I Do NOT Have a Gun
Nothing about my apparel stands out. I'm not wearing any accessories, no rifle, no pistols or knives. I'm hoping someone will hear me when I say, without any rage or bitterness. People are sick. People are dying. We can avoid this if we believe we are our brothers' keeper, that we should be Good Samaritans, that their suffering is preventable and their lives matter. But if I go to a town hall meeting and say these things, will the MSM give me a chance to speak on camera, or will they be obsessed with the desires of people to attract attention to themselves and intimidate? Will they listen to me, or will they cater to the man with the gun? Does my freedom of speech require that I carry a firearm these days to exercise that right?
These people with their weapons on display, do they really advocate for insurance companies? Are they in favor of people losing coverage when they file claims? Are they supportive of the unrestrained premium increases these past few years that are unrelated to any actual need or cost, but simply the response to a greater demand by shareholders for higher profits? Are these gunslingers so determined to prevent people from seeing a doctor, any doctor at all?
It's hard to say. Some just want to wear the weapons on their sleeves. Some just want to be seen on TV. Some want to impose their will on others despite their being in a minority. These are not real Americans. They loathe the fact more people favor taking care of one another then favor the ownership society, the Go-Get-Your-Own society, the society where you are owned in an insidious way by a handful of companies, if you wish to have assistance with health care costs that are now out of reach for a large percentage of Americans.
I do not have a gun. Will the media take any notice of me? Am I newsworthy if I represent the overwhelming majority of people who want reform of our healthcare system, but do not carry a gun? The answer really just boils down to this, what they show on the news is the news. Either they can report the rational voices of the majority and how Congress is losing their will to include a public option, or they can broadcast to the world that one man has a gun. Hundreds of people attended the event. They are ignored. But there was this one guy, and he had a gun. I do NOT have a gun. Why is that not news?
Fantastic post.
Perfect pitch in tone and message!
Greatly appreciate. Rec'd.
August 19, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gregor - great blog with such a necessary topic. Why not recognize the man with no weapon and who has a message to deliver. Why not pay attention to the voice and not the gun? MSM does not care about the "common" man - only the sensational story of the man who might pull out a weapon and shoot, maim or kill someone. Good news is not sensational news. Mum
August 19, 2009 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am with you Gregor. I never owned a gun. I was a city boy for fifty years of course.
Up here most people have guns, not necessarily residents in this berg. I guess I would not be surprised if a majority do own a gun, but they do not carry on the streets.
I think that the gun toters are sent out by the repubs to scare those supporting out President, supporting real health reform, etc.
I also will not be surprised when some innocent, an old lady or a child is killed at one of these rallies.
August 19, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very well said Gregor! The media will gravitate towards the hyperbolic - unfortunate, unrepresentative, but typical of "info"tainment.
I do not believe that I saw ANY reports of people showing up with firearms at BushCo events. Did I miss something? What would have happened if they did? Just keep an eye on them? Unlikely.
Showing up at any public gathering armed seems questionable to me, but apparently this is considered permissible.
I'm sure part of it is an "in your face" statement based on the lie that Obama was "gona take your guns." Part seems pure intimidation to me. I do wish the MSM would talk sense rather than highlighting bombastic response.
August 19, 2009 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
We will never know what might have happened, but we DO know what happened in Minneapolis at the GOP Convention and just prior to it. People were incarcerated because they might bring thwir words. They might!!!
August 19, 2009 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well s h e e e t Gregor. Under Bush "protesters" were confined to "free speech zones" moles away from where Bush or Cheney were scheduled to be. Only card carrying, vetted, folks were allowed in or around them.
August 19, 2009 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bravo!
August 19, 2009 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I do not have a gun. Will the media take any notice of me?"
- That depends on who trains you and how well.
"A New Jersey blogger facing charges in two states for allegedly making threats against lawmakers and judges was trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative, his attorney said Tuesday."
"Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gn42Q8Vm5jjobEmzYXatzWxnm4XQD9A5G9HG0
August 19, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anne Coulter says worse stuff than that on a daily basis; she committed voter fraud, and has yet to be arrested. Why is that? She she just too mean to fail?
August 20, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
It might be because Lowlife chronically fantasizes about mAnn Coulter, and he reads his/her stuff one-handed.
