Worried Yet? Assault Rifle Auctioned Off At Anti-Obama Rally

[Cowpunk]

The New Nebraska Network reports:

On Saturday, September 26th, two-term Republican Congressman Adrian Smith was the featured speaker for the WyoBraska Tea Party at the Five Rocks Amphitheater in Scottsbluff.

(...)

Sadly, this revealing moment - putting the spotlight on Adrian Smith and the Republican Party's lack of solutions and failures of leadership - failed to overcome something darker and more sinister about the Tea Party movement that receives far too little attention:

(President) Obama, one Tea Party attendee said, was "going too fast" and needed to slow down and consider his options. "We need to stop him," a woman cried out.....
An AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, the same rifle that a man carried to an Obama rally in Minnesota last month, was auctioned off and scores of tickets were sold, raising about $2,300...

There is nothing coincidental in cries of "We need to stop him" while a semiautomatic rifle is being raffled as a fundraiser - especially when that rifle's notorious appearance at an Obama rally is being celebrated by the crowd. There is something very ugly at work here - which Adrian Smith and the Republican Party have been only too happy to feed at every opportunity.

Do they fail to grasp the consequences of what it is they're encouraging? Or, do they simply fail to care? What sort of tragedy must we suffer as a nation before they'll break from this dangerous and destructive course and plead with other to do the same?

R. Schommer, a commenter at NNN wtites:

According to disappointed Glen Beck fans who attended A-Drone's tea party the whole thing was a sham. Letters to the Scottsbluff Star Herald after the event indicated that there were actually only 40 to 50 people in attendance, and those expecting a real Fox Noise style tea party were less than impressed.
The Beck fans who were there proclaimed that the entire event was nothing more than a Republican Party event staged exclusively to promote A-Drone Smith. Questions and comments from the audience were strictly limited, and in several cases the microphone was turned off on questioners who were asking questions that A-Drone didn't want to hear or answer. The attendees also reported that Smith did a particularly poor job of answering the questions that were allowed. Most of his responses were just canned pieces of standard Republican talking points.

Smith may have caught some press coverage for his faked event, but obviously those who were actually there considered his efforts a dim failure.

[MidwestRick]

1. The author is stretching

There is no deep dark assanination plot being planned.

[gratuitous]

8. And you know this how, exactly?

A plot can involve as few as one person. You're saying you know the minds and hearts of each and every single individual in the United States? Somehow, I don't think that's true, but you can probably guess in pretty good detail what I think of your post.

[Cowpunk]

11. I agree with you. That's not the point.

With the "He must be stopped"(not "he must be impeached") rhetoric and the obvious suggestions that an armed insurrection is brewing, they are creating a climate that makes it much easier for a lone nut to believe that many Americans will approve of violence toward our leaders.

[cliffordu]

12. Not understanding the transition from dog whistling to tacit approval

of something like that apparently is beyond your intelligence.

They are providing the toxic atmosphere where something like that becomes thinkable to the loose screws out there.

[MidwestRick]

15. Thanks

for the personal attack. So becoming of you. :)

[cliffordu]

16. Anytime. I'm here to serve.

[grantcart]

21. Scores are in:

Difficulty factor 4.3

Tone 8.2
Logic 9.8
Brevity 8.9
Snarkability 7.2

Bonus 10.

Total score 156.63


The put down was played like the true professional that fans have come to expect from Cliffordu. Now many would have used the over the top method but that would have discouraged the poster from further comment. By stating the obvious and keeping it light and still pointed the poster was encouraged to return and receive a second dose.

The only thing missing is the observation that after an attempt is made and the nation is shocked the poster would have been one of millions saying "well that was a complete and total surprise - there is no way that we could have seen that coming".

[Major Hogwash]

24. Hahahaha - I laughed until I cried!

Man, that was funnier than hell, grant.

Keep the good humor.

[cliffordu]

25. I was waiting for a response before the addition of the "never seen it coming"

follow up. Apparently they don't want to play.

I thought you were leaving today...??

I guess I'll have to post my anti-grantcart tirades (all five of them) some other time.

