Look at the bright side. At least they weren't wearing their hoods: http://t.co/YKp1vqtaWF pic.twitter.com/6JLuqtTIpr
— billmon (@billmon1) November 10, 2013
From ThinkProgress:
On Saturday, nearly 40 armed men, women, and children waited outside a Dallas, Texas area restaurant to protest a membership meeting for the state chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun safety advocacy group formed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
According to a spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action (MDA), the moms were inside the Blue Mesa Grill when members of Open Carry Texas (OCT) — an open carry advocacy group — “pull[ed] up in the parking lot and start[ed] getting guns out of their trunks.” The group then waited in the parking lot for the four MDA members to come out. The spokeswoman said that the restaurant manager did not want to call 911, for fear of “inciting a riot” and waited for the gun advocates to leave. The group moved to a nearby Hooters after approximately two hours…
Hooters, of course. Because if there’s anything that screams overcompensation louder than an afternoon group-fondling your weapons in public, it’s adjourning to ‘Chuck E. Cheese for the legally adult.’
cathyx
I suppose Hooters was a good choice to offer a distraction to the armed men.
Yatsuno
@cathyx: I doubt this got them too excited. They already had an excuse to fondle their penile replacements in public.
One should ask them why four moms scare them.
Alison
These people are fucking sociopaths.
KG
One of these days, one of these groups is going to have someone show up with a round in chamber and have an “accidental” discharge. That said, it’s a shame someone didn’t call the cops because this is as blatant an attempt to intimidate as could be imagined
Villago Delenda Est
The gun fetishists have no fucking clue as to what the word “responsible” means.
It’s practically a requirement that they do not.
MomSense
O/T but GOPolitico is running a story about Elizabeth Warren considering a 2016 Presidential run. Dear FSM, please let GOPolitico be right about this.
JGabriel
Moms Demand Action (MDA)
They should have called themselves Moms Demand More Action so they could use the acronym MDMA.
Woodrowfan
nice little fascists.
Yatsuno
@MomSense: Not to be a heretic, but I hope not. Inasmuch as I think she would be quite brilliant, she is doing much better work in the Senate right now. We need her voice there.
JGabriel
@Alison:
That’s an insult to sociopaths who actually fuck. I get the feeling these guys aren’t particularly successful in that area of activity.
.
Baud
@Yatsuno:
I feel the same way.
Alison
@MomSense: I’d rather see her stay in the Senate for more than a couple of years. As we;ve seen, Congress matters as much as the Presidency for actually getting shit done.
Alison
@JGabriel: Well, I’m sure they wank off plenty, so in that sense, they are indeed fucking sociopaths.
Tokyokie
@efgoldman: Actually, I think I’ll go with fascists, as these scum seem to be the intellectual descendants of Mussolini’s black-shirted bully boys. What I can’t get my head around is how intimidation through a public display of firearms doesn’t constitute assault.
Redshirt
Wow. This seems like a big story. What normal Mom out there wouldn’t be terrified from this story?
Hungry Joe
Many years ago, as a very young man, I inherited a pistol — a .25, 5-round Smith & Wesson manufactured around 1904. It took me a few weeks to get around to selling it — no way was I going to own a gun — but in that short time I probably took the (unloaded!) pistol out of the sock drawer (of course; where else would a young fool stash it?) a dozen times, and walked around the apartment just HOLDING it. Guns are heavy, they’re made of metal, and they’re lethal … and carrying one around is a heady, almost giddy experience. It’s intoxicating. I was fascinated and appalled by my behavior, and greatly relieved when I got rid of the thing. So that’s part of what’s going on with those Texas bozos. I can’t explain it, but I’m here to tell you that it’s real.
Baud
@Hungry Joe:
I’ve held a gun a couple of times. They are heavy, but they didn’t do much for me emotionally. The only thing I felt was apprehension that I would discharge it accidentally. But I think every personality is different. I’ve never been able to get into gambling either, but some people obviously really love it.
scav
Clearly, in their world, proper women shut up, go the kitchen barefoot and don’t complain about producing more animate targets for the tree of liberty’s thirsty thirsty roots. YeeHaw Texas!
Ruckus
Who called the armed morons about a meeting of 4 moms and told them that some one wanted to take away their substitute dicks?
Redshirt
This is especially terrifying because the wing nuts might adopt this as a tactic, and suddenly every “Liberal” group is being trailed by multiple white dudes with lots of guns.
Woodrowfan
@efgoldman: Taking arms to intimidate a peaceful political meeting of your opponents? Nope, that’s fascism.
Woodrowfan
@Baud: me either, although I have enjoyed target shooting with an antique rifle.
