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Shannon Watts and Michael Bloomberg (courtesy nytimes.com)

“The gun lobby has done a good job over the last 30 years of making a vocal minority afraid people will take their guns away. As a mother, I’m afraid someone is going to take my children away, and I believe at the end of the day, that emotion will carry it.” – Shannon Watts, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America [via bbc.com]

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169 COMMENTS

    • Well the U.S. population is around 315 million so 100 million supporters is indeed a minority.

      Fortunately for us we live (supposedly) in a constitutionally limited republic which means (supposedly) that a majority of the population cannot take away the rights of a minority group. Time will tell.

      • technically true…but throw in the un known number of supporters who may not even own firearms and I’m guessing we’re in the majority.

        Everyone should join NRA. Bloomie’s putting another $50,000,000 up. I’ve got a link to join for only $25 with my last ruger… http://www.nra.org/ruger

        • I saw an explanation around 20 years ago which demonstrated the methods used to make the estimates of gun ownership in America as being totally useless. They included the fact that the estimators, for some reason, believe that 40 years after production, a firearm somehow disappears. Anybody besides me have firearms FAR older than that which work just fine? Hell, I have a Colt Python .357 I bought new at a Gibson’s in 1972, probably has under 200 rounds through it, since I bought it as backup to an identical gun I already owned and put probably 1000 rounds a year through. Finally wore the barrel out and sold it for 4x what I paid for it since I had moved to semis by then. But that second one is still nearly new. That article, some 20 years ago, estimated that the actual number of guns in America was close to 800 million, and they’ve been selling real hard for the 20 years since, yet we now hear this 300 million number. Bogus. And 100 million owners. Says who? Supposedly nobody knows whether I own a gun or not, TX even allows you to get a CHL with a gun rented from a gun store or borrowed from a friend. I would be surprised if gun owners didn’t total between 125 and 150 million today, and would like to hear the methodology of someone who insists on 100.

        • Larry, more to your point, Remmington alone has sold over ten million 870s to date.

          One gun, one company, ten million sold. And, shotguns are like bolt guns, they last forever.

          I own serveral guns that are older than me, and two older than my father.

          The number has to be astronomical.

        • My thoughts exactly Larry, my family of 6 owns >50 firearms and that is a small amount compared to many other families I know of. My estimate for firearms in the USA is >500M with >95 million gun owners.

      • Keep in mind the 315 million includes children. So…with that said, the math would suggest that Pro gun supporters are in the majority. In the groups of people I associate with, non gun owners support 2A by a large margin.

        • Yes, but out of that 315 million, and after factoring out the kids and illegals, it puts the panty-wetting liberals far into the minority. Then too, how many times do we hear of these liberal fruitcakes secretly sneaking in to buy a weapon, …… just in case their fanciful world of kumbaya turns out to be a massive fail.

    • 100 million may not be the majority of the country, but I have no doubt that it far exceeds those who support civilian disarmament.

      Based on MDA and MAIG rallies, antigunners number a few thousand per state. At most.

    • 100 million not a big number? Barack Obama was elected by 65,917,258 voters.

      Heck, if just the gun owners wrote me in, I could fix the country! I’ll reboot it. I’ll fire the whole federal bureaucracy. As boss of the executive branch, the president can do that, you know. 😉

    • So it’s confirmed; the anti-gun grabbers DO like to play with their poop.

      That can be the only explanation since they pull the numbers they like to manipulate and throw around right out of their asses.

    • If you know anything about reading body language, it is very telling.

      Crossing your arms is a sign of disinterest or defiance. It is often meant to convey confidence but usually communicates an unwillingness to listen.

      Also, hands in your pockets is a sign of submission. Surrender. Oddly, they say that if you leave your thumbs out when you have your hands in your pockets it shows you lack a sense of vulnerability.

      These two are a psychological case study just in the way they are standing.

      • You’re right on. Also check out the sterility of the environment – it’s an empty room and lacks life.

        Hands in pockets can also indicate secretiveness or deceptiveness.
        Crossed arms are blocking or defensive, too.

        Just by what can be seen in the picture, it’s seems they both would rather be somewhere else.

        • That empty room is pretty common in NYC, and I’m sure other cities. It’s a space that is rented out for photo sessions or parties.

      • You’re over thinking it a bit.

        The photographer or publicist told Shannon to stand that way so that she could look tough, as in the stereotypical tough, no-nonsense modern mom.

        Then they told Bloomberg to stand that way in order to look calm and friendly, to combat his infamously abrasive personality.

        That’s what PR people do for a living, and Shannon is a professional PR person. Nothing she does for a photograph or interview is not carefully calculated.

        Nothing about how they appear in this photo has anything to do with the psychology of the person beneath the surface.

        • Maybe it is how the picture was staged to give those appearances, however when a viewing person looks at those photos the intuition takes hold. The “hard stance” crossed arms look comes from the hands being exposed over the crossed arms. In this photo that’s not the case. I’m guessing this photographer was worrying too much about the composition and making a message to consider how folks will be viewing it. Arms bent at the elbows with hands on the hips might have been more appropriate to convey a hard stance than the crossed arms with hands tucked _into_ the body, weight equally distributed between the feet, facing more towards the camera, less dead space, and maybe with actual pleasant smiles instead. They do not appear to be colleagues or allies for a common cause.

