Via TPM, we learn that Larry Pratt, former executive director of the organization Gun Owners of America has a…predictable…view of what’s at stake in the coming election.
[He] said a Democrat taking the White House and replacing the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would pose “great peril” to gun rights.
And what should happen in the face of such peril? Another…interesting…take on the concept of constitutional review:
“At that point, we would have to come to an understanding, which we’ve been sort of taught, it’s been taught out of us, that the courts do not have the last word on what the Constitution is,” Pratt said on the show, in remarks first flagged by RightWingWatch.
And who, pray tell, does have that last word? You’ll never guess:
“And we may have to reassert that constitutional balance, and it may not be pretty,” he continued. “So, I’d much rather have an election where we solve this matter at the ballot box than have to resort to the bullet box.”
Sedition, thuggery, a clear threat of political violence in the face of democratic decision making. Pretty much a perfect defintion of domestic terrorism.
One more reason to consign Brother Trump to the outer darkness, I’d say — and his wretched claque of enablers and enablees along with him.
Image: Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Trompe l’oeil with pistols, 1672
Luther Siler
Obama is seriously dilly-dallying on taking all their guns and shoving them into camps. And it has made no impact on their paranoid fantasies at all.
SiubhanDuinne
Trompe l’oeil literally means “Fool, or trick, the eye,” and there’s an unambiguous etymological link between Trompe and Trump.
Coincidence? I think not.
Humdog
It sounded to me that this Pratt prick threatened M. Garland. Is it cool to threaten federal judges now? Trump’s been picking on his federal judge so did I miss the “open season” announcement?
Hope he gets more than just a visit from federal authorities. Maybe an extended stay in custody?
slag
@Luther Siler: He’s just been busy lulling them into a false sense of security. Any day now…
Villago Delenda Est
Ammosexuals are terrorists.
All that needs to be said about them.
Chris
States have rights, corporations have rights, zygotes have rights, and now guns have rights! If only human beings enjoyed the same protections.
The Moar You Know
Yes. That is in fact a terrorist threat. I expect nothing will happen, of course.
Davebo
Bullet Box? Seriously?
This is all about the fact that ammunition and gun prices have finally receded a bit once America for the most part realized Obama isn’t coming for their guns.
Time to prime the well again and get that new Bushmaster up over $1,600.00 again. And it will probably work, but not being in the market for an AR-15 I just don’t care.
Chris
@The Moar You Know:
IOKIYAR (or conservative, to be more precise) has a long history of applying to terrorism, I believe.
Compare and contrast the reaction to 9/11 with the reaction to Oklahoma City…
MattF
The gun nuts say things that just leave me wondering what alternative space-time continuum they come from. E.g., via TPM– you should keep your guns in your kids’ bedroom.
Major Major Major Major
That can’t be legal.
Archon
Someone should tell these “second amendment solution” types that their social security checks might be put on hold during an armed insurrection.
bystander
One of the most despicable things about Trump is how he dogwhistles the name of the person he sics his minions on. He made a point of saying the name of the Federal judge presiding over his Trump University fraud trial. I have no doubt he expects not a few of thugs who admire him to send threatening emails and worse. He is beyond despicable.
A Ghost To Most
@Archon:
Can you get a .50 cal mount for a hoverround?
Mnemosyne
Once again, these guys have decided that the 2nd Amendment trumps the 1st Amendment. Assholes.
slag
@Davebo:
All they’re doing is proving the point that they’re too irresponsible for gun ownership. You’d think that’d matter.
Chris
@Davebo:
If real life was a James Bond movie, Obama would owe his election to the gun lobby. Who secretly conspired to put a liberal in the White House so that they could profit from the resulting rush to arms when the loonies lost their shit.
Patricia Kayden
Ex-Police Officer who shot Corey Jones while he was waiting for help by the roadside was indicted by a grand jury.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/source-ex-officer-nouman-raja-arrested-in-corey-jo/nrYHM/
The Moar You Know
@bystander: Security for Federal judges is, fortunately, not handled by the Secret Service, which has become terrifyingly incompetent since the mid 1990s. I don’t know which agency it is but they are not fucking around, and anyone who does something this stupid is not going to have a nice life afterwards.
Cacti
Speaking of domestic terrorists…
US District Court to refer Trump friend and all around fascist, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, for criminal contempt and perjury charges.
:-)
debbie
There are all kinds of nuts, and sometimes they do get caught and are made to pay:
I’m hoping for sanctions against Small Weasel DeWine.
A Ghost To Most
@Mnemosyne:
Assholes hardly seems to cover it. Seditious asshole gundamentalists is too long.
