From a press release from the Second Amendment Foundation:
In response to a recent op-ed by FOX Sports’ columnist Jason Whitlock and a subsequent statement that “I [Whitlock] did not go as far as I’d like to go because my thoughts on the NRA and America’s gun culture – I believe the NRA is the new KKK,” SAF has started a petition demanding an immediate and public apology to America’s gun owners. The petition, captioned “Jason Whitlock, Bob Costas, NBC Sports, FOX Sports, and the NFL: Apologize to America’s millions of law-abiding and peaceful gun owners!”, seeks 100,000+ pro-Second Amendment signers . . .
During the halftime segment of the NFL’s December 2 Sunday Night Football broadcast on NBC, NBC Sports’ announcer Bob Costas quoted Whitlock’s column and blamed the murder of Kasandra Perkins and suicide death of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher on America’s “gun culture” of law-abiding gun owners and civil rights activists.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said that Whitlock’s recent column is “ludicrous” and Costas’ on-air commentary “shameful.”
“The point Whitlock misses completely is that Jovan Belcher – a massive NFL linebacker – had every intention of murdering the mother of his 3-month-old child, one way or another. Had Perkins had a firearm herself, perhaps their daughter would not be an orphan today. Regardless, America’s millions of law-abiding and peaceful gun owners don’t deserve to be blamed for this tragic circumstance and it’s appalling that we would be singled out as Whitlock and Costas have done.”
“These outrageous comments by Costas and Whitlock show how detached from the American mainstream the anti-civil rights element really is,” said Brandon Combs, SAF Director of Programs and Outreach. “Millions of people across the U.S. choose to defend their lives and those of their family with common semi-automatic handguns, the same kind Mr. Costas doesn’t see any need for. Thankfully, the Constitution takes his firearms policy preferences off the table.”
“Guns save lives, thousands of them, every day. Indicting Constitutionally-protected instruments of self defense – and a majority of Americans who participate in our long history and culture of private gun ownership – for the deaths of Perkins and Belcher is simply wrong-headed and irresponsible.”
Please visit and sign the petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/jason-whitlock-bob-costas-nbc-sports-fox-sports-and-the-nfl-apologize-to-america-s-millions-of-law-abiding-and-peaceful-gun-owners.
I signed the petition and on the next page I was given the option to sign what the website thought was a related petition, “Thank Bob Costas for having the courage to stand up against gun violence.”
Not a related petition and Costas didn’t stand up against gun violence, he stood up against gun OWNERSHIP.
Same here. Just hoping my information is not used in some diabolical fashion.
+1
Didn’t you see who sponsored the “Thank Bob Costas” petition? Mayors Against Legal Guns.
Also note that a bunch of idiots on our side are signing that one just so they can deposit their two cents in the comments section. That might be the reason we only have 2,000 signatures while theirs has 9,000.
Wow, Blinky, I didn’t notice that ’til you said something. That petition has 9k signatures, but of the 14 comments I can see on the front page, 7 are either speaking against the petition, or “signed in error/scammed.” I wonder if that 50% ratio carries through the whole 9k.
Oh, I thought it was Idiot Power-Hungry Mayors With Too Much Time On Their Hands And Not Enough Brains. Silly me.
People who get in shoot outs with bad guys stand up against gun violence. People who bitch about it do just that, bitch about gun violence.
+1, Sir!
Loved the response to Whitlock and Costas here: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/kansas-city-chiefs-jovan-belcher-suicide-murder-no-reason-to-take-away-rights-120512
Excellent read at the link!
Thanks!
Screw Whitlock and Costas. Screw meaningless online petitions. I will choose to live my life today without having to add another boogeyman or two to my backpack. I am tired of being told to villify another media-appointed boogeyman. Fox, MSNBC, TTAG, all the same routine, just different boogey-men.
Signed. You should do the same.
All you just did was add your name to another list that will be stored deep inside the government digital vault in Utah while Costas and Whitlock laugh their a$$es off at us gun-toting sheep lining up to provide them with further attention, publicity and viewership.
Dude every single keystroke you’ve taken for the last decade or so is on record with the gov’t. Much to late to worry about that…
http://rt.com/usa/news/surveillance-spying-e-mail-citizens-178/
That’s my point Einstein. That’s all that’s been accomplished. Zero, zip, nada. Nothing but meaningless theater and 1’s and 0’s in some storage unit.
