear, too) is they appeal to readers of all stripes — pro-gunners and antis alike. Unfortunately, the hat gun-grabber MikeB ordered got on a slow boat to Italy; he missed even the extended deadline to enter our photo contest. When his stylish new cap finally arrived, the sight of himself sporting our logo apparently proved to be too much for him. MikeB dashed off this email before, well, you’ll see . . .

Associated Press reports:

MikeB, well known gun control blogger committed suicide today. His blog, Mikeb302000 has received millions of page-views and is known for being one of the few gun control blogs that accepts comments. He posted a picture of himself on Facebook moments before taking his life. The following suicide note was attached.

I want to apologize to all my supporters, friends, family and everyone in the gun control movement. Our collective failure to achieve even the slightest headway was no problem for me.  Nor was the failure of Congress to pass comprehensive background checks, the recall of heroic State Senators in Colorado, the ridiculous gun bans in Maryland which allowed the gun nuts to stock up before taking effect, the blind concealed carry permit holders in Iowa, none of it really got me down. Even the most recent massacre in the Washington Navy Yard didn’t phase me.

But when I donned The Truth About Guns hat I knew what I had to do. What came crashing into my consciousness was the incredible abuse with which I was treated when I used to post comments there. Some of those comments generated a hundred responses, the major part of which were personal attacks against me. And why? That’s the question that kept me up night after night. In the end I had to stay away, my physical health demanded it. 

Those terrible months came back to me in a way that was both overwhelming and hopeful, in a dark way. I finally had a way out.

I know many of you among the Armed Intelligentsia, when reading this, will want to blame yourselves. Please don’t. It’s not your fault. Thanks to you I feel I’m going to a better place now.

MikeB, whose real name is Michael Bonomo, is survived by three siblings, a wife and two ex-wives, 13 children and 7 grandchildren. He was 60 years old at the time of his death.

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131 COMMENTS

  4. “I know many of you among the Armed Intelligentsia, when reading this, will want to blame yourselves. Please don’t.”

    Can I, Please?

    • Technical problem, however – with the drought, where will they all find ammo?

      And if they use smaller calibers that only cause injury what will we do with a lot of brain-dead gun grabbers? Oh, wait a minute, that’s what we have now.

  6. If its real, I’m sorry the guy lost his mind. If its his idea of a joke then the guy has some issues he needs to deal with.

  7. If Mike’s still alive and this is just his sick idea of a joke: Don’t feed the troll. I’m sure tasteless responses celebrating his death are perfect fodder for his blog.

    If it’s not a joke: Save the celebrations for Feinstein.

    • Exactly what I was thinking. Whatever we say will be used to paint gun owners in a negative light. And they will have proof with a simple screenshot.

      I for one have nothing negative to say about a suicide unless its by someone who comitted a monstorous act.

      • I agree. Why gloat over that asshat’s “death” in full public view?

        Anyway, he ain’t dead. Yet.

  11. Well, I’m gonna miss him.
    He was like the slow kid in class that used to eat the crayons. He never ‘got it’ like the other kids, but it was fun to watch him try. Sure, his tantrums and crying were annoying, but it put my view of things into perspective. We may be educated and intelligent, capable of great things… Then there was MikeBnumbers. He made me realize we aren’t all born so fortunate with fully capable reasoning skills. Some among us will eat the crayons and that was ol’ MikeyB.
    Gonna miss you buddy.

    • Im breaking my vow of silence from all of two or three posts above (that was fast) about not feeding the trolls.

      Why, because this was fv@king hillarious and as I read it, I imagined it being read as a eulogy.

      If my sudden change of heart should happen to offend anyone or demonstrate a lack of integrity or make me a lesser man, well I appologize to no one.

  13. Mikey is the kind of guy who could make the world a better place just by leaving it. Alas, if the article was true, it would read “His blog, Mikeb302000 has received dozens of page-views from all over his apartment.”

    • Sadly there was a 0% chance it was true. If he had blown his brains out, not even the local Italian news rag would have picked up the story, much less the AP.

      A disgusting mockery of something Mikey claims to care about. I never want to hear him use suicide as an excuse for gun control ever again. A vapid hypocrite who cares for nothing but attention.

    • Well, in the three hours it’s been up, this post has given him a few hundred, so I guess that’s something.

      I knew it couldn’t be true, I just couldn’t tell ’til I got to the comments whether the poor taste was on the part of Mike or Dan, although I assumed it was Mike. Glad to see I was right.

  14. I believe Mikeb has just showen a glimpse into the soul of liberals, they can not trust themselves to be responsible with firearms so the rest of us can’t be trusted either.

    • There are plenty “conservatives” who “think” that way as well.

      It’s not so much a red/blue thing as a herd animal/human thing.

      Two-legged bovines come in all colors; some fear arms in any hands but those of the government, some fear gays because they believe that so many folks will follow their example that humanity will become extinct*, some the automobile et cetera.

      We’re people. They’re not.

      * Such was actually opined from the bench by judge Henry Green in Kansas.

