josh-earnest

“You don’t need an assault weapon to go hunting, it certainly is not part of anybody’s family heritage or family tradition.” – White House spokesman Josh Earnest in White House: Hunting With Assault Rifles ‘Not Part of Anyone’s Family Tradition’ [at breitbart.com]

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115 COMMENTS

  2. I sometimes wonder why the same dead tropes are dug out over and over and over to be beaten again and again.
    Then I heard an NPR host refer to David Brooks as young and in-touch.
    That’s when it dawned on me. The entire nation is being run by senile geriatrics and crotchety biddies.

    Not always by virtue of age but of mind. Josh Earnest is a good example. Looks young-ish relatively speaking but his mind is a calcified hunk of stone stuck in 1925.

    • Josh is doing his job. Which is parroting the President’s statements and putting spin on the news to align with the current Progressive policies. Don’t agree with his statements but that is his job. The Assault Rifle designation for semi-auto rifles is pretty weird but that is the current spin, I suppose. Some hunters do actually use the AR-15 style platform in different calibers to hunt. And just because their ancestors did not use a modern rifle what the heck difference does that make ? Are hunters not allowed to upgrade their equipment. OTOH, hunting really has NOTHING to do with the issues so I suppose it is really a red herring.

      • It’s not current spin. It’s old and tired spin from decades past. We’ve heard all of this before.
        Politics is one pointless cycle turning over and over digging up dead ideas and burying new ones.

        • The reason they do it is that it worked last time. They got the AWB passed because people actually believed the BS about hunting… I think now more people have been into the modern sporting rifles, so they realized how useful they actually are. And how stupid the machine gun videos are when talking about modern sporting rifles.

        • They keep going back to “assault weapons” because that’s step one in the gun banner’s playbook. I goes like this.

          Step one; Ban all scary black military style rifles. This sets the stage for a total ban by getting the general public used to the government banning certain classes of weapons, even if that class is entirely fabricated. It also allows for a call for more bans when the initial ban fails to have any effect on crime whatsoever.

          Step Two; enact a semiautomatic rifle and pistol ban.

          Step Three; eliminate all handguns, limit longguns to bolt or break action rifles and break action shotguns. This will require a national registry and confiscation, of course.

          The thing is, the Antis blew it with the 1994 AWB. Unlike the U.K. and Australian bans, there was no big tragedy to help railroad through massive nationwide bans in the U.S. The U.S. AWB was actually pretty weak by comparison. It allowed two out of four “evil features” which were a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, a bayonet lug and a flash hinder. AR15 builders simply eliminated the flash hinder and bayonet lug and kept right on trucking. The Antis also had to agree to a grandfather clause and a Ten year sunset provision.

          Even though they lost congress that year, they became emboldened and started talking openly about a total handgun ban. People noticed. Gun laws started rolling back across the country. It took until the early 2000’s for the Antis to realize they had effed up and that their constant gun ban drumbeat had kept guns in the mind of the public, but not in the way they hoped. They finally piped down. Most antigun politicians went on silent running. If they disliked guns, they kept it to themselves.

          Sandy Hook changed that. The Antis believed that Newtown would be their Dunblaine, their Port Arthur. What they didn’t understand was that in the U.K. and Australia, the tragedy coincided with a perfect storm of a general public whose heritage as gun owners had been steadily eroded over decades. The gun owning citizens in the U.K. and Australia had no chance.

          By contrast, when Sandy Hook happened in the U.S., gun owners had been warned in advance by the 1994 AWB and the subsequent call for a total handgun ban by the Antis. Anti gun politicians understood, up to that point, that talking against guns was political suicide in most of the country. In the wake of Sandy Hook, the Antis went for broke and came up hard against a robust Pro Second Amendment sentiment in the U.S. that had been building up for eighteen years.

          So now, they’re going back to Step One of the playbook, in hopes that it will work.. They have to know it’s futile, which is why they’re more shrill and strident than they’ve ever been.

      • Yes, his job is the be a liar. Just like Bush’s cadre of pathological lying spokesman/woman.

