“In England, if you commit a crime, the police don’t have a gun and you don’t have a gun. If you commit a crime, the police will say ‘Stop! Or I’ll say stop again!'” – Robin Williams [via youtube.com]

(h/t DrVino)

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65 COMMENTS

  1. Cocaine, man. I loved this guys act, annoying as it was. He went out his own way, I guess. Nanu, nanu, MFer, rest in peace.

  2. If you haven’t seen it and can find it, track down an early Robin Williams movie called The Survivors. It does poke a little fun at gun culture and the survivalist movement in the 80’s, but it is a genuinely funny movie and a source of many quotes around my house.

  3. Mr. Williams is not correct. If the fleeing criminal refused to stop the Bobbie would nail him with nightstick at 20′

  7. “The sheriff’s Coroner Division said the death appeared to be a “suicide due to asphyxia,” but added that an investigation would be completed before a final determination is made.” One can’t help but wonder if the “asphyxia” was via the
    David Carradine method.
    RIP Robin Williams.

  8. I know the clip above is a comedy screed for entertainment but as with many such skits it is to also to make a political or social commentary. While I hope Mr. Williams rests in peace, I would also like to point out going as far back as you want, this free for all gun fantasy of the gun control scared of their shadow crowd has never nor will ever come to fruition. Little old ladies are not going to come out on the highway to shoot people with grenade launcher has he says in that skit.

    One think the clip points out is, the irrational emotional nature of gun control. The fantasy he played out is foremost in their minds versus the thin veil of stopping criminals.

    • I’m inclined to think it prompts the casual observer to laugh at the ridiculous character. Once you hear the case (granny with her grenade launcher) and laugh, you understand it’s a joke. You reflect on all the grannies with grenade launchers you have encountered: ZERO! So, then, when the Moms talk about civilians carrying grenade launchers you associate that remark with the conclusion you formed when you heard the joke; i.e., it’s a joke and bears no relationship to reality.
      – – – Maybe there is no such thing as bad publicity. The public in NJ, MD, NYC, DC eventually have to wake up and notice that 40 States are Right-to-Carry and the peaceable citizens are behaving responsibly. Fantasy doesn’t square with reality. Georgia has “Carry-Anyware” while Chicago has “Carry Anyway”. Who is safer?

      • “Fantasy doesn’t square with reality”

        Never let a little cognitive dissonance get in the way of controlling others.

      • I see it similarly. Even when it’s not intentional by the creator of the bit. The episode of Family guy where Peter gets a gun because he has a small peter is a prime example. I don’t doubt mcfarlane and friends are antis but casting peter griffin as the typical gun owner and over doing the stereotypes dose more to expose the silly nature of antis than make any argument against owners. Oh, and like everything he has ever done the Simpsons did it first and better 😉

    • They should ban whatever he hung himself with. Lets prevent this tragedy from happening again. For the children.

  9. Wow. Just this morning I was telling my daughter that Robin Williams was one of my favorite actors. Not any more.

    I cannot help but wonder if the factors that caused his hysteria about firearms were instrumental in his depression and suicide.

    • Dont’ post much here but last time I saw Robin William was at my local range where he was shooting his new revolver in the lane next to me, wearing a TAD jacket and multicam baseball hat/sunglasses (to stay incognito)
      RIP

      • We should not let this go unnoticed: Robin Williams was a gun owner. He had ready access to guns, yet he chose a different method to end his life. I’ve had two friends who committed suicide and the same is true of both of them. Both gun owners, yet one employed his car’s carbon monoxide and the other overdosed on pills.

        The next time some moron implies that we could reduce suicides by getting guns out of homes, mention Robin Williams, the gun owner who hung himself.

        Come to think of it, we should develop a database of gun owners who committed suicide using other means.

    • Just because he died you don’t like him anymore? I am not a fan of suicide (though in some cases it is justified IMO) but they aren’t sure whether it is suicide. It was just the po-po that mentioned that it seemed/looked like a suicide. Could have been an accident.