      • Russ,

        I really want to drop by for an iced tea, beer, or something the next time I am driving through Kansas.

        Full disclosure: I have driven across the country many times and always seem to pass north or south of Kansas so the odds of my driving through Kansas are pretty low … but I wanted to throw that out there in case I ever do!

  16. If he killed himself that is truly sad. If this is a joke then it is truly sick. Suicide is nothing to joke about.

  17. Mikey’s blog has posts dated today. Go and check it out for yourselves. Is he posting from Gun-Free Nirvana? I don’t think so. This is a sick joke.

  18. Seriously bad taste. It’s all well and good to make anti 2A points on a gun blog, but suicide isn’t a joke. It’s not funny, amusing or satirical. Mental illness is a serious issue, it hits too close to home for those of us who served. It is not something to be ridiculed and made a mockery of. Grow the fvck up or STFU.

    • That’s the understatement of the year! Mikey just pulled the rug out from under his feet. I like that part.

    • My first thought was that it’s a pellet pistol. And I agree this was in extremely poor taste. I feel as if I’m watching TTAG flush itself down the toilet…

      • It was a tasteless choice. It’s possible that Mike had a (rare) spark of genius and played TTAG. What’s the best way to slander pro-RKBA forces and paint them as crazies? Find a way to get that photo on the main page.

  22. Hmm, so according to the gun grabbers is this another “victim” of gun violence?
    Or is he the aggressor?
    Or did the gun do it all by itself?
    Did he pass a background check, seeing how he is obviously mentally disturbed?
    Did the background check fail and he bought this gun through the “gun show loophole”?

    So many questions. The obvious answer to all these question is it’s the hats fault. (A typical red herring answer from the gun grabbers).

  24. Ya, this isn’t true. I couldn’t find the Associated Press article quoted. Why would TTAG give this attention whore what he wants by posting this?

  25. Since I knew this was satire, I couldn’t help but giggle.

    Now here is an interesting idea taken from said article. The civilian disarmament movement is dying.. Slowly, painfully, but it is dying..

  26. Old expat hippies suck and I’d rather read about FPSRussia or knives on a gun site than this tool dead or alive.

    • His “blog” has posts today! This is nothing but twisted, lack-of-funny BS. Case closed. Can we move on?

  28. MikeB did pick something up from TTAG. That’s some excellent trigger discipline.

    Is this what RF meant when he suggested MIkeB might get to pen a few articles for TTAG?

  33. He was still alive? Who knew?

    An odd sense of humor that seems consistent with his rather peculiar worldview. At least he could have shown a little bit better trigger discipline, he’s spent enough time trolling gun blogs.

  35. Definitely mentally ill. I mean, THREE WIVES??? Let this be a warning to you Robert–it could happen to you!

  36. A few things.
    1. Anyone that actually thought this was real; I have this awesome bridge for sale. Your gonna love the views.

    2. The same people whining about the taste of the joke probably shared some harsh views towards ole MikeB; lighten up. Obvious joke is obvious.

    3. What kind of gun is that? SVI/Infinity?

  37. “has received millions of page-views”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was the moment when I knew this was fiction! HAHAHA!

    Don’t worry Mikey, if you HAD blown your brains out, I wouldn’t have blamed myself for a second. Nor would I have regretted any words you and I have exchanged. You’ve given venom for venom, so this ploy to make us feel guilty about the way you have been treated here is a dud.

    I find it priceless that in this photo Mikey would be, by his own rules, forever disqualified from owning firearms. He doesn’t even think you should be able to own a gun if you’ve dropped one. Ever. This photo, the height of irresponsibility, would be grounds for permanent denial according to his standards, yes?

    Mind you, this is all hypothetical because he is already a felon and therefore a prohibited person. He also lives in Italy so the pistol is probably a prop. Still, good for a laugh as always!

  39. This has nothing to do with guns – it’s just a tasteless joke about/by a completely uninteresting person. I’m in no hurry to ban people – even idiotic gun haters – from the comment section, but people like this don’t deserve their own front-page article, especially not with suicide jokes. I’m not surprised when anti-gunner shows poor judgment and bad taste, but I’m disappointed to see this site going along for the ride.

  40. This man’s issues have issues.

    “MikeB, whose real name is Michael Bonomo, is survived by three siblings, a wife and two ex-wives, 13 children and 7 grandchildren. He was 60 years old at the time of his death.”

    This man should not have been allowed to procreate!

  41. mikeb302000: a true legend in his own mind.

    Actually this is kinda sad, not really much of a joke. It’s exactly the kind of attention-grabbing stuff people do right before they really do off themselves. And, he seems to fit the profile of the typical suicide victim: white, middle aged (or, older) male struggling with depression due to recent events, and who desperately seeks attention.

    I don’t really understand the mind of a gun grabber who does this, but will someone please call 911 and get this man some help.

  42. Mikeb, I’m sickened by your post. I’ll not go into the reasons why I think you are a POS drain on society but just know that I hope your sex swing fails tonight and you strangle on your boyfriend’s c*ck.

