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American Exceptionalism is Great

Because You Two Look Normal

Jacqueline and I volunteered to promote 2nd Amendment rights at a gun show this weekend. The show is fairly small for the Phoenix metro area and it tends to have older guns and an older clientele.  A family of ‘gun show tourists’ (non-gun owners) stopped at the table to talk to us, because we “looked normal” (our wookie suits had just been picked up from the cleaners).  I looked around and saw nothing that looked abnormal, then I noticed the vendor across the aisle with a President Obama dressed as Hitler T-shirt. Ughh!

The sightseeing wife asked a ton of questions about guns, where to shoot, and how to pick out a gun.  It was also clear that she was interested in protecting her family, and target shooting, and learning what-in-the-hell this gun culture thing is all about.

After talking to her about guns for at least five minutes, the woman finally noticed that we were both open carrying.  I don’t know how anybody could miss the purple Elsie-nine on Jacqueline’s hip.  As we talked about buying a gun, the conversation took a strange turn:

Woman:  Do you actually own another gun?

Me:  Yes, of course.

Jacqueline:  We have a gun for each purpose.

Me:  Different guns for different purposes.

Woman:  Purposes? <BLINK!>

Me: Yes, it depends on what you want to do with a gun.

Woman:  ????????????? <ZOT!!!>

Me:  What do you want to do with a gun?

Woman:  <Bug-eyed vapors! Bzzzt! ZOT!!!>

Me:   Do you want a gun for target shooting? Hunting? Plinking soda cans in the desert? Long range rifle competition? A compact self-defense gun for concealed carry? Or a home defense gun?

Woman:   (looking perplexed) I don’t know.

Me:   That’s okay, figuring out what you want to do with a gun will help greatly in choosing the right gun. Give it some thought before you go shopping.

Jacqueline:   While you’re here at the fun show, ask if you can pick up guns that you might be interested in buying. See how they fit in your hand and make sure you can reach the controls (slide release, magazine release, and trigger).

This back-and-forth went on for quite some time.  We recommended she take her family to the Arizona Game & Fish Department Outdoor Expo to try different types of recreational shooting and guns, then take a NRA First Steps class, then go to a local indoor range on ladies night and try a variety of handguns until she found one she liked and worked well for her hand size, while fitting her intended use.   Of course, she needs to practice with the gun to develop and maintain her skills.

Many people have been conditioned by years of dishonest anti-gun propaganda, yet they are interested in learning reality (and unlearning the propaganda).  When I asked the woman what she wanted to do with a gun, it must’ve come across as, “who are you going to kill?”   She was baffled and apprehensive about the question, but relaxed quite a bit when I mentioned four possible recreational uses. I think it was at that point she realized much of what she knew, just wasn’t true.  You could almost hear the ‘pop’ of her paradigm shifting without a clutch.

My experience with this inquisitive woman was an important reminder that we can all be good ambassadors for gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment.  We can’t write off the people who’ve been lied to by politicians and newscasters over the years.  If you see lost and scared gun show tourists, stop and give them some help.  They’re easy to spot, because they don’t look like normal fun show attendees.

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Feb. 23 – Phoenix ‘Day of Resistance’ 2nd Amendment Rally

A 2nd Amendment rally was held in Phoenix, Arizona today, the ‘Day of Resistance’ rally, put on by the Phoenix TEA Party. This rally was well attended, with a crowd of 1,500 according to event organizers. Compare that figure to the showing at Congressman Matt Salmon’s office during the Obama For America/Organizing For Action’s National Day of Action in support of gun control. Coincidentally, Congressman Matt Salmon was a featured speaker at today’s pro-gun rally.

Phoenix 'Day of Resistance' rally at the Arizona capitol. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu speaking (visible on the right).

Phoenix ‘Day of Resistance’ rally at the Arizona capitol. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu speaking (visible on the right).

