Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Stop taking guns to health care protests

The intimidation tactics being used by protesters at the health care town halls were bad enough when they were shouting down people they didn't agree with. Now they are taking guns to the protests and displaying them publicly.

The latest was on Monday when a health care protest in Phoenix got menacing. The Associated Press reports that a dozen people carried guns -- one had an assault rifle -- at a protest at the convention center where President Barack Obama was speaking.

Phoenix police said the protesters with guns were not doing anything illegal. That may be the case, but it was still wrong for them to have guns at this event. If the National Rifle Association thinks this kind of behavior is going to make average Americans support their cause, they are just plain crazy. This tactic will backfire on the NRA.

I wholeheartedly support the right to protest a political cause. But you are losing the argument with me if you have to display a gun during your protest.

Here's more form the AP: " Gun-rights advocates say they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen."

7 comments:

  1. I am unaware of any individual in possession of an assault rifle present at a convention center where Mr. Obama was in attendance.

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  2. Then you aren't watching the news accounts or seeing the video showing the AR-15/ This was confirmed by Phoenix police. This was reported in sveral accounts: "The Phoenix-based host of "Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock" identified the bespectacled man with the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle as "Chris," saying he's known him for two years as part of a younger generation of Libertarians.

    "We are up against a tyrannical government that will rob the next generation as long as they can get away with it," Hancock said.

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  3. An AR-15 is not an assault rifle, and the individual in possession of such a rifle was not in a convention center where Mr. Obama was in attendance.

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  4. This was from the news story: "Video of the unidentified man toting an assault rifle outside President Obama's speech to veterans Monday was aired all over the country, causing a buzz about weapons popping up -- legally -- around recent presidential events."

    You may be correct on whether it was an assault rifle. That's not my expertise. . . This was how the rifle was described in the media: ". . . identified the bespectacled man with the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. . ."

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  5. That a media source identified an AR-15 as an "assault rifle" and claimed that the man in possession of it was "outside President Obama's speech" when in fact he was outside of the security perimeter established by the United States Secret Service (through which no civilian armed with any weapon would have been permitted) demonstrates only that the author of the relevant article is either uneducated or dishonest.

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  6. Dimensio, you are missing the point and squabbling over semantics. A gun is a gun. It is meant to kill, or to intimidate other human beings.
    Even though the person with the gun, whatever type it was, and a lot of us don't know the difference between an assault rifle and an AR-15, you are being offensive when you state that the author was uneducated or dishonest, was outside the security perimeter, he still brought a gun to a protest within the vicinity of President of the United States. That to me sends a scary message and I am sure the secret service were not thrilled with the presence of this gun, no matter how far away he was from the president.
    You obviously know what an AR-15 is, I do not. But I did see the man carrying a HUGE, what I would consider a military gun, outside with the protesters. This gun went from his shoulder, almost down to his feet. This gun, this AR-15, was obviously made for mass destruction, and that is a whole other issue during a protest. Is this man going to all of the sudden start shooting the other side because he has finally reached his breaking point with those who do not agree with him.
    This gun toting at protests, which often become extremely heated and at times physical, not only sets a dangerous precedent, but could lead to serious violence. And all in the name of the second amendment? At some point, common sense needs to take over.

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  7. The argument from Dimensio is typical of the gun lobby. . . take the debate away from the topic at hand, which is whether guns should be taken to health care protests. They should not be there and displayed in a menacing manner. He wants to show off his knowledge of guns, Big deal. I know a lot about tying fishing flies, but that has nothing to do with this either. The questions posed by the author of this blog is whether guns should be taken to the protests. They shouldn't be.

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