      • The Assault Rifle designation for semi-auto rifles is pretty weird but that is the current spin, I suppose
        Newspeak for IngSoc from the Ministry of Truth and Big Brother.

  3. Yeah. It’s why they don’t make 4 round clips for the garand, or 5 round mags for the AR, or soft point hunting rounds in those calibers…. Oh wait

    Second Amendment/hunting, Second Amendment/hunting, Second Amendment/hunting, Second Amendment/hunting…

    Keep trying, Josh “not so earnest.” Repeat a falsehood often enough.

    • And in the true spirit in which the Second Amendment was written I should like to point out that it depends entirely on what, or who, you are hunting.

      I think the “who” is the part that actually scares them.

    • A well regulated militia tradition, being necessary to the security of a free state hunting, the right of the people to keep and bear traditional hunting arms, shall not be infringed be subject to government regulation.

      Tada!
      That’s what the second amendment really means. They just wrote the text the other way to screw with us.

  5. No American has ever used surplus military arms to hunt. Nope. Not ever. He cant believe the words he says, right?????

    • Just building off of what you said, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the only reason bolt action rifles took off as hunting rifles in the US was because the doughboys came back from world war 1 and the bolt action was what they had gotten used to so they bought surplus 1903 rifles and either sporterized them or hunted with them as they were. Same could be said for an AR variant rifle. Use the tool you are most familiar with. I think that might actually be an American tradition.

      • crushed it. My step dad’s favorite deer rifle is a Springfield 03A3 rebarreled in .270 win with a beautiful myrtle wood stock, I can’t count how many deer that gun has taken, not that the 2nd amendment had anything to do with hunting

    • …Or used his hunting rifle as a military rifle, when he joined the militia to toss out a European imperial overlord. Then used that same rifle when he went back to hunting.

  6. Anymore,I hunt almost exclusively with a 16″ AR15.
    My niece has gone with me since she got old enough the be still. She’ll shoot her first in the next couple years with the same rifle.
    I guess beginning a tradition doesn’t count.

      • Yep, I have to agree. Many of us tend to go for the knee jerk reaction which is “They can too be used for hunting”. But the real issue here is that hunting has NOTHING to do with the right to keep and bear arms. We need to remember to be wary of this ploy by the other side. IF we agree that our rights are limited to hunting we start down the slippery slope to more gun controls.

      • But the Second Amendment is about the right to keep and bear arms.
        One of the myriad reasons arms are kept and borne is for hunting.
        It doesn’t matter what it’s used for; “…shall not be infringed.” means: Shall not be infringed.

  7. How is hunting similar to self defense? When aiming at the deer, one usually has time to take the shot with much more careful aim. In self defense, like say race riots spurred on by government officials in oblong offices, things have a different dynamic and happen much faster.

    Stop with the idiotic hunting trope you dopes. You might get farther if you do, so on second thought, keep it up, you sound like morons.

    • “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove the doubt.” – Mark Twain

      Please, let’s encourage this fool to keep talking.

  8. I shot my first wild Corsican ram on a hunt with Veteran Outdoors with a great Ambush Firearms 6.8SPC. A few years later my oldest son shot a truly massive Dall ram with the same rifle. Both of our rams hang in his room with the great pride of a 10 year old boy. He says that hunt with me was the happiest day of his life. The rifle is his now and we’ll keep hunting with our 6.8spc ARs together.

  9. And another, my oldest son shot his first coyote with an AR that was functionally identical to the same gun his father, and his grandfather carried when they were in the army. How’s that for tradition?

    • Yup, my dad was hunting prairie dogs with an Armalite AR-180b in the early 1970’s, and took me to do the same 20 years later.

  11. Thank you Mr. White democrat male for your opinion from atop Mt Olympus, surrounded by armed men with 15 or higher round magazines in both long gun and hand gun.
    I have a free choice for which rifle I want to use to provide food for my family. I understand you as a white democrat male of privilege disagree.

