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I understand Mr. Stevens’ anger and condescension. While I know that stridency doesn’t win hearts and minds, to quote Miles from Risky Business, sometimes you’ve got to say what the f. Or, in this case, up yours.

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59 COMMENTS

  5. Thank you, sir!! I didn’t hear stridency. I heard emotion, and I heard anger. I heard defiance. Considering what and who he was defying, it was entirely called for.

  6. While I cringe every time I see an implicit threat of violence like that, I love the man’s conviction. We really need more people willing to get right in their faces and call the politicians out for their lawless disregard for the constitution.

    • He is a father in the school system and gun owner. He has a right to same emotion as the parents who lost a child at Sandy Hook, except he is telling them to FOAD because he will protect his family and will not be a victim.

      “This” is the kind of raw emotion that is required nationally. How do you tell a father in that school system “I will limit the way you can protect your family”.

    • He did not threaten to commit violence towards anyone. He said he would not allow any person to take away his right/ability to protect his child with the best tools available.

      It was simply a speech about not crossing the line of servant to tyrant. To not attack law abiding people as a tyrant would. That the Law matters, if there is a problem we have due process.

      • I agree, but the “cold dead hands” phrase implies a fight to the death. Granted, history teaches us that we need to resist. Pictures of Chinese and Cambodian people on their knees, in front of an open ditch, with the muzzle of a soldier’s gun to the back of their heads makes it clear that law abiding Americans cannot allow themselves to be disarmed. However, I’m saying that we can show passion, and resist vigorously, without even implying the “nuclear option.”

        Might it come to that eventually? God, I hope not.

        Now, all that said, I’d much rather see that exact speech than meek silence. My first response was to slam the desk with a hearty “Hell yeah”

  7. More people need to say “what the f&*%”, and get the people that supposedly represent us back to reality. He nailed it pretty succinctly. Well said Mr Stevens.

  8. Strident or no, those b*stards deserve to be spoken to that way. Doesn’t happen nearly often enough. Well done, Mr. Stevens, from a fellow American.

  10. I don’t threaten violence, I simply state that my rights will be defended. No one has anything to fear from me unless they’re threatening me. When they propose all these bans they are obviously willing to use violence to enforce them., and that is threatening.

    • This.

      Mr. Stephens wasn’t threatening. The politicians are threatening _him_ by overstepping their constitutional bounds.

      Mr. Stephens was merely stating a clear and present conviction that he will defend himself from that threat with deadly force, if it comes down to that.

      Bravo!

  11. Outstanding! It’s time our politicians enjoy the same *protection* as our children – a bunch of laws enforced on the honor system and a few “no guns or weapons” signs on school doors.

    • I thought that was one of the most resonant points he made. I sure hope that the high mucky-mucks were squirming uncomfortably as he pointed out that they enjoyed far better security than his kid.

      • I’d hope that too. But the realist in me knows that they truly believe that they are entitled to better protection than us lowly proles…

        Some animals are more equal (and deserving of protection) than others.

  17. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Ladies and gentlemen you know as well as I do that the right to keep and bear arms is an inalienable right, it’s time to show that SOAB Obama and Frankenstein herself that you mean business in the fight for freedom. Keep fighting to protect your 2nd Amendment and don’t make the mistakes of the god forsaken rock that I call my home made not protecting ours (English bill of rights 1689 article 7, my nations almost forgotten RKBA.) .

  19. He was far more polite than I would be. Strident? Nonsense. The Founders were strident. “Give me libery or give me death” was strident. Thomas Paine was strident. Steven’s is just an honest everyman, voicing his righteous and justified indignation at a bunch of moralizing, lying pr!cks. Good for him. We need more guys just like that.

    I don’t know about you, but I’m not begging anyone for my rights. And I’m not surrendering them either.

      • Somehow, I don’t think so in this case. Maybe I’m impressionable, but that was some powerful testimony, from an everyday Dad. Sadly, my thinking is that TTAG is the only place you will hear his statement. The antis won’t touch it and I’m afraid Wayne won’t use it with any effectiveness.

  23. The NRA should be kicking down the doors of men like that with job offers.

    That father is someone we can all relate to. Mr. ColionNoir, and many others out there should be talking with the NRA and the SAF, and be put in front of rallies nation-wide, waking people up to their rights being stripped away.

