Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumSpitting, Stalking, Rape Threats: How Gun Extremists Target Women - MotherJones
Last edited Thu May 15, 2014, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)
(snip)
Ever since the Sandy Hook massacre, a small but vocal faction of the gun rights movement has been targeting women who speak up on the issue—whether to propose tighter regulations, educate about the dangers to children, or simply to sell guns with innovative security features. The vicious and often sexually degrading attacks have evolved far beyond online trolling, culminating in severe bullying, harassment, invasion of privacy, and physical aggression. Though vitriol flows from both sides in the gun debate, these menacing tactics have begun to alarm even some entrenched pro-gun conservatives.
Longdon is no stranger to such attacks. Last May in her hometown of Phoenix, she helped coordinate a gun buyback program with local police over three weekends. On the first Saturday, a group of men assembled across the street from the church parking lot where Longdon was set up. They shouted about constitutional rights and tyranny, and called people arriving to trade in their guns "sellouts." (The program netted nearly 2,000 firearms with more than $200,000 in reimbursements.)
Some of them approached Longdon. "You know what was wrong with your shooting?" one said. "They didn't aim better." Another man came up, looked Longdon up and down and said, "I know who you are." Then he recited her home address. The harassment continued, and the men showed up throughout the program, a Phoenix police official involved confirmed to me.
After a fundraiser one night during the program, Longdon returned home around 10 p.m., parked her ramp-equipped van and began unloading herself. As she wheeled up to her house, a man stepped out of the shadows. He was dressed in black and had a rifle, "like something out of a commando movie," Longdon told me. He took aim at her and pulled the trigger. Longdon was hit with a stream of water. "Don't you wish you had a gun now, bitch?" he scoffed before taking off.
"It was like a mock execution," Longdon says, recalling the intense surge of adrenaline and how the incident triggered her PTSD from the 2004 attack that nearly killed her and her fiancé. She called the police, but they were unable to track down the perpetrator. By the following Saturday, Longdon was back at her post helping run the buyback.
"I've been about as broken as I can be by gun violence," she says, "so I'm just not going to be afraid of it again."
The majority of gun owners in America are good people, she adds. "I wish that more responsible gun owners would step into this conversation and say 'Look, those guys don't speak for us.'"
more...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/guns-bullying-open-carry-women-moms-texas
related
http://gawker.com/people-might-like-gun-nuts-more-if-they-werent-such-dic-1576816813
(how I found the Mother Jones piece)
original thread in GD, locked for being off-topic
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024957944
edit: Someone else was posting this in GD around the same time I posted here.
Here's the active GD thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024958868
= new reply since forum marked as read
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gejohnston
(17,502 posts)or did they come out of a staff meeting at Voxpop Public Relations LLC, (founded by Ms. Watts after leaving Welpoint, where she worked after leaving the head PR person of Monsanto) which created MDA for Bloomberg? At each of these rallies, especially the one in Indianapolis, Bloomberg paid the protesters wages, per diem, and travel. They also were provided armed security. The same armed security people shows up at all the events.
There was a time when Mother Jones was actually good and did real journalism. Now it is just as yellow as the NY Post.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)gejohnston
(17,502 posts)
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)"I wish that more responsible gun owners would step into this conversation and say 'Look, those guys don't speak for us.'"
Where do you fall?
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)they certainly don't speak for me. For anyone to equate all or most 2A supporters with such fools would be like lumping all more most gun control activists with the likes of Leland Yee or Keith Farnham, which is cheap and disgusting.
In case you don't know the deal with Farnham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Farnham
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)You may or may not want to add your 2¢ there as well http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024958498
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)That isn't fair is it? It was declared off topic, so I really can't out of principle.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)gejohnston
(17,502 posts)and disturbing someone's confirmation bias doesn't bring out one's best much of the time. Here you will be afforded reasonable and intelligent responses and arguments.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)Share some of your 'reasonable and intelligent responses and arguments'. What's holding you back?
Or, you could just suggest moar gunz for everyone as the solution, like one of your cohorts already has 
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)please link to the quote
I do not care for gun threads in GD as only anti-gun threads seem to survive. My thoughts are well known.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)They must not take the threats too seriously...
else they'd start carrying their own personal protection device.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)did not think what you typed was true anyway.