          Anyway…. different interpretations from different vantage points. YMMV.

        • I’m sure it is all posed, right down to the empty room. Incidentally, I suspect the empty room is to remove height references so it is not obvious that little Napoleon is so short instead of Demanding Mom being so tall.

          However, posed or natural stance, it speaks volumes about their message. Reading body language is an important part of communication and certainly a big part of threat assessment. It is not the end all be all of communication, but still very important. Their message with that picture paints an interesting portrait of all that they are.

  1. She doesn’t understand that gun owners have those guns not because they’re afraid someone will take their guns away, but because they’re afraid a criminal will take their children away, and they don’t want to have to wait for the police to maybe come out and protect them.

    • It’s funny, because I distinctly recall the last few quotes of her “calls for help,” (including this one,) to which the most completely logical & correct answer to all of them would be “so… learn some gun safety, get some training, & buy a gun!!” Morons. They’re all morons.

    • One would think that a rational person would want to tool up to prevent their children from being taken from them. Notice I said “a rational person.”

    • Hah! Someone has figured out a way to deliver a really good insult that will not result in a COMMENT DELETED! Kudos.

    • I wonder if Shannon has got a case of…

      …transference.
      http://cbtvspsychodynamic.com/transferenceexamples.html

      Maybe who Shannon REALLY fears is MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry who said (in the network’s “Lean Forward” campaign):

      “We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had a private notion of children, your kid is yours and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children. So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.”

      Or to put it in Hillary’s lingo: “It takes a village to raise a child.”

    • But they have a lot of letters and words to put on their office door. I wonder if they’ll go with Every Town for Gun Safety or the more hip ET4GS; followed by MAIG and MDA of course. I wonder how many more “rebrandings” this organization can go through?

    • Perhaps they have as much trouble finding furniture as they do finding Moms to attend their anti-gun rallies.

      Seems like all the media photos look pretty much like this one – two or three people standing around by themselves looking defiant or tired.

  2. So is she admitting that her goal is to take our guns away? I don’t see a whole lot of wiggle room between “you can keep your gun” and “I fear you will kill my children.”

  3. EMOTION. Bingo. You finally admitted it. Your arguments are fueled by EMOTION, not facts, not logic, not reason. Fear, anger and helplessness. That’s what drives you, Ms. Watts.

    We can fix that. I know you (or your organization) reads these pages. SOMEONE in your employ is reading this. I’m sure there are folks here–myself, certainly–who’d be willing to show you just what it is you’re so afraid of, and maybe show you that you don’t have to be.

    Unless of course you’re fully aware of this and are just pushing the fear angle as a front for a much more sinister ultimate goal–the disarmament of American civilians as a step toward total government control. You aren’t the first person to say “We do this for the children”. We have seen this song and dance before, and we won’t be fooled so easily this time.

    • It is not fear that motivates her or Bloomberg. This is about control. This is about “mind your betters”. At the end of the day, they want to ban something for “your own good” because they believe the average person is not intelligent or capable enough to make their own decisions.

      If this country has become infantalized it is because of the efforts of people like Mrs. Watts. She only makes us worse by convincing some small portion that perhaps they are too helpless to do anything for themselves.

      • I subscribe to the theory that the need for control also stems from fear. The need to feel secure and the fear of free-willed individuals being in conflict, there arises a desire for control of the situation which is enacted through control over others.

        Taken to extremes, you end up with a rich dude like Bloomberg who thinks all the peasants have it out for him and a fearful prude like Watts who sees everyone else as a brutal thug that might at any moment give in to their baser instincts.

      • You’re right Rob. If it was strictly about fear, I don’t think Watts would be hanging around a guy that has 10+ armed bodyguards around him every day. But more than control, for Watts at least, it’s ‘all about the benjamins’.

    • She really does seem like she’s sooooo terrified, that if she did actually get some training and education about guns one day, throw a few hundred pounds of lead down range, she’d be one of the most die hard 2a supporters out there. Know what I mean? Like, she’d just completely flip, & be like “Ohhhhhhh!!! I get it now!!” Poor lady. I really do feel sorry that she’s so terrified (& ignorant,) & the solution is right there smacking her in the ass/face.

    • Most women make their decisions based on feelings. Not feeling discomfited, judged, afraid or uncomfortable are high priorities for suburban moms.

      For beings so driven by feelings they also demonstrate a remarkable inability to consider that others might not “feel” as they do. The men who go along with their screeches are doing do because either they have no masculine traits or they think by doing so they will get “lucky.”

      Just like those Herbs who post pictures of themselves on the internet holding signs saying “I need feminism cuz…I’m a man and I have learnt now that that is bad.” Pity Bang please? Sniffle.

      Case in point about feelings, Miss Alabama here would rather have her entire life monitored by overseers so that she can live under the illusion of feeling safe. Feelings. She has them and wants you to have them too. Notice how many times she uses the words “I feel…” Versus “I think…”

  4. Our country is number one in the world in private ownership of firearms. That fact alone means were not a vocal minority.

