I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. We are a free country, and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance. I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw — I saw this myself in the late ‘70s in San Francisco, This kind of rhetoric is very frightening… I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm… Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, 9/17/09
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Reaction on Fox & Friends the following day:
Middle Aged Bald Guy:…but my real concern is, when you raise it in this fashion, you hearken to terrible tragedies involving political assassination….
Brian Kilmead: Giving people ideas!
Middle Aged Bald Guy:…and it’s a horrible thing to do. Clearly she was emotionally overcome. But was it the right thing to do?
So let’s sum up – claiming that the president is a usurping foreign agent out to deliberately destroy the country, bringing loaded guns to presidential speeches while carrying signs about the tree of liberty being watered by the blood of tyrants, (or carrying signs that say things like “I’ve Come Unarmed – This Time” ) and invoking secession from the bully pulpit of your position as a state governor…
None of these things are going to give people “ideas.”
But objecting to them does. Saying that we need to step back, tone down the rhetoric, and remember what happened to George Moscone and Harvey Milk, that’s going to give people ideas.
All those people buying up guns and ammo and packing heat in public, none of them were likely to even conceive of using that ammo against those they define as traitors and commies and Nazis and terrorists until someone reminded them of what happened to Milk and Moscone.
I guess we now know what Fox’s coverage is going to be like if and when one of those guns goes off and kills either a public official or a bystander.
“It’s all Nancy Pelosi’s fault!”
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I do own several firearms. I “pack” every time I leave the house. I do intend to use them IF war, crime, or violence ever comes my way. I WILL kill anyone and everyone who tries to hurt me or mine. I hope this helps explain it to you.
No, actually it doesn’t, though I do want to offer my sympathy. It must be horrible to be that afraid all the time.
How is it supposed to “explain it” to me? What point are you trying to make, other than the fact that you apparently live in a state of more or less permanent terror?
Dear Frank:
Thoughtcrimes has been one of my favorite blogs ever since Pamela wrote about campaign to defund talk radio by pointing out the violent rhetoric from the talk radios hosts on KSFO.
I’m curious about your personal circumstances. Clearly there must be a reason for your need to carry. A good friend of mine is a Superior Court Judge and has a CCW because several people he has put away for violent crime have attempted to murder him. Is that why you carry? Because if that’s the reason, I understand.
Are you in law enforcement? Have you had a string of armed robberies on your street in your neighborhood?
I’m asking because I don’t want to make assumptions based on too little information.
I think that some of the best people to tell irresponsible gun owners to stop acting like idiots are responsible gun owners.
You clearly know the difference between defensive moves and an offensive action. Bringing guns to political protests to “make a point” and pretending that the words in the air mean nothing is irresponsible. And the people who are going to pay the price for this are responsible gun owners.