Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We won’t go back.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Let’s finish the job.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Come on, man.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Let me file that under fuck it.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

A consequence of cucumbers

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Gun nuts / Gun Nuts are Sometimes Really Nuts

Gun Nuts are Sometimes Really Nuts

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As it turns out, “gun nuts” is not just about being crazy about guns, it is also apparently often about being actually insane. Imani and John’s posts link to some examples, but many of you have probably seen this as well (via TPM):

Genuine derangement. And very, very scary.

 

UPDATE: And yet another fun case: Men armed with rifles walk through Portland to ‘educate’

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    I’m glad rabble-rousing is still in vogue.

    Nice bit of hanging-party politics, Bernard.

  2. 2.

    jharp

    If I understand things right this dude was a mercenary in Iraq.

    Can’t blame the Iraqi’s for not thinking too much of Americans if we have that fucking asshole representing us.

  3. 3.

    NCSteve

    I’d have a lot less trouble with the right to bear arms if the people who are most enthusiastic about it weren’t precisely the people a rational man least wants owning a bunch of guns.

  5. 5.

    Short Bus Bully

    Keep talking assholes, keep talking.

    Something about “give them enough rope…”

    Please make this go viral.

  6. 6.

    Lord Jesus Perm

    I don’t believe in gun control anymore, because I think I need one to protect myself from a crazy motherfucker like that.

  8. 8.

    freelancer

    Fucking guy shouldn’t be allowed to play with Nerf Guns in a padded cell.

    I’ve posted it in a couple threads today, but everyone here needs to take a look at this, gun owners especially (full disclosure, I’m a gun owner).

    This idiot fuck claimed to be an instructor, but the level of stupidity and irresponsibility seen on video at one of his courses is nuclear.

    Hat tip to Steve M. who pretty much has this guy nailed.

  10. 10.

    Ruckus

    @Lord Jesus Perm:
    Don’t give up. More guns is not the answer. Mandatory mental health commitments for obviously crazy people, that’s the answer.

    ETA Thorazine and padded cells or jackets that have arms that tie in the back, that’s the real answer.

  12. 12.

    Mystical Chick

    Why, I do believe we have some serious anger management issues here, Myrtle. Lordy, the rage coming off him was almost palpable. Bleah. That is just some real ugliness right there.

    (Also too: WTF is with that beard thing?)

  13. 13.

    pillsy

    You know what really undermines your whole “law abiding gun owner” image?

    Talking about how you want your guns to help you murder a bunch of people.

  15. 15.

    Eric from Dayton

    It goes without saying, of course, that all proponents of additional gun control measures produce only logical, dispassionate arguments.

  17. 17.

    Short Bus Bully

    The level of fantasy and purposeful divorcing from reality with these folks is only comparable to Ayn Rand novels. Yes, I’m aware that there’s a strong overlap in fan base there…

    NEWS FLASH: Hey gun nuts! It’s not 1776 and you’re not revolutionaries, you are fucking FASCISTS.

  18. 18.

    ? Martin

    @Ruckus:

    Mandatory mental health commitments for obviously crazy people, that’s the answer.

    But he’s not crazy. He’s just a power-obsessed, insecure asshole. We have a lot of those. But they aren’t crazy.

  20. 20.

    ? Martin

    @pillsy: Exactly. I want a mandatory first amendment rule on this – the more outspoken the gun community gets, the easier reform will get.

  22. 22.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    This must be the American Idol thread.

    Yeah. I vote for the guy what screeched the loudest, dude…

  23. 23.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    Boy imagine if he was African-American talking about shooting whitey,or a Latino calling for revolution against the Gringos. They would be stomped into camp-dust. And Assholes like this guy would be creaming his pants to join into the slaughter.

  24. 24.

    pillsy

    @MomSense:

    And really, I think we can trust his judgement.

