Nobody has been hurt so far. We can all hope that nobody will be. But firearms and politics never mix well. They mix especially badly with a third ingredient: the increasingly angry tone of incitement being heard from right-of-center broadcasters...posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:41 AM on August 20, 2009 [4 favorites]
It’s not enough for conservatives to repudiate violence, as some are belatedly beginning to do. We have to tone down the militant and accusatory rhetoric.
More on the man with the gun... William Kostric is a married man in his mid 30S who works in sales. He says he moved here to New Hampshire from Arizona about a year ago, because it's a "live free or die" state -- and he thought Arizona was becoming too restrictive with its gun laws.posted by ericb at 9:59 AM on August 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
He's passing out a bookmark that says, "Join the Second Amendment Revolution, the most exciting pro-liberty movement in over 200 years."
He's a Ron Paul supporter, who opposes just about everything Obama, including health care reform.
The local police say he is within his rights to carry a handgun openly under state law. He was carrying a 9-mm Smith and Wesson strapped to his lower leg.
Police say he's OK on a public sidewalk. Kostric says he has permission from a church just down the street from the high school to be on its private property.
He says he was approached by a "detective," possibly a Secret Service Agent, who told him he could be arrested within 1,000 feet of a school with a weapon under a federal law. Kostric moved back to private property.
When Obama arrived, the police had Kostric under surveillance. A local police captain said the Secret Service has been "in the loop."
Kostric has been about 50 to 75 yards from the entrance to the high school, since about 11:00 am ET, doing interviews and carrying a sign and his gun and police have had their eye on him. But as long as he's been "cooperative," they have watched, but let him be.*
"Rick Sanchez of CNN interviewed a retired Secret Service agent [video] today who lamented that the gun carriers distract the attention of the local police who could be better utilized by keeping their eyes peeled for higher level threats against the president. He opined that the presidential protection team might have to push back the perimeter around the events."*posted by ericb at 10:06 AM on August 20, 2009 [2 favorites]
That's really only if true you exclude the actual things they actually did for communities, which were usually pretty awesomeAgreed. Wasn't trying to slur them but rather trying to say I'd heard they got up to a few sketchy things from time to time. Not by and large.
as well as the fact that their "armed shows of force" were basically what bumped them up from benevolent black hippies to Communist Terrorists.I hope I'm reading sarcasm correctly in your caps.
... you're going to tell me that I'm supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide, who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth abortion and all these different things -- you're gonna tell me I'm supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he's in Phoenix, Arizona?For all the sensationalism and out-of-context quotation around Pastor Wright, I'd sure like it if somebody'd do an expose on the kind of Christianity they have in AZ.
Nope. I'm not gonna pray for his good. I'm going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.
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posted by Artw at 9:30 AM on August 20, 2009 [4 favorites]