SarahT
@A Ghost To Most: HAHAHA
Mike G
Remember, kids, it’s not terrorism when white Christians do it.
Mary
@The Moar You Know: If TV is to believed, and I think we all know that it is, it’s the U.S. Marshal Service.
ETA – I knew I could trust TV!! http://www.usmarshals.gov/judicial
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: Only $50,000? Should be a lot more than that.
Gene108
For people unaware Pratt was resigned as co-chair from the 1996 Pat Buchanan Presidential campaign for his ties to white supremacists and GOA is a group, with 300,000 members , who think the NRA are a bunch of liberal squishes.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
Of course in a normal world it’s not much, but we’re talking about Ohio.
Villago Delenda Est
@Chris: Originally, the media was sure some Muslimy types were responsible for OKC. For three days, that’s all they could talk about.
Then Timothy McVeigh was arrested.
sm*t cl*de
Trump l’huile sans pistoler.
http://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/trumpvigo-landscape.jpg
Major Major Major Major
After she was assaulted my mom decided it made more sense to walk around with a Chow/Malamute guard dog rescue than a handgun.
Mnemosyne
@Patricia Kayden:
I hope they can get a conviction. That was a really, really egregious case. Oscar Grant’s killer didn’t get enough time in jail IMO, but at least he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and will never be able to be a cop again with that felony conviction on his record. Better than the ones who get off scott-free.
singfoom
@sm*t cl*de: I can’t EVER EVER see something referencing Vigo the Carpathian without remembering this article:
http://deadspin.com/the-hateful-life-and-spiteful-death-of-the-man-who-was-1737376537
Truly a despicable awful human being and I’m talking about the actor. Trump the Carpathian makes total sense.
Shell
Funny how this Second Amendment apocalypse is always just about to happen….happen. Any day now. They promise their paranoid base. It’ll happen, we swear…any day now.
piratedan
@Shell: the day after Clinton is indicted, I’m sure….
singfoom
@piratedan: This will totally happen after all that wealth trickles down from the .01%. I’m just sure of it.
hovercraft
Why exactly would any sane person listen to any of these sociopaths. Via TPM
Bill Arnold
Related, noticed this today at Rude Pundit: Random Observations on a Meltdown (Trump Edition)
Just noting that your sentiment is becoming increasingly common. (I am not looking forward to the rest of this election cycle.)
Captain C
@Cacti: About damn time. I’ll say again, I’m pretty sure that the next sheriff of Marocopa County will, just in the course of getting the paperwork in order, find enough evidence of corruption to put Joe away for the rest of his life.
Mike J
Villago Delenda Est
@Shell: Obama has been on his thin black ass for seven years. FEMA camps now! Gun confiscation now! You only have seven months left, get busy!
mark k
“Wretched” is such a good accurate description. I’d like to ad “despicable” “evil” and “Un-Amercian fiends” to that
Schlemazel Khan
@Shell:
It amazes me that the doobes fall for it time and time again. Any normal person would, after 10 or 20 years, come to the conclusion that the threat was not real and nobody was actually coming for their precious. These people are a special kind of fool and it frightens me that they live amongst us.
Gravenstone
@sm*t cl*de: Warn a fella, will ya?
/brain bleach!
Baud
@Schlemazel Khan: How long have people been waiting for the return of the messiah? I will liberals were as patient sometimes.
Shell
Can somebody please get this thru these folks thick skulls…Nobody gives a shit about your stupid guns.
What people do care about is getting shot. Oh, and all those pesky incidents of children accidentally shooting themselves or each other.
Schlemazel Khan
@Baud:
He already returned! Took one look around the place & fled. Decided that we were not worth the effort & left us to a junior VP, one of those guys that got promoted simply because he had hung around & kissed enough ass that they had to do something with him but not particularly good at anything or interested in doing the job.
Baud
@Schlemazel Khan: Awaiting the
Second,Third, Fourth Coming.Villago Delenda Est
@Shell: Sorry, no can do. Need lasers mounted on sharks to drill through the thick skulls.
Schlemazel Khan
@Baud:
I don’t know, at 2049 years old it would be a miracle if he could come four times
Jeffro
@Luther Siler:
Nothing does, so I’m glad to see that most Dems are moving forward and calling for common-sense gun regulation. The NRA had a real stranglehold on the conversation for a while, but I believe the wheel has turned, just a bit.
p.a.
I’d like to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights on NBC for burying the Cup game tonight on NBC SN. Friday’s game in Cali is not even on American tv!!!. CBC and Quebec tv only. (sorry, couldn’t wait for a hockey thread).
raven
@p.a.: Hahaha, that shows just how popular this sport is.