    When people say they want to own guns for hunting, or target shooting, or personal protection or just because they think guns are kinda neat, I don’t really have a big problem with it as long as they don’t come off as complete idiots.

    Once they start talking about how they need the guns to resist “tyranny”, though, I start getting a little worried. Especially since the same people so often seem to think that “tyranny” means paying slightly higher taxes or government subsidies for health insurance.

  25. 25.

    Kadzimiel

    “Probably allowed my mouth to over-run my logic”.

    Well, that’s a pretty good candidate for under-statement of the year – and we haven’t even gotten halfway through January!

  26. 26.

    CatHairEverywhere

    Yet another school shooting in a small, rural town just sw of my city. Kid only had a shotgun and a handful of shells in his pocket, so he was only able to shoot and wound one student. A teacher and the campus security guard were able to talk him into surrendering since he wasn’t busy mowing people down. The armed sheriff’s deputy who is stationed at the school (high poverty area with issues) wasn’t there because he was snowed in.

  27. 27.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Mr Stagger Lee: One more thing, a violent revolution against a democratically elected government, how will that go down with John Q? I bet he would be screaming for the ACLU to save his dumb peckerwood ass.

  28. 28.

    Ruckus

    @? Martin:
    I beg to differ.
    This one is fucking nuts. I’ve seen people like this before who were being kept on Thorazine and behind locked doors. They were still scary. And nuts.

  29. 29.

    Patricia Kayden

    No one is going to take away anyone’s lawfully owned guns, despite what Rightwingers are claiming. Pro-gunners need to understand that and stop freaking out.

  31. 31.

    MikeJ

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Pro-gunners need to understand that and stop freaking out.

    They’re not going to stop freaking out. They want to be above the law and they’ve learned that screaming gets them what they want.

  32. 32.

    CatHairEverywhere

    I heard some young, female NRA shill on a the Sirius Potus channel today spinning her heart out about our mean, oppressive gov’t not really including gun enthusiasts in the gun control discussion. Did they think having a young female spouting their nonsense would make their positions sound less insane? I can tell you that it did not.

  33. 33.

    ? Martin

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Pro-gunners need to understand that and stop freaking out.

    Um, permanently freaking out is why most of them became gun owners in the first place. Your goal is in direct opposition to the nature of who they are.

  34. 34.

    aimai

    The portland guys really piss me off, and freak me out. I think several schools went on lockdown? What are you supposed to think, ordinary citizen, when two young men walk by you armed to the teeth? You’d be crazy not to start running for the exits. Why is it that in half the country they would arrest you for breastfeeding in public but this kind of “disturbing the peace” and creating a nuisance/danger to the public is forcibly legal?

    There is going to be a stampede, at some point, when one of these assholes approaches a theater and people are going to be trampled to death. Will it be ok to admit that people who want to open carry to prove a point are definitionally nuts? They are either too stupid to understand the killing power of their weapons or they have bad intentions and are hoping (even more stupidly) to be present during an act of violence which they will either cause or will see themselves as responding to.

    aimai

  35. 35.

    Ruckus

    @Mr Stagger Lee:
    Just a little reminder, many of the “revolutionaries” didn’t feel the last 2 elections were proper elections. They were too democratic and elected a person not pale enough.

  36. 36.

    Raven

    And our pal Pat Lang whose blog CONTINUES to be linked to here sez

    IMO BHO made a mistake in putting Biden in charge of this. Joe likes the limelight and adulation too much and he isn’t prudent. I expect that the BHO/Biden expeditionary force on guns will send a really restrictive piece or pieces of legislation to the hill where it/they will be defeated. They will then try to do some of the same things by imperial ukase. The fun will then begin when motions of impeachment are introduced in the House for usurpation of congressional authority and lawsuits are filed.

    I suggest an alternative: New York, Connecticutt and New Jersey might consider seceding from the Union. pl

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    @pillsy

    And he is telling people to pack their bags, clean their guns, stretch, and get in shape.

