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Lt. Col. Robert Bateman (left) (courtesy state.gov)

“I have an 11-month-old daughter. Her house will not have guns, and I will never, ever, allow her to go to a home where there are guns. That is my DIVESTMENT plan, and I suggest it to all of you. You should know the parents of the children your children play with. Ask them the simple question, ‘Is there a gun in the house?’ If the answer is ‘yes’ then your kid never goes there. Period.” – Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CHALLENGE GUN CULTISTS [via esquire.com]

 

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155 COMMENTS

  1. I think the results will not be quite what he wants.

    Ask any Catholic girl raised in a house where sex was demonized, was sent to an all-girls Catholic school(s) and so on. What happens when they’re out from under Daddy and Mummy’s absurd rules?

    Heh.

    Same deal here. I foresee lots of kids becoming the type of gun owner where we more seasoned gun people see the kid’s collection and then we say “Billy (or Sally)… um… we need to talk…

    • Got relatives who subject their kids to a nightly inquisition and reading of the Bible. What’s truly weird, to me, is that he doesn’t discuss with them what they’ve read, he tells them how their interpretation is wrong. You can see them cringe and try to invent excuses to get out of it, be late coming back from friends in time, etc. Three kids, and I bet all of them grow up as atheists or agnostics. So tempting to try to talk to him about it, but it would be a waste of time, and it’s none of my business anyway.

      • Sounds like he’s doing a good job of teaching them to live in the real world. You just assume that is not his intention.

    • Same here.No guns in the house growing up, but my brothers, sisters, and I are 5 for 6 as gun owners now.

      • My parents were vehemently anti gun, which resulted in a lot of squabbles when my brothers and I finally had the resources to purchase our firearms. Then my mom was kidnapped, and then released. That definitely ended their anti gun mindsets.

      • Interesting. I won’t let my daughter or grandson go into the homes of Commissioned Army Officers!

    • A lot of career officers enjoy the military because they like the mandated loyalty to leadership the military officers. They are attracted to the myth of a heavy-handed all controlling central authority that “cares” for its people by restricting their freedoms because leadership knows best. Anything that goes against that concept is alien to them. Obviously, in the military, you need a strong, central authority for it to work, but outside the military, it is tyranny. These are the kinds of officers that dream for a day when martial law will be declared so they can right all the wrongs in the civilian world. Unfortunately, this minority of thought among the officer ranks never seems to go away; fortunately, most in the military do not think this way. I might add this to the conversation: Why do we care what a Lt. Col. says? In my time, many below average officers made it to Lt. Col. simply by staying in the service long enough. They were dime-a-dozen. An officer had to actually achieve something substantial to make full-bird.

    • Consider this point of view. The Lt. Col is not dim, but rather a genius. He is an agent provocateur of the PARTY and is using “newspeak” to foment emotions. He makes unveiled death threats against American Gun Owners, and then bemoans that he receives death threats, which he did not. He lies outright. Alex Jones did not approach the “Four Mom’s Paid by Bloomberg for Citizen Disarmament” with an AR-15. Watch the entire video! It was the bald gut that was the aggressor to the extent there was any threats. Oh, and the bald guys daughter was killed by a Remington shotgun. Too bad a responsible citizen was not discreetly carrying and could have saved her life with one well place shot. (The subject was wearing a Blackhawk “Tacticool-Ninja-Vest,” not “body-armor.”

    • So? That’s his personal opinion. While I think it’s stupid it has nothing to do with his or my constitutional rights.

    • It the parents rather than the kids. They’re being trained to have irrational fear of inanimate objects.

      • Don’t have kids yet but so help me if they had dirty liberal friends they wouldn’t be visiting there just isn’t a good way to get liberal out of the carpets…

        • I understant that notion. The cycle of abuse needs to stop, though. Showing we’re responsible people, good neighbors, and caring parents might contribute to that.

        • You’re referring to your (imaginary) child’s friends as “dirty liberals”? You honestly think that people are “liberal” at that age?

          This place is getting wackier by the minute.

        • I recall a cute little fifth-grader telling me how welfare payments would mean an end to crime. Since people commit crime to get money, if we give them money they won’t commit crime anymore. Liberal thought pollution begins early, and should be countered early.

  2. Wow, these gun cultists are so dangerous. That Alex Jones is so shameless, he TALKED TO SOMEONE! gasp!

    And the other one shot someone WITH A WATER GUN!!

  3. You know, they keep talking about gun owners like we are all a bunch of backwoods wannabe militiamen.

    I hold a college degree, I currently work in IT, I live in the suburbs. I do all the typical surburbanite things. We have a grill, two cars, a house, kids, the works. There is nothing about my house that screams “GUN OWNER” and for the purpose of burglars that is intentional.

    They keep talking like we’re some existential threat, but what they are doing is putting some very normal, very standard Americans on the defensive. This is not Bubba wants an AR-15. Hell, at this point I trust Bubba and his AR-15 more than these yahoos that keep trying to take them away.

    • what is it with IT people and firearms?
      seems like the more people I meet who have gotten into the joy as adults work in IT.
      sometimes I wonder… what do we know?
      *cue T-1000 music*

      (for the record… I’m in IT too.)

    • This is precisely why support for the anti-gun cause is dropping like flies. More and more people are beginning to realize that gun owners are normal people.. The anti-gun platform is bursting at the seams because they seem to think gun owners are knuckle dragging apes, when in reality many of us are rather accomplished individuals.