      To be frank either way I am not going to hold it against him. What many don’t realize is that the funny guys have often had really bad childhoods or messed up lives. I would recommend reading this, it isn’t that long :

      http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/robin-williams-why-funny-people-kill-themselves/

  11. I don’t read deep philosophy into comedians routines. They either make me laugh or not. Williams nearly always made me double over with laughter. A dozen years ago his golf riff had my entire office in hysterics.

  12. That’s a myth about the British police not having guns. It’s just that they are only issued for certain special duties, like diplomatic protection. Several years ago, an armed policeman was just going on duty, at the Indian High Commission I think it was, when he passed a robbery in progress and used his gun. There was an enquiry at which someone claimed that he had not been entitled to use it as it was only issued for use in diplomatic protection, but the finding was made that he was entitled to use it as part of his wider duties whenever the need arose, if he had it properly issued at the time. Perhaps someone can track down the specifics of that incident.

    Oh, and the ordinary police truncheon is very effective. Also several years ago, a policeman decided to play a practical joke on a new policewoman at his station, so he made a prank call to get her to go and investigate, then jumped out at her while wearing a Batman costume. But she hadn’t been born yesterday and had made sure to bring another policeman as back up – and he clobbered the first policeman with his truncheon. He was seriously injured, needing several stitches.

  13. Let’s be fair. If I was a comedian who hadn’t starred in a decent comedy this millennium, I’d probably hang myself too.

    • Geez, dude,the man’s barely cold. Give him a break. If you’ve never experienced severe depression, you have no clue. It doesn’t take a specific event to make you crash. Been there, and was reaching for the gun when I stopped myself.

      I never saw any indication he was anti-gun. And he was a huge supporter of the military. Went to Iraq and Afghanistan many times, risking his life to entertain the troops he loved.

      He was hysterically funny, and by all accounts a good man. RIP, Mr Williams. You kept me in stitches for years.

      “F*** no! we’re gonna do it 18 times”

      • +1 to what troutbum5 (you got to explain how you came up with that) said. I am not really the most respectful guy but I try to not be a douche when people die (I don’t really care but I don’t want to upset people) and in holy places (mosques, churches, synagogues, and temples etc).

        • Lolinski, I am a serious fly fisherman. Here in Colorado, that makes you a trout bum. Not unlike a ski bum, except that I am gainfully employed and don’t crash on anyone’s couch or the rents’ basement.

        • Didn’t know about that expression, thanks for explaining.

          Man, I am jealous of people with “normal” hobbies. You tell people you are a serious fly fisherman and they ask what’s for dinner. I tell people I am a serious shooter and they try to call the 5-0. Had that discussion with some guys I was travelling with. They were into football (what you call soccer) and they bought shoes and clothes for cheap in Germany (or Poland, not clear on that). I told them they were lucky that they could buy hobby/sport equipment since if they stopped them on the border noone would bother them (shoes and tracksuit? No problem), but if I bought anything for my hobby/sport and was stopped I would probably go to jail. I mean, imagine how a border guard would react to opening your bag and finding an AK, 10 mags, a case or two of ammo and a chest rig? You would probably get a stay in the Graybar hotell, AKA Don’t-drop-the-soap-ville.

        • lolinski,

          Your English grammar, spelling, and vocabulary are outstanding. Is English your native language?

        • Seriously? Thanks, might not mean a lot to most but it does for me. First time for everything I guess, sure I have good grades but nobody on the internet compliments grammar. It is weird in a nice way. No, English is my 3rd or 2nd language. I learned English about the same time I learned Norwegian. My native language is Bosnian but my family moved to Norway during the war except dad, he stayed through the war doing humanitarian work such as driving wounded people. Now I am working on learning German (have had it four years).

