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2014 Reunion:  Saturday events.  (June 7, 2014) Photo by Bruce Gilbert

“If it were a video with somebody shooting up a school, or a rap song with somebody talking about shooting up a school, they wouldn’t sell it. So why sell the gun? It doesn’t make sense.” – Trinity Church legal counsel Evan Davis in New York Church Taking Walmart to Court Over Gun Sales [at forbes.com]

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76 COMMENTS

  1. Well, let’s see, Mr. Legal Counsel: a gun is a perfectly legal, inanimate object; shooting up a school is an explicitly unlawful act.

    Gosh; if only I could figure out the difference between the two…

    • Well the part that makes the least sense of all is that WalMart does, indeed, sell video and music talking about school shootings. And he shouldn’t be so old fat white guy “that darn rap music”, either, as I’m sure you can find Pearl Jam in a WalMart and the unfortunately-titled song, “Jeremy,” is about a school shooting.

      • Bet they sell Marylin Manson’s music, and I recall ‘The Nobodies’ being about the Columbine shooting in particular. They sell the Foster the People album Torches, which has a track that was popular for a while called ‘Pumped up Kicks’. That song has direct school shooting referencing, and was actually pulled off radio play in some areas after Sandy Hook.
        I’m sure you can find quite a bit of media with school shootings or referencing shootings sold through Walmart.

  2. Let’s say they win the lawsuit. Let’s say the ruling bars Walmart from selling guns. Lets say Walmart ignores the ruling. How will the court order be enforced? With Federal agents pointing guns. I said GUNS!
    Wait. Aren’t guns only used to murder people? Isn’t that what the lawsuit stemmed from?
    Now that makes no sense.

  3. I imagine very little making sense to this man. Sorry is that an ad hominem? I just mean that is some serious non sequitar going on there. I mean if it were a video of people beating each other to death with baseball bats you wouldn’t sell it it, but you’d sell the baseball bat, right?

      • Bacon… Crisco… it’s all got to go!

        The dumbest thing about the suit is that Walmart could certainly sell those movies and songs if they chose to. Walmart has an obligation to follow the law, it does not have the obligation to do what he wants them to do. Just as he has no obligation to patronize Walmart if they aren’t the kind of store he wants them to be.

    • “I imagine very little making sense to this man.” You nailed it Pete, there is no compromise with the statist and it is a divide that will be settled sooner or later. The problem is though that some POTG think WE Americans, who respect and appreciate the Second Amendment have to be concerned with the verbal and visual optics of being politically correct, to these anti-American liberals, while WE are having our rights eroded through infringement by both parties that profit as one. The only optics that will matter in the determination of the Second Amendment and our hopes of wanting to be a Constitutional Republic again, are those optics attached to the deer rifles of men who are following the highest law of America, and protecting our God given unalienable rights. I intentionally used Deer rifle so that you fudds can understand that you have skin in the fight for the Second Amendment, because in liberal speak your deer rifle is an evil high powered Sniper Rifle that is capable of dropping a tyrant before the shot is heard.

    • Thank you! There are plenty of the very things he’s describing being sold every day. But, as is the case with most elitists, it’s not part of their world and doesn’t personally scare them, so it may be safely ignored.

  4. Perhaps it is time that “church” had its tax exempt status revoked and its finances thoroughly investigated. As for WalMart and what products it sells, shareholders ALREADY have a venue of input on the subject, and the sale of firearms and ammo has been repeatedly voted in favor of by said shareholders. Or does Rev Cooper think he has the power to take over WalMart simply because he wants to and has access to a big pile of money that is not his?

  5. Yes. And walmart should also make every customer sign a statement that they will only use their newly purchased knives to chop veggies. Hammers to drive nails. And drain cleaner to unclog drains.

    Just imagine how much safer we will all feel!

  6. Where did Jesus tell churches to take businesses to court over guns? Jesus advocated to his disciples to carry swords. God advocated arming construction workers who were rebuilding the Jerusalem wall. They’re only reading the parts of the BIble they like. They are a disgrace to Christendom.

    • Yep. The part that was commonly translated as “though shalt not kill” is actually written as “Thou shalt not Murder”.

      Christ was a peaceful man, not a pacifist. At least two disciples carried swords during his ministry. Swords are’not used to chop wood or cut bread.

      Luke chap.22, verse 36.
      “and he that has no sword, let him sell his cloak and buy one”

      • A favorite of the left is to mention Jesus’ condemnation of Peter for cutting off the ear of Malchus when the posse arrived in Gethsemane to arrest him, but what they miss is that Jesus never disagreed with Peter carrying the sword around for self-defense; he just disagreed with this use of it.

