A Threat We Can’t Ignore

[mzteris]

By BOB HERBERT
Published: June 19, 2009

Even with the murders that have already occurred, Americans are not paying enough attention to the frightening connection between the right-wing hate-mongers who continue to slither among us and the gun crazies who believe a well-aimed bullet is the ticket to all their dreams.

I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t help feeling as if the murder at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the assassination of the abortion doctor in Wichita, Kan., and the slaying of three police officers in Pittsburgh — all of them right-wing, hate-driven attacks — were just the beginning and that worse is to come.

As if the wackos weren’t dangerous enough to begin with, the fuel to further inflame them is available in the over-the-top rhetoric of the National Rifle Association, which has relentlessly pounded the bogus theme that Barack Obama is planning to take away people’s guns. The group’s anti-Obama Web site is called gunbanobama.com.

-snip-

The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported a resurgence of right-wing hate groups in the U.S. since Mr. Obama was elected president. Gun craziness of all kinds, including the passage of local laws making it easier to own and conceal weapons, is on the rise. Hate-filled Web sites are calling attention to the fact that the U.S. has a black president and that his chief of staff is Jewish.

-MORE-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/opinion/20herbert.html?th&emc=th

[Deep13]

1. A few points.

First, I agree with you about the threat that hate-mongering especially from RW media poses to civil society.

Second, POTUS does in fact support serious restrictions on gun rights.

Lastly, I don't think I'm crazy.

[mzteris]

2. "There is no Obama gun ban on the way . . .

. . . Gun control advocates are, frankly, disappointed in the president’s unwillingness to move ahead on even the mildest of gun control measures.

What’s important to grasp here is that this madness has nothing to do with hunting, which the politicians always claim to be defending, and everything to do with the use of firearms to resist policies and lawful government actions that some gun owners don’t like."

[Deep13]

3. Again, I object to the term "madness."

And no, it has little to do with hunting. I can only speak for myself, but I have no intention to resist lawful policies with violence. I would simply ask as an individual not to be judged by the group. As you say, "Some gun owners." It's not my fault that the conclusion I arrived at independently happens to be shared by radicals.

POTUS and the Congressional leadership know they cannot pass an AWB this term because they don't have the votes and they don't want to lose their majority. I personally think that is good thinking.