    • i’m a proud 2nd amendment supporter and enjoy shooting when i’m not out playing basketball or building computers and installing networks. and even more proud to be a progressive “liberal” who legally carries concealed while attending 2a rallies in the heart of the bible belt

    • When I get the gap toothed hillbilly attitude I simply ask tell them where I got my Ph.D and ask them where they got theirs. Generally shuts them up.

      • Indeed.

        And those of us gun nuts who are EE’s have as a dubious distinction that ours is one of the professions ranked among the 10 highest average IQ’s. All that complex vector math for fields and waves doesn’t do itself, and there are no calculators that will do it for you.

        It is often funny as heck to get into debates with some gun owners who want something done to their gun in a highly specific way, and then I ask them “OK, so what type of engineer are you?” and they look offended or surprised. “How did you know?” “I’m a EE. Let’s cut the crap, we’re both engineers, now let’s talk guns for engineers.” And then we’re off to the races, so to speak, and I have to educate them on how some things aren’t worth obsessing about on guns where accuracy is concerned, and other things that seem rather humdrum are actually rather important. These are often highly productive brainstorming sessions, too, especially with the MechE’s.

        That said, the number of engineers turning to smithing guns and accuracy work recently is a huge boon to firearms accuracy and technology. It seems that you can’t help but run into engineers doing serious gun development here in Wyoming and up to Montana.

        What I find a most common trait among the anti-gun people is that they have liberal arts degrees, and increasingly often, in made-up majors like “womens/latin/african/asian/ethnic studies” or something with “comparative” in the title. When I point out how pointless it is to ban guns, these liberal arts majors get all huffy and demand to know how I plan on getting around their damp-dream bans. I just point out that I’m an engineer, I know a bunch of other gun nut engineers, and we’re going to be impeded not the least by words on a piece of paper. I love to watch their faces at this point. It is as tho I’ve just relieved myself on their dreams from a considerable height.

        • Not gun related, but I must say, gahhh impeadence! Input, ouptut that concept annoys me, it is like resistance but not! its like some annoying plot that does not bode well for me.

  4. Lt. Col. Bateman seems perfectly willing to kill or maim someone with a machete or kukri. Does that make him a blade nut?

    • LTC Bateman is one of those “If I told you then I’d have to kill you” tough guys. It’s a common characteristic among phony vets or vets with inflated resumes. I assume he’s one of the latter.

      His official personnel record needs to be carefully scrutinized & compared with his public one.

      Would-be petty tyrants like Bateman make me grateful for our democratic system which though flawed still mostly keeps jerks such as this one out of power.

      • Thank you. As a Vet myself there are so many of these. I know here was allot from the Nam era too. Whenever I meet one I always call there asses out.

      • In many career fields in the military when I served, an officer can make LTC by simply keeping out of trouble and serving long enough. I am not impressed with an officer’s grade until he makes full-bird.

    • He is willing to limit everyone’s self defense choices to those which he finds adequate for himself. The elderly man, the young woman, the paralyzed veteran, everyone may only have what Bateman prefers to limit himself to. Not sure if this is stupidity, narcissism, or something else. It is not realistic, compassionate, or in keeping with our natural rights.

  5. All my children’s friends parents have guns and so do I. And in live in the Suburbs. Should I ask them if they own swimming pools, trampolines, horses, all more dangerous to ids than guns.

    • On the swimming pool thing, not only ask about the swimming pool but if anyone at the house knows CPR.

      Honestly, I find the swimming pool more dangerous than the guns. I have heard way too many tragedies involving children drowning. Here in CT the owner of Stewart Leonard Groceries has annual PSAs about swimming pools because that is how he lost his own son.

      • Let’s not get too crazy, there is a bunch to be shared between pools and guns. Around 1977, I had a 3-year-old son and a good friend had a 3-year-old daughter, when I was in the process of having a pool installed at our new house. The brides coordinated and got both kids into the same swimming class, by the time the pool was finally filled and ready, they couldn’t wait to jump in. Training is the key!

  6. Bobby “Baby-face” Bateman should stop trying to constantly please his handlers and act like an adult. And this guy supposedly teaches military history? To whom?

    Jeez, Bob, for Christ’s sake, COMMENT MODERATED stop wimping out on the Constitution.

  7. I hope that “campaign to unload” that he is pushing is successful. I am looking to put more firearms stocks in my portfolio any chance that I get. I’ll be retiring happy on gun stocks.

  8. Parents of my children’s friends know there are guns in this house, but they tell me they know I am safe and the guns are locked up on my physical person. Period. They don’t have a problem with guns in the house.

  9. If I found out one of my kid’s (or more accurately, grandkids) friends was not allowed over to play at my house because I own guns, I would tell my grandkids they shouldn’t play at their friends house because there are communists there. Communists have caused more murders than all privately held guns in all of history.

  10. Wow, gun bullies, gun supremacists, and now gun cultists. Its astonishing how much these people hate us. Gee, its almost like the state run media is intentionally trying to dehumanize us. HMMMM, I wonder why they would want to do that? :3 I wonder if we will be disarmed and forced to wear YELLOW ARMBANDS with an M9 printed on them? :3

  11. Never let your child go to a home that has kitchen knives, baseball bats, a family dog, an older brother, a swing set, etc. (sarc off)

  12. This man is a disgrace to the uniform. You’re not a soldier, Mr. Bateman. You’re a worthless politician, just like all those other jack-wagons in Washington. You’re more worried about your career than about the lives of the men and women you SWORE AN OATH TO PROTECT. If it were up to me you’d be drummed out of the service.

