Don’t underrate the intimidation factor
by digby
Ed Kilgore follows up on the story I wrote about over the week-end about the proposed armed march on Washington with this observation:
[E]ven if no violence ensues, this exercise is actually typical of an awful lot of the stockpiling-guns-to-resist-tyranny talk on the Right (and on rare occasions, the Left) these days. It’s actually the inverse of what Kokesh says: it’s an effort to intimidate political opponents with the threat, if not the immediate actuality, of violence. Otherwise, what’s the point of carrying guns to your nonviolent protest? The point, it seems clear, is to make extraconstitutional claims for the legitimacy of the “constitutional” protests against Big Government. We can peacefully debate, the potential “armed resistance” forces suggest, this or that aspect of gun regulation or Obamacare or drone policy or taxes or “welfare looters” via conventional politics. But in the end, our conviction that your “progressive policies” represent “tyranny” trumps all civil discourse, and that’s when the shooting may start.
I agree. I was appalled at those “open carry” yahoos showing up at Tea Party rallies and Town Halls during the health care debate packing heat.And as Kilgore points out, they’re always talking about how anything they disagree with is “tyranny.” I think there are plenty of people who would think twice about putting themselves in the cross hairs, if you know what I mean. Like these people:
A member of Moms Demand Action said that she felt unsettled by their presence and said that the organizers would have to think twice before holding another event, particularly one where children could be present.
You’ve probably seen the story about the five year old who accidentally shot his 2 year old sister with a “kids” rifle. Here’s just one little piece of evidence about how this sort of thing plays out in American “civil discourse.”
After the funeral service, two men advanced across North Main Street toward a single television crew present, from the German network RTL, and punched the cameraman, bloodying his face and knocking him down.
Two other men told a newspaper reporter, “If you had any sense, you’d get out of here. You’re next, buddy.”
Now sure, this is probably hyperbole from some people who are embarrassed by their barbaric custom that puts lethal weapons into the hands of babies. But the larger point that Kilgore makes is correct. These gun nuts are basically saying, “do what we want or we’ll shoot you.” They believe their “second amendment remedy” legitimately cancels out the rest of the bill of rights.
That’s un-American.
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