Much of the crowd was armed with revolvers, semi-auto handguns, AR-15s, and/or various other rifles. Despite the large number of armed individuals present, only two law enforcement officers were spotted at the rally. One Arizona Department of Public Safety officer who used his car to enforce closing the street in front of the capitol, providing safe passage for all of the pedestrian traffic. The other law enforcement officer was Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, another featured speaker at the rally. As commenter Zermoid noted over at Shall Not Be Questioned, “The fact they felt they needed more cops for an anti rights rally than for a pro gun rally (where alot of the people were probably packing) says ALOT!”

dayof-before-after-rally-800

Three local news stations were there to cover today’s event too. I haven’t watched any of the coverage of today’s event, but I have no reason to believe it will be any different than the coverage of last weekend’s pro-rights rally.

UPDATE (five minutes after posting):  I forgot to mention this rally was competing with the International Sportsmen’s Expo, the big Crossroads of the West gun show, and the Winter Range – SASS National Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting at Ben Avery Shooting Range Facility.

UPDATE 2 (9:34AM 2/24/13):  Local CBS affiliate KPHO 5 covered the rally without any fear-mongering nonsense.

CBS 5 – KPHO

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2nd Amendment Rally at the Arizona Capitol & Media Malpractice

A truly grassroots 2nd Amendment Rally was held at the Arizona Capitol last Saturday.   Turnout estimates for “High Noon at the Capitol” have ranged from a crowd of 400 people at any given time, to more than 1,500 total based on the number of hand outs distributed.

How did the local news stations report on the rally?

ABC15 ran a fair and straight forward story,  Hundreds gather for pro-gun rally at Arizona State Capitol.

 

A producer must have decided the story needed to be more dramatic and scary,  did some editing, then ran the story again.  The edits turned it into a “Gun Rights/Anti-Obama Rally” about “a small army, armed with hundreds of assault rifles, pistols, and shotguns took to the front lawn at the capitol today”.

ABC15 Reporter, Steve Kuzj, was a good guy and ran a fair story.  Please send him a thank you note if you get a chance.   Trusting in Mr. Kuzj’s good nature, Jacqueline elected to discuss gun rights, the Sandy Hook shootings, and what should be done to reduce violent murder.  The reporter was initially confused about the rally, since he had an announcement that claimed it was supposed to be an Anti-Amnesty rally.   He also noted that he would need an opposing view for “balance” in the story, but that there were no anti-rights people counter protesting.  Unfortunately,  the two or three anti-gun/anti-rights activists in Arizona were busy, so he had to use Facebook comments for balance.  It must have been challenging to find a few anti-gun quotes that didn’t include personal attacks, profanity, or delusional thinking.

KASZ FOX10 – Dozens rally at Capitol to protest gun control, Obama

KPHO CBS-5 did a drive-by hit-piece about an “Impeach Obama Rally”. When contacted by rally attendees about the deceptive story, KPHO adamantly argued that their story was correct.  Eventually, they provided a link to an ALIPAC (Americans for Legal Immigration PAC) Facebook event page as the source for their story.   Unfortunately, nobody actually organized their national event and only 350 people even “Liked” the event page.  Even worse for KPHO, it appears the Washington based ALIPAC planned their event for 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM EST (9:00 to 11:00 Arizona time), while the 2nd Amendment Rally was from noon until 2:00 Arizona time.  Yes, a local news station “covered” the story of armed people at the capitol by looking at the wrong event page on Facebook and “constructing” the rest of the story.  On the KPHO Facebook page, they blamed the gun-rights rally organizers for the story.

it was presented to us as a rally to “Impeach Obama”. The initial information we received said nothing about gun rights. We expected a few dozen people and weren’t even sure we were going to cover it. It was a surprise to see all those people there and the biggest issue was the 2nd amendment. We would not have even known about the event except for 2 viewers who sent us the first info with links to an Impeach Obama Facebook page. No one involved in the gun rights issue bothered to tell us about the rally. Next time perhaps they will.

I guess KPHO doesn’t believe it is their job to publish accurate stories.

Check out Kevin’s 2nd Amendment Rally after action report at Misfires and Light Strikes.
Go read Skas 2nd Amendment Rally after action report over at Walls of the City.

Updated to add 2nd Amendment rally start and end time.

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The 2nd Amendment According to Senator Feinstein

The 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted by Senator Dianne Feinstein:

A well regulated Militia collective, being necessary to the security of a free State Aristocracy, the right of the people to keep and bear registered Arms, shall not be infringed only be tolerated if approved for peasant possession under 18 U.S.C. § 922, sectionuntil we dry up the supply of these weapons over time.

