Blue Bloods is not my favorite show, and Tom Selleck is not my favorite actor. At the risk of seeming sexually intolerant, I never really got past Tom’s Village People moustache, back in the days when blue jeans had bells. But you gotta give Mr. Selleck credit for his unwavering stand on gun rights, whilst living and working in a town so left-leaning it makes the the Sierra Club look like a bunch of tree huggers. Oh wait. Anyway, the former Magnum P.I. star’s no stranger to guns. According to the National Enquirer, Selleck ripped a fellow actor a new you-know-what when the gun-toting thespian displayed poor muzzle control (i.e. “waved the gun around”) . . .
“Hey, YOU! What the HELL are you doing? That gun’s NOT a toy — stop waving it around! Look at you…your finger’s STILL ON THE TRIGGER!”
Caps lock off.
“Is the gun really loaded?”
Caps lock ready.
“No, it’s not loaded. But when you handle a gun it’s common sense to assume it IS loaded, and NOT point it at people!”
There’s that term again. Sigh. As Voltaire said, common sense is not so common. Except maybe on this website. More to the point, judging from the Magnum PI pic above, Mr. Selleck is a relatively recent convert to the trigger finger discipline thing. Just sayin’ . . .
Selleck did a great job dealing with Rosie O’Dumbass, and I think he’s a standup guy. “Prop” guns have killed people on set, including the late and dearly lamented Brandon Lee. Kudos to Tom for calling a spade a spade.
I met Selleck a couple of times at the old Charlton Heston Celebrity shoot in Southern Cal. (A whole ‘nother story) I was a range safety officer and he was a movie star who turned out to be one heck of a shot, knowledgeable about guns and a very nice guy.
BTW, miss you over at TTAC. It just ain’t the same.
Jon Erik Hexum the actor/model from Voyegers was also killed screwing around with a blank 44 cal prop gun. http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/h/Jon%20Eric%20Hexum/jon_erik_hexum.htm
I read the findadeath.com article and found that Mr. Hexum’s family asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Handgun Control, Inc., which is somewhat ironic considering the circumstances of his death. Perhaps donations to the NRA with a specific request for firearms safety training would have been more appropriate if not practical.
“There’s that term again. Sigh. As Voltaire said, common sense is not so common. Except maybe on this website. …
mikeybee and Mr. Magoo tripping over each other to eviscerate that paragraph in three, two, one…
Nah, I wasn’t gonna bother with that. I did want to say that it’s refreshing to see that you’ve got a celebrity or two on your side. Of course you can’t count the new generation of rappers and such, they don’t inspire much responsible gun handling. But of the genuine celebrities, they’re few and far between.
Same goes for academic people, university professors, and I suppose any other group of educated, intelligent people. Lawyers and doctors, for the most part want nothing to do with guns. Even politicians, who are often lawyers or otherwise educated, would almost all be against guns except for their needing to please the constituents.
And who exactly are those constituents? What exactly is your demographic? From which groups do you come? I realize it sounds terribly elitist, and I’m sure I’ll be attacked viciously for it, but among the upper strata of American society, you guys draw very few. Think about it.
MikeB: You can lead an ‘elite’ to logic, but you cannot make them think. (And you can quote me on that.) History is filled with people credited with being the leading thinkers, entertainers, movers and shakers of their day, who turned out to have some fatally-flawed opinions on a whole host of issues. Take, for example, Papa Joe Kennedy Charles Lindburgh and Henry Ford. Both their bios were sanitized, because they were fans of Hilter, and anti-semites. Whoops. How many people idolize Margaret Sanger (mother of Planned Parenthood) today? Would they feel the same way if they knew she was a leading proponent of Eugenics, and believed blacks to be an “inferior race”?
Apparently, being smart and having common sense are two, distinctly different qualities. So I wouldn’t go getting too cocky about your side owning Hollywood. Frankly, I’m not so sure that we on the right would want it. (Charlie Sheen, anyone?)
