Uncle Bill
We have a gun loving guy at the Beauty Shop who pitches a wall eyed snot nosed hissy fit any time I mention that Jim Bob does not need an AK47.
Even though I am a gun owner – a rifle – he thinks I’m what’s wrong with Texas and why Democrats can’t win here.
He goes by the handle of Uncle Bill—-
I got this comment from him on this post shortly after the shooting started this morning
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It would seem from the comments here that democrats are as closed minded as the republicans. Do y’all really want to define the party as just against that “evil black rifle” the governor owns. If you assume that only republicans enjoy the shooting sports, you are making a mistake. A democrat can’t even be elected dog catcher in most of Texas now and you folks want to alienate another voting group. It’s going to take a diverse party to make Texas a two party state again and that is not going to happen by calling an inanimate object “evil” because the governor owns one or because a nutcase uses one for evil. Let the flaming begin!!
I did not approve it because I didn’t think it was appropriate while little helpless children in America were dodging bullets at school.
But, Uncle Bill was not to be deterred. Thirty minutes later I get this from him as a comment.
LOL!! Censored me!! How democratic of you!!
Children were being shot and killed.
I emailed him at the email address on his comment at 12:01.
There is a gunman in an elementary school this morning shooting at little children. No, I will not publish your asinine comments while children are being shot. If it takes losing Texas elections to save the lives of innocent shoppers and little kids, then enjoy your damn victory.I am a gun owner and a fifth generation Texan. This is my microphone. I paid for it. Shove it.
He sent another comment at 12:20
Way to go, you are doing a great job keep Texas a red state. Never mind that the governor has messed with birth control, poor people and kids education. The best you can do is piss off a large number of democrats who don’t buy into the idea that they would be safer with a knife than with a gun. For a group that claims to be educated, you don’t seem to understand that the more people you are willing to throw under the bus, the fewer people who will support you.
Don’t worry, I won’t bother trying to voice an opinion on this forum again. I have learned my lesson. It’s funny, when I go to the range and tell my shooting buddies that I voted for Obama, they tease me, but we are still friends.
Uncle Bill
He has been put on the blacklisted list.
These gun nuts are nuts.
We have no choice but to fight them before they kill us all, and say it’s for freedom.
Nick Anderson / Houston Chronicle
My standard for ‘judgment is: If you feel guns are more important than 20 five year olds;
1If you will fight to the death for your gun;
If the second amendment is the most critical of all to defend;
If you think ‘crazy’ mass murderers are always the problem;
If you think teachers should be armed;
If you endorse ownership of automatic weapons;
Thirty round clips;
Unrestricted access to weapons;
Require a weapon to ‘defend’ Anything;
You are the exact person who should never be considered for gun ownership.
Congress will rue the day they let the Assault Weapons Ban expire. Make it a crime to own one!
If Congress doesn’t act by Feb., it’s time for a 100 Million Moms March – 1 million on each state’s capitol, 1 million on each manufacturer and the remaining millions on Capital Hill.
Moms of all ages should silently pack each & every hall of power until all 50 states and Congress has passed a law banning ownership of … making it a state & federal crime to own automatic assault weapons by civilians. Owners can contribute theirs to local law enforcement.
It is time to act! I will post that call to action on my blog, Moms Hugs, if nothing has been done by Feb. 1st.
2Personally, I feel if men can pass laws that mandate a woman have a sonogram, before she considers an abortion, there should be a law……mandating that any man who wants to buy a gun…… should have to have a psych evaluation, before he is allowed to purchase one.
I agree on the assault weapons ban. All those guns are used for is to kill as many people as possible, in as short a time as possible.
Until moms, and grand moms say “enough” ……. the slaughter of innocents will continue.
I’ve had “enough”.
3In the meantime, I am calling on all moms & grandmoms to begin a letter-writing campaign to ban civilian ownership of assault weapons. No excuse not to know who to write to in your state lege & your state reps to Congress. Please copy your local police chief and chief of your state patrol & bureau of criminal investigation
Letters should not begin for 2 weeks – enough time to give respect to those who lost their loved ones.
4You should all be aware of the organization in NC that has been instrumental in getting state after state to pass legislation allowing concealed weapons with a permit. This organization has been working steadily to get those laws amended to allow CCW in gun-free zones (schools, parks & bars).
Always follow the money behind such groups; there’s a reason why gun sales, especially semi-automatic handguns, have skyrocketed in the past 4 years.