Baud
@Woodrowfan:
One of the times I’ve held a gun was skeet shooting. It was fun enough, but I don’t feel a strong craving to do it again.
Hungry Joe
@Baud: There you go — every personality is different. But a lot of people, mostly men, are bedazzled by weaponry. Which is why there shouldn’t be much of it around.
IowaOldLady
In god’s name, what is wrong with these people?
Ruckus
@IowaOldLady:
You don’t recognize a 4 yr old throwing a tantrum like when you tell them it’s time for bed? Granted most 4 yr olds wouldn’t think of much more than holding their breath or screaming at the top of their lungs but still….
Redshirt
@Ruckus: I see a group spelling out “Intimidation”. That’s a fearful sight, to see so many clearly unbalanced people armed and pointed at a group – 4 Moms talking.
Think where shit like this leads…
SiubhanDuinne
@Yatsuno:
Oh, for a “like” button. I agree, I think she can be far more effective in the Senate than the Oval Office, and I hope she doesn’t run. (That said, it’s her call and if she does throw her chapeau in the ring, I will enthusiastically work on her behalf.)
Ash Can
These people are nothing but domestic terrorists. Legal open carry or not, I hope the FBI is studying that photo very, very carefully.
Yatsuno
@Ash Can: Pfft. That’s nothing but good white Christian Merikans asserting their Second Amendment FREEDUMBS!!! against the terrible oppression that is four suburban moms. Remember: white folks can’t be terrorists.
scav
@Yatsuno: White males, in this instance, those are scary scary people of the xx affiliation doing dreadful deeds that can not be allowed to stand inside that there restaurant.
Scott S.
They could go in and shoot up the entire restaurant, and Greg Abbott would demand they not be arrested. And Rick Perry would give them a medal.
J
@Tokyokie: Sounds right to me. All they need is a leader. I suspect there are not a few people who would be happy to oblige, Ted Cruz for one.
gbear
The restaruant manager didn’t want to get involved. The moms should have just stayed in the restaurant until all of the customers fled and no one else would come in. That might inspire the manager to get involved…
Any restaurants across the street from city hall for them to have their next meeting?
Mr Stagger Lee
@Ash Can: You would think, but come on these were WHITE GUYS!!! If they were African Americans the FBI/NSA/SWAT/U.S. Army Specials forces would have blasted them to kingdom come, and just imagine if they were Muslim?
Baud
@Mr Stagger Lee:
It’s called Stand Your Ground.
Redshirt
@Mr Stagger Lee: LOL. Imagine some dudes in Arabic clothing posing like these guys. Right?
gbear
In that photo they don’t look like they’re watching their back. Wonder what would happen if someone lit off a string of firecrackers about a half-block away (w/ enough time to run away) while they’re watching the moms?
Actually, I know…. a lot of innocent people would be shot by insanely terrified whackos.
Mike in NC
Domestic terrorists.
opiejeanne
@gbear: I thought they did wait inside until the idiots left.
gbear
@opiejeanne: Yep. You’re right, I mis-read.
PIGL
I am not really in favour of unchecked violence by militaristic police, but just fcking once, I’d like to see a SWAT team show up and slaughter an assembly of those blackshirted, jack-booted thugs with the same alacrity and lack of consequence as when they shoot down unarmed children in the streets and grandmothers in their homes.
nineone
Wingunut gangbang. Waiting their turn. Quite telling they didn’t show up in DC three weeks ago in a similar state of readiness. “‘Murikkka, fuck yeah, we can take those Moms!”
beth
Next time the moms meet, they should have some of their friends dress up in vagina costumes with signs proclaiming them to be the “Pussy Patrol” and stand right next to the little shits with the guns. As a matter of fact, they should follow the gun fondlers around everywhere they go.
Kyle
@PIGL:
Won’t happen, the SWAT team have the same mentality and inclinations as the gun-fondlers. Professional courtesy.
J
Curiosity got the better of me, and sure enough the gun nuts are proud (proud proud!) of this behavior.
http://bearingarms.com/moms-demand-outnumbered-10-1-at-their-own-dallas-meeting-by-open-carriers/
Villago Delenda Est
@Redshirt:
These assholes should try that. Some of us “liberals” are trained in the use of semi automatic and full automatic firearms.
I used to carry those things around professionally.
Honus
@J: Whoa, that’s Bob “Confederate Yankee” Owens’ web site lauding the gun nuts. I wondered what happened to him after he lost his job in the research triangle.
John Revolta
What I can’t get my head around is how intimidation through a public display of firearms doesn’t constitute assault.
Where did this take place again?
There you go.
