Category: Anti-Gun Folks

That is the question, apparently, if you’re Robyn Ringler. Today’s answer seems to be “yes”.

Hat tip: Thirdpower

It’s nice that Bloomy has lost several mayors to pressure from gun owners, but it’s really nice to actually defeat one in an election.

Via Gun Laws News, it would seem we should no longer have any doubts about Obama’s true colors on the gun issue.

According to Roland Browne:

“It’s just the same really as pushing tobacco products onto kids,” Mr Browne said.

“It’s the American gun culture being pushed into Australia.”

“It’s just what we decided we were going to move away from in 1996.”

I guess I’ll have to reconsider all the time I spend in Australia trying to push guns on kids!

Reading Kevin’s open letter to Robyn Ringler, the impression I’m left with is the gun-control movement, because it has always had a friendly media willing to print anything without question or criticism, has never had to seriously defend its views in an open forum, and is discovering they aren’t prepared for it.

Looks like he was guilty of tax evasion and mail fraud.

Best commentary on the Robyn Ringler incident yet.

Looks like Robyn Ringler has had about enough Reasoned Discourse^TM, and plans to close down comments:

As I have said before, if I were standing in public and someone said these things to me, I would walk away. And so it is not my style to stand still and allow the abuse to pile up all around me and others I respect. That is why I will no longer accept any comments at all.

I’ve mostly ignored Robyn, so I can’t personally say she’s censored anything of mine, but I’ve seen folks who put up posts elsewhere, that they claimed to have posted there and not had them approved, that seemed eminently reasonable to me.

I have no doubt that Robyn has gotten some pretty nasty stuff. For that I apologize on behalf of our community. People get really passionate and angry when you start talking about taking away something they feel is their birthright, and even on my side of the issue, I find myself regularly dealing with a lot of that passion and anger.

I am sorry to those of you who have sent in such thoughtful, intelligent stories and ideas and to those of you who are really fighting on both sides of the debate to find some common ground. I salute all of you and hold you dear to my heart. You are true heroes.

It’s very difficult to find common ground on this issue precisely because the anti-gun movement categorically denies that we have a constitutional right to bear arms and refuses to agree to treat it like other constitutional rights. If Robyn wants to have a debate on the scope of the right to keep and bear arms, I’m game for that, but I don’t think there’s much common ground when you won’t even recognize the right exists at all.

We will remain an open forum here on the pro-gun side of the blogosphere, but I’ve been surprised at how few advocates of gun control are willing to come here and have an open discussion with gun-right advocates. I does not speak to the strength of the gun control side of the argument that they continually have to shut down debate and discussion for their views to triumph.

UPDATE: Thirdpower has more

UPDATE: More from Robb and SayUncle

Well, well, Thirdpower (who now that he has a blog, and is getting Hardy and Uncle links, should think about moving off of blogspot) finds another anti-gun group ends up with some money troubles.

The organization started in 2000 and is run by the University of Illinois at Chicago. CeaseFire received $16.2 million for the fiscal years between 2004 and 2006. The state funded the majority of its total, $11 million. The audit comes days after Gov. Rod Blagojevich cut more than $6 million in funding for the group.

Let me tell you, if I were down state, and I found out my state government was spending 11 million a year to fund a group that was dedicated to removing my constitutional rights as an American, I would throw a fit. I think it’s time people downstate started getting together and burning the Governor in effigy. We don’t do nearly enough of that these days, and it was always fun back when it was royal governors, which Blagojewhateverthehellhisnameis is dangerously close to becoming.

Thirdpower reminds us that ACT isn’t the first anti-gun organization to run afoul of the SEC.