“The interesting thing is that the folks who maybe most need access to self-defense tools tend to live in the areas where the local governments try very hard to deprive them of that access.” – Andrew Rothmans in End of an era for gun shop in Minneapolis [via startribune.com]
Cue “tinfoil hat” accusations from our liberal friends.
I’m fairly liberal, I love guns, and after this election I’m totally convinced this shit is rigged top to bottom. At least you had the decency to call me a friend.
Pull all the mice teeth and put the cats in charge of protecting them. Works great.
City governments serve themselves and protect their pensions while forcing one failure after another.
Government responsibility is to create a medium in which anyone who chooses can excel, not to impose values or infringe on liberties.
I contend that government’s ONLY responsibility is to punish evil-doers — as in criminals who actually harm someone — and coordinate national defense.*
I will gladly entertain ideas of governments also functioning as a “clearing house” to coordinate certain activities and define “best practices” … as long as their coordination is not a method to choose winners/losers and violation of “best practices” in and of itself is not a crime. (Note that a contractor who violated a “best practice” and caused a fire would be subject to criminal prosecution because his/her incompetence actually caused harm to someone.)
* Coordination for national defense can get out of control really fast. And without roads, we would have basically no economy and no ability to manufacture the things that we would need to defend our nation. Thus, it seems like government should coordinate and/or build roads and bridges as part of critical infrastructure for national defense. On the other hand, we could argue that electricity and natural gas are critical for our economy and national defense, and governments rarely operate those critical elements of infrastructure. Perhaps governments do not need to build and operate roads and bridges either?
This place was functionally out of business for years. I went in a couple years back, and they pretty much had zero selection. Parking was poor or non-existent. I ended up buying a couple of overpriced PMags and getting out of there.
We had a new gun store open in LA county. My first question was were there any zoning issues? Nope. Said the city (not the city of Los Angeles) was more than helpful.
Makes sense to me.
They’re trying to cultivate dependency. Having the ability to defend yourself means you’re not completely dependent on the State for protection.
^ this.
Urban Dem political machines require the poor to stay poor and dependent, in order to sustain their control. They need the economic and social disparity to justify the role of big gov, fat public sector unions and taxpayer funded social justice strap hangers that feed off misery (Sharpton, Jackson, etc). They cannot exist in communities where citizens take charge of their own destinies.
The worst possible outcome would be solving society’s problems. What would the problem solvers do nexr?
Beat me to it- dependency is fostered in nearly every other aspect of the lives of the urban poor. Free school (which ain’t worth a damn), free/reduced/vouchered housing, free healthcare, free/reduced child care costs, job programs etc. Now make the urban poor/minorities dependent on the government for their very own lives and safety. Keep feeding them BS that they deserve all these things, that they have the right to this and that, while never delivering on any of those promises and you have votes, or at least support for life.
How can you ever “rise up”, achieve equality and become independent when you rely on the government to provide you with the 3 major pillars needed in this country: education, food and housing? Now the powers that be and community activists want to take away their chances of defending themselves, so add life to that list as well.
“They’re trying to cultivate dependency.”
They’ve already cultivated dependency, and even poor inner-city folks can see that it’s not working.
Disarming the populace and keeping them as terrorized as possible with gangs and cops, destroying any potential expectations of success and keeping the people drugged up to their eyeballs is an attempt to keep the poor politically passive and under control. #BLM shows that’s not working either.
Right now, #BLM is anti-white and anti-cop. If this worm turns anti-state, the entire Democrat machine will collapse.
We can hope, can’t we?
“The interesting thing is that the folks who maybe most need access to self-defense tools tend to live in the areas where the local governments try very hard to deprive them of that access.”
As the Church-Lady is fond of saying: Weeeellll, isn’t THAT special?!
“We’re arrestin’ ya fer goin’ about poor, and angry. I dunno if yer angry cuz yer so desperately poor, or poor for bein’ so meserably angry, but in any event yer comin’ with us”
It has been a long Democrat tradition to keep the “Slaves” from having firearms…so, this quote from Mr. Rothmans is kind of darkly amusing. I guess he just woke-up to reality.