August 20, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not carry a gun. Never did, never would.
But I am most definitely a "card carrying Liberal".
August 19, 2009 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good post Gregor. when I saw this guy and his gun I was angry,angry when Matthews interviewed him too.Then I realized just how inane he showed these protesters to be.I mean if you get your 5 min of fame and your face plastered all over the web, you might want to be prepared to speak something intelligent.Instead he talks about guns cus I can, and blood from the tree paranoia.Yes everyone wants to be his neighbor now and agree with his point of view about health care reform, oh wait he didn't mention health care did he, wasn't that what the town hall meeting was about? This fellows antics would make a good anti gun, anti right wing nutter commercial: "Cro magnum man with big boom boom stick say, it so easy even cave man can do" followed by: This is a Public Service Announcement
August 19, 2009 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Poignant, gregor.
August 19, 2009 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gregorwhy would the commercial media want to report on healthcare?
Their lord and masters don't want it. And they're all bought.
Cheaply.
August 19, 2009 11:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
If there's no blood or the possibility of blood, then... no, you don't exist. Try dressing up as Yosemite Sam... that'll get you counted. Act as ignorant and insane as possible and the "Youtubes" will be after you fur shur.
August 19, 2009 11:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great blog post, Gregor. It is indeed sad that these are the "patriots" who receive the attention of the media - without the derisive laugh-track that would be appropriate as accompaniment.
Meanwhile, real people with real issues go unnoticed.
August 19, 2009 11:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Depressing isn't it?
August 20, 2009 12:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
As a kid I hunted with my dad. Those were different times. Then it was about putting food on the table for a very large family. My mom knew very well how to prepare wild game. After my dad passed away I have never hunted again and have never actually owned a gun. During Vietnam I was in the AF so I didn't have a need to carry a firearm.
I'm actually split on this. Out of respect for all those of my generation and before who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our rights I carry an acute awareness of those rights. And not just those of the second amendment. Then there is the common sense issue of why does someone feel they need to carry a weapon. In the sense of having lived both sides of this I can't easily reconcile the two. Honestly, it may not be possible except to say that within each of us we need to know that beyond any doubt there is a time and place for both.
I think the essence of this is we can be rational or irrational about how we see this and make rational choices. The second amendment gives us a right. However, with every one of our freedoms there comes responsibility. Being free and freedom without limits aren't compatible ideas and we need to understand how they are different.
August 20, 2009 3:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ya think...!?!?
August 20, 2009 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do not own a gun. I have known quite a few people in my life who did. They were also utterly terrified of going anyplace beyond their own homes without it under the front seat.
I went all over the place without one.
They thought they were courageous.
I know they were - and are - wrong.
August 20, 2009 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Simply act intemperate, angry without cause, afraid of phantoms, looking the wrong way after being snookered by those protecting their right to be selfish exploiters of the commons.
BTW, I think it should be absolutely unregulated if you make your own gun, melt your own lead, and grind up your own gunpowder to shoot on your own property, but carrying on public property, and raising the possibility of shooting in public seems to allow the same regulation as driving cars.
August 20, 2009 9:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine if an elected representative entered a town hall brandishing his or her right to a congressional pay raise.
Why only sport those rights that require a holster?
August 20, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Young fella, study after study has shown that you are endangering yourself and your fella Americans by not shooting a lotta stuff up all the time!
If you care about safety in your community, then you'll go, KABLAMM!!! That way, we're all protected! Otherwise, everyone's somewhat at risk and the guvmint man come take away you raahts!
See?
August 20, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not have a gun either.
I have a pump-action compressed-gas actuated hydrogen dioxide launcher. It's capable of delivering its payload at a rate of 100ml/second accurately up to a distance of 5 yards on a breezy day, 8 on a still day. For extended firing, a second 1.5l tank can be attached via a rail system along the top of the barrel.
I also have a half shitsu, half doberman. I call it my shitterman.
Fear me.
August 20, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just so it's not the pervasive and deadly dihydrogen monoxide.
August 20, 2009 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I mean... did I mention I skipped chemistry in school?
Thanks for understanding what I actually meant:p
August 20, 2009 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
“Everyone has three characters, that which they exhibit, that which they have, and that which they think they have.”
Alphonse Karr
August 20, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink