The NRA thinks President Obama’s daughters are appropriate fodder for the gun control debate. Well, turnabout being fair play and all, I wonder if NRA President David Keene’s (adult) son has anything instructive to add to the conversation? Oops — we can’t ask him because he’s in the slammer for shooting at another motorist in a road rage incident!
In 2003, David Keene’s son, David M. Keene, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for discharging a firearm in a crime of violence after he shot at the driver of another car from his BMW on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in northern Virginia. Police said the shot missed the other driver’s head by inches. At the time, the younger Keene, then 21, was serving as [American Conservative Union] ACU’s director of online communications.
In addition to Blam-Blam Junior’s legal travails, current NRA President Keene’s ex-wife pleaded guilty last year to embezzling $400K from the ACU. The Keenes sound like exactly the sort of people who need access to a vast arsenal. Honest to god, you can’t make this shit up.
[H/T: Wonkette; X-posted at Rumproast.]
Ash Can
No one could have predicted…
JCT
Yes sirree — RESPONSIBLE gun ownership. That’s our NRA.
So fucking predictable.
Derelict
Sure, they’re violent, dishonest frauds. That’s exactly why Dancin’ Dave Gregory needs to take them seriously.
Howard Beale IV
Than means Junior may already be out-too bad if he should get caught with any kind of firearm on his now….
Roger Moore
Please ignore the close relations with (and grifting from) the American Conservative Union. The NRA is only concerned with the rights of gun owners; it is not a tool of the larger conservative movement. Nothing to see here.
Also, too, picture needs amusing alt text.
The Bearded Blogger
Does the 2nd ammendment protect the right to be an asshole?
Calouste
Hmmm, director at 21. I’m totally convinced he got that position on his own merits and talents. Specially considering that his mom was involved with the same organization.
Ash Can
@Roger Moore: American Conservative Union, hell. LGF has several dandy pieces up right now about all the white supremacists (among other unsavory groups) sponsoring Gun Appreciation Day.
Warren Terra
To be clear: the embezzler in question is the ex-wife of the elder Mr. Keene, the NRA Keene, and not the ex-wife of the younger Mr. Keene, the ACU road-rage guy.
Patricia Kayden
Glass houses and stones, doncha know?
JoyfulA
@Calouste: He was shooting “from his BMW.” No doubt he bought it himself.
trollhattan
ABFU–always be falling up. It’s the Republican Way, bless their hearts.
What a family.
Betty Cracker
@Warren Terra: Fixt
ding dong
I actually remember this story about Jr but I didn’t know he was related to SR.
MattR
Reading about Jr’s road rage incident reminds me of comments I read yesterday to a story about a couple guys who were target shooting with AK-47’s and had bullets ricocheting into houses and almost hitting the police coming to investigate (I believe Southern Beale pointed it out). There were a bunch of commenters arguing that Obama needs to be focusing on prosecting idiots like these while leaving law abiding gun owners alone. I bet they would feel similarly about Jr’s conviction. But the problem they ignore is that all of these people were law abiding gun owners up until the moment they started acting like idiots and that there is no way to predict which law abiding gun owners will turn into idiots at some point in the future. So what they are really arguing is that everybody should be allowed to own a gun until they do something foolish with it and the rest of society will just have to hope that the foolishness isn’t fatal.
The Bearded Blogger
You know, if there were stricter gun laws, David Keene’s son probably wouldn’t have spent 10 years of his life in prison.
kindness
That is so funny. I just spent the last 20 minutes laughing over at Wonkette. God I love me some juvenile humor sometimes.
HumboldtBlue
Guess I can re-post this comment here.
kathy a.
is this his artwork? the artist blurb suggests he could not find time for his painting between middle school and some years later.
The Bearded Blogger
@kathy a.: What cheesy paintings! 2 star hotel lobby quality! And what an unlikeable mug!
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Thanks to Ronaldus Maximus, that’s agin the law in Californee. (Was he by any chance from Medford?)
Buh-bye, asshat.
kathy a.
@The Bearded Blogger: look, i’m totally in favor of inmate art. seriously. a person who is learning to paint is a person staying out of trouble and developing some inner peace.
The Bearded Blogger
@kathy a.: You’re right, of course, prisons should be places for rehabilitation, not punishment. But it’s hard not to mock.
LanceThruster
xD
Fvck me, that’s funny!
redshirt
@HumboldtBlue: These incidents are going to proliferate, to the gain of gun control advocates. Pray no one dies as a result of these nutjobs.
Roger Moore
@MattR:
I think it’s more like “everyone thought these guys were law abiding gun owners until somebody noticed they were acting like idiots”. I don’t believe that most people who get caught for shit like this are first time offenders any more than I believe that most people who get a DUI have never driven under the influence before. I suspect this is part of the reason so many gun owners, even the ones who describe themselves as responsible, hate the idea of stricter gun laws. They know they mess up occasionally, and they hate the idea that they could wind up in jail over it.
redshirt
The Road Warrior was a great movie, also too.
JUST WALK AWAY!
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan: Nothing the like the sight of a half-dozen angry, determined, and serious young black men standing on the courthouse steps armed with rifles and semi-autos to catch the attention of white folks.
Roger Moore
@HumboldtBlue:
Given that it was in Humboldt County, there’s a good chance that his poor decision making process received some chemical assistance.
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Yeah, funny that. Can’t adequately express how happy I am I can wander into a Starbucks or Borders without encountering some open-carry fetishistas. Lord knows, we have enough crazy to go around as it is.
HumboldtBlue
@Roger Moore: Stereotype aside, Roger, most likely not the chemical assistance you’re referring to.
What we do have is a very large population of people with a wide array of mental health issues and this young man was one of that cohort. Our awesome weed makes folks snacky and nappy, it’s the meth and heroin (they have pulled more than 8 pounds of black tar off the streets in the last two months alone along with about 60 pounds of meth) that are of much greater concern
ranchandsyrup
@trollhattan: We had them for a bit down in SD county. They would take their unloaded long rifles to teh Starbacks and try to freak people out.
StringOnAStick
Gee, you’d think that the SON of the NRA PRESIDENT would be the singularly most responsible gun owner in the US, at least if one believes the bushwa being poured into the public commons by Blam-Blam’s dad.
So, what do we have here:
(1) a total FAIL on the part of the “responsible gun owner” argument by the son of the guy making the most money making that argument.
(2) A crime that apparently was so egregious that even daddy’s name and money couldn’t keep sonnyboy from doing 10 years hard time.
Thanks so much Betty for providing me with my primary comeback for the next asshole who tries the “reasonable gun owner” approach when telling me why we can’t have any gun regulations.
kathy a.
@StringOnAStick: well, to be fair — we don’t actually know how much time sonny did; only that he was sentenced to 10. and sonny is no longer in a public position with the guns-R-us organization.
double nickel
@redshirt: Over 900 have died since Sandy Hook.
Fred
Just pulled out his piece and started blasting. I’m trying to picture somebody actually doing that and it just won’t jell.
My stepson had a Beamer for a while and he says it made him drive like an asshole. Must have been the BMW that made the guy do it. Yeah that’s gotta be it.
centerfielddj
@LanceThruster:
Word, Lance.
“Blam-Blam Junior.” Thanks so much for that, Betty C.!
dsale
@The Bearded Blogger Not only does the 2nd Amdt. protect the right to be an asshole, I’m starting to think that was its original intent.