        • Exactly. Christ said to sheath the sword, not put it down.

          Christ was fulfilling the prophesy. Peter was not supposed to intervene.

      • Yes and unlike guns, swords actually have no utility aside from use on other people. You can’t hunt with a sword or have marksmanship contests with a sword.

        Also I love swords.

        • yeah. There is so much myth and legend around the sword. It is an amazing weapon.

          I need to start up my martial arts classes again. Including my training with sword and staff.

  7. You of those “churches”. It was given vast wealth over 300 years ago and is now a well paying none profit that cares not the least, if its pews are full or if it serves God in any way. You will notice that when it is a liberal church that has become basically secular. No one seems to care that they have become become more politically liberal than religious. The IRS only has an interest in politically conservative or anti abortion views by churches. These down town endowment rich churches (with very few members left in them) can do whatever they want so fart as the IRS goes..

    Here is an article about this very rich, under attended church and its corrupt Rector

    http://nypost.com/2012/03/18/trinity-churchs-board-in-open-revolt-against-rev-james-coopers-extravagant-ways/

    • Yep, Trinity church has been at this crap for a long time. Instead of divesting its billion dollar portfolio of WalMart stock they have been trying to force a shareholder takeover of daily operations, and they keep losing. They are also deeply involved in Democrat Party machinations in NYC, NY state and nationally. Seem to remember some Democrat screeching about political activism by churches being bad, all the while he was involved with Trinity church, and governor of New York, just as his son currently is. Funny group of people for a Roman Catholic to be in bed with.

      • Roman Catholics are probably too religious for them. It is hard to be as liberal as those guys are and actually be a sincere Catholic. I do not think you even need to believe in the Trinity to be a member of Trinity. Just vote Democrat

    • As a baptized Christisn, I would agree that many of the “organized” churches, to me, are “dens of iniquity”. The modern version of what Christ came to call to account of the judaic heirachy of the syngogue in his own time.

  8. Translation: “My uninformed opinions are facts and I know what is best for everybody. Any other point if view is not important. The average person is too dumb to exercise their own freewill.”

    Trinity Church legal counsel Evan Davis can pound sand.

    • Too many people in this thread don’t understand the role of an attorney. Legal counsel for Wal-Mart has no duty to say what he thinks; he has a duty to say what his client, in this case a nutty, overly liberal church, thinks. In fact, he has an ethical duty to avoid stating his personal views. Who knows if he personally agrees with what he said? Maybe he did; maybe not. Is he the president of a gun grabbing group? Then he probably does. But if not, we don’t know.

  9. On the videos, hever has obviously never seen Rampage, which is glorifying a guy shooting up a town and getting away. As mentioned, “Pumped up Kicks” by Foster the People is about a school shooting. He is blind and deaf to the world.

  10. Time for the church to mind it own. Was this country founded in part to have freedom of religion? Maybe I went to the wrong schools. Or could be I just had a 13 year dream about how it would be nice to live in a country where church and state were separated and everyone had the freedom to practice any religion the want to. So now I ask who appointed this church to represent the millions of people in New York ?

  11. The problem I see here is one of scale. Let’s consider a typical neighborhood LGS owned by Pa, run by Ma where Jr clerks. Suppose Ma and Pa don’t like the idea of selling a particular gun to “a kind of guy” that they don’t think ought to be wandering around their neighborhood with that gun. I might disagree with their decision; but, it is their decision. I wouldn’t deny them their individual rights to run their shop the way they see fit. Ma and Pa can probably convey their sentiments effectively to Jr.
    Try to apply this policy to Walmart. The sentiments of a majority of shareholders have to be gathered and committed to writing and conveyed to the Board. The Board has to write a policy manual and see to training the gun sales staff in all its stores. If-and-to-the-extent that an employee sells a gun to a customer who commits a crime, the Board has opened the company to a lawsuit from its shareholders. I don’t see how this can be made to work.
    If the Board decides to sell standard-sized magazines only over-the-counter and not mail-order, I can see how they can make that policy apply consistently. If the Board decides to sell gasoline to anyone who drives up to their pump, I can see how that works too. I don’t see how shareholders can tell the Board how to apply subjective criteria to a large chain-store operation.
    Any policy a board (or sole proprietor) adopts might work; or not. That’s life. Micromanaging a corporation’s business is the job of its board, not it’s shareholders.

  12. Because of its size and universal recognition, Wal-Mart is the target of frequent frivolous legal actions of all sorts, solely for the purpose of generating free publicity for the group behind that legal action. A mention in Forbes because of the tenuous business related connection gets these badvocates exposure to eyeballs far beyond their normal reach and influence.