  13. I read the comments at the web site; WOW! They take a few extreme examples; (of words), and paint the entire gun community as wack jobs, psychotic wanna be murderers, degenerates, bullies and over all really bad people.

    It is bizarre; here these people think that a group of at least a hundred million people gun owners with over ten million actively officially licensed to carry a concealed weapon; are just eager for the chance to murderer innocent civilians.

    Yet we have the lowest rate of violent crime in over forty years. With accidental gun deaths at the lowest rate of how children fourteen and younger can die, below poisoning, drowning in buckets and bathtubs, and vehicle crashes.

    This is with gun law abiding gun owners as the most law abiding demographic, even better than the police.

    Who exactly are the psychotic mad people here?

  14. The comments are pretty lulzworthy. So many Leftists. Hard to resist poking the hornets nest and getting them all bent out of shape.

    • I like the comment by the guy whose response to being invited to go target shooting was to ask the person if he could shoot him instead.

      “A couple years ago, a gun nut I know was “playfully” asking me why I didn’t get a gun and do some target shooting, which he claimed was “fun.” I asked him “If I get a gun, will it be OK to shoot you? Don’t worry, I’ve shot and killed people before, and I’m way past getting upset at seeing you lying on the floor with your brains splattered on the wall. Been there long ago.” We have never talked about guns since. (And yes, I have shot and killed people. In Vietnam. And that’s why I haven’t had a gun since.) But there are days when I think that may turn out to be the only way we deal with these fatheaded morons.”

      What a bizarre comment,

      Maybe his buddy never talked to him about guns again because he realized this guy is effing nuts.

      • What a tool. I’d call him out on his service. He was never in Vietnam. And if he was, he was probably in the rear with the gear. I’ve met plenty of these types from my war too.

        • I got $100 says he was never in combat, and $50 says he was never in Vietnam, $25 says he was never in the service at all. The real deal does not mouth off like that. For disgusting entertainment, read “Stolen Valor”.

        • you may be right. he got schooled hard by another commenter later on:

          “Also I gotta ask- you say you shot and killed people, plural, in Vietnam. I noticed you wrote naval nonfiction and out of curiosity I checked out your work on Amazon where your bio states:

          “I also spent three years in the Navy in naval aviation as an enlisted sailor in the years immediately prior to and during the outbreak of that waste of 58,000 American lives and God knows how many Asian lives, Vietnam. I became a pilot myself in the 1970s…”

          Hmmm. I googled your name and found many of the blog posts you left littered across the internet. Some choice tidbits:

          “That night, I had the mid-watch (0000-0800) in the Staff Operations Shack aboard the USS “Pine Island,” as a member of the enlisted staff of Commander Patrol Forces, US 7th Fleet.”

          “It’s an event I can never forget, because I was there, a young sailor working in the operations office of the Admiral in charge of the two destroyers.”

          You’ve written quite a bit about your accounts of your military service but they’re all as a support staff sailor in the Navy, stationed in Admiral’s offices and seaplane tenders. How exactly did you shoot and kill multiple people during your service as pog naval aviation? Maybe there’s more to it than you let on in your lengthy descriptions of your Naval service, but I certainly couldn’t find anything else and your attitude is far off base from almost every actual grunt I’ve known that’s seen combat or actually killed others. Most of them are changed by combat but they don’t disavow gun ownership (every single one I know still at hunts or shoots recreationally and owns at least one gun) and they certainly don’t walk around threatening to shoot their friends or countrymen in the face for political wrongthink.”

        • + 1,000 Jeff. It always does my heart good to see a fraud exposed and shamed. My personal opinion is that you should present NO “credentials” on the net. Your comments should stand by themselves, with no aura of claimed (and basically un-provable) authority from experience or academic achievement.

  15. Literally pointing at us behind our backs and gossiping about our property. Gun Shaming is the new bloody shirt.

  16. 2àMy 16 y/o has been raised to shoot, hunt & fish his entire life & fully taught safety. He’s now teaching arms safety to kids his age & younger. The only reason my 31y/o stepson doesn’t hunt with arms is he prefers using a bow & fishing. His parents divorced when he was 14, his anti father refused to allow talk of the 2A. When he came to live with us he actually begged for gun safety training. Started him training refuses to speak with his biological father now due in part to.that. introduces me as his father. His school in PA had tons of similar anti’s w/dozens of kids carrying in school. Have to wonder if they had safety training if the stabbings.cuttings, & shootings would have occurred.

  17. If he lives in England, don’t they prosecute you if you defend yourself in any way from a criminal attack in your home or on your person because you are “a danger to society”?
    If he lives in the U.S., he should move to England. One less hoplophoe works for me.

    Otherwise, he’s just parroting what he heard other hoplophobes smarter than him say. “Robby want a cracker! AWK! whistle…whistle…”

    • Yup, no right of self defense. There’s a few places like that. If someone attacks you, and you defend yourself in anyway, you get arrested. Your supposed to just let people beat, rape, rob, and kill you. And they call us the crazy ones?

