Having the “Right” to carry a gun does NOT make you smart enough to actually do it.

Ron White, a very funny comedian, once made a joke about being busted by the cops while drunk: he had the right to remain silent, but “did not have the ability”. Not only funny, but instructive. We all have rights, but we don’t always have the ability to use them as the law intended.

Here is a very good example: a man exercising his right to openly carry a gun was robbed of said gun by another man carrying a concealed weapon. Pretty dumb move, to put a just-purchased weapon on public display without being prepared for what might happen:

William Coleman III was robbed of his Walter- brand P22 just after 2:00 a.m. October 4 in Gresham by a young man who asked him for it — and flashed his own weapon as persuasion.

Coleman, 21, was talking to his cousin in the 17200 block of NE Glisan St., after purchasing the handgun earlier that day, when a young man asked him for a cigarette, police said.

The man then asked about the gun, pulled a gun from his own waistband and said “”I like your gun. Give it to me.”

Coleman handed over the gun and the man fled on foot.

Once can debate the Second Amendment all one wishes (this writer is a proponent of RKBA), but just like any other right, one must use a brain cell or two when exercising it. When speaking freely, one should be aware that other people might disagree with their speech. When assembling freely, one should be prepared for someone else putting together a counter-demonstration. And when hanging a gun on one’s hip, one should be trained and prepared for how to responsibly handle it.

Mr. Coleman was NOT at all prepared. He could have carried his own gun as the robber did, concealed. That way he’d be equipped to defend himself without risking theft. Or he could have taken other measures to guard against theft. (Helpful hint: a gun is not a magic wand. It is a weapon that can be defeated, or taken away, by an opponent who has more skill than you have.)

Ya know, if it’s the possibility of armed conflict you are trying to cope with (as Mr. Coleman clearly was), you should learn something about, well, armed conflict. Only a completely uneducated idiot would allow the enemy to know the details of his own offensive and defensive capabilities (read Clausewitz and Sun-Tzu for the basics of military straegy and tactics). And a complete idiot is what Mr. Coleman surely was, because he did not bother to learn Thing One about HOW to exercise his rights: he just ran on out and started exercising them.

Too many Americans stop thinking once they get to “rights”. We all need to consider our responsibilities as well. But FIRST, we must think about our capabilities.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The NRA is Full of S***: A Horrific School Shooting in Pakistan Proved It.

Pakistan just had its own version of the Newtown school massacre. Heavily-armed lunatics stormed an army-run school in Peshawar and killed lots of innocent children. And this writer has already heard more than one gun nut say this proves the need for more private gun ownership. They draw a parallel between the two killing sprees and smugly proclaim that more “good guys with guns” could have protected the kids in Peshawar.

There is a teeny-tiny problem with this “argument”: it is bulls***. Pakistan is full of gun owners, good and otherwise.

Pakistan barely regulates guns at all. Their gun culture is NRA Nirvana. In fact, the Pakistan government hands out licenses for automatic weapons to citizens who are afraid of being attacked. Hell, you can legally carry grenades and rocket launchers in some parts of the country.

Plus, the school in question is operated by the Pakistani military. Do the gun nutters really think that country’s army is a bunch of anti-gun activists? Puh-leeze.

No, Gentle Reader, what this despicable atrocity demonstrates is that guns aren’t the solution for every criminal problem. You can carry all the firepower you want on your person, and still wind up dead if some a**hole gets the drop on you. And your kids can still be killed by homicidal motherf***ers like the Taliban, Timothy McVeigh, or Adam F***ing Lanza, no matter how many guns you sell to the general population.

Security cannot be obtained by guns alone. It is a product of careful thought, law, justice, collaboration and intelligence. NONE of which the NRA bothers with.

Guns are a Constitutional right, and one which this writer believes in and exercises. Carefully and in a responsible manner, with a focus on varmint control and home defense.

The only way to keep our kids safe from gun violence is to have a society with less violence. We will never achieve that by pushing our citizens to own and carry more guns so as to be ready to commit violent acts of their own.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“Republican” Senatorial Candidate Loves Violence, Mayhem, and Sedition.

Joni Ernst, the Teapublican candidate for Senate in Iowa, is well known for her bloodlust and castration fetish (hint: if you are a male and find her on Tinder, DON’T SWIPE RIGHT. She’d love to “swipe” your wedding tackle).The fact that Iowans look like they’re gonna send this crazed, latter day cross between Lizzie Borden and Sweeney Todd to Washington is pretty damned revolting. But hey, what’s a little serial genital mutilation between friends, right?

Now, though, we can add sedition to the list of Joni’s criminal predilictions: she wants to use her gun to take over the government, and to get rid of Obamacare. Click that link there for the details:

“I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere,” Ernst said at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally in Searsboro, Iowa. “But I do believe in the right to carry, and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family — whether it’s from an intruder, or whether it’s from the government, should they decide that my rights are no longer important.”