 

 

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Election Night Coverage – Blogging on the Radio in 2012

We’ll be joining the entire crew of Phoenix talk radio station KFYI 550 for live coverage of election results at the Montelucia Resort’s new CENTRO Lounge in Paradise Valley, Arizona.   You can find us among the guest panel of political bloggers KFYI has invited to join in the coverage.  The political bloggers include:

The lovely and talented Page from Religion Press

The lovely and talented Suzanne Sharer from Conservative Patriot Revolution, Twitter: @blondeandsmart

From a secret bunker, the lovely and talented Vox (Bridget), Twitter: @VoxAZ

The lovely and talented Katie Wick of Katie Wick’s Conservative Cut, Twitter: @KatieWickUSA

Exurban Kevin and Exurban Doug from Exurban League.com, Kevin’s Twitter: @ExurbanKevin

Conservative political analyst Thomas Purcell, Twitter: @LotusTom

As well as Jacqueline and I from Great Satan, Inc and Team Gun Blogger Twitter: @GreatSatanInc

KFYI will feature our live blogging on the air, as well as a live stream on their website, and spreading the love via the KFYI Twitter page and hashtag #KFYI2012.  You can also listen live through the I HeartRadio network.

Mike Broomhead and Andrew will begin broadcasting live at 4:00 PM (6:00 PM EST).  You may have heard Mike filling in for Glen Beck on Beck’s radio show.  There will be surprises and guests, including Rep. John Shadegg and Democratic political consultant Mario Diaz.  KFYI morning personalities Jim Sharpe and John McJunkin will join in, as well as the rest of KFYI’s crew.  Join us for insightful, and possibly inciteful, commentary, political humor, and straightforward political analysis throughout the night.

Listen in!

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NRA Endorses Jeff Flake for Senate

NRA Executive Vice-President, Wayne LaPierre, was at Scottsdale Gun Club today to announce NRA’s endorsement of Congressman Jeff Flake for U.S. Senate.  Representative Flake is running for retiring Arizona Senator Jon Kyl’s seat.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre annoucing NRA endorsement of Jeff Flake for Senate

NRA’s endorsement is vital in a pro-gun state like Arizona.

Jeff Flake’s Democrat opponent, Richard Carmona, was personally recruited by President Obama to run for Jon Kyl’s senate seat.  Carmona supports gun control and does not view the Second Amendment as an individual right, in spite of two Supreme Court rulings to the contrary, and his own defensive gun use:

We want to make sure that anybody who owns a weapon legally has the appropriate training, education, and that we can be assured that society is safe with a person who owns a weapon.  We do the same thing for automobiles or any other technology, if you will, that the average citizen gets to use.  We ensure that they can use it safely, because we have to look at the greater good of society. – Richard Carmona to Democracy Now, Jan 11, 2011

Would Richard Carmona’s “greater good of society” approach lead to encroachments on rights?  Absolutely!

An aristocratic, megalomaniac mindset convinces the holder that he is the final arbiter of determining whether an “average citizen” gets to exercise a fundamental right.  Mr. Carmona doesn’t seem to understand the fundamental basis of  our nation – a government of the people, by the people, for the people.  We do not select politicians to run our lives for us or determine if we are worthy enough to protect ourselves from criminals.  What’s next for Carmona?  Internet access permits?  Privacy licenses?  Birth control permits?  Big Gulp possession licenses?

Rep. Jeff Flake, NRA Endorsement press conference at Scottsdale Gun Club

Representative Flake has an excellent record on gun control issues, along with his adoption of the Republican Liberty Caucus position statement in 2000.   The endorsement of Jeff Flake by NRA should go a long way towards reassuring Arizona voters that they can trust Flake to oppose infringements on our Second Amendment rights.  Vote for freedom, not “free” handouts.

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You Can See -isms Everywhere?

A newly minted gunblogger claims to see chauvinistic and hostile behavior towards women everywhere in the shooting community.  It would be terrible if the stories of sexism were true, rather than the rare exception, but the blogger stands by the claims. 

I was baffled about these stories of sexism and chauvinism, but then I remembered this Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams I’ve had tacked up on the refrigerator for the last 16 years.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-08-29/

Dilbert by Scott Adams.

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