    If anything, that gentleman was far too polite, and well-mannered.

    The only way someone will be able to remove my ability to defend my family is by stepping over my bullet-ridden, and mangled corpse.

    • One more thing to add, that’s off topic:

      Everyone in the gun community knows the phrase “Μολών λαβέ” (molon labe) “Come and take them”, but there’s another Ancient Greek/Spartan phrase that users of firearms should know as well:

      “αἴκα.” (aika) “If.”

      The story behind that one-word phrase:

      At the time of the invasion of Philip II of Macedon, with key Greek city-states already in submission, Philip II turned his attention to Sparta and sent a message: “If I win this war, you will be slaves forever.”

      Another version is: “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.”

      In both versions the Spartan messenger sent back a one word reply:

      “If” (αἴκα).

      Both Philip II and Alexander the Great avoided Sparta entirely.

      Yeah, being a Classical Studies major has its benefits in introducing people to useful Laconic phrases.

      • That’s a powerful reply! Let me also add θίμος (thimos, righteous anger). That’s what this man demonstrated. His message was quite effective. Not furious, but defiant. We need to make the case calmly while making it clear that our rights are inalienable and non-negotiable.

  24. I think that what this man said has further implications for the school system, and the people responsible for their oversight.

    The term in loco parentis, Latin for “in the place of a parent, refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent.

    It would seem reasonable that the community should expect the same level of protection afforded to their children in the home to be availablein the school. If there is a failure to be able to afford that protection to the children then people need to be directly accountable for their inaction or irresponsibility in carrying out this duty.

  29. THAT was some seriously compelling testimony. At the very end there, heartbreak and rage.

    … yeah, what he said …

    Bugs

  32. Ah, man. That was epic. Brought tears to my eyes, it was so awesome. It may not do any good, and they probably don’t know it, but the politicians sitting behind that bench really needed to hear that.

    At its core, this debate is about natural, inalienable human rights. The right to keep and bear arms in defense of yourself, your family, and your country isn’t the only constitutional right that’s under attack right now, but it’s the most visible.

    • You misunderstood the “What the fvck,” and you’ve clearly not seen Risky Business, because that was the central line of the movie. It was not spoken with a question mark at the end. It was spoken as an affirmative statement of freedom.

      Here’s the clip:


      The language is NSFW, obviously.

  34. My wife and her friends have just asked me why I gave a youtube video a standing ovation.

    This guy needs to get in front of Congress.

  35. I liked it. He was passionate and emotional.

    We know the facts, statistics and history are on our side. The civilian disarmament crowd is just going on emotion. Maybe we can gain some ground countering emotion with emotion. Again today BHO said the line about saving one life. It appeals to our emotion, but lacks reason and logic.

    One of my brothers good friends died after he slipped while hiking and fell down a cliff. It was tragic. I didn’t see any politicians rushing forth to ban hiking, not even to close the trail he was hiking. But if we can do something to save one life … shouldn’t they have proposed it?

    Mr. Stevens, I salute you sir.
    Molon Labe

  36. Mr. Farago, you wrote:

    I understand Mr. Stevens’ anger and condescension. While I understand that stridency doesn’t win hearts and minds . . .

    Condescension? You, Mr. Farago, are the person with the condescending attitude, not Mr. Stevens. I’ll leave it to others to determine exactly where you can shove it.

  37. God bless you, Bill Stevens. I lived in Connecticut for 3 years, and awesome guys like you are the reason I miss it now.

  38. Regardless of whether you believe the right to self defense is God given or not. It is the way of nature. Every creature on earth has a self defense mechanism. Whether by fang and claw, camouflage, fleet footed, freeze response, all have it. We as an evolved species have just been able to create better self defense tools.

    Mr. Stevens exercised his right to free speech to tell his audience in no uncertain, plain spoken terms we have a God given or natural right to self defense.

    Texas legislators are considering bills that expand gun rights. Campus and Open Carry, the main ones.

  39. I would have like to see his shoe come off & pound on that desk a bit. I guess a person can’t have everything,sigh, Randy

  41. OUTSTANDING! I only wish the video would have played loner, only to see the expressions on their faces and hear their studderd comments!

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