“For a sense of how extreme some gun-rights advocates have become — and why Congress won’t pass even modest firearms safety laws — consider what happened to history professor and longtime gun enthusiast Dick Metcalf,” USA Today’s Editorial Board opines, referring to an ancient event in Internet terms. “When he recently wrote in his Guns & Ammo column that the Second Amendment right to ‘keep and bear arms’ is not unlimited, Metcalf suddenly became the enemy.” Yes, well, yes. But not according to the McPaper. The real enemy is . . .
Gun-rights absolutists assert that language contained in the Second Amendment — “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed” — means no restrictions, period.
But last we looked, it was up to the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution, and that’s not what the court said in its landmark 2008 decision upholding an individual’s right to own guns. “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited,” conservative Justice Antonin Scalia wrote. He added that limits on who can buy weapons, what kind they can own and where they can carry them are constitutional.
The decision, which resolved decades of argument, was cheered by bedrock Second Amendment stalwarts such as the National Rifle Association. But reasonableness has been purged. Gun groups and their members seem to vie now to see who can be more extreme and who can promote the most expansive guns-everywhere legislation in statehouses. Their destructive one-upmanship substitutes tunnel vision for reason.
You gotta love the left. When the Supreme Court issues a ruling that they reject, they do so without hesitation. No less a lefty than the current President of the United States criticized the Supremes during his 2010 State of the Union Address – to their faces. But if the Highest Court in the Land™ OKs laws that infringe upon your natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, so-called Progressives highly recommend you STFU.
To that end, the USA Today editorial board plays “pin the extremist on the gun nuts.” As I’ve mentioned before, we’re one small trigger pull away from the antis changing their rhetoric from “gun rights extremists” to “domestic terrorists.” The paper’s decision to use a photo of a gun control rally [above] and the use of the word “hijacker” in the headline (Gun absolutists hijack debate on firearms) exposes the incendiary hypocrisy of their hatred.
One suspects, however, that USA Today’s Editorial Board feels they’re being magnanimous rather than inflammatory.
Despite the hysteria that too often distorts the gun debate, a few things should be clear by now. The nation has debated gun ownership and resolved it in gun owners’ favor, politically and in the nation’s highest court.
What’s left to decide are what measures can keep guns away from criminals and the dangerously mentally ill, saving some of the more than 30,000 lives lost to gun violence every year. That will require the Second Amendment absolutists to show more respect for the rights of others.
The gun control laws put in place by proponents of civilian disarmament in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, California, etc. – and the gun control laws being currently under consideration in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California (70 at least count), etc. – are unmistakably unconstitutional. Gun rights “absolutists” will not rest until the gun rights that are clearly, unmistakably protected by the Constitution are restored.
Equally, it behooves the unnamed author at USA Today to note that there are no countervailing Constitutional rights that trump or limit the scope of the Second Amendment. Those who would deny Americans their gun rights have no right to do so. No matter what politicians, police, editorial boards or the Supreme Court has to say about it.
[Click here for a most excellent rebuttal editorial by Jeff and Chris Know published by USA Today]
Those who would unlawfully and illegally deprive me of my rights are my enemy, so the feelings are mutual.
Trust me, USA Today, the feeling is mutual.
All TAG readers should visit the source article and vote “Strongly Disagree” in the sidebar poll.
Then, read the excellent rebuttal, and be sure to vote “Strong Agree,” if you do so.
As of 11:32 am Eastern,
Gun absolutists hijack debate on firearms: Our view had 393 votes, 61% strongly disagree
Who’s being unreasonable? Opposing view had 271 votes, 77% being strongly agree
I’d hate to think that USA Today would monkey with the votes, but…..
Done and the VAST majority of votes are against the USA Today editorial. Mr. Knox has an 80% strongly agree as of my vote. Thanks for the tip to allow us to show our displeasure at their editorial and to support Mr. Knox.
“That will require the Second Amendment absolutists to show more respect for the rights of others. ”
Oh cruel irony.
Also, that kid looks absolutely miserable.
“Their destructive one-upmanship substitutes tunnel vision for reason.”
This is a hilarious case of projection. When someone asks why don’t we look at the gang cultures feeding most of the violence, as well as the breaking down of social norms, we’re told to shut up because it only happens because of the gun. Taking a page from Harry Reid, all other violent crime stories that do not involve firearms are lies.
Yeah . . . totally aside from guns, I’m not spending money in any business that calls a group of people douchebags right on their front door. Doesn’t bode well for their interest in serving customers well.
He just created another Target Rich Environment. I’m wondering how much security and liability insurance he has to protect the people that do go to his place.
He’s just advertising, “come and rob me and my customers”, we won’t resist. “My wallet is your wallet’.
ROFLMAO
Another clemson grad here. I’m glad they didn’t get much of my business in my time there. Not the best bar in the town, by far.
