As an observer once eloquently noted, politics ain’t beanbag. If you’re going to participate, you have to be willing to throw some punches — sometimes below the belt — and take a few, too. But the level to which partisan combatants are willing to sink seems to have dropped to new, unplumbed depths in recent years. Just ask Steve Scalise. Or Rudy Peters. Or Brett Kavanaugh.
Snatching opponents’ yard signs, though, is pretty mild stuff almost as old as politics itself. See here, here, here, and here for a few recent examples.
Now, though, it’s apparently happening in Washington, too, where proponents of the I-1639 gun control ballot measure have reportedly been stealing signs from the yards of Evergreen Staters who oppose more Second Amendment infringements. Because of course they are. Because we now live in a world where no one brooks any disagreement with their political positions.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms wants the world to know that they’re aware of it and prepared to prosecute anyone caught stealing anti-I-1639 signs. They’ve issued the following press release:
DESPERATE ANTI-GUNNERS STEALING ‘NO ON I-1639’ SIGNS; CCRKBA WILL PROSECUTE
BELLEVUE, WA – Following reports of disappearing yard signs that urge voters to reject anti- rights Initiative 1639 in at least three Washington State counties, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms announced today that it will press charges against anyone caught removing such signs.
CCRKBA has learned of sign thefts in Whatcom, King and Yakima counties. The signs, produced by the National Rifle Association – which has joined forces with CCRKBA and the Washington Arms Collectors – are being placed at key locations around the state by hundreds of grassroots volunteers.
“This is not the first time we’ve faced this kind of activity from anti-gunners,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “In October 2014, we actually sought leniency for a former Bellevue councilwoman who was caught removing our campaign signs for Initiative 591. She was a supporter of the competing gun control initiative, and she was publicly embarrassed by the incident.
“However, this time around, we’re not going to be so magnanimous,” he promised. “We are encouraging grassroots volunteers to watch for any sign removal or vandalism and report it immediately to the local police or sheriff’s department and we will pursue charges.
“There is no excuse for stealing someone else’s property,” Gottlieb said, “especially when it is done in an effort to suppress an opposing viewpoint. Our allies at the NRA have been spearheading the grassroots campaign against I-1639 and we’re all on a shoestring budget compared to the multi-million-dollar war chest amassed by the gun prohibition lobby in Seattle. Theft of yard signs represents a significant financial loss, and we’re not going to just roll over and take it.
“We realize that gun control is an emotional subject that can incite some people to do stupid things,” he observed. “But that doesn’t justify theft or destruction of yard signs, campaign posters, billboards or other forms of opposing political speech. While we can’t imagine that the I-1639 campaign would sanction such activity, we call on them to publicly discourage their supporters from such actions.
“We live in a Republic,” Gottlieb concluded, “but it’s not a banana Republic. This kind of childish vandalism doesn’t help their cause, and only suggests to us that some I-1639 supporters are feeling desperate, especially since law enforcement lined up against their measure this week.”
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
the left…so inclusive and accepting…until you mention guns…then you are a racist or bigot and their bullying starts…
so hypocritical
You don’t even have to mention guns. Just disagree with them on anything, however small, and they’ll start foaming at the mouth.
Stealing is a crime. So is trespassing on private property. What low levels these scumbags will stoop to. Their dirty tactics are those of cowards !!
“We are encouraging grassroots volunteers to watch for any sign removal or vandalism and report it immediately to the local police or sheriff’s department”
Years ago, some Democrats were stealing pro-Republican lawn signs, including mine. One of the miscreants was eventually caught in the act. He was a cop.
So good luck reporting sign theft to the police.
They’ll just break into your apartment and shoot you. Texas Justice.
Are you referring to the Amber Guyger case? Maybe you haven’t kept up, but she has been fired from the police force and charged with manslaughter for allegedly committing that criminal homicide while off duty.
That’s one individual’s crime. What does that have to do with Texas or justice or the police when it is not elemental of any of those?
Quit being an ass.
Nope, kept up on it and it still smells. Ralph’s case of socity being served at large by supressing 1st amendments rights is worse… if it makes you feel better we can call it Iowa Justice. Supression of civil rights is a far more henious crime than manslaughter.
I’ll just keep being an ass thank you.
‘Man with head up ass can’t see for sh*t’ – Confucius. This applies to you in spades, Karl. Grow up.
this happened to #metoo. my 2004 Bush lawn sign was “liberated” from my yard. then again, I live in brooklyn NY, I shouldn’t be surprised.
Hold up friend we need to call it New York Justice so J-Tex up there isn’t offended.
Just call it Karl justice so everyone knows clearly that its a–hole justice.
Who would of thought that the anti 2A group was also anti 1A? No surprise here. That’s the tactic of the facist, progressive, liberal democratics; they aim to disarm and silence the supporters of individual freedom and the Constitution.
Progressives are only pro-1A when it agrees with their beliefs. Anything that is against or contrary to their beliefs must be stifled, crushed, and banned.
Im sorry officer, this miscreant was stealing my yard sign, I gave chase, he tripped and his teeth happened to land on the curb.
Hook the sign to a tazer and a pressure switch, watch the commie get his in short order.
“Hook the sign to a tazer and a pressure switch,…”
H’mm.
If I wanted to be a real prick, I have a several-thousand-volt neon sign transformer buried somewhere in a box of electrical junk.