      • Amen to that, brother! I just cannot grasp a mindset that reasons (if you can grace it by calling it “reason”) that it is better to submit to physical harm than to resist as mightily as possible. Even then, if it doesn’t turn out well for you, it’s better to have tried than submitted.

    • Nope; generally released without charge. We’re allowed to use reasonable force to defend ourselves, and if you’re attacked in your home (very rare over here, which is why the few incidents tend to make news) the definition of ‘reasonable’ gets pretty wide; including shooting them.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9569359/Expect-to-be-shot-if-you-burgle-gun-owners-judge-warns-criminals.html

      Stop stabbing, shooting or bludgeoning them when they run away, and don’t drag them back to administer some non-judicial punishment of your own… those two are the only cases in the last decade or two where ‘excessive force’ actually made it to trial and conviction, offhand.

      • Okay, thanks for clarifying that, Jason! I appreciate it and will replace my mistaken impression, accordingly. It’s a relief to know, actually. Much the same here in the U.S.. You can use deadly force to defend yourself, but stop as soon as the “threat” has ended.

  18. “‘Is there a gun in the house?’ ”

    “A gun? ” I can’t even say there is only “a gun” on my body right now, let alone what’s at the casa.

    Pfft, what a noob.

  19. Wow. I killed a few brain cells reading the Esquire drivel. This guy is insane. Totally & completely deleted UP. NUFF SAID.

  20. I found the Esquire comments enlightening. I hadn’t realized how many self professed combat veterans claim to be anti-gun because of their experiences.

    Assuming for a second they are being truthful, I find it interesting how emotional trauma makes these people convinced of the righteousness of their position. Somehow, their unfortunate experiences makes them smarter than the rest of us, leading logically of course to statist solutions to end the threat of psychotic gun lovers (sarc). Sigh…..

    By the way, even here in socialist Canada, hunting and gun ownership is growing in leaps and bounds, and my 13 year old’s school chums are well aware that he participates in deer and moose hunts. 🙂

    • As a veteran I totally agree with you. Theres allot of fake veterans, who are just complete BS. And then there are a shitload of embellished veterans, who are in the rear with the gear the whole time, see one mortar round land 400m from them, and then suddenly become huge pacifists. Its sickening. Most people who were real deal combat MOS’s are not like this at all.

      • I took to busting “homeless vets” in California by asking them what their MOS was on their DD214. I started doing this when I was accosted by a guy who claimed to be a “homeless vet” who was “in Vietnam” but who was 15+ years too young to have ever been in Vietnam. I asked him “When were you born?” and he said (without thinking too much) “1968.” I said “So… you’re claiming you were in Vietnam when you were, what, five to eight years old? Vietnam was over and done in 1975…”

        Want to know what I found out? That every single person standing on a corner, or at a freeway off-ramp, or outside a supermarket, holding a sign that said “homeless vet” who I asked “what was the MOS on your DD214?” was, in fact, not a veteran of any type from any branch of the service. I’m sure there are homeless vets, but I didn’t run into any of them.

        One of the clowns I outed I checked up on a couple weeks later. I spent a Saturday afternoon watching him park his rather nice BMW 320i a few blocks away, then he got out, adjusted his homeless “costume” and walked over to his spot, on the sidewalk in front of a supermarket frequented by granola-munching, organic-type liberals. After watching him for an hour+, I realized why he did it: In one hour, I saw him take in over $150.

        Not shabby money – more than enough to help pay down that Beemer.

  21. The only reason this Bateman has any claim to credibility is because he is active duty military officer. He is hiding behind a disclaimer: “The opinions here are those of the author and not the DoD, the Army, or any unit that he is assigned to at this time.” So can Donald Sterling use the same disclaimer? “The opinions here are those of the author and not Clippers organization or the NBA.” Not in my mind. As long as the U.S. Army wants weigh in against the 2nd amendment in domestic politics, I am not supporting the U.S. Army in any way and will vote for candidates who want to reduce military funding and support for the U.S. Army.
    “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” Tactic 4, Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky

  22. After reading the entire piece, I have to admit the straw man here has a point.

    There are a group of gun toting folks who are convinced anyone who doesn’t share their viewpoint are commie, anti American scum.

    “Voted for Obama? You’re a dirty commie who hates guns.”
    “You’re a liberal who owns guns? Traitor.”

    Etcetera and so forth. The “COMMENT MODERATED” posts here say it all. What we have isn’t a Constituonal problem. What we have is a PR and education problem, and every person who gets publicly militant makes it worse.

    • Because “I love liberty therefore I voted for Obama … twice” makes any sense?

      (Not that Romney or McCain were lovers of liberty either, but don’t get me started.)

  23. As a fellow limey let me first point out that, right or wrong, he is entitled to hold his opinion and it is ridiculous that he should be threatened for doing so since that simply adds strength to his argument. Of course, he may not have received any threats but I doubt it. There are nuts on both sides.

    The only way to win this or any argument is with cold, hard facts and a reasoned response.

    It might also be pointed out that, since he doesn’t reside here, why is he taking it upon himself to make any comments about how we live and our culture? (Yes, I live here and am happy that I do).

    It should further be pointed out that it is extremely unlikely that, other than when soldiering, he ever has the opportunity to own or handle a gun and nor will his children or their friends or anyone other than a very few criminals n the UK which, effectively, renders him as being more than a little disingenuous. There is no gun culture in the UK because successive governments have rendered gun ownership almost impossible. There is no 2nd amendment in the UK.