In American politics, we have three groups – the Left, the Right, and the Middle. It’s the Middle that decides each election. Interestingly enough, the “middle” (i.e.: Independents) are a growth industry and both the Dems and the GOP shrink. However, the Dems are hemorrhaging members, compared to the Republicans. And the vast majority (read a poll sometime, whydoncha) believe private gun ownership to be a GOOD thing.
And it doesn’t take a PhD to understand THAT.
I think I may be to stupid to realize that we have all just been insulted by the “*****” (I don’t want RF to think I flaming but it starts with a T and ends with an L). Brad, your to smart for these fools and trying to use any kind of logic on them is a waste of your talents. You made some fine points about the racists who had their life stories whitewashed to make them more appealing.
Brad, You’re right about the Hollywood types. Who wants ’em.
About the politicians, maybe you didn’t get my point. It was that they’re generally better educated and more intelligent than those they represent. As a result, they’d be for gun control except in many places that’s not where the votes are. These guys are so dishonest, politicians that is, that they don’t support what they know is right, they support what they know gets the votes.
Aren’t you the guys who often say it’s not a popularity contest? You say that when we point out that the majority of people want background checks, for example. Well the same thing works for the politicians. They’re vote-whores, that’s all.
There are far more living, intelligent people who would never go in to politics than all of the intelligent politicians who ever lived. I made that up. Exploitative politicians limit freedom, honest politicians support freedom. Intelligence has little to do with it.
“Lawyers and doctors, for the most part want nothing to do with guns.”
Citation needed. Most local skeet/trap ranges will have data to the contrary. Even past that, this is pulled out of thin air.
I know a LOT of dentists… a LOT… who are shooters. And, we tend to be good shots, too! 🙂
I would wager your assumptions and the public opinions of your “educated, intelligent” people rest on shifty foundations. Remove the spotlight opinion context, dispense with the shallow soundbite approach, and have an honest, rational, personal discussion with any of these people. I find intelligent people are advocates of self-determination and personal responsibility. This applies to freedom of speech, birth control, sexual orientation, religious affiliation etc. In fact when you remove the polarizing context of public or political opinion you find that all intelligent people agree that freedom is a characteristic of the individual and governments can only limit, not grant freedom. Any intelligent person recognizes the contradiction and corruption of a government allowed to limit the right of person to defend himself, especially against a corrupt government.
My personal experience includes many business owners, CEOs, doctors, lawyers, dentists, and in general more wealthy people from many parts of the country and world. They either have guns or assume the freedom to obtain them. They have safe rooms with arms or even a pistol range built in to their 2nd or 3rd home. The only hitch is they sometimes get confused and think their intelligence, education and money qualifies them for a freedom. Honest debate will bring from them the admission that freedom is inherent to all individuals and that a foundational freedom is the right of self defense.
Mike:
…but among the upper strata of American society, you guys draw very few.
Elitist? You think? This commentary is so wrong on so many levels that I hardly know where to begin.
First your criteria for the upper strata could use some refinement (not to mention a dose of sanity, reason, and a real-world grounding – but you don’t believe in those things). Like so many sheeple, you confuse celebrity with meaningful qualities like integrity, leadership or wisdom. Witness the 2008 election of our current president – a whole lot celebrity, thank you so much for that.
In order to hide your shallow lust for celebrity, you included in the rarefied air of your upper strata:
Academic people, but only the ivory-tower, socialist leaning sort. You must ignore John Lott, Gary Kleck or anyone else with bothersome facts…
Lawyers, but only the ACLU types. Not that pesky Alan Gura, or the OWGs who make up the majority of the Supreme Court.
Doctors, who as a group kill at over five times more people in this country, through accident and negligence, than guns (over 200,000 to 38,000). If I were them, I would want to deflect a little criticism. Their zeal is so unbridled that the Florida Legislature is seeking to gag them…
Which brings us to Politicians, but only the minority that agree with you. The majority are just pandering to us in the plebeian mass.
