Armed and Dangerous

There are bad ideas and there are bad ideas.

Shouting ridiculous nonsense at town hall meetings focusing on the health care debate specifically because Fox News put you up to it is a bad idea -- mainly because it accomplishes nothing aside from proving that you're a dupe. Bringing guns to those same town hall meetings -- carrying assault rifles slung over your shoulder while the president of the United States speaks a hundred yards or so away -- is a bad idea. In fact, I'm not sure I can imagine a worse idea.

From the Associated Press:

"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. 'In Arizona, I still have some freedoms,' he 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' stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

'It's a political statement,' he told The Boston Globe. 'If you don't use your rights, then you lose your rights.'"

Let me make something crystal clear: Regardless of what the 2nd Amendment supposedly guarantees, these fucking lunatics shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons. Period.

They shouldn't be allowed to because their judgment is obviously in their collective ass.

A couple of years ago, I got into an entertaining little fight with a group calling itself the Virginia Citizens Defense League. The row stemmed from a piece I wrote which railed against its members for holding a raucous gathering and gun giveaway in Annandale, Virginia as a means of giving the finger to New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who had targeted illegal gun deals in Virginia which may have led to crimes committed in New York City. The heavily armed frat-party thrown by the VCDL just happened to take place almost one month to the day after the Virginia Tech shooting; in fact, several family members of victims of the massacre were on hand to protest the inarguably insensitive gathering. These people were at best ignored or at worst openly made fun of by the VCDL as it filed into the tiny government building -- dual-sidearms proudly strapped on -- for a night of unbridled he-man gun lust.

At the time, I wrote this:

"Anyone whose judgment is so lousy that he would throw a party and gleefully thumb his nose in the face of families recently devastated by gun violence can't be trusted with a deadly weapon. If the mere feelings of another human being are of no consequence to these dolts, I find it impossible to believe that the human life they have the potential to take will be of much more value.

These aren't gun enthusiasts -- these are gun worshippers. That's the problem, because as my father [an ex-Navy SEAL and ex-cop] taught me so long ago -- there should be no such thing.

It's one thing to recognize a weapon as a necessity, a means to and end, even an instrument of sport, of enjoyment; it's another thing entirely to believe it to be a large part of your identity -- your very manhood.

Anyone who thinks this way shouldn't be allowed to own a gun."


My point is that with rights come responsibilities -- particularly when we're talking about the right to carry a deadly weapon. Yes, there are some areas -- places like Phoenix, Arizona and Portsmouth, New Hampshire -- where it's legal to carry an unconcealed weapon in public. That doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean that it's a good idea to bring a gun anywhere near the president of the United States. At best it's intimidation; at worst, it's an outright threat. Either way, it's completely insane -- a show of the kind of bad judgment that makes you wonder how the hell anyone gave these idiots the okay to arm themselves in the first place. Anyone who thinks like this is a danger not only to himself but to those around him -- and his willingness to irresponsibly flaunt his right to bear arms, regardless of the circumstances, is an insult to the spirit of the 2nd Amendment.

Being stupid is one thing. Being stupid and heavily armed is absolutely fucking terrifying.

And considering the climate out there right now, letting these gun-toting nutjobs within a mile of Barack Obama is the most frightening thing of all.