[grantcart]

26. leaving in about an hour - had to get me some cliffordu before I go

[cliffordu]

28. Well, I'm happy to oblige.....Have a nice trip,.....

Wear protection!!!

Where ya going, anyway??

[grantcart]

39. El Centro California but I go with the sublime knowledge that today I made a Major cry

[cliffordu]

40. I rode my bicycle through El Centro once- there was a pitbull on the sidewalk

someone had shot through the head......i was going to stop for breakfast but thought I'd just keep going...

Take care of yourself..

c

[cherokeeprogressive]

43. Is there still a bar in El Centro called "The Buick"?

We used to hang there while on detachments to the NAF.

I saw some KILLER Blue Angel practices in El Centro... and was taken to a bar in Yuma for a party celebrating the Blue Angel's selection of the F-18 on the night before their first public show in the aircraft.

The Buick had some killer live music back in the day...

[Solomon]

45. LOL

I don't know if I would have scored it so high since the difficulty factor was kind of low.

:rofl:

[malaise]

29. ROFL

Too good :rofl:

[cliffordu]

31. well....

:hi:

[VenusRising]

18. President Obama faces 30 death threats per day.

Threats are up 400% since he took office.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5967942/Barack-Obama-faces-30-death-threats-a-day-stretching-US-Secret-Service.html

[MidwestRick]

20. And thankfully

the SS has been able to keep the president safe. My point was that I didn't think that somehow there is some deep seeded plot to give away rifles to people to get them to make an attempt on the president's life.

[VenusRising]

22. They are certainly planting the seeds for it.

Why else would they inject giving away assault rifles at an anti rally?

[Flying Dream Blues]

27. You really don't see how this provides encouragement to those

who are disturbed enough to consider violence? Really?

[Orsino]

33. If by "deep seeded" you mean hidden, well, no.

The implication is inescapable.

[billh58]

36. You keep missing

the point of the OP. He didn't say that this particular event was some nefarious plot, he said that the mindset of violence was being nurtured by these asshats.

When Dubya was at the peak of his unpopularity, there were many calls for him to be impeached, but I can't recall one single overt reference to "getting rid of him." Conversely, I haven't heard one single call for President Obama to be impeached, but I see signs calling for "watering the tree of liberty with blood," and hear calls for his death from the religious-right with great frequency.

And yes, the SS has been able to keep President Obama safe. They kept President Kennedy safe for quite a while as well.

[MidwestRick]

42. Not true

"When Dubya was at the peak of his unpopularity, there were many calls for him to be impeached, but I can't recall one single overt reference to "getting rid of him.""

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS247&q=president+bush+should+die&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

There are kooks on both sides. Threatening the life of any president should not be something done, ever.

[billh58]

46. I did not

say that were no death threats against Dubya, I said that I don't recall any. In other words, I didn't see them on TV nightly, or read about them on the Internet daily, and the few that made the news were certainly not sanctioned and encouraged by mainstream media asshats, "Christian" ministers, and racist politicians. These are not "kooks" in the accepted sense of the word, and that is what is so fucking scary. These hate-mongers are inciting violence by those who believe that they have a mission to save the white race.

I get the feeling that you are offended by a perceived anti-gun slant to this OP, but that too is not really the point. During the Dubya administration, the formation of white-supremacist groups did not suddenly explode. People did not openly carry guns to his public appearances. Hell, most people could not get into his appearances without being "invited." Groups of organized Tea Baggers, Birthers, and Town Hallers did not carry signs which appeared on national television calling for his death, or to "send him back to Africa."

I DO recall, however, similar threats from this same crowd being directed at President Kennedy, mainly because he was our first Catholic president. We all know how that turned out. I recall similar threats from this same crowd being directed at Martin Luther King, mainly because he was an African-American activist. We all know how that turned out. Kooks? The entire rednecked, religious-right, neoconservative group of bigots and racists are kooks, and they gladly accept the label.

[HopeOverFear]

2. Sigh. :(

[thunder rising]

3. Chill. The worse thing about teabaggers having ARs is that their children play with them

[cabluedem]

6. We need to get a new AW ban on the books now. And confiscate them too. nt

[aikoaiko]

9. That's the best paradoy of an anti-gun, anti-rkba DU member yet,. well done

:applause:

[SIMPLYB1980]

10. I'm more worried about someone with a .50 cal than

someone with an AR15, which must be modified to be fully auto. SS would take out anyone with an AR15 well before they get near the President. Still not for banning them though.