  13. Interesting how Mr. Earnest can find things to say that are both wrong and irrelevant (even if they had been right) at the same time. He is set for life for employing this skill for the White House though.

  14. Josh Earnest “doesn’t need” to ride around in the back of a luxury vehicle. He can drive a Prius and he can drive it himself.

    • Mr. Earnest doesn’t NEED armed security. He should arm himself and take responsibility for his own well being instead of wasting taxpayers’ money.

      • I was actually just thinking the other day that if one of the money-grubbing celebrities or money-grubbing politicians actually took that stance, I might have a little more respect for them. Kind of like what Vince Vaughn did a few weeks back. Imagine a Prez saying: “No thanks, Secret Service, I got this.”

  15. I gave my father an “assault weapon” for his bday. My wife buys “assault weapon” accessories every Christmas. My brother in law and I shoot my “assault weapons” everytime he and my sister vist. My kids learned to shoot using a .22 rifle with one of those high capacity, death dealer, “assault weapon” clipazines.

    So yeah, you could say “assault weapons” are a family tradition.

    And, in Texas it is perfectly legal to hunt with “assault weapons.” I’ve pig hunted with an AK.

  16. I can’t believe these idiots are fool enough to try another bite at the apple so soon. Everyone remember this when some moron tries to claim a vote for (D) is not a vote for gun control. At least a vote for (R) is not necessarily a vote for gun control, and can actually score a victory. Be advised of who you primary for, though.

  18. AR’s make fine hunting rifles. Lightweight, accurate.
    Took a deer three years ago with 6.8SPC, built a varmint, woodchuck rifle in .223, replacing a bolt action 22-250.
    AR pattern rifles are the modern hunting rifle as sure as a Mauser type bolt action, (a military arm,) replaced what was used for hunting a hundred years ago. No, you don’t need thirty rounds to hunt with but my rifles accept a five round mag, (my state restricts hunting to five rounds,) just fine.

  19. I would really like to have a look at this ”Bill of Needs” document that the antis always seem to reference.

    • I believe the second enumerated “need” on their list reads something like this:

      A well-controlled citizenry being necessary to the maintenance of power of the almighty state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall be infringed in whatever way the government deems acceptable.

  20. When I was growing up, lots of hunters used M-1 carbines, M-1 Garands, and even the old “assault rifle”, the 1903 Springfield. My sins and I use ARs to hunt with. It’s a tradition as old as firearms to use the same gun for hunting as what you carried in service.

  22. Josh Earnest is such a con man. He comes from the PR school of “Lie like it’s true”. Are there any polls that say if anyone believes him anymore?

  23. Assembled my 6.8 spc AR-15 this year. Plan on using it this fall. After all, traditions need to start somewhere. Oh yeah, and… the second amendment isn’t about hunting. As has been said countless times.

  24. That’s weird, I thought the killer used a Glock not an “assault rifle”…. oh, right, AGENDA!

  26. Well, now, Josh, I agree with you on this topic, generally. I don’t keep an AK-47 (and maybe a few other of its brethren) because I want to be a hunter. I keep them in case I am the prey. And I think I’ll hang onto them.

  27. I beg to differ!
    I can trace my lineage all the way back to the original minutemen. We’ve ALWAYS had military arms to hand and ready to bear, even against bears! I’ve put lots of meat in the freezer with my AKM, and I used to hunt with a 8mm mauser AND an SMLE. My dad hunted with an M1, and his dad hunted with a 1903! My son hunts with a 91/30 and he may actually be the deadliest of them all! Milsurp IS our heritage. And besides, somebody needs to remind this asshat that the 2nd amendment’s SOLE intent is to keep citizens free from undue influence such as his, not because of hunting deer. Our heritage is about putting corrupt and tyrannical politicians where they belong.

  28. I bought my AR-15 for defense against riots. When the civil order breaks down, when the police have their hands full and there are fires everywhere, then an AR-15 is definitely what you want to have.

    A friend of mine thought I was being somewhat paranoid, but he doesn’t think that any more. I live in Baltimore.

    • I would consider having just an AR-15 to be undergunned in Baltimore.

