Wednesday, August 20, 2008

It's Official

Boston-based gun control zealot extraordinaire, John Rosenthal, has officially become a shallow and vapid parody of himself.

The gun-control activist whose provocative billboards have been turning heads along the Massachusetts Turnpike for 13 years today will unveil one of his most eye-popping messages yet - a fake neon advertisement for American gun shows where people can buy weapons, no questions asked.

"We Sell Guns! No ID required. No background checks. Criminals and terrorists welcome!" the billboard peals.

“Gun shows are the equivalent of Al Qaeda terrorists walking directly onto the airplane while you and I wait in the TSA line,” John Rosenthal, founder and chairman of Stop Handgun Violence, said in a recent interview. “They don’t want us to go on airplanes but they let Al Qaeda buy guns unprotected.”


Uh-huh.

Because we all know that if Congress would only pass a few more "common sense" gun control laws, then Al Qaeda operatives throughout the US would be disarmed at last.

What is this tired, old jackass smoking? And, did he bring enough for the rest of the class?

In a matter of hours, sixteen terrorists murdered almost 3,000 people on American soil seven years ago, armed with nothing more than a handful of boxcutters.

This country has seen numerous incidents of domestic terrorism over the last 100 years, with an overwhelming majority of those incidents being carried out by individuals or organizations (including a couple close, personal friends of Barack Obama) using explosive devices.

Then there are the numerous acts of arson committed by the sociopathic mental defectives masquerading as environmental and animal rights activists...

...a deadly string of anthrax attacks...

...and, for kicks, let's throw a rented SUV rampage into the mix.

So, how many actual terrorist attacks on US soil have been carried out by perpetrators armed with firearms? Well, there was this guy.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A gunman opened fire Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport while standing in line at the ticket counter of Israel's El Al Airlines, officials said, killing two and wounding four others before an airline security officer shot him dead.

[...]

"He was armed with a .45-caliber handgun which he used in the shooting, as well as a 9 mm handgun which he had on his possession," FBI spokesman Ron Iden said. "He also had in his possession what's described as a 6-inch knife."


One guy.

Firing one gun.

Killing two people.*

In a country of over 300 million people, it's a BLOODY EPIDEMIC, I tell you!!!

[See UPDATE below for a couple I missed. Hey, I wrote this late last night, and wanted to finish it up so I could get to bed]

And, I'll bet anyone a steak dinner that the guy's .45 didn't come from a gun show. Just like the other roughly 99% of crime guns that weren't purchased at gun shows through this so-called "loophole". Rosenthal knows that the percentage of crime guns purchased at gun shows is so small as to almost be negligible, so he as to introduce the specter of terrorism into the discussion in order to shore up his sagging credentials on this matter.

A little trick he learned from his idol, Dianne Feinstein, I suppose.

"This legislation would begin to change that," Senator Feinstein said. "It would place stricter requirements on the way in which these guns can be bought and sold, making it harder for terrorists, assassins, and other criminals to obtain these powerful weapons. This is not a matter of firearm safety, but a matter of national security."


While proving once again what a major schmuck he really is, John Rosenthal has taken shameless fear mongering and asshattery to earth-shattering new heights with this one. The whole thing just comes across as a desperate plea for attention from a whiny, little bitch, forever trapped on the wrong side of the great divide between truth and lies, freedom and fascism, hope and despair.

He is one sad, little man...who, by the way, happens to be getting his ass handed to him in the comments to his related post over at Huffington Post.

You see, what this annoying, little jerk isn't telling the reader is that it's not about gun sales at gun shows, per se. It's about banning all private transfers of firearms.

Want to give your nephew one of your old squirrel guns for Christmas? That'll be $25 for the additional paperwork and background check required. Did Grandpa pass away and leave you his gun collection of 52 guns. That'll be another $1,300 in FFL processing fees, thank you very much. It's "for the children, you understand.

Also, there's no such thing as an unlicensed firearms "dealer". It's all wordplay, designed to obfuscate reality and confuse the reader, much like the gun control lobby's invention of the fear-inducing phrase "assault weapon".

Case in point:

Smaller dealers like Sukia O'Mere and Niya Mills who prosecutors say drove to Alabama last year and bought a small stash of weapons to sell for $800 a piece back in Boston.


If we're going to call those skanks "firearms dealers", then their drug trafficking boyfriends are, henceforth, to be referred to as "pharmacists".

There's no difference between someone who isn't a federally-licensed dealer selling a gun at a gun show and selling a gun in a Burger King parking lot. The same local ordinances and state and federal laws pertaining to the possession and private purchases and sales of firearms apply equally to both scenarios.

Related note:

Bailey's Law: As a person who possesses both money and a complete disregard for the law (and who wants a gun) approaches another person who possesses both guns and a complete disregard for the law (and who wants money), the odds of an illegal firearms transfer not taking place approach zero.


So, anyway, here's how it will play out.

Let's say President McCain caves and closes this so-called "gun show loophole" in the spring of 2009. Does anyone think that would be the end of the gun control lobby's efforts to ban all private transfers of firearms? OK, anyone with a brain larger than an almond, that is?

Up next, closing the "gun show venue parking lot loophole", followed closely by the "vacant lot down the street from gun show venue parking lot loophole". And, once that one gets signed into law, they'll set their sights on the "Your living room eight miles from the vacant lot down the street from the gun show venue parking lot loophole."

All the while, not giving one drop of cold piss about the "Break into some guy's house and steal his guns" loophole or the "Hey, I'll trade you a gun for some crack" loophole.

To paraphrase Kyle Reese:

"Listen. And understand. John Rosenthal is out there. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are completely disarmed."


Hey, it was either that, or the Monty Python tie-in asking how much longer we're supposed to play Mr. Creosote to the gun control lobby's maitre d'?

"But, sir, it's just a wafer-thin gun show loophole."


Robb, Jeff, and Weer'd Beard have more.

*OK, so it's just over a dozen dead, if you count the cop-killing scumbags of the Black Liberation Army (circa 1971).

UPDATE: Jay Tea points out in the comments that I forgot a couple:

..the DC snipers and the Seattle Jewish Center shooting in July of 2006.


Don't know how I missed those. As to the DC snipers, they stole the rifle they used for that shooting spree of theirs. See aforementioned "gun theft loophole". And the shooter in the Seattle Jewish Federation shooting...

...is said to have legally purchased two semi-automatic handguns in Seattle-area stores, receiving the weapons on July 27, 2006, after the mandatory waiting period had expired.


No criminal record? Check?
NICS background check? Check.
Mandatory waiting period? Check.

Why, it's almost enough to make someone think that gun control doesn't actually reduce violence, or do anything to instill morality in the heart of someone intent on murdering their fellow man.

Who knew?