J
@Honus: Who he? My knowledge of wing nuts is spotty. What did he do to get thrown out–sing the Horst Wessel Lied at every opportunity or something like that?
Carl Nyberg
Under “Stand Your Ground” would it be legal to shoot these assholes?
“I felt threatened, so I shot them.”
Mike G
@John Revolta:
The same authoritarian state where a prosecutor who illegally procured false evidence, causing an innocent man to go to jail for 25 years, got a whopping ten day jail sentence.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/11/accountability-for-the-powerful-this-is-not-supposed-to-happen
Texas values.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
@Hungry Joe: Guns are heavy, they’re made of metal, and they’re lethal … and carrying one around is a heady, almost giddy experience. It’s intoxicating. I was fascinated and appalled by my behavior, and greatly relieved when I got rid of the thing. So that’s part of what’s going on with those Texas bozos. I can’t explain it, but I’m here to tell you that it’s real.
“To fully appreciate the beauty of the weapon was to admit to a kind of shortsightedness close to blindness, to confess to a sort of stupidity. The weapon was not itself; nothing was solely itself. The weapon, like anything else, could only finally be judged by the effect it had on others, by the consequences it produced in some outside context, by its place in the rest of the universe. By this measure the love, or just the appreciation, of weapons was a kind of tragedy.”
– Iain Banks, _Excession_
SpotWeld
It seems to me it boils down to a simple thing.
Guns are a responsibility. You must be aware of the fact that any harm, any damage, and repercussions that arise because of your ownership of a gun will fall on your shoulders. And as a gun owner you must eb aware of them and willing to accept them.
It’s just really really weird that the most vocal gun owners that seem to be a bit unconcerned about this responsibility are the ones that most decry that America is going down the drain because of a class of people who aren’t responsible for their own actions.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Remember – these are the same idiots who wet their pants screaming about “intimidation” if two blacks wearing leather jackets show up and observe a voting station…
John Revolta
@Mike G:
It’s weird. I’ve been to Texas any number of times, and I always found the people to be friendly, helpful, upbeat & fun-loving. They’re respectful of other people and enjoy the good things in life………………..and yet there’s this other side that you’re always hearing about, which fortunately I’ve never had to deal with. What the hell is going on down there?
Ruckus
@Redshirt:
Wasn’t trying to dismiss nor apologize for these assholes. Just explain their behavior.
What to do about them and the restaurant manager is an entirely different subject. I am glad that they have the right to show the entire world how tiny their dicks are. Any smaller and we will have to start calling them eunuchs. And I’d like to know why if they are so fearful of this country going down the hole of whatever they don’t join the military and fight to bring it back to it’s glory of a hundred and fifty years ago.
Mike G
@John Revolta:
I lived there for two years, and many of the people are nice. The society works OK for most, at least for most of the “people who count”. But if you look (most don’t) you can see the authoritarianism, the backwardness and predatory cruelty underneath. Look at the willfully-ignorant reptiles they send to Congress (or to the State Capitol) and you can’t help but think the culture is sick.
Kropadope
This reminds me of another story recently where an editor was forced out of his job at Guns and Ammo and retract an article written by a long-time gun advocate who was promoting the idea of mandatory training. I’m not even really on board with the idea of gun bans, but the policing of discourse is dangerous.
PsiFighter37
Isn’t there anyone sane enough in Texas to call these shitheads what they are? They’re disturbed people who stay inside and fondle their guns all day to make up for their lack of penis size.
Who the fuck has the natural response that: “Oh, there are mothers against firearms meeting somewhere? Let’s fucking set the place under virtual siege and wave around all manner of guns while they’re there.”
JFC
PF37 +5
PsiFighter37
I think I landed in moderation hell because I mentioned the Pen 15 Club.
Kyle
@Kropadope:
But they revere the US Constitution…except their copy has only the second amendment, with the first half about a “well regulated militia” blanked out.
Kropadope
@Kyle: Well, no, they love their own 1st amendment rights, which they naturally see as an extension of their 2nd amendment rights.
Larry
Considering that anti-gunners have forced “compromises” in 1928, 1936, 1958, 1968, 1986, 1994 (mostly recended in 2004) and more compromises in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 all over the United States resulting in huge lawsuits in Washington DC, Chicago, California, New York, Maryland….with Senators being recalled in Colorado?
Antigunners have forced their laws not on the bad guys, but on the good guys- the law abiding citizens.
Well guess what? If you keep being a bully, and you keep pushing law abiding citizens, and you keep messing with them you’re bound to make them angry.
Clue in: gun owners are sick of your anti-gun crap and they’re reaching the point of “Enough 1st Amendment Talk, maybe its time for some 2nd Amendment Warnings”- and that is exactly what this is.