    • There is the 1689 Bill of Rights which grants the (regulated) right to armed self defense. Of course that was superceded by later Acts of Parliament, but rights once granted , can never be fully eradicated. Even criminals know and respect this.

  24. My previous comment got moderated so I will try again with more tact… I am surprised a Lt. Col is so neutered.

  25. “I have an 11-month-old daughter. Her house will not have guns, and I will never, ever, allow her to go to a home where there are guns. That is my DIVESTMENT plan, and I suggest it to all of you.”

    Bet Dr. William A. Petit Jr.wishes he had a gun in his house when two thugs showed up to murder his entire after beating him with a baseball bat, Raping one daughter, setting fire to the house after dousing wife and daughters with gasoline.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/nyregion/07slay.html?_r=0

    • Nah, just his daughters. His wife had been strangled while being raped. Hearing that is when I started carrying in the house, previously relied on scattered available guns. If I see someone headed down my driveway with a bat, I will yell out that there is no baseball field here, and the next thing they hear will be gunfire, and I will not cease fire when they turn and run.

  26. The comment section of the linked esquire.com article isn’t pretty. So I entered the lion’s den –

    I fail to see the success in “Gun Free Zones.” One armed psychopath enters a room of children and teachers and fires away. That man first killed his mother and stole her firearms. I’ve yet to see how more laws and background checks will terminate the actions of a gun thief intent on taking as many victims as possible. The police response time on campus was allegedly 4 minutes. That time was not fast enough, and 26 lives were lost in that school.

    Another mass murderer enters a movie theatre that prohibits concealed carry or a “secure” naval yard. The victims are defenseless. I fail to see the success in “shelter in place,” where cowering under a desk is considered the most effective plan for dealing with a school shooter. Lt. Bateman is comfortable bringing a knife to a gunfight. I brought a gun to a knife fight – and won handily.

    I support 1st Amendment freedom – you are welcome to say what you want so long as it does not cause proximate harm to others. I support 2nd Amendment freedom – you are welcome to carry a firearm as long as you handle your firearm(s) in a responsible manner. Should I be faced with an armed assailant, such as James Eagan Holmes, Adam Lanza, or Nidal Malik Hassan, I choose to defend myself with immediate and accurate return fire. I do not choose to “shelter in place” by hiding under a desk or to throw a textbook. Those options are not tactically sound.

    So while others will promote limits on freedom, I will promote freedom itself. I’ve seen violence firsthand in Los Angeles. Here, we can use words. By all means, please do so. On the street, words have limited capabilities against an armed criminal. I haven’t seen words stopping mass murderers. Therefore, I choose to be armed. I’ve been carrying firearms as a Marine Corps infantryman, NRA – certified firearms instructor, as a crew chief for Dunbar Armored, and as a police officer.

    If you choose to place your safety in the hands of an armed stranger with a 4-10 minute (or more) response time, that is your right to do so. Someone like me will do the best they can to get there.

    Clearly, we gun owners are passionate for our rights. Let us also be eloquent. Telling an anti-gunner to go Flame Deleted yourself is not going to win hearts and minds.

  27. BR549, the Constitution says the government will not abridge free speech, last time I looked, this blog isn’t the government, and the blog owner has every right to delete such speech that either puts him or the blog in a bad light, or the general topic of the blog in a bad light, or cause the blog to be censored by the ISP.

    Perhaps the better COA would be for those making comments to think before they post.

  28. Truthfully he could go pack sand for it’s non of his business if I have guns, knives, or fuzzy pink bunnies… He must not have a dog either and if he does I feel so sorry for it for I’m sure it is ill trained and has horrible manners because like children they need to be educated and for a Lt Col. to say something as that knowing that his children as well as all children should be educated with and about firearms if only for safety reasons… I open my mouth with out thinking often, however I try to stay away for ignorant statements…

  29. I think there is a bigger issue here, and one which to be quite frank, his employers at the DOD need to get involved in.

    As an officer of the United States Army, he swore an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion”

    Clearly, he will not support the second amendment, as he would like to take guns out of the cold dead hands of Americans (yes he actually said that).

    My concern is this, if he willing to offer his own interpretation of the second amendment and not swear allegiance to that part of it, and publicly insult the highest members of our judicial system (the supreme court) how can he be relied upon to faithfully uphold his oath? I’m not suggesting treason, but I am suggesting that he has willfully broken his oath of office, and that requires discharge.

    • +1, If he wasn’t a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army he would just be another dime a dozen ex-pat with condescending attitude against his native country and Esquire wouldn’t give him the time of day. By not obeying their own rules regarding political activity the U.S. Army is tacitly endorsing Lt. Col. Bateman’s political position. As this is just the latest of several highly political articles written by Lt. Col. Bateman, we should realize the U.S. Army is not immune to the anti-Constitutional cancer that affects the other state agencies like the ATF, IRS, and EPA. Citizens should prepare things to get worse, oaths are just flowery words to many people these days.

    • He has a right to not own guns, and to keep his children from visiting homes with guns without violating the 2A. That is his freedom of choice.

      • And when his children thankfully move out from under his roof, Bateman won’t be able to violate their freedom of association any longer, either.