Iowa, really? The “candidate” wants to kill, mutilate, and maim people she doesn’t like, by her own repeated admission. And you like her well enough to send this person, who wants to overthrow the government, to help RUN the government? No, Iowa, seriously, really?

Dafuq?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

It’s Corrupt. It’s Extremist. It’s anti-American. It’s the Teapublican Party.

The “Republican” establishment is pretending that they are not like the Teabaggers, that they are at odds with them, that Baggers are troublesome, that they do not “represent the views of the Republcian party”, and that they were a problem. Bull-F***ing-Shit. They are all part of the Repub caucus, share bank accounts, and work together in offices across the country. There is no difference between the Baggers and the Repubs.

For example: Elected “Republican” Brian Berger was found stoned on drugs, passed out in his car, and busted for OMVI. For the fourth time. He’s also a psycho who has a restraining order against him for abusing an ex. He is still in office. Corrupt? Hellz yeah.

Elected “Republican” Ted Yahooo Yoho is holding a pro-gun event on Saturday. The anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. He claims it’s a coincidence. Suuuuuuure, Teddy Boy. Extremist? Oh, Hellz Yeah.

“Republican” party official Dave Agema recently went on an anti-gay tirade full of lies and discriminatory rhetoric. He has a few critics, but is largely supported by his state party, and will be Michigan’s representative at national committee meetings. Evidently he thinks the Founders didn’t really mean that “all men are created equal” language. Anti-American? Oh, HELLZ YEAH.

People, these scumbuckets ARE the “Republican” party. They are mainstream. They’re not fringe wackos living in shanties, they are public officials: elected by Repubs, funded by Repubs, supported by Repubs, and that makes them mainstream Repubs. They are also corrupt, gun nutty, hateful, homophobic psycho cases.

And if you vote for or support a “Republican”, then you also show your support for corrupt, extremist haters of the Constitution. Squirm all you like, but that’s the reality. The Dems will stick a shiv in the back of any of their members if they step out of line, but the Elephants support and enable the crooks and crazies in their ranks. So, voting for a Dem doesn’t make you a supporter of crimes and misdemeanors, because they’ll throw one of their own under the bus without so much as a honk of the horn. The GOP ignores the misdeeds of its officials and members.

Not that this is a new thing that came in wtih the Teabaggers: Former Ohio Governor (and “Republican:) Bob Taft was convicted of crimes in office, and STILL served out the remainder of his term, even though he was, well, convicted of crimes in office. The first Ohio Governor convicted of crimes in office, and his fellow ‘Phants shrugged it off. That’s the “Republican” party, folks.

Corrupt? Extremist? Anti-American? Hellz Yeah.
Deserving of your vote? Oh, Hellz No.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

You’re On A Terrorist Watch List? Sure, You Can Buy A Gun

Yes, you read that correctly. If you are on a terrorist watch list, you can pass the current background check and buy a gun from a licensed dealer. Not surprisingly, some people want this changed. Even less surprisingly, the NRA and other Gun Nuts don’t.

Yes, you also read that last bit correctly. The Gun Nuts support the rights of terrorists to keep and bear arms. In fact, they managed to kill an amendment last week that would have taken away the ability of terrorists to buy AR-15’s, bulk gunpowder, and other tools of their lethal trade: that trade being, of course, the killing of Americans.

This is not a partisan issue: the Bushies and the Obamians both tried to take away the rights of terrorists to legally buy the materials they need to, well, terrorize us.

It is a money issue: the NRA, GOA, IFOA, and other lobbyists for the firearms industry want to have as many customers as they can; and terrorists buy lots of weaponry, powder, and other supplies. That is cash for the armament manufacturers, and they want that cash, regardless of how many of our citizens die as a result of terrorist acts.

And if course, it is cash to bribe elected officials to kill any legislation that might keep terrorist groups from being able to legally purchase weapons of mass (and individual) destruction. And like any crooked politico, the bribed “representatives” vote as they were paid to.

Gentle Reader, does this seem to you like “providing aid and comfort to the enemy”? Because it certainly does to me.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Gun Week, Day Three: Gun Owners Are Not Stereotypes. They Are People.

You’d never know it from the wingnut screechers whose voices dominate the debate on gun rights and gun violence, though.  The Loony Lefties would have you believe that all gun owners are mouth-breathing conspiracy theorists whose lust for automatic weapons is matched only by their desire to kill people. The Raging Righties say that gun owners are the only thing preventing the ObamaBots from taking over the world, and that we need the right to keep and bear mortars and bazookas, as well as machine guns and cop-killer bullet to protect our freedoms.

The Blunt and Cranky Family are gun owners, and fit neither of these stereotypes: we have guns for practical reasons. For example: chez BluntandCranky is out in the country, and is thus primarily equipped for varmint control. However, we are moving into town soon, and we will be getting different guns for different purposes. We aren’t trying to overthrow a government, defend against tyranny, or any those fevered dreams of the Gun Nuts. We also aren’t much interested in making a bunch of weapons manufacturers even richer than they already are, so we’ll be getting what we need and then stopping. 

