So Wayne LaPierre, the batsh*t crazy head of the NRA, held the Washington press corps hostage for a half-hour this morning, rambling, excusing and blaming video games, liberals and gun-free school zones for the 27 deaths in Newtown last week.
The crazy train was only briefly derailed twice, when Code Pink protesters interrupted the press conference (which was really a speech). God bless ’em, they only said what everyone in the room was thinking — and what real leaders would have been saying all along.
As this mess unfolded, I found I was as angry at the media as I was at the NRA. Is there any wingnut so crazy that the librul media will refuse them a national platform? Of course not! LaPierre will be Dancing Dave Gregory’s guest on Press the Meat this weekend, and he will be accorded the same respect and thoughtful consideration as a Bishop Desmond Tutu.
In a way, though, Wayne may have done us all a favor. Normal people, anyone except the dyed-in-the-wool gun worshippers, will be repulsed by his rationalizations, and appalled by his “School Shield” program to put ARMED VOLUNTEERS IN EVERY SCHOOL.
As my mother would have said, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, he’s just plain crazy.”
(Here’s the transcript. You can watch the whole thing here.)
My first thought when I heard the NRA idea was that they have sealed their fate by their own hand. Let’s hope you are right.
One small idea that I thought of would be to put public pressure on supermarkets and Barnes and Noble not to stock the gun magazines (publications). The less powerful and influential among us can nibble around the edges by affecting the gun lobby’s print exposure and revenues. How does something like this get properly started?
You ask for the manager, and you tell them how you feel. Then you tell your neighbors and friends, and ask them to do the same thing.
The NRA’s idea was the best I have heard yet, armed presence at schools and hopefully these pieces of shit would just take themselves out, if not, the armed guard would do it for him, and 26 people would be doing their regular routine at Sandy Hook Elementary today……..
Guns protect our country, President, Members of Congress, Police, why can’t they protect our precious children?
The Police attend high school basketball games, parades, New York Yankee games, The Met…but why not our schools?
The criminals are the ones not following our laws, more gun laws will not be the answer.
To say you want ‘all guns removed’ is the crazy talk on this discussion.
Oh some new commenters, I see.
What utter bullshit. A blazing gunfight, with semi-automatic weapons, powerful enough to penetrate multiple walls, in a building jammed full of kids and the only person hurt would be the bad guy. The only people who can believe this NRA inspired fantasy are self-deluded children informed by movies or gun industry shills. What was the incident sometime back in NYC where the only people firing guns were trained policemen and the only people hit were innocent bystanders? Oh but, only trained, concealed carry permitted people would have the guns . . . tell that to the guy who wanted his pizza faster and was shot by a permitted owner, or the permitted father who ‘accidentally’ shot and killed his seven year-old son, or to the people killed and wounded by the son-of-a-bitch who was running around the Pennsylvania countryside DURING LaPierre’s god-damned speech.
And, oh by the way, I was raised with guns, I own guns and believe that owning guns is genuinely benign, but I sure as hell don’t think we should allow semi-auto weapons to be handed out like fucking crackerjack prizes. Combining people and guns means somebody could be shot. Increasing the number of guns means somebody will be shot. Increasing the number of people and the number of guns means a LOT of people will be shot. Want proof? Follow the fucking news any day of the week in Amerika.
Lost in all of this nonsense is the constitutional rights of the rest of us. Believe it or not, I have a constitutional right to not be around Joel and Marky when they are packing. It’s called freedom of association.
I just discovered that the Gun Victim’s Action Council had (still has?) a boycott of Starbucks (Brew Not Bullets) for allowing open and concealed carry after it was noted as a gathering spot, along with other chains such as California Pizza Kitchen, IKEA, Peets and Disney, for open carry activists. I’m sure it doesn’t normally cross anyone’s mind as to what a store policy is regarding guns when you are shopping or eating. Surely interested people can make inquiries and choose not to support stores that allow or encourage customers to bring their firearms with them. Here is a link to the press release:
http://gunvictimsaction.org/blog/2012/01/press-release-starbucks-boycott/
On a more positive note, I heard a version of Randy Newman’s I Think It’s Going To Rain Today as covered by Claudine Longet on the radio the other day. Not having heard it before, it stopped me in my tracks. Seek it out (youtube, etc.), and I’m sure the Nina Simone version is also fine.
Marky — I often have trouble determining whether your posts are ironic or straight. If the former, they are a little too subtle, and would benefit from a little literary twist to signal your intentions better. If the latter, you seem to be well short of a normal allotment of reasoning ability.
John J. — this tactic looks good on the surface, but is it reasonable to expect some young barista working for a little more than minimum wage to have to tell some guys packing heat that they need to leave the coffee shop? IKEA is a different kettle of fish. I think that they should sell unassembled flat-pack firearms with E-Z-chip particleboard barrels, cryptic assembly instructions, and maybe a couple of missing parts.
Everyone — hey, I have a great idea — let’s hire armed Hell’s Angels to provide security in all our public places. They could shoot the bad guys, or run them over, or deafen them with their exhaust pipes.