Jeffro
@Shell:
That’s a good point. Maybe some enterprising reporter who’s tired of waiting around for the Vulgar Yam’s latest offensive pronouncement could ask his/her editor to be reassigned, in order to follow up on all those “Jade Helm” worrywarts. You know, to get some insight on everything that didn’t happen, and all the reflection and personal growth that occurred in those folks as a result?
Gvg
I am perfectly willing to take their gun rights now via constitutional amendment. Yes I know it’s currently politically impossible. Years ago I thought the 2nd was an important right. Now years of watching the loonies scare all the sensible people into silence, make me a gun enemy. They caused this reaction. When the laws finally get changed the bullies will have only themselves to blame. I will never run for office so I get to say this.
Cacti
@raven:
If only it were limited to hockey.
All of the big North American sports have been putting their product behind pay walls and making it less accessible to the average fan.
Monday Night Football on ESPN? Pete Rozelle must be puking in his grave.
smith
@Jeffro:
Nah. It’d be like those cults that predict the apocalypse next Friday — when it doesn’t come, it’s because God was so impressed with their own special holiness that he decided to spare us this time. If the Kenyan Usurper hasn’t come for their guns it’s because he was terrified of their very manly manliness, or something. Same thought process, and in some cases, the same doobs.
A Ghost To Most
@Captain C:
Seeing Arpaio in pink prison clothes would be nice.
raven
@Cacti: The NCAA Football Championship game was on ESPN.
Litlebritdifrnt
Just noticed something yesterday. The short fingered vulgarian doesn’t wear a wedding ring. ALL of the most staunch conservatives wear wedding rings, to prove their devotion to their spouses. Why doesn’t Trump wear one? Stubby little fingers too fat perhaps? Wants to be ready should he come across a new hottie in a bar? I am sure he makes Melania wear one, in fact I am surprised he didn’t have “Trump’s Supermodel” tattooed on her forehead.
rikyrah
h/t: BT
David Neiwert
Yesterday at 11:23am ·
Barbara
@bystander: The judge in question apparently was the target of assassination threats by a Mexican drug cartel that he successfully prosecuted. Something tells me he is either incredibly tough or already taking a lot of precautions for his personal safety. I worked for a federal judge. Both federal and state judges are subject to a lot of threats because they tend to take actions that are guaranteed to make someone very unhappy and deprive them of either liberty, money, or happiness or all three. We had silent alarms next to our desks in order to summon federal marshals in case someone got through the building security and tried to come after us. Many judges who desegregated schools had personal security detail for years and years afterwards. So threats do tend to come with the territory. But most of the threats come from people like Mexican drug cartel members. It’s extraordinary that a defendant in a civil suit alleging fraud, much less a presidential candidate, would publicly castigate the judge. I can’t imagine how embarrassed Trump’s counsel must be.
Elmo
@Mary: The USMS has the authority but the actual day to day security at Fed Courthouses – during biz hours at least – is handled by three or four private contractors nationwide. Those guys in Blazers at the X-ray machine are all former law enforcement, working for a private company. They have arrest authority – hence the requirement that they are former LEO. But they are not employees of USMS. They are also 100% unionized btw.
After hours, security shifts over to the Federal Protective Service, which also uses private contractors.
And that’s probably all I should say about that.
Gravenstone
@Gvg: Well, being an anonymous internet commenter helps with honest expression, too.
Baud
@rikyrah: If I were on Facebook and/or had friends, I’d feel the same way.
Gin & Tonic
@Barbara:
Not so embarrassed that they won’t cash his checks.
SiubhanDuinne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Do wedding rings even come that small? Just wondering.
MomSense
There has definitely been a shift. Living in a rural state with a tradition of hunting and fishing, I have always respected and appreciated that culture. It has completely changed. I can’t quite pinpoint exactly when it happened but the election of the first black president certainly had something to do with it but it’s not the whole story. Anyway, there is now a culture that is full of conspiracy theories, paranoia, and people who think that they are in some sort of front line against some kind of imminent government/ UN takeover. I’ve had a few run ins with some of the local gun nuts and they are truly terrifying. I don’t feel safe doing any kind of advocacy for gun violence prevention. Maybe if I had a 24 hour security detail I would consider being involved but not as a woman with no back up.
These people are against improvement and widening of route 1 because they think the real purpose is to facilitate forced relocation to FEMA camps. It is truly bizarre stuff. YouTube has some videos of these idiots showing up at town council meetings and the poor volunteer town officials have no clue what these people are talking about. It’s a weird mix of ammosexuals, conspiracy theorists, and preppers. I remember this one guy regaling a gathering at a town meeting with his tale of pulling a gun in some sort of crime in progress situation. The police chief tried to explain that it actually caused more confusion and stress to the responding officers but the good guy with a gun couldn’t see it.