I watched a video of this a couple of nights ago. That man is a true patriot and I weep at the fact that a video of some lame Korean pop star dancing in a horse barn will always get infinitely more attention. I always thought the NSA was just harvesting everything by everyone from day one so I’m not surprised. It’s what they may do with that info and how far they’re willing to go with it that does.
…bother me immensely. I’m no tin-foil hat salesman, but reading all the history that I have and drawing parallels does make me wonder.
Last I checked there is still a 1st amendment and freedom to tell the govt or anyone else you do not agree. If you are a gun owner, you are already on the list whats one more.
Thanks for the 1st Amendment tutorial. You’ve accomplished a whole bunch this morning, between your lessons and petition signing.
Joke & Dagger: Nice of you to point out how he little he got done. I haven’t seen your name around here much before a few days ago, and all I’ve seen you contribute thus far is bitching about the content and taking potshots at the commenters. What exactly are you looking for from this site?
Matt: long time reader and participator. Just did the Gravatar thing with a new name and I’m cranky today. Any idea who I was?
Let’s hope you weren’t someone who was banned.
No, but now I’m gonna try to figure it out. Not right this second, but it’ll be my mini-game. I’m a fan of the avatar, by the way.
Nope, I’m in good standing. Was only warned a couple of times. 🙂 I’m not Ralph or Aharon, though I share many of their views on the institution of marriage! I’m definitely not White Supremacist Matt either.
Although I agree with the sentiment, this gesture means absolutely squat. Signing it would mean I actually cared what these 2 a-holes think and say. So what would happen if they actually came out and apologized? Nothing. These 2 d-bags talk about sports for a living. They couldn’t be any more irrelevant.
Did my part. Signed!
– D
“Bob Costas quoted Whitlock’s column and blamed the murder of Kasandra Perkins and suicide death of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher on America’s “gun culture” of law-abiding gun owners and civil rights activists.”
This is not intended to be a racist comment, because it does span races, but what about the “gangsta” culture that Hollywood, the media, the music industry, and the gaming industry so vehemently promotes? “Law-abiding” gun owners are definitely NOT the problem.
The gaming industry? Really?
I can only think of two or three games out of hundreds where “gangsta” culture is a main theme.
.50 Cent had his two video game abominations. It may not be much, but it still counts.
Online petitions, the new equivalent to pissing in the wind.
Rob: “Online petitions, the new equivalent to pissing in the wind.”
I was just thinking: “new equivalent to ‘Like this on Facebook to {insert cause here}’.”
Haha, that works too.
SAF wants apologies from Whitlock, Costas, Fox and NBC, and I want unlimited wealth, eternal youth and a teenage girlfriend.
I think we’re both going to be disappointed.
Bob Costas earns $5 million a year, and has a net worth of $20 – $35 million.
Why should he apologize, when he’s laughing all the way to the bank?
Ayn Rand would be proud of him.
so Whitlock and Costas are calling me a racist for being a LIfe Member of the NRA, but I am Black. Hmmmm.
Dirk, their not calling you a racist. Its much worse than that. They are calling you a house negro because you support the “NEW KKK”. God forbid you should be capable of independent thought that doesn’t reduce every issue to the color of ones skin.
I certainly wouldn’t go as far as to say that there is no racism, but let’s be honest, there’s just not that much of it in every day life. But people like Whitlock, Sharpton etc. are only relevant by projecting and even inventing racism where there is none. These guys are opportunists of the worst kind, trying to get their 15 minutes by exploiting personal tragedies of others, while pushing some ridiculous agenda based on their personal preference and general ignorance.
They need to use another petition site (or create one) besides change.org which is a leftist progressive anti-freedom organization. Still, the SAF is a good organization and I am going to re-new my expired membership.
“Gun Control” has been depriving law abiding black people of a way to protect ourselves for way too long!
Bob Costas and company (especially Whitlock) should be ashamed of themselves. Owning a gun does not make anyone a criminal. Where is the personal responsibility of the person who pulled the trigger? Society is all over law enforcement when they pull the trigger as monday morning quarterbacks but when individuals use a gun to hurt or kill and innocent then its the guns fault. Give me a break. You owe everyone especially Kassandra’s family an apology.
Petitions and apologies are meaningless in today’s Obama/Boehner/Gethner/Holder/Napalitano world. The Ruling Class is doing running this country the ways it wants and all this talk show nonsense is simply to distract the rest of us. I’ll stick to football and guns for my distraction.
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