    • Why do you grab the closest soda in the case? Why you eat the grapes towards the top of the bunch?

      It’s right there and it’s the easiest one to get a hold on. The low hanging fruit is the easiest to pick.

      MDA is right there and they make it easy, mostly cause they “demand action.”

      • I for one am getting tired of hearing about MDA.

        I realize that part of this blog’s success is the sensationalist and emotion instigating posts, but I would prefer to see more of the OTHER reason this blog is successful: Thorough gear reviews and relevant news articles.

        RF: My opinion is I’d like to see a new housekeeping post on this one.

        • actually that used to be the way it was, as I recall – no politics, or at least politics heavily discouraged. turns out politics generates clicks, who woulda thunk it?

        • Not much value in reviewing guns and ammunition if you ignore the political factions that are working very hard to take away your ability (the right to keep and bear arms CANNOT be revoked by government dictat) to own or use any of the things being reviewed.

          This was also intended as a reply to Jeff and ended up a separate post. Must be a bug in the system.

      • The thing is simply that TTAG does not have a large crew of writers churning out gun specific articles and so they have to go with grabbing quotes and pictures, writing up a short piece, and posting them. One key to the success of TTAG is the high volume of posts every day, I think it is around 14? That’s a lot of posts to keep churning out every single day, but as with all blogs like this, the higher number of posts you put up daily, the more traffic you’ll get. And, remember, every single visit for any reason is logged and recorded and then TTAG can demonstrate to advertisers and potential advertisers that there is a high level of views on the site.

        It all makes sense, when you realize what’s going on.

        If TTAG had more writers dedicated to writing gun and gear reviews and posts, there would be more of those. But those take more time and frankly are more expensive since whoever is doing the review is probably using his/her own ammo, etc.

        TTAG is a business venture.

        • So Paul, “TTAG is a business venture”, Umm, Yeah, and your point is? Because you say it as if it was a bad thing.

          Unless your have more of a liberal bent. Then, of course, the idea of some one being a success and making money at providing an entertaining and informative web site supporting the second amendment would not make you happy.

          Much of what you write Paul, has that self-hating mind set so common to the left.

        • Actually, a lot of the attraction of TTAG is that while they do have some dedicated writers many of their posts are grass-roots donations. In addition, they do not flood the site with a lot of repetitive gun-related posts that are covered ad nauseum everywhere else. Until you get into the politics of guns there is only s much variation that can be put into writing about guns or even reviewing different guns or ammo.

          The beauty of TTAG is not the quality of the writing of the 12 or more posts each day, although it tends to be above average, IMO, but the quality and quantity of the comments to those posts. It is the spontaneous community involvement that puts this effort ahead of so much of its competition.

          And I think we can see from Guns & Ammo exactly how valuable hiring professional gun writers turns out.

        • “It all makes sense, when you realize what’s going on”

          LMAO. We know what is ‘really’ going on and approve since this site also benefits the pro-gun community. So where is all the paid advertising TTAG should have for its numbers of visitors? Not much is there? This site goes after the MAGs and MDAs as well as organizations such as the Freedom Group that makes guns. Is there any valid insightful point you’d like to share with us?

          Paul, you’re out of your league at this site. Run along.

        • I’ll expound on what I posted above.

          Right now this is the front-running anti-gun organization in the USA. They may not be “grassroots” but they have funding. The regular media is NOT going to throw a spotlight on their activities and when they do it will paint them in a positive light.

          Keeping an eye on those that would take our rights away is an advisable plan. I’m sure MDA/MAIG/Everytown has more pro-gunners watching them then they have actual members. That’s not a bad thing.

          EDIT – Weird, this was supposed to be a response to Paul

        • See, here now I thought that TTAG stood for “The TRUTH About Guns”, meaning this site is helping to spread truth. This isn’t The Reviews About Guns, or Only Stories About Guns That Paul Wants to Read, this is The Truth About Guns.

        • That is offensive to all handicapped people everywhere to be compared to this shrill 🙂

    • It has been explained many times to you and others that keep asking this question.

      Social Media is a new means of communication, and one that a large number of people use for ‘socialization.’ At least one recent study (don’t have the source handy, but you can look it up) of under-25’s has shown that that group is losing real interpersonal communication skills (reading tone of voice and physical non-verbal clues) because of the time spent using computer devices for social interaction.

      As such, it is fast becoming that when people hear of something – in a news report, overhearing it at Starbucks, their friends say “hey check this out” (either face to face or in a FB post), they go to Google or Facebook or something similar to learn about it.

      Now, do you know how Google calculates which pages of the 1.7 million “hits” it finds will be on the front page? One way is “link popularity,” and another is just good old fashioned “word count in meaningful content.”

      Discussions and essays look yummy to Google’s indexing engine. Words are the food of Search Engine Optimization far more than “keywords” and other stuff.

      So…when someone wants to find out more about anti-gun agitprop groups like MDA or anti-gun individuals – especially those that are selling their ideas as if they “care” or “are the good guys,” we want, no, we NEED them to see some counter-argument.