You think on that the next time you shoot off your antigunners mouth- you just might have a rifle buttstroked to your face. Remember- a rifle with a bayonet on the end is called a “short pike” for hand to hand battle.
Kropadope
Right-wing first amendment- ::Gun pointed at dissenter:: “You’re denying me my right to be the only valid opinion.”
g
So here I see a photo of a guy with a gun crouched down behind the bumper of a vehicle, weapon at the ready, as though there is an imminent danger that he is preparing to discharge his gun at.
What is the danger that this ” brave patriot” fears?
Four women having a meeting. What’s he going to to pick them off as they finish their coffee?
If this is not a threat that deserves prosecution by law enforcement, I don’t know what is.
g
@Hungry Joe: Thanks for the story, and thanks for your maturity to be able to realize what was going on. Of course, what you describe is exactly what is going on in about 99% of the situations where guns “go off” and someone – usually a loved one – gets killed. That irresistible urge to fondle a lethal plaything.
g
Jeebus. Over at the site someone linked, the gun nuts are crying that the 4 moms they intimidated were being “intolerant” by calling them bullies.
Steeplejack
@John Revolta:
For starters, I’m guessing you’re white, right?
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
Sounds plausible if not down right probable.
John Revolta
@Steeplejack:
White male, no less.
Hey, wait, you don’t mean………………………y’know, they were always nice to me in Georgia and Alabama too! Could it be that-
Naaah.
PIGL
@Larry: yes, we all hate you and plan to confiscate all of your precious, precious guns, so that you will shrivel up and blow away, like the sad tosser you are.
Ruckus
@PIGL:
They always seem to get freedumb but they never seem to understand responsibility. But then people with the maturity of a 4 yr old seldom do.
opiejeanne
@Phoenician in a time of Romans: The gonne, From Pratchett’s “Men At Arms”. Similar reaction is expressed by Vimes; heck, the thing “talks” to whomever is holding it.
Fred
@Larry: Larry, the responsibility of gun ownership starts with restraint. Threatening language like you just expressed, if delivered to an individual could be considered assault. Following through on that threat would certainly get you jail time.
If responsible gun owners want respect for themselves and their views, they need to be able to present themselves to the debate of ideas in a civil manner. And guys, please leave your gun in the trunk when you come to the meeting. It’s the polite thing to do.
xian
@Larry: wow, an internet tough guy trying to intimidate strangers with his gun-butt.
PaulW
Don’t go dissing Hooters. A lot of gun safety advocates like to go there
to ogle waitressesuh order the wings and watch team sports.Matt McIrvin
@Fred: I like the way the threat immediately followed the identification of these people as “good guys” and “law-abiding citizens.” No, someone whose response to political speech is to hit someone in the face with a rifle butt, or credibly threaten same, is not a law-abiding citizen.
Villago Delenda Est
@Larry:
Another twit who does not grok the “responsible” part.
Brandishing a weapon is indeed a form of bullying, much more in your face than pointing out that slaughtering schoolchildren (by an NRA member, no less) is not a good thing.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@efgoldman: Ya; what’s the difference, beyond they are white?
I wonder how many of those dorktards had their fingers on the trigger too.
LAC
@Larry: oh, Larry go get help for your emasculation issues already.
Interrobang
Can we start talking about “Schroedinger’s Gun Owner” yet? That is to say, that every gun owner is automatically a “law-abiding citizen” right up until the point that they aren’t, and like the “Schroedinger’s Rapist” construction, they don’t wear signs, so you mostly can’t tell which is which until they change states…
Matt McIrvin
A lot of people seem to genuinely think that the Second Amendment involves a right to make violent threats.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Larry:
Fuck off. If you’re in Minnesota, we can have coffee and I’ll tell you the same thing to your face.
jrg
@Larry: Hey, Einstein… You think that rant is going to help convince people that you should be permitted to carry a gun?
I generally don’t support gun control, but every time I read something like this, I’m a little less convinced that it’s not a necessary evil.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Interrobang: You obviously have no clue what Schrödinger said.
Kilkee
@Larry: Thanks for the reminder that you and your ilk are indeed a moronic band of micro-penised infants with utterly no understanding of law, civilized behavior, or how to live in a free society. Oh, yeah, and are really tough bastards when at a keyboard, but mostly included to stage events involving threats to unarmed middle-aged grieving mothers.
Kilkee
BTW, am I right that “open carry” is (oddly enough) illegal in Texas? And if so, why was that not enough to get these dickheads arrested?
johnny aquitard
@efgoldman: No, not Gangsters. Fascists.