He said
else they'd start carrying their own personal protection device.
not as you stated
apology accepted
Sounds like he said if they really felt threatened, they may look at having a weapon. NOT EVERYONE. Though most of those on that side hire armed security rather than carry themselves.
Have a great day
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)but that's OK
we agree to disagree
Have a great day
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Last edited Thu May 22, 2014, 10:57 PM - Edit history (1)
Pitt got mighty quiet there once a certain hypocrisy of his was pointed out.
I like the guy a lot, and agree with him ~90% of the time. But on RKBA and a very few other issues, his otherwise rational brain devolves into a quivering, sputtering, blindered, blinkered, reactionary, knee jerk ball of derp.
I speak up on behalf of the RKBA in the hopes that we can all get less derpy over time. I appreciate your own thoughtful and courteous posts on the topic Electric Monk, even when I disagree with them.
-app
petronius
(26,598 posts)The association fallacy is cheap gamesmanship. And of course, the old "if only the good XYZs would just speak up..." is a variant of it.
blueridge3210
(1,401 posts)I wonder if the police were notified; the behavior is classic Simple Assault ( or whatever the local equivalent is) and should result in an arrest.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)The penis problems these assholes have... cannot be over-estimated.
Happiness is a Warm Gun...
blueridge3210
(1,401 posts)One would think people would develop new material by now.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)It's usaually the trait of what used to be known... as a Gentleman.
Unlike the folks I'm referencing.
They feel... an unhealthy need...
blueridge3210
(1,401 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)There was a nearby quarry, and we used to load our own ammo (well, he did) and go up to the quarry at the end of a dirt road and let loose.
A 38, several .22s, a 45, two AK-47s...
(The only gun that scared me was a .44 Magnum... I fired ONE shot, and handed it back to it's owner.
One guy showed up with a "Street Sweeper" mounted to the lid of the trunk of his BMW one day.
He was a REAL piece of work.
Anywho... after hours and hours of serious gun safety/science talk...
One day my "Gun Buddy"... on the way home (and apparently drinking on the side) decided to fire one of his AK-47's into the air, in my '64 Ford Galaxy Convertible, as I was driving us back to his house.
Now he's holding serious weaponry... yet I look at him and say, "You're fucking drunk !!! So what was all that Gun Safety BULLSHIT you've been spouting over the last several years."
He coulda shot me... he coulda killed me... instead he began too weep uncontrollably.
We went to his house... put away the guns...took a couple of bong hits... and turned on a movie.
blueridge3210
(1,401 posts)No one I know who shoots as a hobby behaves anything like that. They understand that "black powder and alcohol" are not a good mix; or firearms and any mind-altering substance.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Was well read... a book every day or two... and was a great cook.
But he was depressed...
He thought life was unfair/fucked up.
He did not understand why we just couldn't fix what's wrong.
And he collected guns for that reason.
So I would suggest... that Black Powder and Depression are not a good mix.
SQUEE
(1,315 posts)Because that's what responsible people do right?
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)Are you saying --
A) I don't get laid enough
B) My husband is insufficiently endowed
C) I resent my vagina and wish I had a penis
D) women are not capable of defending themselves
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)
petronius
(26,598 posts)(/random Lounge memory)
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)Longdon was shocked and embarrassed, she told me, but she didn’t falter. “Wow, aren’t you a big man,” she said as he turned and walked away. Instead of calling for security, she wheeled herself to a restroom to clean herself off. She was tired—she lives with constant physical pain—and didn’t want to miss her flight.
Longdon said she was watching the protest on CNN. There is no record of CNN doing any such story
CNN has no record of the report.
http://www.cnn.com/search/?query=NRA%20everytown%20for%20gun%20safety&sortBy=relevance
https://www.google.com/#q=everytown+for+gun+safety+cnn
http://www.tveyes.com/?gclid=CMaW1sHpuL4CFQcSMwodnVsAeA
MDA's website made no mention of it either
http://everytown.org/in-the-news/
In fact, looking at the group photo, I don't see anyone in a wheel chair either
http://www.momsdemandaction.org/category/in-the-news/page/2/
It seems that my original skepticism is looking better founded isn't it?
