Police Seize Large Amount Of Weapons From Blogger Who Praised Gifffords Shooting:‘1 Down 534 to go"

[Emit]

Police in Arlington, MA this week seized a “large amount” of weapons and ammunition from local businessman Travis Corcoran after he wrote a blog post threatening U.S. lawmakers in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). In a post on his blog (which has since been removed) titled “1 down and 534 to go” — 1 referring to Giffords and 534 referring to the rest of the House of Representatives and the Senate — Corcoran applauded the shooting of Giffords and justified the assassination of lawmakers because he argued the federal government has grown far beyond its constitutional limits. “It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately. Target only politicians and their staff and leave regular citizens alone,” he wrote in the post.

“We certainly take this as a credible threat,” Arlington police Captain Robert Bongiorno told reporters, adding that “multiple federal law enforcement agencies” were involved. Authorities also suspended Corcoran’s gun license, though he is currently not facing any charges.

Corcoran calls himself “an anarcho-capitalist” and while his blog has been taken down, based on his Twitter page, he appears to hold views similar to those of many in the anti-government libertarian wing of the conservative movement, like many tea party activists. Anarcho-capitalism is a radical subset of libertarianism, and is often referred to as “libertarian-anarchy.” For example, echoing calls from many on the right, Corcoran tweeted, “it is unconstitutional for the Feds to even run a department of education.”

~snip~

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/20/libertarian-guns-boston/

[sharesunited]

1. Dear 2nd Amendment, meet your poster child.

[derby378]

2. FAIL

[-..__...]

4. Dear 1st Amendment, meet your poster child.

Because his only crime... if any, has more to do with keeping his mouth shut, than being a gun owner.

[TheWraith]

3. I'd like to know what "large amount" means in this context.

Depending on who's defining it, a "large amount" could be anywhere from 2 weapons and 100 rounds of ammunition on up.

That said, I'm not sad that this guy is getting taught a lesson about how the world works outside of his Ayn Rand mental-masturbation belief system.

[-..__...]

5. Allegedly "10".

An “About TJIC” section of the blog suggested Corcoran may have owned around 10 guns. His license was issued out of Arlington.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/news/x684392703/Arlington-police-seize-comic-blogger-s-guns

But... considering that the anti-gun/ignorant media is involved, "large amount" is irrelevant.

Might have well been a few empty shell casings and a starters pistol

[old mark]

8. Hell, I have more handguns than that, and I'm a "liberal"....nt

[howard112211]

9. No shit.

"Ten handguns" in my family is just the old stuff in the garage that nobody knows where it came from. :D

[old mark]

10. I have either 13 or 14...I'm too sleepy to recall exactly...nt

[boppers]

12. At least 11, according to:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/weapons-seized-blogger-cheered-tucson-shooting/

"Sources told the station that 11 guns were seized from Corcoran's home after police pulled his gun license pending an investigation of his "suitability" to carry firearms. It wasn't clear if the 11 guns were the sum total of the "large amount" of weapons police said they found."

[saras]

6. Please explain to me why this isn't treason?

He is justifying, arguing for, and collecting guns in order to kill the entirety of Congress - if that's not levying war against the government of the United States, then...

WHAT THE HELL IS?

For Christ's sake, I can't think of a better way to civilize political discourse than simply charging the guy with treason, and keeping the case as simple and straightforward as possible.

He called, quite directly, for the murder of some 500+ representatives. The court could quite reasonably exclude his politics from the trial completely.

[TheWraith]

7. Treason charges have a very high bar to clear.

And for good reason, otherwise it would be subject to abuse.

[beevul]

11. This will end up in court most likely.

This will end up in court most likely.

It could lead to (a longshot) restrictions on the first amendment backed by court precedent, which IMO would be a bad thing. Contrary to some, I don't see what he said as HIM making a direct threat. Disgusting? Sure. Unpopular? Definitely. Dumb? Absolutely. But a direct threat? I just don't see it crossing that threhold. Thats my opinion.

It could also lead to the elimination of gun licenses in MA.

It did say he wasn't facing any charges, so the outcome ought to be interesting.

I would suggest that the officials who are handling this handle it very carefully and thoughtfully.

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. Good. Good. Good.

Screw this idiot.

Better to bag him now than after he does harm.