Just last week NRA ex-president Marion Hammer claimed that people are racist against guns. Now Ted Nugent is claiming that gun owners are like Rosa Parks:
“‘There will come a time when the gun owners of America, the law-abiding gun owners of America, will be the Rosa Parks and we will sit down on the front seat of the bus, case closed.'”
Gun nuts have lost their damn minds.
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Zifnab25
It’s weird, because I feel like there’s the consensus in the conservative sphere that liberals had success in the 60s by just saying some magic words. And that those words were utterly divorced from reality, but they tugged at people’s heart strings and won them over.
And now, if conservatives can just say those same magic words, they too can win the day and swing the simple-minded mushy low-information independents to their cause. Because if you just say “Oppression! Rosa Parks! Black People!” everyone will smile stupidly and think you’re MLK and vote for you.
Baud
I can see why these people are opposed to limitations on the ability of those with mental illness to own guns.
Bort
You are forgetting that they are always always the victims.
Baud
Today’s NRA
kathy a.
oh, my. they have totally gone off the rails.
if you want to work that analogy — they are the bus owners, already sitting in front, and this time they come publicly packing heat. which is why this fairly insane person can say “case closed,” because in the minds of people he is appealing to, the gun is how you solve things.
Tom Levenson
ABL at top:
I believe this is what those of us from the news biz call a “dog bites man” headline.
Ash Can
Well, yes, that would be why they’re called “nuts.” ;)
At any rate, let ’em yammer. The more they talk, the more they damage their brand. All they do is to make it easier to pass reasonable firearms restrictions.
J.D. Rhoades
To be a right winger of any stripe, but particularly a gun nut, is to lovingly nurse a constant feeling of being aggrieved and oppressed, leading to a sense that anything is allowable. Because if you’re oppressed, you have the moral high ground and the oppressors deserve whatever they get.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
Gun nuts have lost their damn minds
They aren’t helping the cause they claim to support. It’s self-fulfilling prophecy. The shrillness is rising to a higher level than the hysteria of the anti-gun nutz, and the whole thing is riding on emotion.
To quote the Rabbi; ” I think…..we…..should….all calm down”.
Gin & Tonic
@J.D. Rhoades: I can’t get over the amount of *energy* it must take to be so angry and paranoid all the time. I have some acquaintances like this, and I feel like asking, jeez, don’t you get *tired* being this amped up about imaginary stuff 24×7?
Citizen Alan
It says everything you need to know about the NRA and the gun nuts who support it that one of their self-appointed spokespeople is a guy who once proudly claimed to have deliberately shit his pants for a week in order to dodge the draft.
AxelFoley
I swear to God, I’d kick the shit outta Nugent if that pedophile was in the same room as me.
MattF
I suppose we should be grateful that the gun nuts aren’t comparing themselves to MLK. For what is an obvious reason, even to a lunatic.
Baud
The Dangerman
There was a school shooting in Taft, CA, today; one kid was critically injured, but is reportedly stable. Sadly for the NRA, this school HAD a school cop, who couldn’t get to work today because of the weather.
freelancer
Gun owner here. I hate the NRA, and Fuck Ted Nugent.
Violet
@The Dangerman: If only the teachers were armed, this wouldn’t have happened.
I hope the gun idiots keep it up. The more unhinged they sound, the fewer people support them and the better for the country. The lower the NRA approval ratings go, the better chance we have of getting more sensible gun laws passed.
Go on with your bad, idiotic selves, gun nuts! Preach it!
Alison
I think I sprained my eye-rolling muscles.
This dude. Ugh.
JPL
How much of a forum should the nuts get? Piers Morgan has a campaign to profile a nut a day. Josh Marshall has a couple of blogs about a gun nut from Tennessee. My fear is that their voices will drown out the sane voices. Why not interview gun owners who realize that not all ammo is the same?
Baud
@JPL:
Because wingnuts put on a better show and get higher ratings/clicks.
ETA: A dynamic those of us left-of-center tend to perpetuate.
Comrade Jake
Damn Yankee.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@JPL:
Why not interview gun owners who realize that not all ammo is the same?
wrong question.