5News is now reporting:
* guns used were NOT owned by the shooter, but by his mother;
* he shot his mother first – at home;
* he is 20 & lived with his mother;
* parents separated 10 yrs ago (divorced in 09).
* brother has not spoken to him for past 2 yrs.
So… to consider Crone’s point, who was the craziest person – the shooter or his mother, the owner of 3 or more semi-automatic weapons?
6OK. This tragic massacre is devastating to all of us and we should be ashamed for not getting a grip on gun regulation in this country. I am from VT and my husband has an arsenal of hunting and collectible guns which he keeps in a safe and takes out one or two a year during turkey and deer season. He used to keep a pistol under the mattress, but I threatened to leave, so now we rely on two big noisy dogs to discourage intruders.
I urge you all to ready Eric Garland’s post on this subject. http://www.ericgarland.co/2012/12/14/your-well-regulated-militia-will-not-kick-anybodys-ass/
7My condolences not only to the families of the victims, but also to the shooter’s father in Stamford, CT, who is an accountant & VP at GE Energy Financial (since remarried), to his brother in Hoboken, NJ, who is also an accountant at Ernst & Young, and to his mother’s mother who lives in Florida. They are victims of his illness & actions as well. Any parent or family/friend of anyone who has a mental illness of this significance knows how much they are suffering.
8Assuming “Uncle” Bill is still lurking here at JJ’s Beauty Shop, I just want to say to you…
This issue a NOT political! Good people in both political parties own guns – some responsibly, some not so much, with horrible consequences.
MANUFACTURERS have reaped huge profits from manipulating people into fearful purchases.
It is simply time for our society to get a grip!
9VeeGee: Thanks for that link & Eric Garland is so right.
SO… I am going to amend my 100 Million Moms March & letter-writing campaign to go for broke.
Proposed Amendment XXVII:
A well-regulated society, being necessary to the security of the citizens of a free nation, the right to keep and bear arms under Amendment II shall be amended to make such rights to modern assault weaponry inherent only in the purposeful use by law enforcement for the safety of citizens and by a regulated military for the defense of the nation.
Now… you all can have at it.
10Well, damn, Uncle Bill! Did I hear one sincere word of condolence from you about all the dead little kiddies and others at that horrible scene? Since when does it do you or anyone any good to defend in any way a dude who would do such a thing and that is exactly what you did whether you realize it or not.
11Can’t ever find my copy of The Constitution, and Bill of Rights when I need it.
But, I think we already have a “Right to be secure in our person” or some such thing, guaranteed in one of those documents.
As far as I’m concerned, my right to be “Secure in My Person” (i.e. be able to go to a political event, movie, or a mall, or have my great grand kids go to school, without having to fear being murdered by some lunatic) trumps the lunatics right to own an AK-47.
12Sweetie, this is typical gun loon trolling. I’ve had them aplenty on my blog whenever I post about gun issues. And they always come back with the “democrats want to censor free speech/hate facts/blah blah” BS. The best strategy is to ignore it.
We’re such bad liberals for not living up to their framing of us! I always say, I’ve never pretended to be tolerant. I’m very intolerant of stupidity that results in the deaths of 20 innocents. I’m also really intolerant of the trolling and thuggery gun loonz engage in as a means of stifling speech. I tell them to hit the road.
Don’t let them pollute your threads, hon. It’s about intimidation with them (after all, that’s why they’ve gotta have all the guns).
13I think it is time for the “moderate middle” to step out of their comfort zones and speak up on all topics. Whether gun control or socialized medicine, every topic has its fringed edges, be it the lunatic left or wacko right. We all feel passionately about some topic – probably to the level of being irrational. In the middle are 60 % of society – rational , reasonable views on each topic. It is time for these people to speak out and demand their rights. When the outside edges are the only voices we hear, the truth becomes distorted very quickly. When the blatant lies used to further extreme views are allowed to remain unchallenged we all suffer the consequences. When the belief becomes “Personal rights trump the rights of a kindergartener to attend school with the belief they will return home safely”, we as a society have failed our own responsibilities.
14Wasn’t it GWB, another famous Texan, who let the assault rifle ban expire?
15Dear God. This shooter shot his own mother with HER OWN GUNS. Then shot up classrooms full of kids.
To all those “responsible” gun owners out there – take a VERY hard look at your own kids and ask yourself if having a bunch of guns makes you “safe.” Clearly this mother didn’t. The latest assault weapon will NEVER keep you safe from the enemy within your own household and family, where statistically the overwhelming threat REALLY IS.
“Live by the sword, die by…….”