Anyway, the old school hunters and lifetime three letter organization members are just as baffled as I am.
rikyrah
Jury awards $22M to man who says police locked him in closet
Jun. 1, 2016 4:19 PM EDT
CLEVELAND (AP) — A jury has awarded $22 million to a man who says he was brutally beaten by an East Cleveland police detective, locked in a storage closet with no toilet for four days and given nothing to eat or drink except for a carton of milk.
The Cleveland jury deliberated for a day before finding for Arnold Black, 48, of East Cleveland, in a three-day civil trial. Relatives testified that Black suffers from physical and emotional problems from the beating and had to undergo surgery to remove dried blood on his brain.
Schlemazel Khan
@MomSense:
I am not convinced that the dipshits have gotten any worse but there sure are more of them who are more willing to spout stupidity out loud. I went to couple of practical shooters events back in the early 80s. They could be a lot of fun with some interesting shooting competitions. The buzz kill was that the people there had all read and believed “The Turner Diaries” and saw black helicopters coming for them because of “the international Jewish communist conspiracy using black foot soldiers”. Sick sad people but they believed the same shit when St. Ronnie was President
Snarki, child of Loki
2Megaton hydrogen warhead, airburst.
Yeah, that ‘bullet box’ is really gonna help, cupcake.
Barbara
@Gin & Tonic: I looked up his counsel of record and found out that he hired new counsel last December and I would call the current person a really big gun — big enough and renowned enough to walk away from work (consistent with ethical obligations) if it makes him look bad or puts him in an impossible position with the judge. Of course they will cash his checks if they continue representation. They did the work.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
I suspect it’s a bit like what we’re currently dealing with here in the website with Bernie supporters. The sane ones are quietly preparing themselves to support Hillary, so we’re only hearing from the nutty fringe now.
Same with gun supporters — most of the sane gun owners are already on our side, so the opposition is getting whittled down to the real wackaloons. I don’t blame you for keeping your head down. You have kids to raise.
JCT
@Cacti: Hooray — can’t wait to take up a collection to buy him his very own pink jail uniform and some spoiled food to eat. Rat bastard.
Calliope Jane
“Bullet box” again? *Exact same* language they used in the run up to 2010 elections. I’m expecting “2nd amendment solutions” and “take aim at the opposition,” to pop up again, too. Knock it off, fellow Americans. This language has consequences and they just don’t care. Where is this language coming from? It pisses me off but also scares me, because I know the consequences. /Cong Giffords campaign volunteer
PurpleGirl
@Major Major Major Major: Occasionally when I took Hugo (large sized Doberman pinscher) for a walk people would move out of the way for me and I hear comments — See how big that dog is, It obeys her, wow, etc. Hugo was marshmallow with me but if we were alone in the house, or on a walk, he’d do his Doberman routine (as I called it). He’d be very protective of me. I miss that puppy.
JCT
@MomSense: When I moved back west I wanted to pick up target shooting again. So I started digging around of some regional shooting forums to locate some decent ranges. What an unbelievable, sickening fever swamp of depravity. Paranoia, misogyny, racism all mixed with pathetic “tacticool” posturing. Just thinking about it is upsetting.
Meanwhile right after 10 AM today my youngest called to tell me that he wanted me to know that he was OK and hiding out in a classroom- apparently was walking across a courtyard next to Boelter Hall at UCLA when all hell broke loose as a huge group of students started sprinting away from the building yelling “run, there’s a shooter”. Thank goodness he called me before my phone exploded with texts asking if he was OK 20 mins later. Long day. Yay guns!
Chris
@MomSense:
I think it’s simple: they’ve been living in the Echo Chamber for decades, with basically no exposure to other viewpoints, and have spent all these years winding each other up. (“Echo Chamber” here meaning Fox News and all the blogs that popped up over the next decade, but also institutions like the NRA which the crazies worked to take over). A lot of the people there probably had conservative inclinations to begin with, but it was refined into total bugfuck insane wingnut ideology by that process (and those on whom it didn’t take were shut out of the club).
The Fox Effect is real.
the fat kate middleton
I believe I’ll have to use that phrase with my right wing fundamentalist christian relatives – but for the fact they’ll have no knowledge of the furrin language in there.
the fat kate middleton
@JCT: Just read the CNN story on this – a young teacher (first year of teaching engineering at UCLA) was killed by a student who didn’t like the grade he gave him. Just sickening.
Mnemosyne
@the fat kate middleton:
It sounds like commenter Martin may have known the professor. Not the kind of thing you want to see in the news.