How many people still read USA Today? Dead tree newspapers are so quaint, like rotary dial phones.
While I share your sentiment that a printed newspaper is behind the curve now, why do you and so many other people think that the bread and butter for these “Newspapers” is still in old fashioned print? Is the link above to a scanned copy of of the article? Nope. It is the the USA Today website…much like the website that virtually every news agency has now, including local outlets. Online and mobile media is king and USA Today, NYT, LA Times, etc. have all adapted to it. If we are judging the worth of a media organization by its medium of information dissemination, how is the content posted on any Newspaper’s website any less accessible or relevant than the content posted here at TTAG (note, I am referring to the medium only, not the actual substance of the content). Sure, everyone likes to look at the falling subscriptions to these Newspapers as evidence that they are declining. However, I submit that the reason subscriptions are falling is because everyone can get the news for free online. “Ah, you proved my point!” No, most “free” online content to the customer still generates revenue for the publishing organization. Websites make a lot of money off of advertisers via page views, clicks, etc. What makes you think groups like USA Today aren’t sharing in that same revenue stream? Also, I would bet that USA Today’s website and mobile traffic dwarfs TTAG’s.
I think hotels are singlehandedly keeping USA Today alive… Everytime I’m out of town for work, there’s a stack of newspapers in the hotel breakfast area, usually untouched, but there and paid for nonetheless.
If it makes you guys feel any better the “no CC” sign was taped over a “no blacks” sign. The bar is just trying to keep up with the times. They were far behind the civil rights issues of the day until now.
Hate to break it to this ignorant meat sack but the sigh isn’t legal. SECTION 23-31-235, S.C. Code of Laws
I like Matt farrah, this was grossly irresponsible compared to his usual antics.
Officer to drunk on sidewalk outside of pub: “You’re under arrest for public intoxication.”
The drunk, slurring out a loud protest: “Under arrest? That’s not fair. The only reason I‘m drunk in public is because I was drunk inside ‘till a bunch of ‘em started brawling and smashing up the place with beer mugs and bottles and I just got tossed out…but don’t go in there just yet, better let ’em finish.”
Officer to drunk: “What’s the fight about?”
Drunk: “Dunno, something about carrying concealed douchebags being guns.”
What this is asking for is impossible. How do you keep a human being free to travel and interact from touching an object of which there exists hundreds of millions? You can’t. At least not without adopting some sort of Machine Stops paired with Dutch slave ship chaining type of society. Even then I’m sure some resourceful fellow will create a firearm type object out of something.
“gun violence” = indicates the presence of a gun-grabbing progressive.
“That will require the Second Amendment absolutists to show more respect for the rights of others.”
RF got it in the final paragraph, but I wish I could know from the author which rights they are talking about. Because I’m honestly at a loss.
As I recall, there is a guy who makes bulletproof leather jackets that requires a new employee to be shot at wearing one of his jackets on their first day of work.
Fl boys. If I remember right ultimate arms in Lakeland had some basspro is hit and miss. I just have been using center fire rather than plinking.
I don’t reason with people trying to limit my (and others) civil right. So USA Today can kick rocks with this article.
Please call, write, fax, or e-mail you reps.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/nj_assembly_to_take_up_gun_magazine_limit_today.html#incart_river_default
The BATFE, NSA, FBI and…….. may not be looking for you now butt give them a minute the drones have to be refueled.
What, are they French? Surrender before the border is even breached?
Can at least wait to run when can see the dust cloud approaching, or the whites of their eyes.
I think they are being cautious and I don’t blame them.
WHAT????? PROACTIVE?? Why not tell the BATFE to SUCK ONE!!! I would have NEVER took down a prodict that is LEGALY PRODUCED, just to make BATFE happy!!! Stand up for your rights people, or they will take them from us!! I call BULLSHIT on this one!!
Give me a break.
that’s fine, I won’t tell you if im carrying anyways
No win situation for this company. The ever-zealous Internet keyboard commandos will, and as we see here, already are savaging them.
And on the other hand they risk losing their business.
And as I have said before, who wants crappy plastic in their AR lower anyway?
Well it’s easy to be brave when it’s not you on the line.
Yeah, uh, I didnt watch the video….
Anyways, this is a neat story
You cannot satisfy the leftists/liberals, they want to have their cake and eat it too, the problem being, they cannot make up their minds as to which cake they want, or how to eat it…the leftists/liberals have NO strategy but to off on tangents at every turn, they have a severe case of ADHD…SQUIRREL…
The owner, “Pete” screwed the pooch on this…there were so many hate comments on the Pub’s FB page, it had to be shutdown, he has taken the Pub’s phone off the hook because of all the hate calls, the Pub’s rating on yelp is a one star rating due to all the bad reviews…I’d be very surprised if the pub lasted another month…
The comment section for USA Today is also full of fail
Check out Trijicon’s tritium replacement front sight for the SP101. Tritium is mildly radioactive, and the little dot inset in the sight lights up at night. When you practice at a range, try using the front sight only. Brownells carries this sight: #892-000-009WB…Mfr Part” RR14F. Crimson Trace grips are a good choice, too. If you equip a SP101 with both, you’re good to go with the front sight only when the batteries fail in the CT grips (as mine have).