  30. LTC Bateman is in violation of the UCMJ and is subject to punishment for promoting any political agenda as a LTC. By stating his rank he is saying he as a representative of the armed forces is behind a certain political platform. That is in direct violation of the UCMJ.

    …Members on active duty should not engage in partisan political activity, and members not on active duty should avoid inferences that their political activities imply or appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement…

  31. Even though my wife is a CC holder, has her own collection of firearms, and has never blinked an eye at me handing my children a gun we got into a heated argument over this just the other day after she read an article on some news site suggesting to ask people if they own guns before allowing your kids to have a “play date”.

    Even though it was my wife that showed me the evidence that For the record her concern was not OUR kids, our kids are very gun smart, have grown up with gun safety incorporating our standard 4 rules along with some of Eddie Eagle’s rules. Her concern is now the other kid, the kid who never was taught gun safety who finds said parent’s gun and jokingly points it at our kids and points the trigger.

    The argument went on for hours as we covered statistics and it would better to get to know the quality of parent rather than invade their privacy, I then explained how I felt if we are going to ask where they store their guns and how they store their guns then we should also ask what medicine the family is on, is it candy coated, where do they store it?

    As pro gun as our family is and for us to have such a serious argument, it is hard not to worry that Bloomberg’s new strategy may have some steam at dividing the gun community or at least those on the fence. It is hard enough finding kids you approve your kids to play with that aren’t strait up bad influences (which is very common in this day and age) but now the idea of screening your kids potential BFF’s parents as well just seems a bit overkill. I feel bad for the future kids of America.

  32. Reading the comments over there, if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a lefty war vet trying to order me around, on the assumption his combat experience in a war zone thousands of miles away trumps my experience as a woman here in the US who’s used a revolver to scare off a rapist. I don’t care how grisly his combat experience was; it’s completely irrelevant to my right and my need to protect myself from attackers with three times my upper body strength.

    • Is he a combat vet? Is anyone sure about that?

      He’s an LTC that teaches at a college I think. Where would he have seen Combat Gulf War I?

        • He is/was a staff puke. Lots of time in academia, rotating to war-gaming type jobs in Plans, etc.
          Not a warrior. Not even close. Kukri’s, pfhhh. Yeah- really, where’d you learn that- in a book, Gunga Din?

          Now you know why he is a LtCol with 28 years in. One grade above what he is worth, IMHO,
          and that only for taking the politically correct position of the day, on his tactical kneepads as directed.

    • Your absolutely right ma’am, and as a combat vet I can tell you, tell them to piss off. Any REAL combat vet isnt a lefty pacifist. Those types come from guys who were in the rear with the gear, and had a mortar round land 400m away from them and all the sudden they have “ptsd” and become anti-war, anti-gun, pacifists. Its bullshit, and as a real veteran, it pisses me off to no end. I had some real anti-gun national guard guy go on and on to me about how he doesn’t like guns because he “had to clear a house once” oh my god did I go off on him, I cleared more houses in Iraq than I can remember. The next time it happens tell the POS he doesn’t know what he’s talking about an any real vet truly knows the reason why people needs guns.

  33. And what about swimming pools, or automobiles, or poisons, or tall objects, or flammable things, or bedsheets – all of which kill more children than guns? Will he ask how tall their bookshelves are, or whether their bleach is locked away? Or does he just have an irrational fear of guns?

  34. I cancelled my Esquire subscription the very day that they put obama on the cover under “The American Man Now.” I just felt insulted. And yes, I apologize for subscribing to Esquire to begin with.

  35. Is there table salt in your house?
    Sorry, my family will not go to a house where a known toxin is proudly displayed on the dining room table.

  36. It’s good that a large portion of the officer corps in the army is not like this. His commander needs to rein him in and let him know he can appear all he wants saying whatever he wants once his retirement packet is approved and his retirement date has passed.

  37. Check out this classic from Yahoo sports:

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/panthers–greg-hardy-turned-in-his-guns-and-they-are–um–big-and-scary-194108808.html

    “…his guns are um, big and scary” (yes, he really said that and wasn’t kidding)

    To the author, Eric – (a known homosexual)

    You know what I find big and scary? A man’s erect penis pointing at my butt. Yet I support and defend your right to be homosexual. Why? Because it’s your Constitutionally protected freedom.

    You know what else I find scary? An unborn fetus being ripped from a woman’s womb and thrown in a trash can. Yet, I am pro-choice and support and defend a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her body. Why? Because it is her Constitutionally protected freedom.

    Why can’t you then respect my Constitutionally protected freedom to keep and bear arms? To defend my family, to be a gun-collector? Because of how it makes you feel? It seems you liberal anti-gun zealots are all for freedom when it’s your own freedom at stake, but not other’s freedoms.

    And don’t tell me that it’s because guns ‘kill people’. Doctor’s kill many, many more times the number of people every year with legitimate malpractice, but we tolerate Doctors because they save lives too and have a beneficial purpose. It’s the same thing with guns. The analogies are endless. Swimming pools and automobiles, alcohol and hammers. They all kill more people than firearms. But that doesn’t fit into your media-driven anti-gun meme does it?

    How would you feel if we posted an article about every pedophile who is homosexual, implying that therefore that all homosexuals are pedophiles, just as you did with someone ‘accused’ of ‘domestic abuse’, who happens to be a gun owner (therefore blowing your little dog whistle that gun owners are the ‘domestic-abuser-type’)?