    It really is very disturbing behavior.

  38. 38.

    BGinCHI

    @aimai: If those two dudes were brown do you think the cops would have held their fire?

    That story really pissed me off today. And neither one of those asshats was from Portland.

  39. 39.

    Anya

    I bet this guy deliberately killed a lot innocent Iraqis. I wish there’s hell because George Bush and Cheney have a lot to answer for.

  40. 40.

    Michael G

    @MomSense:

    And he is telling people to pack their bags, clean their guns, stretch, and get in shape.

    Stretching is important–limberness is an often overlooked aspect of second amendment readiness.

  41. 41.

    General Stuck

    @Raven:

    Jeebus, Jersey seceding from the union? Pat has picked up some mad cow since I used to like him during the Iraq war.

  43. 43.

    Comrade Jake

    @TeaPartyCat: That awkward moment when the NRA says the only way to stop a shooter is a gun and a teacher talks the Taft shooter into dropping his gun.

  46. 46.

    Raven

    @General Stuck: He’s off the fucking rails. When the shooting first happened I asked him on his blog what he, as a gun enthusiast, thought might be done he went nuts on me in a private message. He’s NOT a gun enthusiast.

  47. 47.

    CatHairEverywhere

    @Comrade Jake: @Comrade Jake: Exactly. And how they said schools need an armed presence, but this school has an armed officer, and he wasn’t there today. And how this kid didn’t have a semi-auto, an extended clip or the explosive bullets, so wasn’t able to get a big massacre going.

  49. 49.

    Eric from Dayton

    @Patricia Kayden: didn’t Cuomo say two days ago that “confiscation” of some guns might be “necessary”?

    I guess you could argue that that applies only to newly “illegal” guns, but that seems a bit circular.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    @aimai:
    I don’t know what it will take. Large swaths of our culture have guns and gun myth as cornerstones of their history and beliefs. Other cultures went through similar things but a lot of them were before guns were around much if at all. So farm implements could be used as weapons. Heads on pikes and all that. Our culture grew around the time that gunpowder weapons did, they are part of it. That doesn’t mean they have to continue to be. I saw a post elsewhere the other day that showed a musket and stated that if that was the only gun that could be owned then the only printing press could be a hand cranked single page Gutenberg type. Of course unless you get caught in it a printing press doesn’t kill but still the point is not without some merit. Our constitution either has to be a living document or it has to never change from the original. And by the fact that there always has been a process to change it, it is a living document, not just original intent. It might take years but maybe it is time to change another 200+ yr old ideal.

  55. 55.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @Raven:

    I asked him on his blog what he, as a gun enthusiast, thought might be done he went nuts on me in a private message. He’s NOT a gun enthusiast.

    What? You mean there’s someone with perspective and not just invective?

    Apocalpypse !!!

  57. 57.

    PurpleGirl

    @Raven: I wouldn’t mind NY leaving the Union… there’s a lot of stuff we can do with the money we now send to red states. Fix our highways, infrastructure, schools, give more money to people for food and housing, improve mass transit. Hell, yeah, we could find lots of things to use that money for. And Red States, maybe you would have to suck it up and pay more to your state in taxes. I’ll keep my money, thank you very much.

  59. 59.

    CatHairEverywhere

    @Comrade Jake: aahh…. since you were referencing my comment about the shooting near here, I thought the Tea Party Cat referenced me. We’re a little slow in my part of CA.

  60. 60.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    It’s hard to tell one nut from another without a pogrom.

  61. 61.

    Hungry Joe

    “Load your mags, make sure your gun’s clean, and pack a backpack. … You have no idea how quickly I accidentally assembled an army. I assure you, a quite formidable army. But now is not the time. … It is time to get ready.”

    Boy, that’s scary. Except it’s not. This guy/these guys are buffoons. It’s possible, of course, that a few of them, thrashing around in the bush at night, will trip and blow off the odd digit or appendage or head of a like-minded patriot. Worst-case scenario, they murder someone — and go to prison forever. Not saying they should be ignored, but don’t stay up at night worrying about them.

