Posted on 04/14/2010 5:17:48 AM PDT by Travis McGee
You know you are near the target when the flak gets heavy.
Moreover, you also know you are at the target when the flak stops so that the enemy fighters can attack you.—Western Rifle Shooters Association
A "threat to rule of law" has been exposed! By "extremists."
By...uh...me.
Boogedy-boogedy!
Desperately seeking relevance in this latest battle of the War on Guns, Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (renamed from the National Coalition to Ban Handguns to mask its intent, although that goal remains) waves his arms, screams "Me too!" and doesn't miss a talking point, from conflating the purpose of the Second Amendment March and Restore the Constitution Rally with the Oklahoma City bombing, to painting the participants as violent haters.
If we're to believe him, the peaceable exercise of the First Amendment in support of the Second is "an open threat."
Just to show you what bad Group W bench hombres those of us speaking at the rallies are, CSGV presents a "rogue's gallery" of sorts, complete with damning quotes. Scroll to the bottom of this linked page to see their entry for me:
DAVID CODREA—Speaker at D.C. and Fort Hunt rallies.
Bio: David Codrea is a gun rights advocates whose columns have been featured in Guns and Ammo, Handguns, and Guns Magazine, where he writes the monthly “Rights Watch” column. Additionally, he is the author of a blog,“The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance and the “Gun Rights Examiner for Examiner.com.
Quotes from David Codrea:
“Careful ... You’re talking about testing the ultimate last-resort purpose behind the Second Amendment. Some of us armed Americans take our Bill of Rights seriously and will not go gentle into that good night, bundled or by ourselves. You and your fellow travelers are playing a most dangerous game.”
Source: Codrea responding to a columnist who suggested that “Anyone who shows up armed at a forum where a public official or political candidate is due to appear ought to be detained and possibly prosecuted.” Guns Magazine, "The Most Dangerous Game," January 2010
Well--they certainly make it look like I'm threatening to get violent should due process and rule of law be applied to me. Except that's not what I was responding to, and CSGV knows it.
We've gone over this before. In detail. I was responding directly to these lines from "The Guns of August" by statist cheerleader Ted Rall, and my article made that clear:
These town hall terrorists could be declared enemy combatants and bundled off to Bagram with the stroke of a pen. If ever there were a reason for suspending civil rights, this is it.
Just in case we're still not clear, Rall is saying he wants government enforcers to take gun owners who have committed no violation of any law, but who have peaceably assembled in protest as per our First Amendment-recognized right—to a torture camp, without due process, without trial...Jeez, and to think the left ridicules Oath Keepers for saying they wouldn't obey such orders...
So you're damn right, Josh. What kind of devoid-of-principles coward wouldn't fight stormtroopers trying to do that to free Americans? And what kind of subversive traitor to every precept of the Republic, not to mention common decency, would hold that against a man and view it as an opportunity for his public condemnation?
Disgusting.
As an aside, I've been writing regular Second Amendment stuff for over 20 years now. That's the best they got? What does that say when this is the most damning quote they can find, and they've got to lie about the context to make it fit into their narrative?
I've run into this Horwitz character before. A few years back, The New York Times put on a panel to discuss the aftermath of Virginia Tech, and they figured it would be fair to pit me against six antis, including Bagram cheerleader Josh here. It still wasn't fair, but even if they'd added a couple more offensive linemen to their side they still wouldn't have been able to prevail against the simple truth. He struck me then as a humorless version of Elena Ceausescu and I can see he hasn't improved with age.
That's not surprising, though. I mean, what can you say about a guy who goes back to post-WWI Germany to get his "moral" argument for state "monopoly on force"? Interesting that Horwitz's hero in this case is Max Weber, whose advocacy for inserting Article 48 "emergency powers" (you know, including "suspension of civil rights") in the Weimar Constitution empowered Hitler's unchallenged takeover.
Interesting, telling and pretty damn creepy.
Appeal to regular readers: If you perceive a value from visiting this site on a regular basis, will you help me build its readership? Please share the link to this column via emails, blogs, forums... For more commentary, make my online journal, The War onGuns: Notes from the Resistance a daily stop.
What’s it about? Is it fiction or nonfiction?
How do you “silent freep?”
I second that!!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Good article; thanks for posting it.
Interesting...
I agree 1000%. I am tired of internet commandos and sunshine patriots who stand on their keyboard soapbox with ease but turn tail as soon as taking a stand is necessary. The founding fathers openly opposed tyranny and taunted British troops and local tax collectors. We need men of character, not bluster.
The line has moved considerably in the last year.
That’s bright thought for the day!
I tell you what... If they do it again next year, meet me there. I'll buy you lunch and the first round of drinks after the rally.
There’s a couple I can think of who are listed in the “Acknowledgements” of Trav’s most recent book ...
Glad to see nothing untoward happened.
The more successful such rallies there are, the more people will join in.
The drive is a bit far from Atlanta (with two kids under 2 in the mix), but if we can bump heads at some such event I’ll buy _you_ lunch for being right.
Just don’t get complacent/cocky. Would-be tyrants don’t like uppity peasants. Squeaky wheels get greased.
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