16The majority of gun owners do want gun control in effect. It’s the voice of groups like the NRA and Gun Owners of America who shout so loudly that they drown the voices of those who care about everyone in this country, not just those who worship the Second Amendment.
17Thank you Juanita and all commenters. You’ve said it all, including the link to the wise Eric Garland.
Time is NOW for conversation to rid this country of idiocy and violence – meanwhile here in TN, the idiot Lt.Guv and his minions are still trying “Take Your Guns To Work” because they are imbeciles.
Miemaw, and anyone else – here is a simple way to look up the U.S. Constitution online whenever you have a need to refer. Bookmark it.
http://www.usconstitution.net/choose.html
18Does anyone have a reference to any event/happening where John Q. Public with his concealed weapon (or any other kind) prevented someone from shooting innocents, be they very young babies or someone’s grown-up baby?
19The only incidences I can think of the concealed carry groupie shot a perfectly harmless person.
I am so heartsick over this. All I can think of are the babies. Already born babies.
@Another Ellen in Texas, one of the first questions on the Texas concealed handgun license application is have you ever been treated for a mental illness. At least it was there when DH got his permit. The applicant can lie all over the place. The State of Texas can’t or doesn’t check medical records.
20WRT censoring Uncle Bill: Banning him from commenting is not really censorship. It’s your blog, and you can do what you want. If you prevented him from commenting anywhere else or somehow stopped him from starting his own blog, then that would be censorship.
I thought conservatives were all for people doing what they want with their property.
21@crone – thanks. I didn’t know, but it terrifies me to know its that easy to get around the law. Naïveté on my part.
22Ani Sangye @SangyeH
RT @P0TUS: I’ll say it again: Wayne LaPierre, President of @NRA, should attend every one of those kids’ funerals.
23As someone posted on Eric Gardner’s blog, the wild west was settled, not by guns, but by talking.
24Here’s a sample of some friendly, fun merchandise that the Friends of NRA has for events in the coming year. I have two favorites. One is that mean-looking snub-nose revolver at the top of the page, though what a pistol has to do with a rifle association, I don’t know. And lest we forget all those kids who will be future NRA members, how about that neat bike at the bottom, complete with training wheels? Oughtta go over big when some kid peddles it along the main street in Newtown, Connecticut.
http://www.nrablog.com/post/2012/12/11/Even-more-Friends-of-NRA-gear-for-2013s-banquets.aspx
25Late to this wake, but another native-Texan Democrat and gun-owner who thinks we need more and better gun control. Nobody in civilian life needs a high-powered, automatic, big-dang-magazine weapon for self-defense. I grew up in south Texas, where my mother worked in a hardware store that sold rifles and shotguns for local hunters.
The typical hunting household at that time had a varmint gun (.22), a deer rifle for each hunter in the family, and (if they also hunted birds) a shot gun or two. No automatic weapons. It was a scandal if a hunter thought he needed a semi-automatic weapon–what, you can’t hit what you aim at with one shot? Sometimes a pistol or revolver, esp. the rural families. Nothing with a big magazine. Nothing that was good for nothing but killing people. Safety was something everybody talked about and pounded into kids as they got old enough to be taught to shoot. The seriousness of killing, and the absolute prohibition against killing a person unless your life was in imminent danger.
Now we live on the edge of town and have rural property and a few critters. In that situation, a few firearms are useful–for instance, a .22 pistol is the ideal tool for killing the overgrown near-sheep lamb you want to process for the freezer (been there, done that multiple times.) I’ve got nothing against legal hunting, nothing against trap shooting, or target practice (and plinking cans off a can pyramid is, I freely admit, fun.)
BUT…my gun-owning mother taught me that owning guns for self-defense is a very, very dangerous matter…because the gun you own can be used against you, can be stolen and used against others, and worst of all, you can make a mistake and shoot someone who wasn’t trying to kill you…you can shoot someone in your own family. Her final argument was that someday she was going to face God…and that conversation would go a lot better if she’d been killed than if she’d killed someone who turned out not to be about to take her life or mine.
So she didn’t keep a gun in the car, and didn’t carry a gun, and the only time the target pistol was out of its hiding place was then she was practicing with it. Wasn’t under the mattress, the pillow, in the bedside table, etc. We had loud-barking dogs instead.
I think the culture of fear and paranoia that the right wing has worked to build for most of my lifetime–fear of people of color, of foreigners, of strangers, of government–is part of the reason we have this burgeoning gun culture. And as someone ahead of me said, if you follow the money on that one, you can see that scaring people sells guns and ammo, and also gets votes.
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