TeaBagger at public rally with uncased guns = Militant Radical

[Hubert Flottz]

Unarmed demonstrator at OWS rally to demand real democracy, in a democratic America, or in any other democracy around the planet = Patriot.

We are not a democracy as long as money trumps the representation of we the people.

[kctim]

1. If neither is breaking the law

then why can't they both be considered 'Patriots?'

This kind of fear based division between We the People is exactly why the so-called 99% do NOT truly represent, or have the support of, 99% of Americans.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. You can't "pal around with terrorists"

Those are the rules...

Sane people don't need guns at a peaceful demonstration. Militant radicals do.

[DesMoinesDem]

6. Legally carring a gun makes you a terrorist?

What other legal activities do you think makes you a terrorist? Do you consider freedom of speech a terrorist activity?

[Hubert Flottz]

9. No I don't think freedom of speech is a terrorist activity but...

I do think trying to intimidate people at a peaceful political demonstration with assault weapons is a terrorist act.

I don't think hunting game of sport shooting are terrorist acts, nor do I think defending your home and family are either, but I do stand by what it says in the definition of a "terrorist" in my tag line.

[DesMoinesDem]

12. Some people feel intimidated by other peoples freedom of speech.

That doesn't make those speaking terrorists. The same goes for legally carrying a gun. The way you feel about other people exercising their rights doesn't make them a terrorist.

[Hubert Flottz]

13. If I felt like I needed to carry a gun to a rally...I'd stay home and

get back on my fucking medication.

[DesMoinesDem]

17. If I felt like I needed to [insert constituionally guaranteed right] at a rally...I'd stay home and

get back on my fucking medication.

Sorry, that sentence looks stupid to me no matter what I fill in.

[Hubert Flottz]

22. What looks stupid to me is grown men who need to carry an AR-15

to a park where little kids are.

I could see carrying one to a rifle range or to the woods, but what is the guy going to go shoot at a political rally?

[DesMoinesDem]

25. Why do you think someone legally carrying a gun is a threat to kids?

The car their parents drove them to the rally in is a far greater threat to them than someone legally carrying a gun. Just because YOU don't understand why someone exercises their rights doesn't make them a terrorist.

[Name removed]

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[oneshooter]

60. So you believe that the legal carry of a fire arm is a threat to kids? n/t

[rl6214]

61. So now we're (I really mean you) are going to pick apart HOW

something was said rather than answering what was actually said?

[ileus]

34. I thought that was dumb also, a nice sidearm should be all that's needed at a rally.

[Hubert Flottz]

35. I think they might be able to find a good used M-60 tank cheap...

Koch can afford to buy them some.

[oneshooter]

45. M-60's are not available for sale. But if you will settle for a M4 sherman?

http://www.armyjeeps.net/armor1.htm

Not cheap, but very nice.

[Glassunion]

48. Ooooh... Can I haz one?

[oneshooter]

57. Sure can, all it takes is money.........LOTS of money! n/t

[Lasher]

67. Well if I can't get an M1 Abrams then just forget it.

I'm not gonna settle for a Sherman.

[oneshooter]

70. Abrams are not for sale, however a replica, made by modifying a German Leopard is for sale.

Look at the bottom of the page.

[Lasher]

73. I saw that, no thanks.

Not interested in the Milli Vanilli of armored vehicles.

[gejohnston]

74. no but

an M110 howitzer to go with the M548 would be cool.

[Name removed]

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[ObamaFTW2012]

51. It's probably

a statement, much like a gay parade, or a "meat is murder" shirt. As long as a grown man carrying a rifle doesn't load it and/or point it at others, there's no harm done. As liberals, we need to accept there are opinions different than our own, and support the free exercise of rights even when the manner in which those rights are exercised is distasteful to us.

[Starboard Tack]

56. Yeah, kinda like strollin' around in a nudist camp. Just don't get a hard on.

[oneshooter]

46. If you saw someone who carried a Brown Bess, would you get as scared? n/t

[Kingofalldems]

14. You cannot be serious

[SteveM]

38. "terror" like "terrorism" have become cheapened terms...

Once someone starts using the term (most especially RW politicos), then everyone wants to get in on the act. Even liberals and progressives start to develop their "terror watch lists." A word like "terrorism" is a way to short-circuit due process, the 4th, and other Amendments because it is given exalted status, sufficient to transcend crimes which are clearly defined with clear consequences. (At present, an employee of a restaurant which I frequent is being held on "terrorism" charges because she broke into a mink farm and "liberated" a thousand minks. Should she be prosecuted? Yes. Should she be prosecuted on "terrorism" charges? No. But what do you think?)