[TheWraith]

14. Modifying an AR-15 for full auto is like modifying your 4-door sedan for NASCAR use.

It would basically entail rebuilding a large chunk of the gun. I won't say it's impossible, because it's not, but the fact is that it's incredibly difficult. A fact that's backed up by the reality that there are almost no crimes committed in the US with automatic weapons. (Not counting Hollywood.)

[cliffordu]

19. .50 is not that accurate at the distance required to get the fucking thing

out in the open to take the shot. They are huge.

They are really really fucking loud, too, so as soon as you stick the barrel out of a window, for instance, and set one off everyone knows where you are.

Setting one off in a room might be hazardous to your health, too. The concussion might blow your eardrums out, but I don't now about that for sure.

The .50 is great for killing cars and light vehicles, shooting through walls and doublewides, not so good for a long range assassination attempt.

That being said, its the fucker that's willing to give up their lives that are the danger, not so much the actual weapon.

[SIMPLYB1980]

32. I agree with you completely, but

I still think a long range shot is more likely than anything close up as tight as they have security around Obama. Something more like an M24 would be my guess, but Oswald did it with a bolt action rifle.

[cliffordu]

37. Yeah, an M-24.

Since we are talking about the unthinkable..

[TheWraith]

17. The Republicans thank you for giving them back the House, the Senate, and the White House.

You're talking about the MOST POPULAR rifle in America. In fact, you're talking about several of the most popular rifles in America. Hell, the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban didn't actually ban any weapons, just barrel attachments and bayonet mounts, but it was one of three things that Clinton attributed the 1994 clubbing in Congress to. If anyone were actually stupid enough to confiscate the untold millions of affected weapons, you'd succeed at nuking the Democratic Party for decades to come.

[rd_kent]

34. Yeah! Fuck the 2nd amendment! Yeah!

[JonQ]

4. It is a fact that most assasins

buy their weapons in highly public places where their names and faces are on record and clearly state ahead of time that they intend to assasinate whoever their target is.

They never simply steal them, or get them from the black market or anything.

[Statistical]

5. Yup I heard Oswald bought 1200 tickets at 37 political rallies....

before he won the weapon he used to kill JFK.

Then we walked around town with it slung on his back at a couple of protests to get the attention of the Service Service.
It was only after months of doing that before he was able to gain access to the book depository.

Of course it makes so much sense the way antis think. :)

[aikoaiko]

7. Not worried.

[slackmaster]

13. That's not an assault rifle

It's just a rifle.

[Major Hogwash]

23. Watch this auction be defended by the DU gun troll squad.

I know where this thread will wind up.

Ha ha ha.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. +1

[rd_kent]

35. Nah, I will just watch the gun grabber squad spew the same tired old BS.

Much like your post.

[Kaleva]

38. Not worried. The gun being auctioned isn't an assault rifle

[JonQ]

44. Why does it need to be defended?

What have they done that is illegal?

[LeftHander]

41. No background check on those raffle tickets...

Gun Nuts are the ones who seem to keep handing guns to felons.

[Caliman73]

47. You don't need a background check to buy a raffle ticket

You need a background check to take possession of the firearm. Unless the people conducting the raffle are into doing things illegally, the person who has the winning ticket will still have to receive the firearm through a FFL after passing the background check. Which felons are you talking about exactly. The people at that rally are most likely assholes who we disagree with politically, but you assume that they are felons, legally prohibited from obtaining a firearm, why?

I can put the money down to buy a firearm knowing that I have a felony prohibiting me from owning a firearm. In California, where I live, I would either be called shortly, or be told after the 10 day wait period, the the sale did not go through. I would then get my refund and possibly a visit from LE. That is how the system works. On the other hand, perhaps I have a clean record, but a common name, I could put the money down fail the NICS, the appeal the decision, get approved and be on my way to legal, lawful, respectful firearm ownership.