Kind of like a normal purchase that a normal family normally makes, wouldn’t you say? Like pots and pans, power tools, canned goods, or anything else people use in their daily lives. No ideology, no philosophy, just ordinary pragmatism at work. Other normal gun owners have guns to hunt, or to defend their homes, and other likewise practical purposes.

Now, there are Gun Nuts who fit the stereotypes used by wingnuts to a tee: in fact, this writer knows a fair few of them. They strike us as either collectors, or deluded fools who are being fleeced by the armament industry. Thankfully, very few gun owners fit that mold.

Gentle Reader, always remember that mass media images are not always based in fact: all too frequently, they are exaggerations used to make a political point or to create outrage. Said outrage, of course, helps to drive up ratings of the Infotainment industry, thus making more money: note that truth and accuracy are not significant business drivers for these companies.

Gun owners, like humans in general, come in all different shapes, sizes, and types. People who treat us like cartoonish media memes do NOT convince us. Instead, all they do is piss us off, and make us close our ears to their rants. Want our attention? Talk to us as individual Americans. Which is what we are.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Senate’s Pro-Killer Caucus

Today, some parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown will be on Capitol Hill begging lawmakers to allow debate on background checks and other gun-related legislation. And thirteen Senators have already told these grieving families to go pound sand. Yes, they did say that.

You see, the Senators in question (add Bitchy Mitchy McConnell to the list from yesterday) are much more sympathetic to the Adam Lanzas of the world than they are to the victims of gun violence. Put another way, they support the rights of killers over the rights of the killed.

This writer suggests that you contact the thirteen members of the Pro-Killer Caucus (feel free to use that phrase): Senators Paul, Cruz, Rubio, Lee, Moran, Inhofe, Burr, Johnson, Enzi, Risch, Crapo, Coats, Roberts and McConnell. Tell them that you support the rights of the 99.999% of Americans who are NOT killers.

As opposed to these Senators, who support the killers’ right to bear arms: arms they can use to kill little children.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Joe Biden Schools NPR Reporter, and Squashes the NRA

NPR’s Melissa Block got herself pretty well embarrassed by our Vice President yesterday. Mr. Biden did what politicians rarely do: he pushed back against her repetitious quoting of NRA propaganda with his own facts and viewpoint, without flinching, yelling or screaming. You can listen to it or read it here.

The “journalist” kept on trying to steer the conversation back to Gun Loony Land, but Joe was having none of it. Time and time again, he called BS on her “questions” (all too often, they were statements masquerading as questions) and responded with the facts.

As someone who is fed up with the sorry state of the “news” in this day and age, it was a treat to hear a politico nut up and school one of these biased, unprofessional weasels.

Mr. B & C

The NRA and “Republicans”, Talking Out Their A**es Again

At yesterday’s hearings on Gun Control, the ever-unhinged NRA mouthpiece Wayne LaPierre repeated one of the standard “Republican” lines: that we do not need new laws until President Obama enforces the existing ones. Sounds reasonable until you remember that:

Number A: the biggest impediment to the enforcement of existing laws is the Teapublicans’ persistent defunding of the government agencies who are charged with said enforcement. These Right-Wing fools expect our public safety resources to do more and more, while simultaneously refusing to pay them for so doing. Repubs must think money magically appears when needed, perhaps delivered by perky little fairies riding unicorns.

Letter 2: it is not Obama’s job to enforce each and every law on the books. No one person can do that. It takes thousands of people at all levels of government to do so. And they, too, have had their authority undermined, staffs reduced and budgets slashed by the “conservative” “Republicans”, to the point that they can barely do anything to enforce any laws at all.

Tell you what, Waynie old buddy old pal: give the cops the money and resources they need to enforce existing laws before you trot out that line of B.S. again.

Mr. B & C

A Politician Says Something Smart. Wow.

Yes, you read that correctly. Over the weekend, President Obama pointed out to the rest of the country what is already common knowledge amongst rural Americans: that we have a different environment and culture than city dwellers, so gun control measures need to take that into account. No big deal, you say? Think again, dear reader.

The bulk of “news” coverage and political soundbite production has been focused on a few conflicting one-size-fits-all messages. This is bad because, like toques, socks, condoms and bathtubs, one size never fits all. In fact, such articles usually don’t really fit anyone all that well. But in an effort to simplify things, we still try to make everything fit into a single solution, and the devil take reality.

In this case, Obama is quite right to tell both Liberals and the NRA that they have to broaden their thinking. Here at chez Blunt and Cranky, we don’t have to worry as much about muggers or home invasion; we do have to mind coyotes and feral dogs, and the odd rabid critter. So the guns we need are different than those required by a downtown apartment dweller. And any new laws must take the full spectrum of gun owners into account if it is to be accepted and effective.

One isolated intelligent comment does not mean that our government will suddenly get smart. But it is heartening to see that a politico who had a diverse upbringing can be capable of putting himself in another guy’s shoes. And noticing that they don’t fit.

Mr. B & C