JPL
@Baud: MSM is going to approach the debate the same way they did global warming, nine against compared to one for. fuck em..
Baud
@JPL:
Yep. I can also see the MSM buying into the “gun owners are real underdogs fighting big government” meme.
scav
@The Dangerman: Still worse for them, the band of 6-years-olds to hurl themselves at him were in naptime so other methods had to attempted. On the other hand, a police were at Mill Creek Elem. IL after a parent got incensed that the kindergartners were saying the pledge wrong and all sorts of joy followed (including mention of blood spilling and language not usually heard in front of kindergartners, although not in exactly that combination I think).
SatanicPanic
Isn’t Rosa Parks with guns pretty much wingnuts’ worst nightmare?
Violet
@JPL: I think Piers Morgan and Josh Marshall have the right idea. For anything to change, the general public has to want it and be behind it. The public for far too long has not been in support of any changes to gun laws whatsoever. More guns, fewer laws has equaled better.
One of the key ways to get public opinion to change is to show the public who the gun advocates in the public sphere are. The NRA is the highest profile gun organization and LaPierre looked like a nutjob twice on national television. The Alex Jones guy comes across as insane. The more of them the better. The more the public sees of them, the more they will turn away from those people and those organizations. That’s only good for the country.
There is no way we will go from what we have now to an all out gun ban. It’s not going to happen. There will be sensible steps supported by law enforcement and sensible gun owners. But the public has to be behind it. Getting the public to separate the NRA from the concept of “sensible” is an excellent first step. Highlighting how crazy these folks are–and letting them say in their own words what they are advocating–is a good thing. That allows the space needed to make change. If the NRA is crazy, then why follow their advice?
Eventually sensible gun owners will step in to fill the void. It will happen. But for now, I’m celebrating the fact that the gun nuts are letting their freak flags fly. The more the better. Profile the crazy. Tie it to the weapons manufacturer lobbying group known as the NRA. Make them own it.
Ruckus
Gun nuts have lost their damn minds.
Hard to lose something you never had.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@MattF: My wife wrote on fb the other day that she thought it was disgraceful that Gun Appreciation day was so close to MLK Day. Her asshole nutter friend from college wrote, “I disagree, and so would MLK, and so would Charlton Heston who marched with him.” That set me off and I argued with him for a few posts. It still fucking pisses me off just thinking about it.
freelancer
@JPL:
Steve M posted some links about the chest-thumping bedwetter from Tennessee, including this short vid at one of his “Training” Classes.
Unbelievably reckless and stupid behavior.
Guns need to be regulated, you should have to have a legal license to possess them, and shit like this should result in your license being revoked.
But this is America.
gnomedad
Ted is still not dead or in jail, I see.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Violet:
Make them own it.
I think many gun owners would support a local tax, going to LOCAL school districts, which went DIRECTLY to special education for those students to be clinically diagnosed then remanded to curriculum programs and special instruction. School resources are hard-pressed, and the tendency is to not properly inform parents of available assistance, because the funds are scarce. Let’s try to focus on the cause, rather than the symptomology.
Violet
@Old Dan and Little Ann: I hope you asked her to cite her sources on MLK and his support for guns. Asking wingnuts to cite their sources is always fun.
JPL
@Violet: It would be nice to hear MSM mention that no one wants to take away all your guns.
In today’s school shooting had the student used an assault rifle, the death toll would have been higher.
Suffern ACE
Yep. The struggle for civil rights was really about getting others to dig ones hobby and make people believe that that deadly hobby was totally worth it and the bestest hobby in the world.
Origuy
The Taft shooting was apparently by a student who had been teased. He had a shotgun and wounded one other student. A teacher talked him down.
Violet
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin): Sorry if I wasn’t clear. What I meant by “Make them own it” is “Make the NRA own the crazy.” De-legitimizing the NRA is a good step forward, because they are not the organization they once were. They are a lobbying organization for gun manufacturers. So make the NRA own the crazy gun nuts and the public will be less supportive of the NRA. That in turn lessens their power and it will be easier to get sensible legislation. That’s what I meant, in case it wasn’t clear.