  13. For him it appears the guns aren’t the problems, the doughnuts are! ban doughnuts!! heart attack in the making there. When I tell him to “Lighten Up” I am not just talking about his BS that he spews, I am talking about his weight!! lighten Up, you’re standing on my foot, fatso.

    I hate people that hide behind the religion or whatever to attack others….rev Al, ya listening? Um, on second thought I doubt that he’d be able to hide behind practically anything 🙂

    • Yeah, with that logic, why build the school to get shot up? Why allow people to have radios on which they might potentially hear a song by rapper talking about a school getting shot up? Why let people off the collective or out of the factories when they might have the potential to shoot up a school?

      Why give people free will at all? Wouldn’t it be better if the state made the decision on where your labor might be best used? Progressive means “they” are progressing towards controlling everything you do, say, hear, eat, work at, sleep in or recreate at. They know better. Because.

  14. This argument is akin to saying, “You took a poop yesterday and the scent was unpleasant. It just doesn’t make any sense. Why don’t you just stop pooping?”

    But remember, this lawyer’s job is to win for his client, and he’s in a liberal state, so he has to play to the liberal loon element. For all we know, he’s personally a 2A proponent, but is doing his best to argue his client’s position. Attorneys have an ethical duty to take on cases advocating positions or clients they personally disagree with, even strongly. Remember the black attorney who defended the KKK member (or member of some other white supremacist organization) a few years back? The lawyer is getting paid for representing his client; call the client nuts, not the lawyer.

    So now I’ll take my own advice. Dang, Trinity Church is nuts!

    • I’ll agree–I am guessing the lawyer knows better (altho it ain’t necessarily so). But I’ll also note the lawyer doesn’t necessarily have to work for Trinity Church.

  15. In the first place, who knows what murder and mayhem is indeed in the videos and rap songs Wal-Mart does sell (anyone else recall the opening scenes of the original “Red Dawn”? Yup–a school being shot up). And in the second place, a vid about a school being shot up is specifically about a school being shot up. A gun is about hunting or target shooting of self-protection or collecting or about any number of possibilities. And the guy knows it. Personally, as for me, the last time I bought a gun at Wal-Mart (many years ago) was the last time i’ll ever buy a gun at Wal-Mart. But I realize it’s the principle at work here.

  16. If you see someone selling stupid, and are attempting to violate the Constitution, chuck it first, peel the mf and put their pelt on the side of your barn. It might sound inflammatory, but it’s just what is going to occur anyway in a more littered eventuality. History has so spoken.

    F to the idiots in black robes that agree to hear this crap.

    “When forming interactive societies one maxim maintains the balance of individuals when
    commingled pairs form larger groups.
    That maxim is simply:
    ‘I WILL NOT PAY TO RAISE-UP AN
    ARMY AGAINST MYSELF’.” (TERMS, J.M. Thomas R., 2012, pg.34)

  17. Trinity Church; are those blow-hard meddling nannies still trying to fill their sails.

    They’re as bad as the race baiter crowd.

  18. WALMART also sells tires, which in some countries people douse with gasoline/kerosene and use to BURN other people to death. Should we also ban the sale of tires (tyres if you’re British)?

    • I’m guessing that Trinity Church actually approves of that use of tires, like their kindred spirit, “Father” Aristide, did.

    • Ah, the African ‘necklace’.

      One worn-out truck tire soaked in kerosene pushed down over the neck pinning your arms at the side…

  19. “If it were a video with somebody shooting up a school, or a rap song with somebody talking about shooting up a school, they wouldn’t sell it. So why sell the gun? It doesn’t make sense.” – Trinity Church legal counsel Evan Davis in New York Church Taking Walmart to Court Over Gun Sales

    If it were a video with somebody crashing into a vehicle, or a rap song with somebody talking about crashing into a vehicle, they wouldn’t sell it. So why sell the vehicle? It doesn’t make sense? Wrong. It makes perfect liberal progressive sense.

  20. Ah, churches: reaping the benefits and wanting to change the policies of government without contributing a single dime.

  21. Gee, I was unaware that Wal-Mart was selling guns to underage minors not legally entitled to possess much less purchase firearms. But then, what do I know, Wal-Marts in California don’t sell guns.

  22. Wally World has way more $ than this apostate church. Jus’ sayin’…and it makes me want to head to Indiana and buy an AR…

    • Actually, no. Trinity has no tax liability, no payroll liability, no insurance/benefits liability. What they have is a vast pile of money they can piss away on pointless and frivolous lawsuits. WalMart? Not so much. And they still continue to tell Trinity to go f*ck themselves, which is yet one more reason to shop there!

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