Thank God I am just I am a simple man clinging to my guns and religion and not praying at the alter of celibrity…
Lawyers and doctors don’t want anything to do with guns? Are you nuts? Not only do we have several lawyers on this site (me included), but you’d be hard-pressed to find an unarmed attorney. As for doctors, they’re more interested in shtupping the nurses. Which is crazy as far as I’m concerned because, let’s fce it, I admire nurses but I don’t know a lot of health care providers who gave up careers in modeling.
Dude! You have gotta come get sick in SC! Down here in Charleston is heaven!
Killer use of schtupp
My wife is a lawyer who shoots, and one of her partners at the firm auctions off a “shooting experience” at his and his domestic partner’s farm/winery for charity every year. My dentist shoots USPSA, and my primary care doctor is a 3-gun enthusiast. Oh, I almost forgot our CPA, and my oldest sister (a lawyer).
So… where exactly do you get the idea that doctors and lawyers and other professionals don’t shoot? It may be apparently true in places like NYC where no one would dare mention that they shoot for fear of being ostracized, but I have run into shooters from every walk of life, and due to the expense few shooters are poor. This is not a cheap hobby.
I have to admit Mike, part of why I enjoy your thinking is the absurdity it leads to. Not that it isn’t reasonable and full of common sense on the surface. But it’s exactly the sort of articulate, well meaning compliance desired by “elites” everywhere. They don’t even have to pay you (do they?) to speak for (insulate) them.
Laws, money, good neighborhoods, gated communities, or penthouses with doormen to maintain their fantasy of being above it all; “upper strata” by definition do not associate or share any interests with the common. Cross them and their lawyers will strip you of your possessions and liberty. If necessary, even if they’re crazy, they can legally hire men with guns to protect them.
Pity the academics, they are crazy if they’re counting on campus police to protect them. Oh wait, we’re all crazy if we count on any police to protect us – that’s not their job.
I’m grateful for the social order we enjoy. I’m thankful my circumstances are not dangerous and I do not feel threatened. But I have no illusion that I’m above it all or insulated from the reality that conditions can change instantly and I may need to defend myself, my family, and anyone who will help us survive. Relying on the opinion of a celebrity, politician, academic, or “upper strata” concerning personal safety is utterly absurd. If they aren’t common how could they possibly have common sense?
Very well said. I’m new to this blog, but I’m very impressed with the “caliber” of people here. The writing is fantastic. And, I dare say I’m one of those “upper strata” educated people… who agrees with what you’ve said. 🙂
It’s easy to be against guns when living in ivory towers behind locked gates. It’s amusing seeing more and more politicians wanting to carry, or who are anti-gun rights but are then found to own guns. And then of course we have “more intelligent” people like Mayor Daley and Bloomberg who are against guns but walk around with armed guards. Must be nice.
And then, of course, there’s the assumption that what you said is backed up by factual data in the first place.
Anyway, I guess the Founding Fathers were just really dumb, eh? If only they had been educated men who weren’t simply trying to please the constituents….
EXCUUUUSE ME! I’m college-educated, reasonably intelligent, have taught at the University level and am a practicing Professional Engineer. And I own guns and practice gun-safety! I have a son who is a part-time firearms safety instructor and is also a college-educated engineer. Am I on “your” side, rephrase that to say “our” side. Yes, Sir! The ONLY way to handle firearms is safely. Every child in school should have firearms safety training. That way there would be fewer “accidents” with loaded guns. There are more of “us” out here than you or the staticians realize.
I have, quite a bit. Conclusion: the “upper strata” are children who depend on adults to keep them safe.
One argument we’re the rich, powerful, corrupt and evil firearms lobby. Then when it is convenient for you, we’re supported by none of the “people that matter” of means as you seem to be implying. Oh wait! I forgot, grabbers are hypocrites and use whatever argument that fits the minute, even if it contradicts the one from the last minute. Second, the criminal element of the “gangsta” culture are YOUR people, the left loves all those poor downtrodden criminals who rob rape and murder innocent people and hates all their victims. Why else would you spend so much time vilifying law abiding innocent people and defending psychopaths? Personally I’m glad not to be crippled by paranoia and hate the way lefties are. It is quite liberating to be hated so much.