      Most “Moms” I know personally, want what is best for their children. Most would NOT say “sit in the corner and watch some maniac harm them” accomplishes that goal. But MDA’s approach is carefully crafted to make it sound like “If you care about your children you will agree with me” and they have PRODUCED every word they say to accomplish a goal…a goal that requires the manipulation of minds to fit their agenda.

      They are targeting a younger demographic than you and I…a group that leans HEAVILY on the Internet for “information” and a group that has been aculturated into believing what they see and hear in “media” such as TV, movies, news, and yes, web sites and twitter feeds.

      There has to be the counter voice in that “space.” This is ONE place that counter voice can exist.

    • In a target-rich environment each potential target gets only a proportional share of the rounds down-range.

      Since MAIG has become essentially irrelevant and Brady, VPC, et al are floundering for some sort of relevance and media exposure, the purchase of MDAFGSA by Bloomberg makes them stand out like a tiger tank in a field surrounded by Kubelwagons.

      If we direct enough fire, along with the NRA and all the other truly grass-roots pro Second Amendment groups, at this $50 million dollar wanna be elephant in the room, and blow them out of the water, we achieve a significant victory.

      They may not be fish in a barrel, but they have certainly made themselves into the biggest fish in the sea. They want us to say, “I think we need a bigger boat!” When in fact we just need a dependable M1 Garand and a chance at the frontal target they insist on presenting.

      Too many shooting metaphors? Oh, well, it’s who we are. They put themselves in our crosshairs, let’s make them sweat while we decide when to pull the trigger.

  5. What does her fear of her children being taken away have anything to do with gun legislation? Sounds like someone has parenting insecurities… maybe someone should open a CPS case.

  6. These people are so disingenuous it’s nauseating. If you really want “gun safety”, make videos on how to safely store your firearms out of the reach of children, proper trigger control, how not to shoot yourself in the thigh when you field strip your Glock. Instructional pamphlets on over penetration in suburban environments, proper storage of ammunition, how to properly wash your hands after handling firearms and ammo to avoid lead exposure.

    These are just a few that managed to find their way out of my coffee deprived head this morning, we can do WAY more than this. Put those commercials up during prime time, not what they think gun safety is: “Yur kidz are kill, you no get gunz, gunz bad”

  7. You’re worried someone will take your children away?

    That’s between you and CPS, lady. Leave my guns out of it.

  8. I am also afraid that someone will take my daughter away, that’s why I carry. I’d rather not face that situation armed with nothing but emotion.

  9. Her kids will be raised in the bosom of liberal decadence, private schools, mommified, insulated from the harsh realities of modern life. Hopefully they discover crack and become the very thing she pretends only exists outside her gated community.

    • HER kids have already been raised–they are adults, who no doubt were “raised” by daycare employees or maybe a “governess” while she was climbing the corporate ladder. She presently has a teenaged (16 years old, is it?) stepchild who presumably has already been pretty much “raised”, no doubt in similar fashion. This whole “mom” schtick is just so much horse hockey.

      • The son is perhaps another Adam Lanza in the making? She mentioned last year that he was “terrified” by some lame movie. Wanna bet he goes on SSRIs soon?

        WATCH HIM CLOSELY.

  10. So now that MDA and MAIG and whatever they call them selves have joined to become that everytown sonerhing does that mean they might get even ten peole at a rally now. Not counting the paid protesters they hire.

  11. It’s sort of nice to see any pretending on their part just go away. The sad thing is that even admitting their end game is all or nothing and emotion not reason is the driving force and proudly waving around billionaire funding and a board boasting two police state warmongers there are still idiots out there who will jam their fingers into their ears to maintain their faith in a “just” cause.

  12. Well when telling a criminal that him killing me or my family hurts my feelings will stop every attack every time, then maybe I’ll keep my guns for recreational purposes only. Just let me know when the unicorns show up, I’ll retain my ”right to guns for hunting” to see just how delicious they are.

  13. And you know what millions of people are rightfully fearful? How about when they do what Shannon says they should do, call 911 and wait, wait as in hours before the police respond. Those horror stories, especially in urban centers are absolutely true, unless she is sharing some delusions of grandeur with Harry Reid. Look at Oakland, that’s the future in Shannon’s world because all Mikie’s mayor buddies go straight to police and fire first, when it is time for budget trimming or cutting. That’s how Mikie’s minion in Milwaukee operates.

    So long as their answer is call the police and hope you get through when the career criminal, who the liberal judge went soft at sentencing, is at the door, people will reject that message so long as we get that message out along with other common sense messages like the government is now more likely than ever to be used as a weapon against anyone that does something the ruling regime does not like. The IRS is just the beginning.

    • I was reading a post somewhere about someone whose home had just been burglarized and a firearm stolen, among other things. He was waiting HOURS and still no police came to take the report.

    • James, you’re right, except that day is already here, with not only the IRS, but the NSA, the ATF, the EPA, the DOE, and probably others. And let’s not get this wrong, here, Obama and his cronies did not invent the idea, although they are more arrogant about it and the inevitable coverups.

