What will we hear about next, people showing up in hoods and white sheets? sigh..
Either action; if openly wearing/showing guns or donning hoods and sheets at a public-held political gathering, one which is garnering as much attention as health care legislation, will produce the same purposefully intended results–that of bullying, fear, and intimidation.
And neither would have a thing to do with the issue at hand.
But, I guess that’s the whole point…
PHOENIX – About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday – the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.
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.
Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.
The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could.
Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who monitored the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him.
“Just by his presence and people seeing the rifle and people knowing the president was in town, it sparked a lot of emotions,” Oliver said.
Last week, during Obama’s health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a sign reading “It is time to water the tree of liberty” (*from a Jefferson quote totally taken out of context and meaning*) stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.
Fred Solop, a Northern Arizona University political scientist, said the incidents in New Hampshire and Arizona could signal the beginning of a disturbing trend.
“When you start to bring guns to political rallies, it does layer on another level of concern and significance,” Solop said. “It actually becomes quite scary for many people. It creates a chilling effect in the ability of our society to carry on honest communication.”
He said he’s never heard of someone bringing an assault weapon near a presidential event. “The larger the gun, the more menacing the situation,” he said. (full article here)
Barack Obama faces 30 death threats a day, stretching US Secret Service
Promoters of Anarchy in America
On a side note: an update on an earlier related post, Another advertiser pulls Ads from Glenn Beck Show; it appears the list of advertisers who have informed Fox they no longer want their commercials aired during Beck’s program, has grown. As of today 8 more joined the list: Best Buy, Broadview Security, CVS, Re-Bath, Travelocity, Wal-Mart, GMAC Financial Services, and Allergan. That totals 20 companies in just 2 weeks.
"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."
And if there is an assassination, I wonder how many people on the Right are going to claim that they had NOTHING to do with it.
wickle,
Rest assured that everyone who “had nothing to do with it”, God forbid it happening anyway, will claim they “had nothing to do with it”!
Wickle, the woods been stacked, the fuel poured on; all that needs to happen next, is someone toss the match.
The fuel was poured on during many of the Palin campaign rallies last year, prior to the election. I said it then, but got lambasted on here by people who thought i was picking on her. But it was the truth.
I am a pretty conservative person. I am not thrilled with most liberal policy. Neither am I much thrilled the last so many years with conservative policy. I still edge out usually to conservatism because I have no better option available. I really hate the systematic dissolution of our rights that is being sought so hard.
But bringing guns, just because you can, in an era of high violence and mass-shooting rampages, to a rally in protest, is pure foolishness.
You can protest whatever you’re protesting without them. Feel free to tell people you have a gun or many at home and that it is your constitutional right to bear arms. They’ll generally believe you. You don’t have to show them and look scary by strapping one on and strutting around those you disagree with.
It doesn’t look patriotic or wise. It looks exactly the way these folks intended it: intimidating. The right to bear arms was never intended for intimidating fellow citizens who disgree with you.
It was a safeguard for the people to defend themselves, most especially against tyranny of government, such as the one the newly formed country threw off. It was meant to make any future would-be tyrants cautious about employing marshal force against the people to hold on to power or oppress the people against the will of the people in free election. IOW, to keep the government from getting to big for its britches.
I do not worry whatever way our government goes. I am of an eternal kingdom and Christ is my King. I will seek to lawfully maintain what freedoms I can but if God, Who is sovereign, removes them, who am I to complain? I am a stranger here, my primary concern is not my comfort and freedom in this life, but finishing my course to its end and keeping the faith granted to me by grace in Christ Jesus. When I am on my face before Him, then I am finally in my own country, my true home.
Oh, yeah … Gov. Palin and her “Our opponent doesn’t see America the same way we do. We love our country” bologna, the “palling around with terrorists” stuff … you’re right, the fuel’s been poured for a while now.
I fear that if something happens, it’s going to be some guy who claims that he’s doing it in God’s name.
And don’t forget, “he’s not one of “us”..”
Yes, me too.
I’ve been saying it for a few years now, ( most don’t agree with me), i believe when “real true” Christian persecution (not what is called persecution in the US today) comes upon this country, it will come about because of extreme right-wing political fanatics, who claim to be Christians. As we see today, there is a fringe element of these folks very vocal now.
What i find disturbing, is their actions or threat of action [subtle or not] is not being denounced by the church as a whole.
Instead of the church distancing itself from these radicals, the church appears to want them out there, or at the least accepts them, as their public ‘voice’
Pj, the man carrying the assault rifle was black. I’m not sure if he is a self hating black in the KKK movement.
The man carrying the assault rifle was sent in with the rifle by a “conservative” radio show’s host, Ernest Hancock, who by the way was also packing a loaded gun.