  62. 62.

    Kadzimiel

    @PurpleGirl:

    Well, I suspect Massachusetts would be up for a bit of independence from southern deep-fried tyranny – but do we really have to bring New Hampshire along for the ride?

  66. 66.

    ? Martin

    @aimai:

    The portland guys really piss me off, and freak me out.

    Good. Hopefully it pisses off and freaks out a lot more people, and hopefully more gun owners pull this bullshit so it pisses off and freaks out more people.

    They’re abusing their responsibilities as gun owners, and the public is noticing.

  68. 68.

    Sssssstan

    Hey, y’all– keep editing myself for needed brevity, but some of you must have experience with rural gun culture as a child, then dealing with the reality of urban gun culture as an adult (for me–Lake Okeechobee kid to Chicago professional, to Miami Shores Worthless Old Fart.)
    I can’t get any of my old-school redneck family to admit that maybe– jest’ maybe– there’s a difference between totin’ a 22-rifle around the cane field for shootin’ doves, or rabbits, or rats, and having a friend in Chicago spending New Years’ with her kids under mattresses on the floor so’s they could be protected from the bullets from local ‘celebrations.’

    Too long. Rural upbringing, urban adulthood. Rural gun culture vs. urban.
    Anybody?

  69. 69.

    Kilkee

    @aimai: Here in the Original/Other Portland (Maine) we had some clown do the same thing, marching across town with his AR-15 slung over his shoulder. Why? Because he could. And he thinks he needs to desensitize people to the “overreaction” they have when the see what he regards as the perfectly normal sight of a heavily armed man strolling by a preschool. Amazingly, he doesn’t seem to be the same idiot who strolled around town with a large pistol strapped to his side, then videoed the cop who stopped him after dozens of frantic calls. He made a point of his right to carry, which, sadly, he has until something is done to change that.

  71. 71.

    Sawgrass Stan

    @Davebo:
    A good, responsible American father’s gun rights are now at risk because he had the courage to test the safety procedures at his child’s school? Wherrres the NRAAAAAA!!!! Sekin Mindmint! Commonisum!
    I “tested” the security at Fort Lauderdale Intl. Airport in just the same way, and they were just as ungrateful as this here “Skool.” If it wasn’t for the NRA, I’d be in Jail!
    I blame Obama.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @Kilkee:

    Here in the Original/Other Portland

    I think you’re going to have to go with “other” since the original Portland is in England.

  74. 74.

    jefft452

    @aimai: “…but this kind of “disturbing the peace” and creating a nuisance/danger to the public is forcibly legal?”

    There is a word for that – Tyranny

    Government by the content of the governed = Liberty
    Government by the content of a belligerent guy with a gun = Tyranny

  75. 75.

    MikeBoyScout

    Well, on the lighter side, if we’re stuck with crazy idiots owning arsenals it’s nice that we have the you-who tube and teh innernetz so they can be arrested conspiring to commit crimes.

  76. 76.

    ? Martin

    @Davebo:

    A North Texas father has been charged with making a terroristic threat after he conducted an impromptu safety drill at his child’s school in which he pretended to be a gunman.

    Ironically, had the school responded to his standards, he’d have gotten two in the chest and two in the head by the principal before he even had the opportunity to explain.

    Shame the school failed so badly.

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    This guy named Tater? Because he really needs to be named Tater. Everybody should know one guy named Tater, and never invite him to parties or family events. He could be an extra on “Justified”, although that would probably be piling on.

  78. 78.

    Anne Laurie

    @Kadzimiel:

    Well, I suspect Massachusetts would be up for a bit of independence from southern deep-fried tyranny – but do we really have to bring New Hampshire along for the ride?