  14. She’s in it for publicity and money. Check out here resume. She could care less about kids, she just wants to pal around with the hoity toity. She is a corporate kiss ass.

    TTAG needs to not give her so much airtime, but Bloomberg with his $50,000,000 will.

    Best firearms salesmen in the world, Obama, Bloomberg and now Holder.

  15. NEWS FLASH: Bloomberg to marry Watts. Couple plans to run for King and Queen of America.

    Joking aside, I am now living in the NYC area and cannot believe any law-abiding sane person believes they can indefinitely and in all places rely upon government security forces to protect them from danger. The naivety of the local people to trust in the ‘system’ to protect them, and provide them with access to stocked food stores and health care etc, is incredulous.

    • This is an interesting, and apparently all too common problem of the current state of our society.

      I happened on a string of “car crash” videos recently and one thing stood out in too many cases – the number of people who saw a zebra crossing (striped pedestrian crosswalk) and simply stepped out into the street without even bothering to look at traffic, including mothers pushing strollers. The mayhem was predictable, to any sane person, but I’m sure each of them as they were run down or saw cars and trucks swerving into each other or lamp posts, was wondering what the problem was. They were in a government mandated “Car Free Zone” weren’t they? How could there possibly be any problem or danger?

    • Yeah, I was kind of wondering why Watts wasn’t sitting on Bloomy’s lap with his hand up her ass…

      Must be one of those animatronic dummies.

  16. As usual you fear what you don’t understand. And no, I don’t understand people who want to dictate to others every last detail of how they should live their lives right down to how they should be allowed to protect themselves from thugs so yes, I fear they intend to take my guns and tell me to call them if anything goes wrong and they’ll be there in 20 minutes.

    Shannon on the other hand doesn’t understand why people would object to her running their lives (for the greater good).

  17. The story mentions “recent successes in Colorado” while leaving out the fact that three Democrats that supported the gun laws lost their jobs, and it’s only because of one resigning that the Democrats even have control of the state senate there.

    But you keep telling yourself that story, Bloomberg.

    • Those 3 democrats being forced out was indeed a victory for our side Brian. However, the law they helped enact still stands. The coming midterm elections are very important. Hickenlooper should be a primary target for pro 2A forces.

  18. This intersect relays at some point in one’s life, one gives up the hard work and refuse to climb the ladder or a mountain. Or another standing on the mountain, loaded with coin, surveying your soul wondering what’s your measure. Together building a castle with no foundation.

  19. No, it was not the NRA that made me afraid “someone is going to take my guns away.”

    it was Mayor Bloomberg seizing Marlin 25s that made me afraid that “someone is going to take my guns away.”

  20. Maybe we’re worried people will take our guns away because people like her keep trying to get laws passed to do exactly that. As for her children, know what? You don’t want my guns to harm your children, make sure your children don’t grow up to be criminals.

    • I figure that’s Malloy’s issue with guns – he KNOWs at least one of his sons is a criminal who will likely at some point in his “career” get shot by a homeowner.

      No Jail For Ex-stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy’s Son

      December 11, 2009|By ALAINE GRIFFIN, [email protected]

      STAMFORD — The son of prospective Democratic candidate for governor Dannel Malloy was sentenced Thursday to five years’ probation for his role in a drug-related attempted armed robbery last March.

      In a plea deal, Benjamin Malloy, 22, was spared prison time in exchange for his guilty plea in Superior Court in September to a charge of attempt to commit first-degree robbery and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

      http://articles.courant.com/2009-12-11/news/09121112523931_1_robbery-attempt-stamford-community-sentence

      • So….Malloy the father who spawned his own Demon Seed dares to lecture the rest of us about guns?

        That’s chutzpah, real chutzpah.

  21. Shannon, justice is when you punish the GUILTY. Tyranny is when you punish the INNOCENT. Gun owners have not seen much justice in the last 20+ years.

    To me and many others, it does sound like a collective punishment when you threaten, or actually do, to seize private property under duress or threat of legal sanctions for then actions of another individual. Some of your more extreme comrades have openly advocated the arrest and indefinite detention of people not for their political beliefs but for their sporting affiliation. And you wonder why firearm owners have a level of paranoia. It is because we listen to what you and your kind say and wonder about your frame of mind when you said it.

  22. Step off, Watts. As a mother, I will never let you take away the best means I have to defend my family. I’ll fight you to the very end.

    Also: self-moderation of some choice bad words.

    • Jul, between her emotion and your gun, I’m betting on you, sister.

      I’m haven’t seen any ballistics on emotion, but I’m guessing emotion doesn’t carry through targets as well as bullets. Pretty low penetration factor., I’m guessing.

  23. Liberal Logic 101

    NRA is a voluntary dues paying organization that gets the overwhelming majority of its funds from members paying their dues and making additional donations on top of that. Can organize thousands of protestors at a moments notice due to membership dedication. Therefore:

    NRA = Evil babby killin’ gun manufacturers. Not grassroots.