Must be Shannon Watts boyfriends bar.
I was waiting to see how long it would be before MDA to claim this “victory”.
Why to go dumbass. You just won a shit ton of bad press! LMFAO Who’s the douchebag now?
I have to say that I have been largely disgusted by the responses to the Area Armor ATF raid, and the businesses involved in selling polymer 80% lowers (such as Polymer 80). Regarding the ATF raid, many have commented with the idea that Area “knew” they were going to be raided by the ATF and should have erased their customers data. That’s idiotic. Area obtained a restraining order against the ATF in order to protect against a raid. Further, the ATF has a penchant for making up rules as they go along. If Fast and Furious has demonstrated anything, it is that the ATF cannot be trusted and is not being held accountable. That is a truly scary thing, folks. Not only does the ATF make rules and gives definitions regarding legality of firearms and components, but they also enforce the rules.
The polymer lower construction issues that the ATF is after – or at least using as an excuse – doesn’t even need to be a law anyways. I have no issue with responsible citizens making their own firearms. That’s about as close as we can get to the 2A in modern times – the freedom to build your own firearms without a bunch of unnecessary government oversight.
Polymer 80 doesn’t want to be raided by the ATF. They are withholding some of their product in an effort not to be raided. In turn, they are being vilified by keyboard commandos on this website. That’s just stupid.
I simply cannot fathom why many are not doing more to support those who are under the radar of the ATF (and probably the NSA, DHS, and maybe even the TSA and EPA SWAT). Most of us here are probably already on a list. Some are saying to fight, some are saying to run and hide, and many are declaring that they will never do business with Areas because their information may become compromised. Grow some freakin’ stones, people.
What’s my dog in the fight? I’ve purchased incomplete lowers from Ares. I just made another purchase a few days ago. I don’t have a tons of disposable income, but I’ll make every feasible effort to support organizations under the thumb of federal government thugs who couldn’t care less about the 2A or property rights. Perhaps that puts yours truly under the ATF radar. So be it. I’d rather have the .gov know about me and millions more like me who will not immediately comply with every asinine order handed down by government goons.
I’m not even a 2A absolutist. I’d love to be, but I just can’t get behind fighting for 2A rights for felons such as murderers, rapists, wife beaters, and child molesters. They can roam the earth – because they’ll probably get let out of jail early anyways – without any voting or gun rights. The law didn’t stop them in the first place and it probably won’t stop them on their next crime. Those of you who know me already know that I’m against every other BS infringement including mag limits, “may issue,” bullet buttons, mandatory training, and universal background check.
So if we can’t support businesses who are quite literally under the gun, will we support each other? Are we about the cause of freedom, or are we about looking out for #1?
I saw Larry Vickers put it through its paces on TAC TV and he was noticeably surprised and impressed, particularly by the very low bore axis
I am looking forward to reading reviews of this handgun when it makes it over here.
Is that rear sight integral to the frame? If so, that would be a big problem.
I could’t find the quote fast enough to keep looking. But I believe Jeff Cooper had a ratio in his mind where if a military didn’t have a certain percent of training deaths they weren’t training hard enough.
This is also a lesson on how to fail at robbery.
1) Approach like a thug with a hoodie up over your head.
2) Keep your gun hand in your pocket like you’re concealing something.
3) only remove your hand at the last possible second and after you’ve been clearly observed doing steps one and two.
4) Make sure you are close enough to your target that you have zero time to draw and present before being completely owned by your intended victim.
5) Work alone and attack a business that is sure to have back up.
FAIL.
It looks cool, but I want a GSh-18… half the parts of a Glock 17 and one really weird looking barrel.
I’m imagining that with the current political mess in Ukraine with Russia, that we won’t be seeing these any time soon due to the proposed sanctions against Russia. That is IF the POTUS actually does what he is saying he is going to do.
Why would he start now???
TR FINALLY served Snipers Hide/Frank/Marc with the lawsuit. It appears that the Snipers Hide attorney had to compel TR to either serve up their suit or drop it. It seems that there are quite a few TR customers who have come forward and are eager to represent their case in defending SH and going after David Rooney. I am sitting on the sidelines wondering how in the world Rooney thinks he can manage what appears to be a decision even worse than the initial filing of the complaint.