I disagree with you that “many gun owners” would support a tax for special education in their local district. I do think they might support a tax that went to education in general in their local area.
geg6
@gnomedad:
Heh. Not yet. :-(
Comrade Jake
Didn’t Nugent once promise he’d be dead or in jail if Obama got re-elected? What happened to that?
jl
But after the whole front of the bus gets shot to heck, where will be bus go?
Well, who cares? Because Victory and Freedom (for whatever the hell anybody wants to do no matter who gets hurt).
Phyrrhic Victories are still victories. People forget that.
/snark
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Violet: Her friend is a guy FWIW. But thanks to my comments in her thread I had 4 separate wingnuts giving me grief. I keep telling my better half she needs to unfriend more people. But she just wrote that all the gun nut trolls should kill themselves. That was the end of it.
Petorado
While I find it highly ironic that gun obsessives would assume a posture of non-violent protest to advocate against laws and rules designed to curb the wave of mortal gun violence in this nation, Nugent and his ilk should look at the list of people who were martyred in their cause for basic human rights that they are trying to compare themselves to. The number of times “shot” and “gunned down” appear in the bios would, in a logical world, drive the point home about the silliness of the guns-uber-alles cause they advocate.
Violet
@JPL:
How is the MSM supposed to do this. Some people DO want to take away all your guns, so it would be untrue to say “no one.” As for what’s being discussed in the task force headed by Biden, right now we don’t know what’s going on. We’re getting leaks, and those leaks do not include “taking away all your guns.” The media is not saying they do.
For the record, I know I’ve heard some pundit on one of the cable shows say, “no one wants to take away all the guns” or words like that. But that’s a pundit with a bunch of talking points to push. Can’t remember when it was. It was followed with something like “But I think we can all agree we need to do something”.
? Martin
@scav: That’s an awesome email, signed:
Respect the authoritah of my Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert certificate!
And this is gold. It’s gold, Jerry! Gold!
What the fuck do you think a pledge of allegiance is, douchenozzle? It’s a pledge… of allegiance. And it was written by a socialist, for fuck’s sake!
jl
@Comrade Jake: Looks like Nugent wants to get on the front of a bus heading towards Somalia, or Devon Island, or other such libertarian paradise.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Violet:
I disagree with you that “many gun owners” would support a tax for special education in their local district. I do think they might support a tax that went to education in general in their local area.
Your point is unclear. I was saying responsible gun-owners probably don’t believe there is anything like sensible legislation possible under these circumstances. The emotional tornadoes around the mental cases getting hold of weapons is what is in play. The problem is THEM, NOT responsible gun owners. They WOULD support say an AMMO tax of say, 10-15 percent if it did not require them to rescind control over weapons. It’s just a thought.
gogol's wife
I’m really liking what I’m hearing from the Coalition To Stop Gun Violence. They’re more vocal and feisty than the Brady group. They say they’re being consulted by Biden (I know the Brady Campaign is too).
Mike in NC
@gnomedad: Hopefully that will be corrected soon.
jl
@? Martin: Well, school district says the word ‘liberty’ was not in fact removed from the pledge. So we have a cover-up or government conspiracy, or something or other that is opportunity for further dispute,.
The complainers should attend to the school district pledge, which I notice was included in the district’s response:
In order to develop good citizens,
We believe that every person should
Treat others with respect
Follow school and classroom rules
Try their best
(Emphases added)
Suffern ACE
@Old Dan and Little Ann: yep. After his supposed friend MLK was shot, that Heston guy really honored that legacy. If only MLK were armed…although I’m guessing charlton would never be in that group who figured that when the blacks start joining armed groups, that those groups were tarnishing MLKs legacy and taking things too far.
Violet
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin): When you said “special education”, I thought you meant for students who have learning disabilities. I didn’t understand that you meant students with mental health issues. There could be some overlap in those groups, but not necessarily.
I do agree that responsible gun owners might support a tax that went for mental health or education resources related to mental health in their area.
Previously I suggested that the tax should go to pay for funerals for those killed by gun violence. If there is any leftover after that, gun owners who have paid into the tax can then maybe vote on where it goes. I think gun owners knowing that their gun license is a “Murder Tax” or something like that might be a bit of a wake up call. Perhaps too gruesome?
MikeBoyScout
Think about this.