    Gun control groups

    Literally every single one is funded exclusively by and directly from the pockets of oligarchs, billionaires and their various foundations. After months of planning a protest, 11 people show up, 7 of them are reporters and the camera crew. Therefore:

    Gun control is a grassroots movement

    • What can you say? by liberal logic a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, glow-in-the-dark pallid corporate lawyer-cum Harvard professor-cum US Senator is an oppressed “woman of color”, while a part-black, part Indian Hispanic arrestee is an example of white privilege.

  24. Don’t put much stock in polls but saw a recent one that was interesting. According to this poll 49% of Americans want stricter gun laws which is down from 60% in January 2013 a month after Newtown. Here’s the part I find interesting 24% think existing gun laws are just fine and 20% think think laws should be loosened. I understand that many people here, including myself, would prefer we return to the days when guns were sold with an exchange of money and a handshake but the last two numbers are encouraging.

    • I’ve seen some analysis of those polls and it is interesting. Of those 49% that want stricter laws, many are asking for laws that are already on the books. For instance, there is an overwhelming call for doing background checks, which already happens. Not the “universal background checks” that everyone fears, but the belief that local law enforcement should run a criminal check on a gun purchaser.

      Wow, guess what already happens.

      Most of the suggestions for “stricter laws” seem to be calls for what is already there, showing how ignorant or apathetic most people are about gun control. This is also why it loses in the polls, because when politicians get specific they usually suggest something most people don’t want or don’t care about. That’s not how you get votes.

      It is very politically correct to be for “gun safety” without really understanding what it means. Kind of like people who talk about how racism is bad and then turn around and make a comment or rely on a stereotype that is prejudiced. Something I usually see from people who swear how open-minded and tolerant they are.

  25. “The Government has done a good job over the last 30 years of making a criminal minority unafraid of victimizing people. As a mother, I’m afraid someone is going to take my children away, and I believe at the end of the day, that I will concealed carry.”

    Fixed that.

  26. That shot is from their most well-attended rally to date of all the various groups they have started and cannibalized. You can’t see them in that shot, but there are actually 10 people in that room with the film crew, caterers, and make-up people behind the camera.

    Also, why are they giving this statement to the BBC? Seems like they are seeking an audience with the UK because no one in the US will pay attention to them.

  27. Fred,

    They gave it to the BBC because Bloomberg has been investing a lot in London and schmoozing with the British elite as his term expired. The British elite don’t want common people to have guns, too much prior trouble with armed citizens in Ireland, Scotland and the last straw was the colonies in America.

    He’s in England a lot, he likes that only his guys have guns there.

    Some think he will move there, probably take all his bodyguards with him too.

  28. I have a 14 month old son, a 14 year old stepdaughter, and a 17 year old stepson. I carry guns all the time. I’ve carried as a private security guard / crew chief for Dunbar Armored. I continue to carry as a police officer on duty and off. I’ve carried in schools while I taught classes. In 15 years of carrying in public and private places, I have not had a single incident. There have been exactly zero children injured by my firearms. Shannon’s children, and children like hers, have not been injured.

    I carry concealed when I hold my son Emerson in a strong and secure holster. I’ve also held babies and toddlers while open carrying in my uniform. I’ve been handed a choking child in restaurant while on duty with a gun on my right hip. Once I established an airway, the child was returned better off than he came to me. All while being 18″ away from my Smith .40 Cal in a triple-threat retention holster.

    I summarily reject the idea that children cannot possibly survive near firearms based upon personal experience alone. The president must do the same, as his children are under constant armed guard by the Secret Service. Responsible gun owners exists safely with children and firearms under the same roof. Even the AR-15, which has been marketed as an instrument of pure evil by the liberal progressive left, can be near children as long as it is responsibly stored and operated.

    There is no choice between the safety of children or the ownership of firearms. Both child safety and gun ownership exist in the real world. Bloomberg and Watts are deliberately selling the logical fallacy of the false choice. The fallacy is gobbled up and perpetuated by the mainstream media, Democrat (and the occasional Republican) gun grabbers, and emotional simpletons such as MDA.

    Therefore, we must continue our grassroots efforts and remain vigilant in our struggle for Liberty and the responsible ownership of firearms. I’d rather have freedom and truth than a whole pile of dirty money.

  29. Please consider joining Gun Owners Of America instead of NRA. NRA has compromised us into the mess we have now. They believe CCW permits are a “reasonable” compromise of our 2nd amendment right keep and bear arms. In talking with them, they don’t understand that ANY time you license, permit, tax or charge a fee for engeging in a right, that right becomes a privlege. Wake up America!

    • Tim, the Supreme Court doesn’t agree that the 2nd Amendment means that firearms should be unregulated. If they did, the NRA could do something. The courts are the last word and unless we have conservatives on the bench, what any gun rights group can do is limited. The NRA were behind the Heller decision, and in CT, they backed a big range (BlueTrail Range) that the left did everything you can imagine to shut down. They are doing a lot that most of us never hear about. I suggest supporting both, the the NRA is the primary voice of American gun owners. It’s like voting for an independent candidate instead of the Republican. They may have better ideas, but because they don’t have the backing of a majority of conservatives, you simply cause the liberal to win. We need to get behind the NRA, and push them to do what we demand of them. They are working for us.