Do any of these hacks ever come up with something new? Any fresh opinions out there anywhere? No? Thought so. They just keep rehashing the same soundbites and sampling the same old fallacies. 30,000 killed in gun related violence, sort of! Common sense! For the children! Jaysus. The anti-gun folks just parrot each other. You wonder how many of them do any thinking at all on their own. Or what it will take to make them do so.
It DOES seem like he signed his name “douchebag”. It boggles my mind how stupid he is. You locals need to “severely” limit the viability of his establishment. Plenty of business owners around here(Cook County,Illinois) are going to find out the hard way one shouldn’t piss off potential customers.
This isn’t going to go the way of the Caracal is it?
Yes, sort of. If/when I take them shooting they understand, even if they do not get into guns and shooting, though many have.
You have medical insurance for that .01 percent of a chance you might get a major illness that you can’t just fix with OTC meds and/or Urgent Care.
I carry a firearm on my person at all times except where prohibited by law. Do friends of mine without a firearm know this? Sure. It comes up in conversation, even with people I know who are sans-gun, but none really think I’m a nut, despite my growing collection.
I’m with JimR above.
I have an excuse though, I inherited the condition.
I’m going skydiving with my mom on her 90th birthday this August.
Not a “friend” but a classmate who is otherwise intelligent regularly goes on and on about how guns are useless, only ignorant paranoid people own them, etc, etc, etc. He also regularly says things like “I don’t own a gun, I’m better than that, If I owned a gun I don’t even know what I’d do with it, I couldn’t be responsible with it.
Any time I bring up facts and information or point out that I’ve never been in a fight, have a near 4.0gpa while taking 2 degrees in work, and am one of the most quiet and liked person in the program he shuts up and/or changes the subject quickly. More often than not I’ll hear him mumble “still dont need guns” as he turns around, as if that is some sort of victory.
Sucks for you guys…Canada is going to have a field day with this.
Author says: “Nothing material is worth risking your own or others life for.” well what if the people breaking into your house don’t want anything material? What if they just want to assault, rape, or kill you and your family? What if they are armed? What then?
That is why, you ignorant internet cartoonist (who isn’t an authority on anything besides internet cartoons) is why I own guns.
Also I own guns because I CAN, because its fun, because its my right, and because if I didn’t then the government would do whatever it wanted always.
“Don’t be fooled by Putin’s façade; the pillars of Russian power are steadily declining.”(http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/russia-is-doomed/)
I stuck with 5.56 NATO precisely to avoid this sort of problem. In a SHTF scenario it’s good to keep your supply chain as short as possible.
I keep a SP101 .357 in my glove box for snakes, coyotes and criminals. I mostly carry my XDS .45 and a bodyguard .380 for backup. my wife is a good shot and when we go somewhere I do not worry to much about her being in the pickup when I step out that .357 mag is quite a deterrent.
Well, good thing for the city, they included what restrictions the club could enforce in the lease agreement.
“We are specifically trained to put ourselves between the public and a dangerous situation,”
Bull. Not only do I not want to rely on the cops, I don’t believe they put themselves in danger whenever they can avoid it. The police are remarkably risk averse, choosing to shoot more often than sense would dictate.
Good for them. A lot of the coffee stands in WA state tend to have a lot of cash on hand and that of course makes them attractive targets for criminals.
The argument that “police will respond in time” is pretty laughable, because we all know that in event of a real crime, you’re rolling the dice about how fast the po-po will actually show up.
Though in case of WA state’s infamous bikini/lingerie coffee stands, I’m sure the cops will respond rather quickly… if they aren’t already there, dropping tips. HA!
The NRA does have a history of supporting gun control: it backed both the national gun act of 1934 and the national gun act of 1938… in 1963, the VP of the NRA testified before congress in support of banning direct gun sales via the mail… nor did the NRA put up any sorta fight in 1968 when stricter gun laws were passed after RFK and MLK were assassinated, heck, last year NRA President David Keene said that fully automatic weapons should be illegal and the 1986 ban should stand … so, yeah, we shouldn’t be surprised when the NRA makes deals, doesn’t fight all too hard, or acquiesses to the demands of gun grabbers…
Buuuuut, it still does some great work, and its continued focus on Education and Gun Safety are second to none…
For me, though, it’s hard to support an organization that has left us Left Coasters high and dry for nearly twenty years: although the NRA’s funding of the plantiff’s case in Peruta vs San Diego has been making me rethink my self-imposed embargo on a lifetime membership!
Hey guys wake up.
Gun-grabbers are killing people with their laws.
The Victim Disarmament Zones alone should be enough of an argument, but they ignore logic, they preach common sense but show absolutely none!
How many innocent American lives are going to be lost for their foolishness?
Isn’t this the same Supreme Court that declared Dred Scot chattel property? Or separate but equal valid, in the case of one Homer Plessy?
But sure, SCOTUS is infallible.
/sarcasm