What's going on here?
On Monday, April 19th, the 15th anniversary of the Waco Siege of 1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, two rallies will take place in and around Washington, D.C. Those attending the Second Amendment March will gather on the grounds of the Washington Monument. While those going to the Restore the Constitution rally will meet first at Ft. Hunt National Park in Virginia and then travel to the banks of the Potomac River, about a mile from the National Mall, so they can “step up to the edge” of D.C. with their openly carried handguns and military-grade rifles.
In 2008, the Supreme Court, for the first time in sixty years, ruled on the Second Amendment. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court ruled that
In 2008, the Supreme Court, for the first time in sixty years, ruled on the Second Amendment. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court ruled that
like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.
The ruling made it absolutely clear that the right to have a gun in your home for protection exists side by side with the right to regulate the purchase, possession and carrying of guns.
But this ruling is not good enough for the organizers of the Second Amendment March and the Restore the Constitution rally. These self-appointed militia members have decided that they should be the ones to determine when and where it is appropriate to use a weapon when they are out in public.
They have determined that they have the judiciousness and prudence to be able to establish when they may fire a gun and end another person’s life. They have decided that they have the right to say when the government is a tyranny simply because they lost to the majority. And they are gathering in D.C. to tell elected officials that they need to be accountable to them and that “their jobs and their very lives depend on it.”
April 19th is the anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War at the battles of Lexington and Concord. But it is also the anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. It is the day chosen by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to carry out the most destructive act of domestic terrorism on American soil. McVeigh and Nichols killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6, and wounded more than 680 in order to drive home their anti-government message.
It is not a coincident that this is also the date chosen by the Second Amendment March and the Restore the Constitution Rally. These demonstrations fan the flames of violence, intimidate state and federal government, and send the message that armed Americans should challenge and defy our sense of public order and the rule of law.
Therefore, we must ask, are these groups patriots or just psychotic?
But this ruling is not good enough for the organizers of the Second Amendment March and the Restore the Constitution rally. These self-appointed militia members have decided that they should be the ones to determine when and where it is appropriate to use a weapon when they are out in public.
They have determined that they have the judiciousness and prudence to be able to establish when they may fire a gun and end another person’s life. They have decided that they have the right to say when the government is a tyranny simply because they lost to the majority. And they are gathering in D.C. to tell elected officials that they need to be accountable to them and that “their jobs and their very lives depend on it.”
April 19th is the anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War at the battles of Lexington and Concord. But it is also the anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. It is the day chosen by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to carry out the most destructive act of domestic terrorism on American soil. McVeigh and Nichols killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6, and wounded more than 680 in order to drive home their anti-government message.
It is not a coincident that this is also the date chosen by the Second Amendment March and the Restore the Constitution Rally. These demonstrations fan the flames of violence, intimidate state and federal government, and send the message that armed Americans should challenge and defy our sense of public order and the rule of law.
Therefore, we must ask, are these groups patriots or just psychotic?
Psychotic, to answer your question, I.P.
ReplyDeleteBut not 'just psychotic'. Criminally psychotic.
Agreed! I.P. has been reading my mind!
ReplyDeleteThe rise of mindless angry teabaggers and our country's growing obsession with guns, hatred, and militarism is proof positive that there is far too much carbon dioxide in our air. It is clearly settling in all around far-rightists' heads! These are not times of reason; these are slipping into times of decay and disintegration. Thanks, Rush, Sarah, Glenn, Michele, and all you teabaggers, for having contributed nothing to make this a more sane, peaceful, and cohesive, people-friendly country to live in!
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that people who brandish fire-arms at these rallies are, for the most part, whacko, I'm not so sure that I'm willing to conflate the tea party as a whole with the Timothy McVeighs of the world. This, in that I actually saw one of the rallies (a good chunk of it anyway) on C-Span. And, while, no , I DIDN'T agree with everything that was uttered by the speaker, I do have to tell you here, he didn't preach violence at all. That and he CONDEMNRD the fringe groups for THEIR rhetoric. I don't know, I guess all I'm saying is that maybe we all just need to leave the larger brushes at home once in a while - the left-wing, included, also.