      • Bob, you are correct. However, the Supreme Court is WRONG! We all know that, we also know that’s how it is and we have to deal with it. But it should be said. They are wrong.

    • Finally I see someone else gets it! Your exactly right, if you have to apply for, pay a fee (tax), or agree ro other types of government issued papers to carry then you have recognized and agreed that you have a privilege and not a right.
      I have carried daily ever since I could buy a handgun way back in the 70’s. I will never ask for permission as its a fundamental right same as free speech or any other right granted by the constitution.

    • I don’t shoot only one caliber, and I don’t belong to just one gun rights group. Join every one you can afford.

      • About a decade ago, I had just relocated and didn’t yet have a permanent address; just a PO box. Well, I went to register to vote, and they wouldn’t accept a PO box, they needed a street address, which I didn’t have. So in exasperation, I said, “I’m homeless.” They said, “Oh,” and asked what major cross-streets I hung out at. So homeless people _can_ vote, they just need a lift to the register-to-vote place. 😉

  30. Shannon, Shannon, Shannon.. . . . What did we talk about before? If you are gonna “go” there, then make sure there is a there, there, ‘k babe? Ok, let’s kick this off:

    1) Your “Children” – hmmm. who would that be? Of your two and John’s three (almost a Brady Bunch, I suppose (see what I did there)), well, only one, John’s son, is still a minor. So . . . how would any get “taken” away?

    2) Speaking of taken away, if you have not seen this video from Houston (that’s in Texas by the way, where you Midget Pay Master, aka Bloomy (the short guy with all of the icky people with concealed guns around him) thinks he will campaign against guns). Wow – a burglar caught on tape, in the home, in the bedroom of a BABY!!!! and so let’s discuss taken away – what if this guy took the baby? Hmmmm. Yeah, marinate on that for a minute.

    http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9504921

    3) Emotion. That is not a winning argument. If the gov’t admits it cannot protect us and those of us who don’t have personal bodyguards or former healthcare senior executive (Obamacare anyone??) spouses who took multi-million golden parachutes and thus can afford to live in a rich gated (read: WHITES ONLY) enclave with fancy alarm systems and panic rooms, then well FOAD. Seriously, that emotional argument is the same silliness as tell a rape victim that at least she was not killed (oh wait, that didn’t work well in CO recently,huh?). YOU ARE LOSING . . . . GET OVER IT AND GET A HOBBY.

    • Ironically enough, I’ve had a couple people tell me in the course of the past year or so that gun owners should just give in and “get a new hobby.”

  31. “…..emotion will carry the day.”

    By all means…Let’s make policy based on emotion. How “progressive.”

  32. She’s worried about someone taking her kids? That’s silly. For starters, the majority of missing children are runaways fleeing from physically or emotionally abusive parents. So she has the power to stop most of those at the source. Beyond that, of children who actually are abducted, about half are taken by a parent and another quarter are taken by an acquaintance.

    So she really has a lot of control over such a crime being committed by controlling access to her kids in the first place. Meanwhile, we must guard againt everyone who has access to political offices up and down the ladder and from coast to coast.. The comparison to taking away firearms, then, falls flat on its face.

    • Maybe she knows something about the “Everytown” Directors. Tom Ridge is one. And “Everytown” is a great name for a FEMA camp. Or several…

  33. Their posturing really gives the impression they’re not pleased to be around each other. The crossed arms and the hands in pockets say much.

  34. “The gun lobby has done a good job over the last 30 years of making a vocal minority…”

    How many people do you boast being on your side of this? If numbers matter, let’s compare.

    “…afraid people will take their guns away.”

    It’s not that I’m afraid of somebody coming in and taking away my possessions, it’s more about what happens after that. If you willingly let them (government/ people in charge) take away liberty, they will never willingly give it back . If they take one right, this only enables them to take more. They don’t care about your pursuit of happiness, they feel they own your property (land), and if they decide your liberty means nothing, how much less is your life worth to them?

    “As a mother, I’m afraid someone is going to take my children away, and I believe at the end of the day, that emotion will carry it.”

    Completely understandable. But why is your emotion (fear) valid and my emotion towards loosing liberty over zealous? I don’t wish you losing a child, I don’t wish that upon anybody, the fact is that it happens. It isn’t the guns fault, it shouldn’t be broken down into a statistic, and people need to accept the fact that you cannot control every single circumstance and situation. SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) happens. It isn’t the doctors fault for not knowing how it happened, or his fault for not preventing it. Your child could be shot by a maniac with a gun. The child could also die crossing the street or from cancer. You should teach them the abilities, philosophies, and knowledge you deem necessary to help them survive and be moral, intelligent, caring, charitable people.

    Why is it ok to be afraid of losing your child but not ok if I’m concerned I might be killed in a situation where I could have the possibility of living? Why is losing a child such a terrible idea from a parent view point but losing a father or mother not as important from a child’s? It’s not always about avoiding certain parts of town, sometimes that part of town comes to your town. Sometimes running, hiding, escaping isn’t an option, but dying is always on the table for everybody.

    Grammar police arrest me.

