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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rude Pundit - A Few Notes on Our Continuing Gun Derangement
A week or so ago, the Rude Pundit was contacted by a self-identified gun owner and a supporter of Open Carry Texas. He called himself ex-military and retired law enforcement and, indeed, the Rude Pundit believed him. His tone was respectful and questioning,and the Rude Pundit answered him in the same way. In fact, through a few exchanges, they approached something of a dialogue.
What prompted the initial email from, oh, hell, let's call him "Jasper," was the Rude Pundit's assertion that the open display of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns in places where one might not normally see such things (like restaurants or downtown) is merely the desire of the gun owner to show his penis off. Jasper disagreed. His guns were not penis substitutes. They were guns.
And then he offered this: "Texas makes the carry of a handgun illegal without a very expensive handgun license. By open carrying long guns, our only option, we are sending a message to Austin: 'You don't like to see long guns on the streets? Fine. We don't like it either - too heavy, too awkward. Legalize carry of handguns and the long guns will go away.' The legislature has been 'talking' about legalizing the carry of handguns for about 10 years. This is our way to hold their feet to the fire."
Now, the Rude Pundit hadn't heard that discussed, not even in the column by the head of OCT that he mocked that set Jasper off (although CJ Grisham did talk about it in a longer version of the piece). And when he thought about what Jasper wrote, the Rude Pundit said to a friend, "Well, that's a reasoning I can at least respect. I think they're wrong and hope they fail miserably, but at least it's got something more to it than a pathological exhibitionism for some kind of perverse gratification." Or words to that effect. He might have said, "Instead of showing off their dicks like crazed five year-old boys." Sure, it's a bit of a public pout by carrying around the long guns, but, hey, so's a sit-in.
Of course, truth being what it is, that argument is, at best, worthless and, at worst, a bullshit lie. Every argument for the good of open carrying a weapon is bullshit. It doesn't affect crime. It doesn't deter a goddamned thing. In fact, what Open Carry Texas wants is "unrestricted open carry." That is, "Its not just the right to openly carry a pistol but also the right to do it without any training, screening or permit." OCT calls that "constitutional carry" because what the fuck do you know about the Second Amendment, pussy?
So, sorry, Jasper. The Rude Pundit is left with his initial assessment: it's about dicks, dicks, and cocks. The Freudian message here is clearly a kind of arrested growth, with gun owners stuck in toddlerhood, where they are compelled to display their penises as a way of asserting masculinity, a narcissistic exercise. But, since just showing off your dick at the mall is illegal, a gun merely steps in as a rigid substitute. And as for the women who open carry, like a group at a Texas Target last week? Every heard of "penis envy"?
The whole open carry thing has gone off the rails. In Medina, Ohio, there was a "march" this weekend for Open Carry, and it went something like this:
That's fine parenting there, shirtless guy who needs more sunscreen.
In Kalamazoo, Michigan, a man open carried into a library because that state barely restricts where you can bring a gun. In Georgia, a new gun law is so confusing that people aren't sure where they can carry their penises...sorry, guns, but you sure as hell can't ask someone for a permit because that'd be a violation of their rights.
There's a near-psychotic attachment people have to their guns, which is a sad commentary on where we are as a people here in the United States. But we've been through that tangled thicket of conflicted emotions before.
Instead, the Rude Pundit wants to ask a question of the people who bankroll the pro-gun movement, like the sinisterly wealthy Koch brothers, who give ass-tons of money to the NRA: Do you, as a rich person, really think it's smart to keep supporting policies that promote income equality while at the same time fostering a belief in guns as the solution to Americans' problems? Have you really thought this through?
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-few-notes-on-our-continuing-gun.html
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)I thought it hadn't been posted today becuase it had the p-word in it (jesus-h-fucking-christ, now we have to specify these things in stupid, retarded 2nd-grade language).
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)William769
(55,147 posts)Oh the irony!
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Because, duh!
hack89
(39,171 posts)He is not stupid. He also does not have the constitutional powers to do it.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)This person has said something so shocking, so disrespectful, so degrading to a certain class of people, that I declay-uh that I am ovahcome, ovahcome I say, with the vapahs. Please roll out my best fainting couch as I recover from such language:
Do you, as a rich person, really think it's smart to keep supporting policies that promote income inequality while at the same time fostering a belief in guns as the solutions to Americans' problems? Have you really thought this through?
The audacity of such a question! {Faints}
nxylas
(6,440 posts)After all, who's the more likely to be on the wrong end of their gunbarrel, an unarmed black teenager carrying a bag of Skittles. or a Koch?
The Green Manalishi
(1,054 posts)The tetards are trained from birth to distrust a non white person of their own socio-economic status while accepting as gospel anything handed to them by a white male of a superior economic class.
knownow
(53 posts)Why would they stop and think, they might not get started again? Penises are rarely intimidating with the threat of hole that goes all the way through you. They're scared and their guns make them feel better. It's intimidation because the gun holders are afraid everyone else will take their stuff. Guns cover up gun owners yellow streak and long guns give them what the gun holders think of as a back bone, until their gun is out of bullets. Violence begets violence so more guns is NOT an answer.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Kind of ruins the sentence
obxhead
(8,434 posts)madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)Gungeon that drags themself out of that hole to alert.
obxhead
(8,434 posts)However, I'll continue to hold out hope that the masses maintain reason.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)billh58
(6,635 posts)"Legalize carry of handguns and the long guns will go away."
If anyone else sees that as a threat from the Texas right-wing gun lobby, that's because it is. They actually believe that they can dictate the "either, or" choice on the matter of open carry.
The sane logic is that there is absolutely no need for open (or concealed for that matter) civilian carry of lethal weapons of any type in the public venue.
The Wizard
(12,545 posts)Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)I have no idea what that means.
supercats
(429 posts)Who carries a gun in public, (except for the police) is at best retarded, deranged, and psychologically imbalanced.
corkhead
(6,119 posts)On Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:18 PM an alert was sent on the following post:
The Rude Pundit - A Few Notes on Our Continuing Gun Derangement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025140656
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
Not this again. Didn't he get the message last time?
Penis envy really? Women are not so unempowered that we feel the need to acquire a male "weapon" between our legs to feel equal. Woman are far more powerful than the mysogynists would have us believe and wishing we had wishes to have penises is not only sexist but an attack on our very gender!
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:28 PM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Wow, "Penis Envy" is a new concept we should ignore and not just ridicule. The WHOLE post was about how men with small penises have issues with ONE SINGLE sentence thrown in about females. That is hardly worth hiding this post.
This post doesn't even come close to being misogynist. It is more about making fun of people who feel the need to carry weapons openly or concealed. Not about women.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Meegbear does not deserve a hide for posting RP. This is getting ridiculous. Bite me Alert troll. Can a jury explanation get hidden?
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I didn't find it disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate, and it did contain some information about the various open carry displays going on.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Well, he's not called the polite pundit, is he.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Thanks for posting the ridiculous alert & rational result.
Another spot on analysis by the Rude One...