          Being an immigrant puts pressure on you (society wants you to fail) so you got to succeed. I didn’t learn those languages to be cool or something but out of necessity. English is international, German is used a lot in Europe while Norwegian is kinda needed when you live in Norway.

  14. A tragic loss. As Tommy Knocker said that Golf routine was in the top five of the funniest comedy routines I ever saw. Laughed for a couple of days over it. RIP, Robin Williams! you WILL be missed, but never forgotten!

  16. Never thought Robin Williams was overtly an anti. Another Hollywood guy. I have seen the Survivors and felt it was more neutral than not. I did see his daughter Zelda shooting on Outdoor Channel so she wasn’t infected. I did meet him in 1984 on Rush Street. Drunk(& high?) out of mind. RIP.

    • He could have just been playing for a market, the video looks like it was from the 80’s, maybe the early 90s. Public attitudes about firearms were a little different then.

      • That’s from his show “A Night at the Met” from the 80s. So, NYC.

        The thing about Williams is while he did get political from time to time, he didn’t really pull any punches. He’d go after ANYTHING if he thought he could get a joke out of it. I know we get all amped up over stuff like that bit, but calm down. Don’t take it too seriously. In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn “It’s a JOKE, son, ya missed it!”

  19. You know, the man is right… the problem is in the US they want the plebes to be unarmed or at best only with sharp sticks, and the police to have M4’s and military hardware so that when they say stop (or just dont like the way you looked at them) they are now legally allowed to meet your “resistance” with a hail of fully automatic gunfire.

  20. Clinical depression will absolutely kick your ass. It is an insidious illness because it sneaks up on you and you often won’t know how serious things are until you’re really bad off. Thoughts of morbidity, including taking your life, are a common symptom—all depressed people experience them. If you find yourself thinking of ending your life, the best thing you can do is just wait a bit. Always understand that it’s the depression talking to you. Those feelings aren’t real and they will pass. Just. Wait. And then go seek professional help. Clinical depression is one of the most successfully treatable illnesses.

    • Unfortunately, those feelings generally are real, or as “real” as feelings ever are. Studies have shown that people with depression tend to have a better grasp of reality than other people, the feelings have real effects, and so on. Although your advice is sound, it’s actually advice to let go of an unpleasant reality.

      Oh, and not everybody with depression has thoughts of suicide, at any rate some have those no more than people without depression; it’s possible to obsess about gloom in other ways. For me, it’s the way everything non-routine becomes a major project, difficult to set in motion because it seems so hugely bigger than me, leaving me with no surplus energy or focus, e.g. some cleaning I ought to do today and just might do tomorrow; I’ve moved nearly everything out of the way but I just can’t face the rest of the job (this comment is part of routine internet checking). I don’t know how much of that is from the underlying condition or from the treatment.

    • /begin_sarcasm

      You’re a traitor Dr. Vino. You just handed gun grabbers concrete proof that firearms have a will of their own and turn their owners into crazy killers!

      /end_sarcasm

  22. I never really cared for Williams as a comedian. It wasn’t until he was older and started doing serious roles did I start to respect his talent. I don’t remember the title of the movie but he played a murder suspect in Alaska and he was being investigated by Al Pacino. He held his own opposite Pacino.

    As for his stand on guns. If indeed he killed himself, he didn’t use a gun. A break for we people of the gun. No kapo bloomberg or shannon shrieking about a gun ending a brilliant career.

    My hope is that Williams finds the peace he sought in death. Respect to his mourning family.

      • Insomnia was a brilliant movie, worth rewatching.
        I thought that Robin Williams was a great comedian, Mrs Doubtfire in my opinion was his best movie, a true classic.

        • “Moscow on the Hudson”

          – “Why are you Russian so miserable/unhappy”?
          – “Because it’s the only thing we have that’s our own”.

  24. Thank you for not shooting. Beyond that, this is a deeply personal matter between Mr. Williams and his family, and an eternal one between Mr. Williams and God. This is none of my business and warrants no further comment.

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