  35. Someone may take your children away because you are a crazed and obsessed nightmare, and it will be for their safety.

  36. As a confirmed nutter I’m afraid someone is going to take my children awayand as regularly associating with undesirable elements of society some one should do so. (fixed it Shannon)

  37. I don’t doubt Mrs. Watts is concerned for HER children, but what about the children living in poverty amongst drug dealers and other criminals? I’m sure those kids are far more likely to be killed by a stray bullet or a drive-by than her kids are by a gun owner (legal or illegal). Spend that $50 million on programs aimed at mentoring those children and helping them break the cycle of poverty and violence and become productive citizens.

  38. “As a mother, I’m afraid someone is going to take my children away”

    The biggest threats to your children are the nanny government types like the goon to your left.

    I just noticed this is a quot from a bbc article. I hope the brits find it as annoying as that cnn moron was.

  39. And yet again, Manny from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress hits the nail on the head . . . almost 50 years ago at that.

    “Thing that got me was not her list of things she hated, since she was obviously crazy as a Cyborg, but fact that always somebody agreed with her prohibitions. Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: “Please pass this so that I won’t be able to do something I know I should stop.” Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them “for their own good” — not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it.”

  40. Everytime I read one of her quotes or TV soundbites, I am amazed at how much NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) Shannon Watts tries to stuff into her statements.

    It jumps off the page at me…”MOTHER…..TAKE MY CHILDREN AWAY…..EMOTION”.

  41. The problem with her statement is that she tries so hard to turn the facts around, it is not we who are in the minority it is her and hers!

    It is her and others like her who are repeatedly shown to be the vocal minority sowing fear mongering as loudly as they can in order to PRETEND they are not the minority. We all know what else makes lots of noise to gain attention… babies!
    Which is why Baby Loony Bloomy needs his diaper changed, needs his teething ring back into his mouth, we need to take the baby rattle out of his hand (he appears to think it is a scepter), and put him in his crib!!!

    Unbiased poll after unbiased poll completely show that they are in the minority. Only by biasing the poll questions do the whiny babies have any polls showing them to have higher numbers than they actually have.

    Then there is the fact that no where else does our rule of law state for the record “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” except the SECOND AMENDMENT of the US Constitution! No where else, not the Declaration of Independence, nor the Articles of Confederation, nor the US Constitution!!! In other words it does not matter who is in the minority nor who is in the majority,
    ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL = CRIMINAL, PERIOD!

    ALL REGULATIONS ARE FACTUALLY INFRINGEMENTS OF THE US CONSTITUTION’S STATEMENT OF “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGE”, and therefore all such supposed regulations are acts of ANTI-CONSTITUTIONALISTIC behavior!

    Never call them anti-gun this or that, always refer to them by the FACTUAL terminology!
    ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL
    ANTI-CONSTITUTIONALIST
    ANTI-CONSTITUTIONALISTS
    ANTI-CONSTITUTIONALISTIC
    ANTI-CONSTITUTIONALISMS

    To call them anything else gives them a tactical advantage because they do their best to redefine words they do not like the meaning of, where it is extremely difficult for them to re-term the above factual terms reflecting them and their criminalistic whining behavior!

  42. Regulations are simply regulations and very constitutional. Some gun supports have too much gun powder to the dome to remember simple, very basic American history?

  43. Bloomberg & MDA were all over the news . TTAG is NOT “overcovering” them. Know what your enemies are up to. Personally I don’t read TTAG for gun reviews.

  44. The sad reality is that someone can take your child away whether guns exist or not. Trying to remove them from the equation ain’t gonna save you. But of course, I’m preaching at the choir.

  45. I could dislike Shannon a lot more if she looked more like H. Clinton, or have bod like Rose O. Maybe she could wear one of those (looks like she just plowed the south 40) dumb looking overall things, instead of the that cute outfit.
    Oh well, Maybe in a few years she will get fat and ugly!

  46. Look! Someone shorter than Bloomberg. These people are SO transparent. I thought this hitwoman’s kids were grown. Unlike her. Or him.

  47. I bet they have their defenses all around them, and screw us, yeah that’s going to happen, when I’m dead and gone. All of those types are USERS! They can’t beat us, or the CONSUTITION.

  48. So who can take my children away?
    A VERY well armed person who is skilled enough and lucky enough to do it over my dead ( heavily armed body) and also happens to be evil enough to want to harm my children. Yes this monster exists but he is a rare bird indeed.

    Your garden variety evil dude. He is less well armed , less skilled and will have to be very lucky or it will not be my dead body we will be stepping over if he tries to harm one hair on my families head.

    Yea Shannon I think I’ll keep my guns. They swam to make my children much safer. Only a fool or a vary evil version of Rambo would even think about trying to harm them with me and all the other adults in our family armed to the teeth.
    I also take comfort in knowing when I’m dead and buried my son and daughter can protect themselves from scum llano would be tyrants too with the guns and the training they will get from dear old dad. Just hope and pray Shannon that if somebody is ever trying to kill rape or beat your children that somebody like me or my kids ( when they are older) is there to protect them. Because as a parent you will have failed to teach them what they need to protect themselves.

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