Today the Vice President of the United States of America met with a representative of an organization where this whackjob sits on the board of directors.
I’ve latched on to the Kevin Drum theory that it’s the lead. Otherwise I lose all hope in this around the bend country.
Another Halocene Human
Is there like a pill that combats an over-active amygdala?
Like maybe something we could grind up and sprinkle into the water supply?
(With votes.)
JPL
@Violet: Our local news has been pushing the fear factor. Recently a woman shot an intruder to protect herself and her children. The news media said that it made a lot of people rethink gun control. Anyway my opinion might be biased because of listening to the local news.
Another Halocene Human
@J.D. Rhoades: Well said. Psychology Today had an article on that.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Violet:
Yes. learning disabilities are frequently masked with prescription meds because it is a cost-effective means of controlling behaviors in the classroom. Mental health issues arise many times because of poor diagnoses and treatment. It exacerbates the condition because many of these meds have side-effects such as HALLUCINATIONS; you know like voices and visual.
Violet
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin): Yeah, there are definitely side effects of medications for mental health, especially in kids. They do work wonders for some, though. It’s a tough nut to crack and mental health does not receive nearly the support it should. Add to that that people still feel ashamed of needing the help and it carries a stigma and it’s a problem.
Suffern ACE
@jl: just a guess. His kid couldn’t recite the pledge because he was mumbling the lines. Like those singers who kind of know most of the words to the anthem, and fumble on the big stage.
scav
@jl: wait till they see the originalBellamy Salute that was used until 1942.
Yutsano
Y U NO DED OR IN JAIL TED??
gelfling545
Speaking of lunacy, what has become of Sheriff Arapio’s bands of merry volunteers that were supposes to swarm the schools in his bailiwick?
EdTheRed
Ah-hah, hush that fuss
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Cargo
Does anybody remember how say, California’s super-strict gun laws got passed in the first place? By republican governors such as St Ronnie, no less?
Because that’s when the Black Panthers started buying up all the assault rifles they could get their hands on.
I don’t think – as usual – the gunlickers have thought this through.
freelancer
@? Martin:
Yeah. Dude is nuts. Typical wingnut faux libertarian.
And an Alex Jones fan.
Cargo
I’m also thinking of using “gunmen” to describe NRA members, given that they’re largely men, and they own guns. They shouldn’t have a problem with that name.
freelancer
@gelfling545:
They’re not so much merry, as they are, er, checkered.
Suffern ACE
@scav: oh why would they want too change that ritual?
JGabriel
… And shoot the bus driver.
It’s kind of hard to play the defenseless minority when you’re waving an AR-15 around, and shouting “MINE until you take it from my cold dead hands!”
.
SiubhanDuinne
@Comrade Jake:
I know, right? What’s taking so damn long?
Jennifer
I posted a long-ass post about the whole gun thing over at my shitty blog a couple of weeks ago, then was pleased as punch to see Jon Stewart pretty much channeling what I wrote the other night…go read the whole thing if you like, but one of the main points was that the folks squalling the loudest about their guns are the ones who have this fantasy that some day, their Bushmaster might help them fight off a tyrannical federal government hell-bent on depriving them of their rights to drive without seatbelts, go without a motorcycle helmet, or be uninformed about what’s in their food, water and air. The paranoia evident in this fear is the first red flag…and then there’s the very idea that a tubby suburbanite is going to stave off an awesome federal arsenal with a semi-automatic rifle, which signals seriously delusional thinking. Paranoid delusionals are about the last folks you’d want walking around armed with rapid-fire weapons – and they’ve been controlling the debate (or lack thereof) on guns for the last generation.
Ruckus
@Violet:
Perhaps too gruesome?
Nothing is too gruesome if it can stop at least the majority of gun deaths. We have seen it happen in other countries and if it wasn’t for gross stupidity of the gun nuts we could have that here. The concept of more guns=safer has to change to the reality that Fewer(lots fewer!) guns=more safety.
I think it the gun nuts want guns they should join the National Guard. That’s your well regulated militia right there. Of course you may actually be sent to a war zone and really find out what people trying to take away your freedom to breath feels like.