    And I’m just going to ignore your absolute stupidity about somehow the 2nd Amendment is about hunting.. or that people should only own firearms for “hunting quail”.

    I can only hope maybe that one day you will see past your own hoplophobia and hypocrisy to form a mature opinion about such matters and be able to view the world beyond your own blinding lense of narcissistic ignorance.

    But I’m not holding my breath.

    • FFS, when did pro sports become taken over by effete bedwetters? Most of my female friends are tougher than these male sportswriters nowadays.

  38. Its been my experience that the service is a true cross section of society, in spite of the image portrayed by the media…which varies from heroic defenders of world to racist, homophobe, neo-nazi, PTSD suffering rapists just waiting to snap and gun down a school depending on their agenda of the moment. But then again, since it is a cross section of society, I’m sure those extremes are represented. The point is that their are as many opinions as there are members of the services and they are certainly entitled to them…and so you get folks who’s opinions mirror those of Bateman, Kelly, or Van Diver…The difference being that they use that military affiliation or veteran status for self promotion, and that’s where it becomes a problem to me.

    I’m guessing, purely conjecture, that the Lt Col is at the end of his career and not going to make bird colonel, so he feels a bit untouchable as there is little to hold over him as he prepares for a future as a talking head “expert” on call for the media. If he is still on active duty, his actions while maybe not in direct violation of policy, are certainly in violation of the spirit and he should be censured. These things really irk me, not because we differ in opinion…he’s entitled to it…but it reflects poorly on the service when someone like that uses his military ties to establish credibility, because, at least to me comes off in one of two ways…

    1. I’m a vet and I believe this = My opinion represents what some mythical percentage of service members also think….whatever… or

    2. I’m a vet, BUT I believe this = I am the only enlightened voice of reason amongst the racist, homophobe, neo-nazi (see above) troglodytes. I am alone in these views and thus entitled to skirt all rules and regs to tell the story. In fact, my promotions have been held up and career derailed because, I have dared to speak out…whatever…

    If Bateman is still on active duty, his chain needs to yanked..not for expressing his opinion, but for abusing his office for self promotion.

    • I think you’re right about the end of his career, he’s held staff positions throughout, mainly a glorified researcher or professor.

      He’s been an officer for 25 years, and only a Lieutenant Colonel…….yeah there’s something wrong with his career path.

      His linkedin profile states “I have written speeches for four-star generals, ghost-written articles for other generals, and given voices to others who had no outlets of their own” Seems like grandiose self promotion if I ever heard it. Kinda like a “community organizer”. Maybe he’s just angry he never made anything of himself.

      I get the feeling we shipped him to England in the hopes of finding a quiet hole for him to be quiet in. The unit he’s a part of? “COMARRC commands no forces until he receives an Activation Order from SACEUR. On receipt of ACTORD, forces from troop contributing nations, generated through the NATO Force Generation process are passed into his Operational Command for the duration of the operational deployment”

      He’s a staff monkey for a unit that doesn’t even have any troops to command.

  39. I’ve known lot’s of people like that. Race, religion, income and personal life styles have always been used to protect children by pre-judging the acceptable environment. In this case the rationale is protecting the child from a gunshot.

    According to this site http://www.childdeathreview.org/nationalchildmortalitydata.htm there are seven natural and five unintentional causes of children’s death before you get to firearms.

    The guy can raise his family as he sees fit but I suspect this is really just anti blather.

  40. The thing that pisses me off about Bateman is that his first (and really, only) attack against anyone that disagrees with him is “DID YOU SERVE YES/NO – IF NO WHY NOT PUSSY?”

    He gets all of the standard stuff in there with his attack:

    – only military know anything about guns
    – gun owners are cowards
    – military officers somehow know what’s best for civilians when it comes to constitutional rights – gun ownership and beyond

    • “only military know anything about guns”

      I was an SP in the USAF. We trained fairly heavily with firearms because of our mission. I learned quickly that most of the rest of the USAF did not. I do not know what this LTC did while in the military, but if I had to guess, he was probably a paper pusher – odds are he was a logistics guy. It drives me batty when former/current military personnel who were paper pushers act like they are some sort of repository of knowledge on firearms because of their “extensive training” in the military. In reality, most people in the military probably spend no more than 1 or 2 hours at the range once a year for required training and qualification. I am sure he was pretty good at requisitioning MREs though.

  41. If he moves to my newly adopted state (Arizona) his kid is probably going to be a lonely outcast. Poor kid. Ask me if I have a gun in my house with no other context, and I will immediately go to condition orange. Really, no matter where you live, only criminals and ridiculously dumb liberals blindly ask if you have guns in your house, which in my opinion, justifies a call to the police. BTW, in Arizona, people do not ask if you have guns, they ask what kinds of guns you have so they can brag about their own. When I tell them I moved here from Oregon, they tend to say “welcome to America” or something similar. Life is good here. 🙂

  42. I would never, ever, allow a child of mine to go to a home where there are brainless Army officers. That is my divestment plan.

    Methinks that the light colonel is looking at Captain Kelly and thinking “how do I get my grubby hands on some of that yummy Bloomberg and Joyce Foundation cash?”

  43. My answer to that question is always, no.
    Virtually any other answer, any other, will be interpreted as a yes.
    Those who know me well, know the answer and don’t need to ask.
    They also know my commitment to safety is thorough and I don’t experience lapses (knock on wood).