      At a minimum, I’d want something crew-served.

      • I thought once a crew-served weapon would be really cool to have…

        Until I realized just how expensive it would be to feed the gun and the crew.

        Talk about re-defining the expression ‘Eat you out of house and home’…

        Yikes.

        • Everybody knows children are much better with crew served weapons than individual weapons.

  29. How can we expect our Government to be effective, when they don’t even know the definition of our rights?.. If Washington DC * thinks * the 2A pertains to hunting, Maybe the social security number card, is the new Costco card… We need to start qualifying these schmucks before granting them power.

  30. I got to wondering about that hunting with an AR-15 platform rifle question a couple of years ago. For your information, Joshy Boy, you only need to search the Internet with the search “hunting with an AR-15” and in less than five minutes you can have read all about it. Maybe you should “fact-check” yourself before making an utterly wrong and stupid statement such as this quote, but, then, when did the truth of what you say ever matter to you?

  31. The 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with hunting, but the dopes out there just keep buying the argument like they did in the 80’s when they agreed that making full auto even less accessible was a good thing.

  32. I started having a hard time getting parts for my Belgium made Browning. I did not buy another Browning. I got an AR10. Most people who are buying their first hunting rifle are buying an AR10. An AR10 costs $200 less than a BAR and it is better value. I keep a 5 shot magazine in the gun and have a 20 shot magazine ready to go.

    No one is buying a traditional hunting rifle like was on the market just 20 years ago. No manufacturer makes a rifle with the same materials or attention to detail. Well you can get a well made rifle with a walnut stock but it costs a but much to beat up in the woods.

  33. Never heard of “coyotes” or that they can appear in these flocks called “packs”? A light weight modern sporting rifle with decent magazine capacity is perfect for shooters of various sizes and either genders (depending on the stage of reassignment one is currently at).

  34. Excuse me Mr. Earnest, but my family with 3 generations of career Marines with numerous combat tours from WW2 to OIF/OEF to preserve the freedom of speech which I wish Mr. Earnest would put more thought into would surely beg to differ that the “assault rifle” is not part of our “family heritage or tradition”. My dad taught me how to build and detail strip an AR 15 and we have a lot of great memories building and shooting together; I am doing the same with my son and daughter this summer, and I hope they enjoy it enough as quality time we spend together to do it with their children someday. I don’t judge your family traditions, Mr. Earnest, don’t judge ours.

  35. Well … I am starting the tradition of hunting and shooting with an AR15 with my 13 year old daughter. There, we now have a tradition.

    So if having a tradition of hunting with a certain firearm or weapon means it is now covered by the 2nd amendment (according to Obama and his ilk). Can someone start a tradition of hunting feral hogs with a bazooka or full auto gun?

  36. Speak for yourself Mr Earnst… At least half or more of my hunting trips last season I was carrying my AR15. My dad only hunts with an AR15, my son when old enough will likely hunt with one. How many generations does it take to qualify as tradition?

  38. As an older teen who is also a responsible gun owner, it is certainly part of my hunting tradition!

  39. That’s odd – Federal ammunition makes a .233 50 grain “varmint” round that works very well in my AR15 “assault rifle” for hunting coyotes. Am I the only one using thus ammo / rifle combination for hunting?

  40. When I hear this, I just tell people to google “AR15 hunting pictures” and warn the more squirm-ish that they will be looking at actual hunting photos.

  41. “You don’t need a Xeon and gigabit Internet to exercise your right to free speech. It certainly is not part of anybody’s family heritage or family tradition.” Josh “The Earnestness of being” Important on The Founders lack of foresight.

  42. Well, technically he’s correct, right?

    An “Assault Rifle” by definition is select fire. I don’t see many folks spraying Game animals with controlled bursts.

    But that’s not what he meant of course. They have managed to re-define ‘Assault Rifle’ because no one apparently wants to call them out on it anymore. The Media are completely irresponsible sycophants and unwilling to responsibly report fact any more.

    What words will they re-define next? Does this reek of Orwell to anyone else?