    • At minimum he was reading TTAG comments about keeping booger hook off the bang switch
      I try to never judge a book by the cover, now I have seen the cover

  46. Ya know, Kurt Cobain thought it would be funny to pose for atleast one gun-to-the-head picture, and look how that turned out.

  48. What kind of gun is that? Looks like an AR-47 Glock Sauer .45mm Ultra Magnum Triple Action Only Full Length M14A1911 Carbine-Nagant to me.

  50. Why is ANYONE crying over this guy?…………whether his death is fake or not, if he doesn’t show up again on this forum, I doubt that there will be many if any here who will TRULY miss him. I shall lose no sleep over this character or any other who wishes death or worse for the Armed Intelligentsia. Time for a cold beer……..

  51. LMFAO!!! I hope this is true. Me and a few others always got into arguments with this guy on his personal Facebook page. I always knew he was a racist (he hated Colion Noir and constantly called him names) inbred nut case. You don’t have to know much about him to know this either, just look at his picture. He looks like someone that should be ordered by the courts to not come within 100 feet of children or a PC with internet access.

  52. Yikes, that picture speaks volumes without the gun. That’s the guy you see at the bus stop arguing with a bottle of his own piss. I pray he’s still alive. I want this face to be front and center to represent the gun grabbers side of things. Talk about converting soccer moms to POTG.

    • JWM is absolutely right. Here are some photo captions that spring to mind:

      – “At least I’ll finally succeed at something…”

      – “My blog will surpass 100 hits for sure!”

      – “No… No Robert you can’t get away… To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart, I stab at thee; for hate’s sake, I spit my last irrational statist breath at thee!”

      – what we can’t see to the right of the photo: the stencil that’ll use brain matter to link detectives to his blog.”

  59. Shows what an idiot he is…and that he deserved/deserves any personal attacks we can muster for him.

    MORON!!!!!!

  60. If this is a joke and he posts here again, he will get more abuse heaped on himself than he EVER imagined was possible.
    If this is no joke, then, I am sorry for him. I consider suicide to be an ultimate “cop-out”…I can see a very few instances where a person might kill themselves, but I can never really excuse or rationalize the act.

    In a case like this, and others, where political/social/idealist values are the pivot points of an ongoing argument. I always (naively, perhaps) hope for that epiphany of repentance. where a person realizes how wrong-minded they have been, repents of their errors, and embraces a new, better point of view.

  61. Took a walk over to his website… Guy is a loon. Stands to reason why so many mass-shooters share company with his side of politics.

  62. I knew you guys would like that post. I probably should have waited before commenting to see how many more would write, “if this is serious” comments. You guys who weren’t sure if it was a joke should win the prize, along with the ones who couldn’t tell I was using a 3 Euro toy.

    • Ah geez, barely in the ground and already the imitators are showing up. Which are you, the young slender mikeyb or the old fat sequin jumpsuit wearing mikeyb? Vegas, and your furtune, are thataway.

    • I knew it was too good to be true. Sadly, the world is not a better place yet. Oh well, in one of your countless rage filled moments you’re bound to eventually either kill yourself or have a stroke / heart attack.

    • Don’t worry I never doubted for a moment it was fake. Millions of page views? LOL. Associated Press? Pffffff, not in a million years keep dreaming buddy boy.

      Once again your complete dishonesty shines through. The suicide epidemic you care SO much about that you scapegoat it as an excuse for gun control? I suppose in reality this serious issue means so little to you that you’re willing to make a mockery of it to garner a few hits on your blog.

      You disgust me.

    • Dear Sir;

      Did you honestly say that little children and defenseless people getting slaughtered didn’t bother you in the slightest, but you couldn’t live any longer after seeing yourself in some merchandising?!

  65. He only used a plastic toy gun – you can tell by the obvious screw holes all over it. At least one of those screws pictured is very loose!

    Like the majority of other gun-grabbers, he probably could not pass a background check to buy a real one (and of course he wouldn’t beable to control his venom and have a friendship with any real gun owners).

  66. There definitely is some “projection” going on in the mind of gun-grabbers.

    It appears that at least some of them cannot see a gun or even the word “gun” without having violent fantasies.

    Consider how many of them who openly wish violence upon gun owners and NRA members.

    Also look at the political ideals of the recent spree killers … haven’t they all been liberals or children in a liberal voting household?

    I think if one of the 4473 questions were to ask if the applicant was a liberal then we could deny their sick fantasies and quit letting them fuel their own fire at the same time. (Sarcastic, but true).

    • “It appears that at least some of them cannot see a gun or even the word “gun” without having violent fantasies”

      Exactly what I’ve been saying! The reason they’re anti-gun is because they know well what they’d do if they had a gun, and can’t wrap their minds around the fact that we don’t entertain violent fantasies like they do.

  67. “Thanks to you I feel I’m going to a better place now.”

    Doesn’t he know that in most of the Christian faiths, Suicide is the only truly guaranteed ticket to hell?

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