blueridge3210
(1,401 posts)friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)..or Dogpile, for that matter. Furthermore, the photo that Mother Jones has of
Longdon shows a cop with headgear that isn't worn by the Indianapolis PD,
the Marion County Sheriff's department, or the Indiana State Police
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl.prefer/search/images?q=%20indianapolis%20longdon%20%22moms%20demand%20action%22&fcoid=408&fcop=topnav&fpid=2
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl.prefer/search/images?q=%20indianapolis%20%22moms%20demand%20action%22&fcoid=408&fcop=topnav&fpid=2
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22moms+demand+action%22+indianapolis&client=firefox-a&hs=y6v&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
fficial&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=B_N7U8uYGrLksASE-YKYBw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1536&bih=734#channel=sb&q=%22moms+demand+action%22+indianapolis&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&tbm=isch&imgdii=_
There *is* one person in a wheelchair at that rally- but it is a child, and their wheelchair looks
nothing like Longdon's (wrong color).
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)The spitting incident supposedly happened in the secure area of a large
airport. They've got cameras out the wazoo, so where's the footage?
blueridge3210
(1,401 posts)
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...Mark Follman:
https://twitter.com/markfollman
To the folks ranting that attacks on Jennifer Longdon are a "lie": Phoenix PD confirmed to me, as my story notes. http://mojo.ly/1lpN3XK
Uhh, Mark? What about the purported one in Indianapolis?
alp227
(32,006 posts)and I think Follman screwed up big time with his rather questionable anecdote from Longdon to introduce the body of real threats against Longdon. That anecodte has become a distraction, sadly.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)This isn't Follman's first time at the rodeo, and I think a natural sympathy
towards Longdon short-circuited his professional instincts.
I don't think Longdon is malicious- more likely 'problems with the wetware'
Still, it should serve as a warning to all that an organization started and supposedly
run by a longtime public relations professional may not always be completely
honest with the public...
alp227
(32,006 posts)gejohnston
(17,502 posts)is to cry "conspiracy theory" and not provide any evidence to support your claims, deserves being dismissed.
alp227
(32,006 posts)gejohnston
(17,502 posts)This is the Frankenstein created by the NRA. Everything is a #2A conspiracy. Even women assaulted by gun extremists. http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/05/robert-farago/the-mother-jones-of-all-ad-hominememattacks-on-gun-rights-advocates-but-is-it-justified/#comments …
The TTAG article in question:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/05/robert-farago/the-mother-jones-of-all-ad-hominememattacks-on-gun-rights-advocates-but-is-it-justified
Question I have is, where are the criminal complaints? Why did it take a year for the story to come out? Between Bloomberg's money, and Watts' PR background, I would think it would be mentioned earlier. Why no named sources? How did Follman find said cop, and why didn't the cop do something last year?
Like I said before, if these guys are real, they should be prosecuted or at the very least be taught a lesson by some of Bloomberg's "Pinkertons", and they do have them at their protests. Indianapolis had at least four dressed up like Men in Black. But I'm not going to jump on a bandwagon just on someone's say so.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...would be in order.
alp227
(32,006 posts)If she pressed charges, the aggressors would become MARTYRS. Tough enough that the gun extremists turn everything into an "OBAMA WANTS TO TAKE AWAY OUR GUNS" shitshow before harassing people like Longdon.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)They are public records, and obtaining them is Journalism 101.
alp227
(32,006 posts)However, the harassment she experienced might not have crossed the line into crime enough to warrant a police report, or Longdon chose not to press charges. So there's no there there, right?
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)Last edited Wed May 21, 2014, 07:01 AM - Edit history (1)
it is possible. It is also possible that it came out of the imagination of a former Monsanto PR executive too. Everytime I think about jumping on a band wagon, the words "Duke" and La Crosse" comes to mind. You don't like the people who are accused, so you will automatically assume the worst until they are proven innocent, and maybe not even then. That is how ideologies short circuit our critical thinking ability, to dehumanize the "other". Gangs, militaries, political ideologies, they all do it. That is why the name calling, and I don't need to list the terms used by both sides. I refuse to play that game, that is why I don't use such perjoritives to describe those whom I disagree with politically. I tend to tune out those who do, even on my own side.
Let's switch it around a bit. What if, say, Emily Miller claimed that a couple of Bloomberg's Pinkertons threatened her or some Brady Campaign member threw blood on her or sent her death threats. Would you take her claim at face value? I honestly doubt it. Me, I try to be evenly "show me the evidence" especially when there are associations with professional propagandists and authoritarian billionaires.