  44. crap… seriously these guys make the rest of the military look bad… I’ve never met an officer that shares this wingnut’s views on guns most own more guns than sone gun shops.

  45. That he even made it to Lt. Col. is a crying shame, a grave mistake, a disgrace to the uniform, and an indictment of the apparently disintegrating ethos of U.S. Army officers — particularly those of Line like Bateman.

    Well, here’s my divestment plan: the open shaming of this man for putting his fellow citizens in the cross-fire for crimes he knows they never committed and never intend to commit, and a blanket shunning of his entire family for the rest of their natural lives.

  46. Wonder if he lives in England because he is stationed there, or if he is some kind of self-anointed “expatriate patriot”.

  47. Bateman is a troll who got lucky enough to get a national platform for his diarrhea of the mouth. Esquire magazine is a rag for Beltway liberals and beta males. Its ironic that he complains about alleged death threats when in his previous gun commentary, he himself made threats against gun owners.

  48. If I had a child with a friend who was not allowed to come over because I owned firearms, I would turn that into a lesson on progressives and their inherent fascist tendencies. It would be a teachable moment on the intolerance of the left.

    • And encourage the child to share with his friend that teaching, because the friend will need it to understand the irrationality he will be seeing all his life.

  49. Hmmmm, I wonder who saved there asses with guns when Germany had them by there balls, certinly wasn’t the terd sitting on his fat ass in that chair. My, my what short memories.

  50. I like the fact that he says he doesn’t own a cell phone. That means he is irrelevant and unimportant, and nobody wants to talk to him. Ever.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if one of his kids took him out with one of their own concealed weapons one fine day. What a complete putz! Nobody authorised this message, and nobody wants to hear it.

  51. I wouldn’t want any of this guy’s defective genes in my house anyways. Is that ad hominem, or fact?

  52. remember when Bateman wrote this?

    “1. The only guns permitted will be the following:

    a. Smoothbore or Rifled muzzle-loading blackpowder muskets. No 7-11 in history has ever been held up with one of these.
    b. Double-barrel breech-loading shotguns. Hunting with these is valid.
    c. Bolt-action rifles with a magazine capacity no greater than five rounds. Like I said, hunting is valid. But if you cannot bring down a defenseless deer in under five rounds, then you have no fking reason to be holding a killing tool in the first place.”

    so… was he lying when he wrote that to seem “reasonable” (since presumably “hunting being valid” would result in homes owned by hunters featuring guns)? because that’s what it looks like…

  53. I have a 3 year old and a 2 month old daughter. There are plenty of firearms in the house. For this reason and many others they will be much tougher, self-sufficient, and better prepared for life than his daughter.

  54. LCOL Bateman is clearly a loose cannon. This kind of political activity is simply not done, by senior enlisted and officers and you need to understand that 99% of officers understand it by the time they get to Major, much less Lt Col, or Flag rank as a Colonel (nor will he ever be promoted with this kind of unethical, egregiously poor judgement in evidence).

    He has violated his Oath to follow the UCMJ and has disgraced his rank, uniform, and the Service.
    A number of posters here have tracked down his history of posting on duty time, in numerous blogs, grandstanding and again referencing his position. Scroll down to poster WTFO on March 13, here:
    http://zeroanthropology.net/2009/02/26/some-breaking-news-on-the-human-terrain-system-death-threats/#comment-4418

    As to the rest of Bateman’s ramblings – this article is a new standard of poor writing, that descends to drivel, even for Esquire, which used to be known for good writing. Sadly, this example is just another testament to what happens when you pander to the Progtard Kool Kid Klub for readership.

    I’d be tempted to post a reply in comments, but given its powered by FakeBook, I refuse on principle, and besides the Moonbats are in full flight there- facts bounce right off their agenda.

    And thats assuming the posters are real, which I doubt, as I’d guess 2 out of 3 are getting paid for clicks by the NudgeTeam/OFA, judging by the bogus stories and repetitive narrative- the talking points are too obvious and too formulaic, especially the “former military” types.

    David Codrea takes Bateman’s logical fallacies and lies apart rather nicely here:http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/12/david-codreamilitary-officer-calls-for.html

    Last but not least- the USArmy is a big organization. Dont fall into the same logical fallacy trap as the good LtCol, or most of the readers at Esquire, and generalize on the whole thing, or all officers, based on one loose screw like Bateman. You can have idiots promote high enough to prove the Peter Principle, just as in any other organization. Remember Major Nidal at Ft Hood?

    Nuff said.

  55. Reading a bit more- Bateman is probably retired by now- some of that blogging he did that was so openly unprofessional was in 2009, as a Lt Col- so he didnt promote, obviously, and probably retired at 20years, so he’s again misrepresenting his active duty, now that he is retired, to sell his new private company, or nw political career, as a wannabe John F’kng Kerry.

    Here is a takedown by the NRA in Dec 2013. http://www.nraila.org/legislation/federal-legislation/2013/12/army-officer-insults-supreme-court-for-heller-decision-calls-for-gun-bans,-turn-ins,-and-more.aspx

    that he misrepresented as inciting death threats against him and family. He needs to get together with Shannon Watts and compare whose panties are more twisted.

  56. The guy that Alex Jones confronted was wrong. His daughter was not shot with an assault rifle. She was shot with an AR-15, which is not an assault rifle.

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