No, Mr. Rothman is very bright and gets it. I’m surprised this store lasted as long as it did. No advertising, high prices, super shitty neighborhood with no parking. His old store was a few blocks from my house and is now a Zen Center…whatever the fuck that is. He’s so bad at advertising, he had a “gun nut” living blocks away and didn’t even know it was there.
We’ve got plenty of great stores in the burbs, and it seems like new ones popping up all the time.
Okay, then, maybe I was too harsh with Mr. Rothmans. Good of you to stand-up for him. I read the linked News Article and it does sound like the Store in question was worth losing, especially if you are getting better new stores in the “burbs”. Thanks!
Don’t forget that we need them as inputs to feed the criminal justice machine
How can you make money with a prison industry unless you have a continuous supply of prisoners?
Poor people in ghettos are run through the public school straight into prison
Good jobs for judges, prosecutors, bailiffs, guards, and sheriffs!
Same old same old. Keep them colored folk on the massa’s plantation. Funny but I just watched Stacy Dash on 700 Club talk about being an outcast for leaving that plantation. And Gun Rights were prominently mentioned. Yeah she grew on some mean NewYork streets.
With the exception of cronyism, nothing government does is for the benifit of others.
Everything government does is for the benifit of government in terms of strengthening it’s power and hold over people.
Yeah, I stopped in at some point in the last few years and the inventory was sparse. They had a Glock 19 with a price 100.00 too highly and a sales pitch of “the last Glock 19 in the twin cities”. Sorry not buying the gun or the pitch. You also feel like you have a sign on your back as you left the store that says “rob me” – lots of loitering and general “hanging” in that hood.
What do you mean, “It’s almost as if…” ?
Like there was/is any question ??? The answer is, Of Course.
There – kinda fixed it for you.
Breaking News. Water is wet. Film at 11.
I recently invented a tremendous boon for backpackers, hikers and soldiers — powdered water!
Just add water and mix.
Minneapolis zoning laws kept gun stores away from daycares, schools, churches, libraries, etc. This gun store existed between a nail salon and a Chinese restaurant. Were the people getting mani-pedis and ordering sweet & sour chicken any less safe because of the gun store next door?
Nope.
I never shopped there but reading the comments on the Minneapolis Star Tribune is like descending into the Seventh Circle of Hell.
It has a certain kind of perverse liberal logic to it. They know inner city male youths are responsible for most of the violent crime. They want to de-fang them or at least appear to. But the logic doesn’t hold up because the victims of those very youths get disarmed too, the police can’t protect them and a lot of the time, the police are taking actions that get them fired up. Also, the violent people get guns anyway. But the politicians don’t really care about that. They care about appearances.
It is one of the worst kinds of racism, to my mind. Racial stereotyping, creating racial dependency on the state and all the while convincing those discriminated against that you are helping them. It is one of those “big lies.”
That’s a win.
Here’s a general interest, local news publication with an article about the *unintended* and *possibly intended* consequences of this policy or that. Using the rubric of the anti’s (“For the children!”, “For the downtrodden!”, “For the poor besotted souls who know no peace because … hey, legal guns hard to get, yet illegal guns in bad guys’ hands still there.”)
Behind those are the notion that maybe it’s your life, even if you are poor, not one of the overlords, and live in a city. And maybe if you want to look out for yourself, you should.
That article shows a shift in the context within which the debate is held. Not the facts: “More, guns; less crime.” Not the terms of the debate: “Is this a social / violence gain or loss.” BUT, the assumed context: “Hey, you’re doing a thing, you own the consequences … all of them.”
Biggest class against poors mean prohibition gun carry (after may issue) on public transportation
– south carolina
– new mexico
– illinois
and last white felony charges on top of assholes 🙁
-missouri
– oklahoma