    • Read more closely: he didn’t say “assault rifle”, he said “assault weapon”, which is a made-up classification to try to make some semi-automatic rifles seem somehow fundamentally different than other semi-automatic rifles.

      • Ahh shit, i was going by the title of the story: White House: Hunting With Assault Rifles ‘Not Part of Anyone’s Family Tradition’ . My bad

  44. He should have finished with, “But you can successfully use a modern sporting rifle to defend your home, your business, and your families lives as seen in the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, hurricanes Rita, Katrina and Sandy and the North Korean invasion of America’s west coast….. oh wait, that last one was just a movie.”

    I truly can’t believe what IDIOTS we have running our country. There really needs to be a test on what the constitution and the declaration of independence mean before these clowns can be hired or run for office at ANY LEVEL of government.

  45. Same here. In Texas an AR15 is perfect for these little deer. 62 gr soft points work magic. A big plus is to throw in a few hogs running around and the 10/20/30 mags don’t seem too out of place. Hogs are fast when the shooting starts 😉
    Daughter used a Mini 14 for years with all one shot kills. The tradition lives on with MSR’s. Sorry Josh to bust your bubble.

  46. Not that hunting or his comment is in any way relevant to gun rights, but new traditions start all the time. Looking forward to using my AR next year if PA gets their shit together on hunting with semiautomatic rifles.

  47. The second ammendment is only for hunting… it’s just that gun grabbing politicians is the focus. I can also shoot animals of the 4 legged persuasion wit my anti aircraft/train destroying AR 15…… as for traditions hunting tyrants is a longstanding American tradition

  48. I agree with the above posters. Simply countering his obviously faulty logic lends credence to the incorrect notion that the 2nd amendment is about hunting.

    And while we’re on that subject, why validate the unconstitutional idea that guns can be regulated based on “sporting purpose”? I will never own a Modern Sporting Rifle. My ARs are Modern Defense Rifles. They’re for defense of life and liberty. I might also use them for sporting purposes, but that’s irrelevant.

  49. I almost feel sorry for these guys, but I know they are well paid to trot out Obama’s tripe. This guys as bad as the last one that looked and acted like Hoover from Animal House.

  50. So there are actually two non sequiturs (lies) in his one statement:

    1) That (scary looking) semi-auto rifles are apparently now somehow “Assault Rifles”

    2) That somehow the 2nd Amendment is about Hunting.

    *** Non sequitur (logic), a logical fallacy where a stated conclusion is not supported by its premise and therefore the conclusion is arbitrary.

  51. Actually… My grandfathers rifle WAS an early Ar-15 and now I have my own so that makes it a tradition.

  52. I’m building an AR .308 specifically to be my hunting rifle. It will be as light as possible and have a 3-9x scope. It wont be used for much else. Although, when I finish my 20″ M16A4 clone, I might see if that will also be a viable hunting rifle. .223 hunting ammo out of a 20″ barrel should take care of the dog sized deer here in NC.

    Besides that point, the 2a is not about hunting. That is such a tired, overused, lie.

  53. Wow and his “job” is lying and making excuses for Barry Soetoro-stick to that and don’t “josh” us…

  54. Uh, didn’t the forefathers of this country hunt with the same rifles they used to fight against the British when the war began??

  55. I’m debating which guns to take deer hunting this year. Last year the 300 BLK custom AR build worked pretty well on a decent whitetail buck. The 6.8 SPC has a little more power, but isn’t as accurate. AR-15s and AR-10s make excellent hunting guns. So also do military used and inspired bolt guns.

    The current 5.56 /.223 and 7.62 / .308 are military calibers that work great on small deer (5.56) and big bucks / mule deer / elk (.308). The 9mm has been serving as a great self defense round for decades. Ammo has been used by both military and civilians before the advent of the .45-70 Government. That’s a round that’ll knock down deer with authority.

    So basically everything this political shill says about guns, hunting and the 2nd Amendment is incorrect. That’s to be expected for someone without experience in the field.