ReplyDeleteOh, and just for the record, I've been consistent here. When the right tried (and still tries) to conflate President Obama with Reverand Wright, Bill Ayers, THE COMMUNIST PARTY, etc., I have consistently defended the President - vociferously!! And, yes, I've always proud to do it, too.
ReplyDeleteYour position is minimalist, if not ludicrous, Mr. Hart. There is no comparison between Reverend Wright or Bill Ayers with the Weimar Republicans. I think maybe you're watching too much Clusterfux News?
ReplyDeleteI'll go with Sara, at Orcinus None Dare Call It Sedition. Here are her salient paras:
These two events are a wake-up call for progressives. They're telling us that it's time to openly confront the fact that conservatives have spent the past 40 years systematically delegitimizing the very idea of constitutional democracy in America. When they're in power, they mismanage it and defund it. When they're out of power, they refuse to participate in running the country at all -- indeed, they throw all their energy into thwarting the democratic process any way they can. When they need to win an election, they use violent, polarizing, eliminationist language against their opponents to motivate their base. This is sedition in slow motion, a gradual corrosive undermining of the government's authority and capacity to run the country.
And concluding,
If gun people and libertarians want to reject the benefits of American society and live freely, independently and unfettered on their own, they should look for caves in Montana and, if they’re full up, Afghanistan probably has vacancies. They’ll definitely need their guns there.
I've said as much many times before.
I obviously caught you on a bad night, Vig. All I'm saying is that it's probably a tad unfair to tarnish hundreds of thousands of citizens for the actions of the admittedly unhinged fringe. As to what I've been "watching" of late, I watch it all (the assholes on Fox, the assholes on MSNBC and, yes, even those very sane people on CNN and C-Span..........Didn't Bill Ayers blow a lot of shit up? Doesn't Reverand Wright hang out/commiserate with Farrakhan?
ReplyDeleteOh, and, yeah, aren't there a crap load of LIBERALS up in Vermont who also want to seceed?
ReplyDeleteFact-checking on Bill Ayers, who was never convicted of anything:
ReplyDeleteWilliam C. Ibershof, formerly the lead federal prosecutor in the Weather Underground case, wrote in 2008:
"Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen."
Ayers never tells the whole truth, but history seems to confirm his own 2008 statement:
The Weather Underground went on to take responsibility for placing several small bombs in empty offices.... We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism directed at monuments to war and racism, and the attacks on property, never on people, were meant to respect human life and convey outrage and determination to end the Vietnam war.
The Weathermen blew up the same statue twice. I remember that.
Ayers is a diversion. Hart is perpetuating the cant of the MSM that there is somehow some kind of Byzantine symmetry between the Left and the Reich. There are assholes on both sides. But the armed assholes are of the Right. Maybe it can be said of Teapartiers that many don't become assholes until they bring their guns to public demonstrations. Keith Olbermann doesn't come close to that much of an asshole. I am surprised - even shocked - at Hart's equivocation.
ReplyDeleteWe ALL agree that these armed assholes on the right are assholes. That's not the point. The point is more this constant stereotyping/hyperbolizing that both sides are constantly engaging in. There was only ONE Hitler. And there was only ONE Stalin. 99.9% of tea partiers DON'T bring guns to rallies. So, yeah, I think that it might be a long wait for you, Vig.
ReplyDeleteNorman Leboon. Charged by the FBI with threatening to kill Congressman Eric (admittedly a douchebag) Cantor. Yeah, all of the lunatics are on the Republican side.
ReplyDelete"Hyperbolic"? Me? Forgive me.
ReplyDeleteNoam Chomsky makes my case about Weimar Republicans better than I do. My very point is the GOP tolerates this crap. A wink and a nod is all we get from their Congressional leaders.
Not to worry. The brandishing of weapons at public events is a symptom of political impotence.
ReplyDelete