This is political intimidation. Gangstas don’t give a fuck how you vote, they don’t give a fuck about political issues, and they don’t brandish their guns to that end. Fascists do.
Edit: I see others have pointed out that distinction.
johnny aquitard
@Redshirt:
Might? They will. You are seeing what is to come.
I am unfortunately confident of this becuase this is what right-wing extremists do. It’s bog-standard fascist tactics. Some things in history do repeat.
johnny aquitard
@Mike G:
That right there is one of the most succinct descriptions of the South.
@John Revolta:
It would be an interesting exercise to read every Southern author of note writing about the South and see if this duality doesn’t figure in at the core of their writing.
The Other Chuck
Hey guys, I used to be totally for your gun rights with some reasonable limits. Now I’m just fine with the government going door to door and taking your precious guns. You’re not protecting us from tyranny, you are tyranny.
The Other Chuck
@Larry: You’re right: compromise isn’t working with you psychopaths, so let’s go for an outright ban.
Tmiller
No better way to show those uppity women who’s boss than by threatening them with firearms and then running over to the ‘good grls’ at Hooters, who understand what women are good for and what they should spend their days doing. /snark
NorthLeft12
WTF is wrong with those guys? They are so insecure and stupid that they feel the need to intimidate four [COUNT’EM FOUR!!] women who get together to talk about gun control?
I guess they think they have to “nip this foolishness in the bud” or are afraid that this is the first domino to fall? Jeebus, that restaurant manager’s response tells a story too, doesn’t it.
I wish one of those Moms had just gone ahead and called the cops anyway. And a local TV station to boot. Scumbagging psychopaths need exposure.
g
@Larry:
Or, to paraphrase Larry, next time you use your First Amendment rights, he will beat you violently to punish you and shut you up.
But, he’s not a bully, oh, no.
Alex Milstein
Is there anything more ironic than nearly 40 armed people coming out to intimidate four women calling for ‘gun sense?’
When I was a kid (over 50 years ago) I learned how to shoot .22 rifles at summer camp. Strictly target practice on traditional targets. Never once asked my dad to buy me a rifle. Never ever thought of being a hunter. It was just fun. And when summer was over, my thoughts moved on to other things. I just don’t get the gun culture.
Voytek Dolisnky Dean of Students
1. Ooh, another internet tough guy. Go fuck yourself pal.
2. Do you understand the First Amendment? As an American, I WILL continue to express my concern over the proliferation of firearms to such an extent that infantile, violence prone assholes such as yourself feel entitled to threaten strangers (A Class 2 Felony last time I checked – lawyers help me out) who are engaged in public discourse about something this important. Oh and go fuck yourself BTW.
3. Go fuck yourself.
Protip: Not all progressives and liberals are unarmed, pacifist weaklings. I sincerely hope you are afforded the opportunity to learn this lesson for yourself.
J R in WV
Larry, Larry, have you always been a shi”y pipsqueak, or did you learn it as an adult?
Bullies pretty much always show that they’re cowards, by picking on people they expect can’t fight back, like 4 women against a dozen red-neck sociopaths with long guns!
Larry is dreaming and talking about being able to use his gun to beat up a liberal, who would be without a gun. Pretty textbook example of pathological behavior. It tends to run with bed-wetting, setting things on fire, and abuse of small pets, like puppies and kittens. Small pets, so they have no chance of hurting the sociopath.
Here in WV open carry is permitted. In my class the instructor taught us the difference between open carry and brandishing a firearm, which is showing someone you have a gun in a threatening manner. Carrying a gun in a holster, or on a sling on your back is very different from the way the bullies and sociopaths in the photo are holding their rifles – they are brandishing, and here in WV they would probably be arrested for it.
Actually that photo would probably be most all the evidence you would need for swearing out a warrent on the guys holding their guns in their hands, instead of in their holsters/on their backs.
Larry, you know the web master has your IP address, don’t you? That and the time of day are enough to find you, just like they find the guys who propose to little girls on the web. So mind your P’s and Q’s. OK?
I hope you found this discussion by accident, it’s pretty unlikely you will find your way back if that’s what happened. We mostly talk about things that won’t interest you, social constructs that you won’t understand. Mutual support, community, brotherly love, hard work, things like that.
LanceThruster
What a well-regulated militia! /snark off
If I encountered armed individuals in such positions, I would feel pretty confident to deem it a credible threat and want to respond accordingly (police protection at minimum, pro-active defensive measures should I perceive any escalation).
What a goon squad.
Sad_Dem
Brandishing a (pellet) gun got a child shot in Santa Rosa, California, recently. Andy Lopez was walking on a street with a pellet gun that looks like an AK-47. The cops showed up and shot him dead.