    If I want hunting or self defense advise I’ll consult with real experts like Dyspetic, Jerrry Miculek or Nick Leghorn. The last person I’ll listen to is a wimp who couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag who is also pushing a dirty agenda for personal gain.

  56. Hey friends , by definition , according to King George , a rifled barrel was an assault weapon . I thought that when you pull a trigger on a firearm and the projectile travels down the barrel and into an acquired target , said target is assaulted . We should consult the pope on this one . I hit you on the head with a hammer I have assaulted you and the weapon of choice is a hammer ( assault weapon ) . The 2nd amendment is about protecting our freedoms from ‘anyone’ who would seek to infringe them . Case closed , or should be .

  57. Not anyone’s family heritage? My father was in the Army for 24 years, 14 of which were with SOCOM and JSOC. I’m in Afghanistan as I type this, with an actual, bona fide assault rifle slung across my chest. My father’s father was in the Navy, and my mother’s father in the Army.

    Whether or not I use it for hunting doesn’t remove it from my heritage.

  58. Pretty sure that “assault” type weapons are used exclusively in Kenya (it’s called poaching), but the President isn’t big on claiming his family.

  59. This guy should just stick too being Obama’s spin lackey, he seem very good at it. I don’t need a Chevy Nova with a 454 big block to get me from a to b, but I sure as hell want one!

  60. Since when did this muppet and his party start caring about “tradition”, and “heritage”?? I thought they were the party of Neva’ Been Done Befo. Regardless, I wonder what it must feel like to be a spineless, lying twat who does nothing but obfuscate reality for a living.

  61. Josh,

    You are right you don’t need an assault rifle to hunt deer but it can be used in that capacity in a pinch. But then again you know full well the Second Amendment has never been about hunting or sport it is there to ensure that I as the individual will always have at my disposal the tools necessary for resistance and defense against Tyranny and oppression.

  62. Soo I guess according to the “major domo”of misinformation that anyone who doesn’t hunt with a smooth bore muzzle loading match lock rifle is being unreasonable when it comes to gun rights..
    that’s basically the gist of this bile correct?

  63. So all I would do is go hunting? Is this all he thinks the 2A Rights are? I’d not think we need to battle an Elk heard with a well armed militia. Maybe the 2A means more than hunting?

  64. Maybe a hunting with an “assault rifle” photo contest is in order? Just to show how many of us actually hunt with those dreaded black rifles?

    I don’t know about you guys but I’m hoping to make it a family tradition. It’s funny that the party of “progress” is so stuck on tradition…

  65. Does the White House actually believe that the Second Amendment is about having the proper weapon for killing a wild animal? Or do they think we are so stupid that we will fall for an argument like that?

    They may have noticed that the gun rights vs. control arguments/discussions usually stop when they throw out that argument. What they can’t know is that the arguments stop because the other side realizes he is arguing with an idiot, which is never a wise thing to do.

  66. My great-grandfather could have hunted with an AR-15. I’m sure there are people out there who have inherited Colt SP1 AR-15s their ancestors purchased over half a century ago.

  67. I am sure no one here is surprise from lack wisdom common cents come from Obama administration on any issues has do on firearms. They say some thing stupid all most ever day now on issue firearms.

  68. Blah blah, 2A not about hunting, blah blah ad nauseum.

    Don’t be fooled. Politicians know exactly what the 2A is really about. They’re just trying to make it so citizens don’t.

  69. Justice Roberts says that the daisy BB gun should be ruled an assault weapon and must be banned under section DuMb AsS of Obama care where it states that in order to properly care for the collective we must protect those who fear the lead and beat all guns into iphones . Can this be done ? I’m all in . I’m scared of big black things .

  70. I’m also scared of iphones , they are held in the palm of your hand and put to your forehead and will soon be the worlds only method of buying and selling . I need Washington to protect me and I need my phone handy so I can call 911 when bad guys try to hurt me . I hope they have a big black gun to protect me with when they show up .
    What a bunch of lunacy everywhere . We are truly in upside down world . Good luck folks . Shit is hitting the fan .

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