    We’ll need somewhere to herd the recalcitrant nutters into camps! They’ll demand those camps, for their own protection!…

    (Besides, these days, a significant percentage of the Hampsterite population is actually Massholes in disguise. NH is purple-trending-blue, despite the Free State dipwads.)

  79. 79.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mystical Chick:

    WTF is with that beard thing?

    I’m so old (& cynical) my first thought was “Look, it’s the redneck Anton LaVey!”

    Pre-incarceration Charles Manson, too also.

  80. 80.

    Suffern ACE

    @? Martin: I think what we need before someone gets hurt is a week in April called National Terrifying Drill Week. Just shut everything down and have seven days of simulated fun.

  83. 83.

    RyMaN600

    If this guy made the same threats wearing a shemagh and holding an AK-47 while sitting in front of a black flag covered in Arabic, he’d be wearing black goggles and be halfway to Cuba by now instead of posting backpedaling videos on Youtube.

  84. 84.

    El Cid

    Someone needs to break the news to all these gun dorks that the only difference between a firearm owner and a non-firearm owners is one trip to Walmart.

    All you need to own a firearm is a wallet and enough cash or credit to buy a consumer good at a store.

    It is no different than the skill and dedication required to order a meal to go from Taco Bell.

  86. 86.

    bemused

    Aha. Now I see why they “need” so many guns. They know they are so close to being taken away to insane asylums in strait jackets.

  88. 88.

    Dream On

    As someone else has suggested, perhaps advocates should start calling it “gun safety” – not “gun control.”

  89. 89.

    Suffern ACE

    @David in NY: yeah. But with concerns about desensitizing the public to men with guns walking around in public, they’re kind of like…well…acting like gay activists circa 1990.

  92. 92.

    the Conster

    Pathetic loser with manhood anxiety, obviously. There should be mandatory dick-measuring in order to get an open carry license, and the only price you have to pay for that license, which should otherwise be free because OMG 2nd amendment! is to have your dick length made public, or displayed on the license. Of course, the job of dick measuring will require a tweezers and magnifying glass.

  94. 94.

    pseudonymous in nc

    I increasingly think that the Responsible Gun Owner is a myth.

    Or at least, the Responsible Gun Owners are not responsible gun owners, while there are responsible people who own guns, not people owned by them.

  95. 95.

    Gex

    So. The “responsible gun owner” club thinks that they can further their cause by indicating that they believe their right to own guns is to be used to force everyone else to do as they say at gunpoint. We don’t get to self-govern as a democracy, because they have guns.

    I absolutely would love to stop discussing the guns and discuss the culture if they want. Let’s talk about a movement that is largely populated by the GOP. A party that wins one demographic. A party that talks about “real Americans” “taking the country back” using “Second Amendment remedies.” Let’s talk about how that view point roughly translates into “we’re human and you’re subhuman” “don’t get too uppity” or “we will kill you if we want.”

    Let’s ask ourselves why the NRA used to be more moderate and bipartisan, but that changed after a convicted killer started setting the agenda. Let’s ask ourselves why Republicans enthusiastically support the agenda of a convicted killer and Democrats don’t.

    I’m willing to have the culture discussion over the gun discussion if we can stop the bullshit video game/movie angle. White male supremacy is the poison that is trying to kill this country.

  96. 96.

    Chris

    @Sssssstan:

    Rural and urban is one thing, but I think most of them have never lived with either lifestyle – they’re just bored suburbanites fantasizing about the day they’ll have a chance to shoot a bad guy at high noon.

    Speaking of redneck cousins, mine has gone all in behind the NRA: for tonight’s Facebook, he links to an article about someone breaking and entering who was shot 5 times and “only hospitalized” as proof that regulating ammo is wrong, because this person should’ve had more so she could keep shooting. Apparently, stopping the crime and hospitalizing the perp isn’t enough. He simply MUST die riddled with bullets, or justice has not been served.

    These people really are complete sociopaths. There is no better billboard for gun control, than the reasons they want to own them.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    Irony never, ever takes a day off.