Cacti
If guns are restricted, how will Catscratch Ted illegally hunt black bear and deer?
Fred Fnord
@Tom Levenson: Or, to put it another way, that ship has sailed, that train has left the station, and that dog is so old that his great grandpup is on dialysis.
MikeJ
@Ruckus:
When I suggested mandatory weekly drill for gun owners people at this very blog told me that less commitment than a middle school soccer team requires was far, far too much for ownership of a killing machine.
Another Halocene Human
@JPL: fear factor = more gun sales
I wonder if they report on all the times the “intruder” is a family member who gets killt.
gelfling545
@freelancer: Sweet bird of paradise! That crowd should make everybody feel safer.
Violet
@MikeJ: Are you talking about commenters or front page posters? If commenters, well, pretty much anyone can comment here. Hey, they allow me here.
MikeJ
@Violet: Yeah, but it was a regular who I thought had better sense.
Jeffro
I’m seeing more and more of this, the wingers trying to pass themselves off as not just some oppressed minority but literally the spiritual kinfolk of African Americans in the 50’s and 60’s.
I don’t know whether they’re that far gone, or if they somehow think they’ll split progressives with that kind of (fake) argument, or what. But I know I’ve seen it a few times in just the past couple weeks already.
Mnemosyne
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin):
And the kids who actually do need prescription meds to help with their learning disability can go fuck themselves because you don’t think they really need it?
ETA: Changed the link because I didn’t realize the Church of Scientology had gotten to the ADHD entry.
Ruckus
@MikeJ:
Fuck them.
I don’t want to live in a world where I fear that some asshole with a shriveled up little dick about the size of a gnat’s goes that last 3 feet over the edge. What about my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? When does that kick in?
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Mnemosyne:
You need to find another drum to bang, because the one you’re using has a hole to match the one in your head.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Not sure I’d waste my time with someone that changed their nom de plume to reflect the stated point of view.
Calouste
@Zifnab25:
The conservative movement is a cargo cult.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Ruckus:
GFY. I changed it long before Newtown.
Ruckus
@Calouste:
No kidding! A perfect description.
Ruckus
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin):
Doesn’t make you less of an asshole.
And as I said earlier Fuck yourself.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Ruckus:
From the likes of yourself, I take that as complimentary;
Thanks
Ruckus
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin):
Shows the level of your thinking.
It was not intended that way.
HEY YOU
What’s the best word to describe someone who shits his pants to avoid the draft?
Unsympathetic
@Ruckus:
According to the gun nuts, your rights don’t matter unless you’re an NRA member.
NRA members are, after all, The True Americans.
PurpleGirl
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Yes, in his younger days Charlton Heston was a liberal and marched for Civil Rights. But as he got older he became a flaming wingnut. I don’t think Martin Luther King, Jr. would have liked the older Charlton Heston.
PurpleGirl
@Comrade Jake: I think he said something about a certain time period, like by April or May… we gotta wait until then.
PurpleGirl
@Cacti: He could always use bows and arrows and really hunt the bears and deers.
Lancelot Link
Ted Nugent…didn’t he used to be a musician 35-40 years ago?
Chris
@Jeffro:
Both, and neither. They’re just trying to score points. MLK has made it into our national pantheon and been listed by history as a Good Guy, so they must claim his legacy.
It’s really no more absurd than when they claim Jesus would agree with them.
Chris
@Citizen Alan:
It tells you everything about the truth of their claim that they’re TOTALLY ready to go to war with the Fed’rul Gubmint, too.
Humble Lurker
@Cargo:
Maybe we should encourage our African-American friends to start buying up guns en masse to, ironically, get gun laws passed. You packing yet, ABL?
Chris
@PurpleGirl:
Charlton Heston was always a God-bothering asshole, as I recall (shines through in his couple of Biblical Epic movies). As the Dixiecrat crowd deemphasized racial identity and cranked up religious identity as their rallying point, no surprise Heston joined in.
roc
@Zifnab25:
They don’t think it was “magic words”. They think the liberals bought their votes with “gifts”. They *still* think liberals buy their votes with “gifts”.
yopd1
Doesn’t Ted Nugent have to a “law-abiding” gun owner for this to be true?