I don't like the notion of folks showing up with guns at a rally, unless there is a demonstrable threat to everyone's civil liberties, and the nation is in peril. Nevertheless, laws were not broken, and no threat was evident -- except in the minds of those threatened enough to call it "terrorism."

[Starboard Tack]

52. Hey, remember "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"

[pintobean]

19. They were trying to intimidate people who agreed with them?

I assume you're referring to tea partiers at their own rallies. That makes no sense, so maybe my assumption is incorrect.

[beevul]

27. Define "assault weapon".

What exactly was being carried?

Perhaps a link to the event you refer to would help.

[PavePusher]

30. Was anyone assaulted?

If not, there were no "assault weapons".

[petronius]

37. I dislike seeing any legal activity (re)defined as terrorism, no matter how I might

feel about the activity itself.

Inaccurate use of words like terrorism, treason, etc started with the RWers, and I'd prefer to leave it with them, myself...

[Euromutt]

64. That's a completely unworkable definition of "terrorism"

By that definition, every government that operates a police force is a "terrorist" organization, because one of the functions of a police force is to deter crime through the threat of being detained, prosecuted and punished, with the use of force authorized if you try to resist at any point in the proceedings. Every government or insurgency that's ever participated in armed hostilities is a "terrorist" organization, including European resistance groups under Nazi occupation.

[kctim]

18. Sane people do not fear inanimate objects

or the individual rights of others.

And if we are making totally illogical beliefs of 'terrorists,' they are the ones who do fear.

[PavePusher]

29. Your meme....

it was DOA.

[SteveM]

36. Who else is on your "terrorist watch list?"

See, that's the trouble with such "terrorist" expressions: Everyone gets in on it RW, Conservatives, prohibitionists.......liberals.

BTW, I go dove hunting every year, and at a popular field on opening day, dozens of us bump our way through a turnstile onto a field, loaded with shotguns and ammo. I'm only terrorized by the voracious ticks; maybe there's a lesson for you in that.

[Callisto32]

59. That turnstile...that's a metaphor, right?

I simply cannot imagine a field that has a turnstile.

Edit: Well, I can, but why one would do such a thing defies logic.

[SteveM]

68. Well, not really, but I didn't know what you called a breach in...

the fence with a curved entry with a spring-loaded gate.

It didn't take coins, I admit.

[Glassunion]

47. I'm gonna go with Gandhi on this one and disagree with you.

[ObamaFTW2012]

49. Who are you

to decide who needs what? If I'm not trampling your rights, why are you trying to trample mine? I could be carrying a gun because I'm worried about getting jumped by some rednecks who don't think I have a right to be armed. Are you going to put on your white hood and join them? How about gay people? Should they only carry in places where YOU feel they are likely to encounter gaybashers, or is it OK for them to carry everywhere it is lawful....just in case some gaybashing meathead doesn't respect "no gaybashing zones"?

[Callisto32]

54. agent provocateur

[Iktomiwicasa]

66. Insane...

...militant radical terrorists.

[Lasher]

4. Uncasing a gun at a rally can constitute brandishing.

Which is against the law. Unless you're a Republican.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. How cowardly would you have to be to feel like you needed to

carry an assault weapon to a peaceful rally?

The TeaBaggers not only felt like they needed to do that...they did do that. To protest providing health care for people who don't have it.

[Name removed]

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[Lasher]

8. Any fool can see these are acts of intimidation.

They like to dress up like soldiers too but most of them don't have the guts to sign up.

FWIW they don't intimidate me. I'm packin' heavy but I carry my hogleg concealed.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. Right...

Most people like the gun toting teabaggers are just trying to make up for skipping out on their service to their country, IMHO.

They watched too many Rambo/Duke flicks because their Mamma was too busy getting ready for Fundy School to see what Junior was in to in the basement.

[PavePusher]

31. Please don't carry books or signs in public.

It's obviously "intimidation" and "compensation".

[SteveM]

40. It is strange you use "terrorism" and "cowardly" in the same thread...

No one was breaking the law, no one was being threatened. Who was so threatened they term the gun-bearer a "coward?" Were you there? Did you object to the person(s) who so threatened you?

