No one could possibly have predicted this..

[Fumesucker]

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/20/libertarian-guns-boston/

Police Seize ‘Large Amount’ Of Weapons From Blogger Who Praised Gifffords Shooting: ‘1 Down And 534 To Go’


Police in Arlington, MA this week seized a “large amount” of weapons and ammunition from local businessman Travis Corcoran after he wrote a blog post threatening U.S. lawmakers in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). In a post on his blog (which has since been removed) titled “1 down and 534 to go” — 1 referring to Giffords and 534 referring to the rest of the House of Representatives and the Senate — Corcoran applauded the shooting of Giffords and justified the assassination of lawmakers because he argued the federal government has grown far beyond its constitutional limits. “It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately. Target only politicians and their staff and leave regular citizens alone,” he wrote in the post.

“We certainly take this as a credible threat,” Arlington police Captain Robert Bongiorno told reporters, adding that “multiple federal law enforcement agencies” were involved. Authorities also suspended Corcoran’s gun license, though he is currently not facing any charges.

Corcoran calls himself “an anarcho-capitalist” and while his blog has been taken down, based on his Twitter page, he appears to hold views similar to those of many in the anti-government libertarian wing of the conservative movement, like many tea party activists. Anarcho-capitalism is a radical subset of libertarianism, and is often referred to as “libertarian-anarchy.” For example, echoing calls from many on the right, Corcoran tweeted, “it is unconstitutional for the Feds to even run a department of education.”

In a Twitter exchange with reporter Laura Leslie, Corcoran lays out a conventional anti-government philosophy, and explains in depth why he views assassination as legitimate:

“I assert that the US federal gov has grown unconstitutionally large, and the legislature exceeds the powers delegated to it by the people,” Corcoran wrote. “As per the Declaration of Indep, when a gov becomes destructive those ends, it may be abolished,” he continued, “and the most moral approach is that which spares the maximum number of lives. Thus, assasination is a legitimate tool.”

He goes on to further justify assassination as “morally legitimate,” citing “Catholic Just War doctrine” among other theories, and explains, “It’s illegal, yes, but it’s not un-American. America was founded on the idea of shooting gov officials. Lexington Concord!” In another tweet, he writes, “I disagree with murder. …but shooting politicians who pass illegitimate, unconstitutional laws is not murder.” And in case there’s any doubt about his sincery, he writes, “Nope, it’s not a joke. I’m 100% serious.”

<more at the link>

[emulatorloo]

1. uh-oh.

I guess the right has gotten a new hero.

[Andy823]

2. Yes,

Every time a democrat is in the WH, the nuts come out of the woodwork! This happened back during the Clinton years, though not as bad as it seems to be these days! Funny how when a moron like Bush takes the country into two wars, record deficits, and into the worst recession since the great depression, you never hear these morons complain at all!

[Chimichurri]

3. If this had been a muslim it would be on a running loop on all the networks

but since it's a homegrown, right wing terrorist, not a sound. They did this with the MLK backpack found bomb story.

[Richard Steele]

4. Yup, what a total surprise. K&R

[ClassWarrior]

5. What the frack kind of business does a ghoul like this run? Rent-a-psychopath?

NGU.

[tularetom]

10. He's a comic book guy

heck the comments at "Comics Allaince":

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/01/10/heavy-ink-arizona-shooting-corcoran/

Here's his mug shot:

[The Doctor.]

15. ...

:rofl: :spray: :rofl:

[delightfulstar]

6. That guy is a nutjob.

I'm glad the authorities moved in on this so quickly. That's exactly the kind of hate rhetoric that sparks things like the Tucson shootings.

BTW, he's very wrong on the Just War doctrine. It is meant to apply to governments. Nowhere does it condone violence by or against individuals, and it states very clearly that going against the law of the land (in his case, his talk of killing people deliberately, which would be committing murder) is a mortal sin. This is directly from the Catechism.

More on that here: http://www.catholic.com/library/Just_War_Doctrine_1.asp

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. I wandered over to Corcoran's blog a day or so after his initial blog posting

that caused all this commotion. After Corcoran initially posted the first blog about ‘1 Down And 534 To Go’ he started getting alot more traffic to his website. Most comments on his blog called him out on his bloodthirsty comments and a few were in support. Corcoran felt compelled to expound on his views in further posts due to the increase in traffic and the many comments challenging him to explain. He wrote a long manifesto on one post explaining his political philosophy and then another long post that was a flowchart of decision making to determine if the reader actually agreed with him. After reading both follow-up posts by Corcoran it was clear that he held a bizarre mixture of contradictory ideas in his head in regard to politics. For example, he seems to be really pissed off that barbers in MA have to be licensed and he believes that electricians and plumbers should be able to work without being licensed as well. One thing was clear though, he fully believes that assassination is a legitimate act to bring about political change.

Corcoran repeatedly wrote that he was NOT advocating violence AT THIS TIME. He has a bizarre view that the "Just War" aspect of the Catholic faith absolves him of sin in regard to assassination. He listed the Just War doctrine in one of his follow-up posts. A Catholic priest responded to his use of the doctrine and informed him that he had it completely wrong.

I did get a sense that he wished the whole thing had never happened after reading a few of his posts, but he never apologized or backed away from his idea that assassination was a viable and legal form of political activity. He just did not think the time was right to engage in it.

You can bet that he and a few of his cheerleaders did not like my posting on the blog and pointing out that their ideas were bizarre and contradictory. I did not get the sense that he was a clear and present danger, but it is good that he is being evaluated because you simply never know about guys like him.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

8. I see him, for the most part, making assertions and justifying concepts.

Technically, he has not directly "threatened" anybody. Just crazy rationalizations.
This is akin to those preachers prying for the deaths of politicians...

I wonder if this guy will be charged w/ anything? It says no chargesare faced, yet.
Were those hate ministers ever brought up on charges?

[pacalo]

9. OMG.

[cbdo2007]

11. WTF, I thought the giffords thing wasn't politically motivated?!?!?!

[slackmaster]

12. Fruitcake

[spanone]

13. too bad loughner didn't blog his intentions....

[Urban Prairie]

14. Yooohooo!! Saraaaah?? Come out, come out, wherever you arrrre!!!

How many more Constitution-interpreting, copy-clutching, whackjob righties are still lurking out there who won't reveal their murderous intentions online, beforehand?


Now we know whom the term self-righteous actually refers to, as it describes the sociopathic rightwingers to a T.


Got anything to say about this latest generalized assassination threat to legislators and their staff, Palin?

Nah, she would likely claim that the real issue in this case was the police seizing Corcoran's huge cache of guns & ammo, and was a threat to our first and second amendment rights, in regard to our freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms huh?