    CARNESVILLE, Ga. — Keith Ratliff loved guns. He built his own rifles. He kept bullets in his car’s cup holder. And on the rear window he slapped a sticker of the Starbucks Coffee mermaid firing two pistols.
    Mr. Ratliff’s passion for firearms made him something of a celebrity on the Internet, where he helped make scores of videos about high-powered and exotic guns and explosives. His YouTube channel, called FPSRussia, became the site’s ninth largest, with nearly 3.5 million subscribers and more than 500 million views.
    But last week, the authorities said, Mr. Ratliff, 32, ended up on the wrong end of a gun. The police in northeast Georgia found him dead at his office on Jan. 3, shot once in the head. He was surrounded by several guns, but not the one that killed him. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is treating it as a homicide.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/us/keith-ratliff-gun-enthusiast-of-fpsrussia-is-shot-to-death.html?hp&_r=0

  99. 99.

    Chris

    @Gex:

    Word.

    I’ve said this before and will keep saying it; there are many reasons why their delusions of facing down a fascist regime in a blaze of glory are completely delusional.* But the single biggest one is the notion that if America ever went full on fascist, the kind of people who join the NRA – the kind of people who spent seven years of Bush cheering for warrantless wiretapping, prison without trial and torture, the kind of people who demanded even more drastic measures ranging from profiling to mass internment of Muslims – would somehow be on the ones taking arms against the fascists.

    Get real teabaggers. The few of you white power thugs who actually put your money where your mouth is would be forming Snatcher squads to help the State hunt down the mudbloods. The majority of you would be at home watching it on TV and cheering.

    (*The second biggest reason, of course, being that it would go down exactly like the Redneck Vs Bug moment in MIB).

  100. 100.

    Jay

    Eyeballing the still of that video from a distance, I thought the guy featured therein was Michael Chiklis.

    I was wondering what ol’ Vic Mackey had been up to after “The Shield.”

  103. 103.

    brantl

    @Eric from Dayton: There are an awuful lot of people in the world, Eric from Dayton, and the adherants of any particular idea nearly always contain some assholes. HOWEVER, the ones on the opposite side from this guy aren’t likely to go out and shoot you, now are they?

  105. 105.

    roc

    “If you’re not prepared to go all the way, then you’re not prepared to go anywhere” ?

    I love when people pick an arbitrary point on a sliding scale of grey to declare it a black and white issue.

    I mean, where was this guy when the “tyranny” took away the right to own full-auto weapons, explosives, tanks, aircraft, flamethrowers, chemical weapons and the rest of the stuff no-one can legally own without registration and licensing?

    By his own logic he’s a fairweather pussy, right? I mean, he might *claim* he’s for personal ownership of those things, but he didn’t *do* anything about those things. He’s not even *talking* about those things. So he’s doing no more on the black-and-white scale than the people he’s dismissing as “fairweather” supporters, simply because they draw the line of reasonableness slightly to the left of his own.

  107. 107.

    Eric from Dayton

    @brantl: no, not likely. Nor is it likely that gun owners will either since there are about 40 or 50 million of them and the number that shoot other people is a vanishingly low percentage of that.

  108. 108.

    MCA1

    Shorter first 90 seconds of that video: “I’m using the public space of the internet to broadcast my thoughts to the entire world, but I will not abide people commenting on or about what I say or e-maililng me at the address I provide openly, if they disagree with me. So, shut up and let me rant. Political correctness/censorship/Wolverines!!!”

    Or, maybe even shorter yet: “Stay out of my bubble!”

  111. 111.

    Big Daddy

    This guy is one crazy sunnavabitch. Unfortunately, there are no doubt many other wack-jobs like him out there. I wonder if his story will change when the Congress votes to approve the assault-weapons ban? (His story won’t, which will prove even further what a nut-job he is, as if more proof were needed.)

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