[rl6214]

42. Please define your assault weapon

[jmg257]

10. Sadly, though the teabaggers too saw the Wall St control of our govt,

their answers seem to be very selfish in nature. OWS will never garner support from those who are only concerned with themselves, and only concerned with their own rights. We can not pretend to represent those who want to keep others down, who are unwilling to reach a hand out to help them up.

The willingness of some to open carry (at least lawfully) is meaningless in this, other then it shows where the priorities of those who choose to do so really are. Fuck 'em, as THAT is all that will ever be important to THEM, NOT the equal opportunity of We the people.

[kctim]

16. This is why the 99% rhetoric is such BS

OWS would be so much more effective IF people would look past their personal fears and stereotypes.

Both sides see the problem with the corruption. But they can't come together because one side believes the solution to helping others is with individuals and some government, and one side believes government is the solution.

The freaking problem is corruption, NOT opinions on what is the best way to help others.

Sadly, the Tea Party and OWS are about politics, which is why the majority of people sit and MAYBE watch the protesters, instead of stand by the protesters side.

[Hubert Flottz]

20. "The freaking problem is corruption"

Right...like the Koch brothers funding the Tea Party. Like Dick Armey taking it over with the help of corporate cash. We don't need another fox in our hen house.

[jmg257]

21. I agree with you there. The loathing on both sides helps neither. nt

[Ikonoklast]

15. Ask any American citizen if he feels it is right to carry semi-automatic rifles to political

gatherings; not if they have the Right to do so, just ask if it is the right thing to do.

I am willing to wager the vast majority of Americans would side with the 99% on this one.

And the 99% represent you, as you are not anywhere near the 1%, just a willing tool.

[dtexdem]

23. Teabagger traitors are not patriots, that's why.

nuff said

[SteveM]

44. Well, so much for finding common ground. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

63. depressing, isn't it.

~sigh~

I have not in all my life seen my country as divided as it is now. makes me sad.

[SteveM]

69. Sooner or later, OWS will have to meet up with the Tea Party...

if they haven't started already. And here is an issue which might find common ground:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5031149

Dem boy' want us to not only pick up their tab, but wipe their shit off our carpet. Boy-o-boy.

[Bandit]

24. Guns inspire fear because they kill things..

What can possibly be the need to wear a gun to a political gathering? The ONLY thing they can hope to accomplish is intimidation....2nd amendment remedies and all....

[Hubert Flottz]

26. I agree...

I can't think of any other reason.

[We_Have_A_Problem]

28. Maybe it is just me....

...but I see nothing wrong with reminding the politicians from time to time exactly who works for whom in this country.

Yes, our politicians should be fully aware that the 2nd Amendment is there to ensure the rights of the people will be protected through force if necessary.

Yes, its a disturbing thought to be sure, but it is reality nonetheless. When government forgets who exactly is really in charge, you end up with what we have now.

[rl6214]

43. What if the 2nd A IS the reason for the political rally?

[ObamaFTW2012]

50. Need is not a factor

One is not obligated to justify a need in order to exercise his or her right, regardless of the opinions of others. That sort of thinking leads to government censorship of newspapers and the internet, the elimination of free speech, etc.

[ileus]

2. OWSer's need to start OCin'

[Kolesar]

71. Why? To intimidate the police??

[We_Have_A_Problem]

72. Good enough a reason as any...

Why do so many people seem to think it is wrong for the people to intimidate the government, but have no problem with the government doing it to the people?

[ileus]

76. Nope for protection...the only reason to carry is for self defense

[Kolesar]

77. Like the 'pukes at the Obama appearances? eom

[rrneck]

32. It's early yet.

Too many liberals carry fond memories of Woodstock and forget Kent State.

Let the truncheons, tear gas, and fire hoses come out and this kind of OP will be a thing of the past.

[Hubert Flottz]

33. He is one link...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32457652/ns/politics-white_house/t/man-assault-rifle-attends-obama-protest/

[Remmah2]

65. Tis a fine example.

Tis a fine example of media bias and technical ignorance.

Not every pro-second amendment person is a tea bagger.

[beevul]

75. One of those old white guy racists teabaggers...

Oh I guess not...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

39. Sometimes open carry is the demonstration and is speech

Sometimes it is just empty holsters...they all seem to get someones undies in a knot. Adults know better and just move on.

[Kolesar]

78. NY cops would probably shoot or bludgeon to death

...anyone who showed a firearm in the OWS crowd.

[rl6214]

41. Not if gun control and being able to exercise your constitutional

right is the political statement being made by carrying your gun.

[Callisto32]

55. You are SO out of your league here, man.

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[Name removed]

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