Although a cattle electric fence transformer has less of a chance of killing them…
We already went through this two years ago.
But if you put box cutter blades on your 1639 sign, put it on your own property so it only injures criminals.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=trump+political+sign+booby+traps
Consider it passed. The sheeple are very eager for perceived safety.
This article was dumb, it’s like ” so what Am I supposed to do about it”. It’s frickin yard signs, big deal
What if an elected official like a council women deleted your comment above? Would that be dumb? No, it would be a violation of your freedom of speech.
“It’s just a yard sign”
“It’s just vandalism”
“It’s just car tires being knifed”
“It’s just spray paint epithets on your house”
“It’s just your family burning to death in their sleep because an “antifa fascist” set your house on fire because they disagree with your political ideology.
You better wake up, you’re a fool if you believe the same people bold enough to vandalize political signs aren’t also capable of perpetrating great acts of hate and violence against your possessions, yourself, and your family.
Burning this dump someone called a house would be a godsend. Vehicle is insured for vandalism.In my sleep, good luck with that. …. No I actually do not think these sign vandalismist would burn my house down. When they start burning houses the LAW will gettem
I totally agree. The steal your lawn signs and, if they feel like you didn’t get the message, or you put up another sign, they will send a stronger message with more violence. I have seen this type of “prank” as the local police referred to it, fester into a B & E and an attempted beat down of the home owner. Fortunately the “leftist” a**holes faced a home owner with a 12 gauge shot gun and was held rot the police. one of the perps wet his pants and the other pooped in his. Two of the liberal brave ones. I totally agree with the “Eye for an eye” or “bullet for a sign” as I would put it.
d-rat fag d-suckers will do anything, be on guard
Who pissed in your Wheaties, turd blossom?
Tape razor blades on the edge of your signs.
actually, not a bad idea…you know they’re coming…why not have some fun?
What a shock, the soldiers of peace, tolerance, and inclusivity are stealing/vandalizing to prevent people they disagree with from lawfully and quietly expressing themselves.
Gee it sounds just like what goes on here in Chicagoland…fire with fire. Theft and vandalism are crimes.Oh 2nd degree murder for Chicago cop. Maybe the punks won’t riot!
“Oh 2nd degree murder for Chicago cop.”
Oh, he’ll have a *fun* time in Stateville Correctional Center.
Hanging out with the ‘homies…
I thought the 1st degree charge was idiotic. So they put 2nd in…also ludicrous. Sux to be him but I doubt he’ll go general population…I was concerned about the savages rioting.
being the only one to shoot was probably what did him in…
Wrap the legs in a piece of bicycle inner tube and hook up electric fence charger.
Attach a cable to a shotgun or .308 blank trip wire.
I’m curious from a legal standpoint if I’m ok to do this? Not that I often let legality get in the way of my fun.
Lethal booby traps are a uniformly bad idea. For one thing, you’ll be charged if you injure or kill someone using one (self-defense is no legal defense if the self isn’t there to be defended from imminent danger), and there’s always the risk of the trap harming someone you care about, including yourself. Noisemakers, alarms, pepper sprays, etc. should be fair game, but check your local jurisdiction.
And what a shame if a noisemaker deafens someone? 😉
Years back, someone manufactured a 20-gallon pepper-spray fogger for businesses, triggered by the burglar alarm…
A friend of mine puts plastic roofing cement along the top of the back side of his political yard signs. The stuff stays wet for several weeks and someone grabbing the sign to steal it will get that black goo all over their hands and everything they touch. It looks great on car upholstery.
Someone should market those indelible ink-filled security tags used on clothes for yard signs.
in good old seattle ,destroying republican signs is ok, but any messing with a communist’s or a marxist sign will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of comrade mayors law.
In 2008, my future sheriff was having serious problems with stolen yard signs, so he staked out a neighborhood where it was happening a lot.
He claims he saw a man and a woman throwing his signs into their van.
He called 9-1-1, and a deputy responded, and pulled over (drumroll) the sheriff and his wife.
The van was not searched, the sheriff claimed he was replacing his own weathered signs with new signs and never touched any of his challenger’s signs. The challenger maintained his claim that the sheriff was stealing his signs. The sheriff was reelected.
Immediately after the election, the sheriff announced his retirement, effective at the end of the month.
He began drawing his $8000 a month pension in December.
In January, he started his new job as sheriff.
I assumed that was his way of saying he was retiring in four years, because I couldn’t imagine him running for reelection after pulling that stunt. I was wrong, he ran again in 2012.
in 2012, all the people who would reelect a campaign sign thief decided they wouldn’t reelect a pension scammer and the guy whose signs were stolen finally became sheriff. The new guy then proved he didn’t know his campaign sign from a county owned vehicle by painting his name on all the squad cars.
Today, he’s still here, but his name isn’t on the cars any more.
The posting of political signs on one’s property amounts to “speech”, the freedom of which is stipulated in the constitution. Funny thing though, that to some, freedom of speech applies only to speech that they agree with.
Put a fence shocker on the sign, add “50,000 Volts” “Danger”
to the bottom in plain view.
The result will be SHOCKING.
Tie lightweight fish line to five blank shotgun alarms, at various lengths.
when the thief pulls up the sign….BANG BANG BANG BANG.
They will need new underwear.
A wrap of electric fence wire around the edge of the sign would end that real quick.