People don’t kill people-Hollywood kills people.
Tom Selleck is an excellent spokesman and a shining example for those of us who own and use guns responsibly.
Most of our politicans in Washington support the 2nd Ammendment, otherwise MikeB’s vision of the perfect world would have come to pass in America. It just doesn’t get much press, which we all know is a different story.
Hollywood celebrities anti-gun stances are ironic. How many of them have made movies glorifying gun violence only to publicly take an opposite stance? I think that movies and actors/actresses are the Coloseum and Gladiators of today. If the Romans could have made movies instead of having live shows they would have- its cheaper to do and way more profitable.
A lot of Hollywood people who claim to be anti-gun actually own guns. So they’re not anti-gun. They’re anti-us.
Indeed. With all the talk of “violent rhetoric” about the Arizona shooting, etc, you’d think Someone would point a finger at lefty Hollywood about all the violence in movies and on TV as a cause of gun violence. But, regardless of whether a person thinks there is a connection or not, the question wasn’t even asked.
I always like people equating being well-educated with being intelligent. I personally know some PhDs that are so dumb they couldn’t pound sand in a rat hole. I’m the least educated person in the family and I have a BS. Having an education doesn’t impress me a whole heck of a lot.
When people claim that Doctors, Police, and others are anti-gun they usually are mistaking professional organisations for actual people’s thoughts. The AMA is against gun ownership but I know several Drs that are very pro 2nd Amendment. The FOP supports gun control but when individual officers are asked they tend to be anti gun control. I don’t count the statements from big city Police Chiefs because they are political creatures not real police.
As for Hollywood, after listening to most talk without a script you can only decide that they are a waste of breathing space.
Only about 15% of MDs are members of the AMA (last I checked). The AMA cannot logically claim to represent the medical profession. Go figure, eh?
Thanks for all the many examples of lawyers and dentists who own guns. You realize I didn’t claim there were NONE. I was trying to say that most or the norm or the majority don’t want anything to do with guns. Nothing I’ve read here seems to refute that.
Gun rights extremists, like many of you guys, represent only a tiny percentage of gun owners. You try to infer that you’re hundreds of millions strong, or something, but it’s just not true.
Education and intelligence is inversely proportional to gun fanaticism. Many of you guys are exceptions to that rule.
Where is the hard factual evidence for your position? I grow weary of your unsubstantiated claims. And I’ll put my money where my mouth is. I will pay for an independent survey of gun owners or, if you prefer, gun owner and non-gun owners. Please provide ten questions about gun ownership that you’d like to see answered in a scientific fashion. We’ll agree here on the questions and then I’ll pay for a survey. And then let the facts fall where they may. Fair enough?
On like donkey kong!
This is total subjective observation on my part with no data backup whatsoever, but I am going to say that lawyers are well above the statistical mean for defensive firearm use and CC, while doctors are somewhere below it.
Does this leave nurses and paralegals to duke it out?
Free speech extremists, like many of you, represent only a tiny fraction of speakers.
The kickoff episode for the New Year 2019 was off-the-reservation gun ban propaganda. In this episode, Jaime picks up a cab driver carrying a pistol but did have any record of it, including the fact he was a prtoegé of Frank Reagan in earlier days. Jaime verifies this, cuts him a break, gives him his gun back, and a few days later shoots someone for giving him a dirty look.
This is the kind of propaganda put out by the gun ban crowd in the entertainment industry. It’s purpose is to make the viewer feel ill at ease with regard to private firearms ownership. And ironically, many do not find it entertaining.
It’s saddening to see this anti-gun trend come out so blatantly, and perhaps it’s why Tom Selleck resigned his position at NRA. At a time when we need people like him most.