The Rude Pundit - In Brief: What If Henry Louis Gates Had Had a Gun?

[meegbear]

Sitting in an airport, early morning, listening to a replay of Barack Obama's funny, angry, self-aware words on the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (the only bright spot in a pretty damn useless press conference), the Rude Pundit pondered not just the obvious question of "what-if-Gates-was-white," but a more intense one: what if Gates had had a gun? Go with this for just a second before it's time to board. Go beyond the also obvious "Well, he'd've been shot by the cops."

Instead, think like a gun-owning white guy who thinks that the government is trying to take away his guns and that a revolution is coming (and if you are that white guy, the Rude Pundit says, "Dude, get laid."). That ain't a fantasy person. It's the goddamned audience for much of the right-wing rhetoric these days. Now, think, if Gates had been armed, in his home, after having proven it was his home, what if he had threatened to shoot the cops for now engaging in a home invasion? Would he have been justified? Of course not. We in the rational world know this.

But now push it further: would those very real white guys have come to his defense? Or would they have rallied behind Gates only if he was white like them?

There's planes to catch. Miles to go. Perhaps more later.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[Statistical]

1. WTF?

Why would gun owners rally behind someone who (hypothetically) killed 2 Police Officers without being in danger of bodily injury or death?
Gun owners are aware of the emotional response that comes after a shooting such as the one you described and it certainly won't help the RKBA.
The only thing gun grabbers have is the emotional attack. If there were less high profile shooting it would kill the anti-gun movement once and for all (it is already on life support as it is).

I don't recall gun owners "rallying" behind the white kid who shot and killed three Police officers.

The OP is a bunch of fail
1) implies gun owners are racists (which kinda ignores the fact that black people do own guns also).
2) implies gun owners "rally" or support Cop killers.
3) describes cops checking identification as a "home invasion" now who is the one with delusional paranoia again?
4) implies that most gun owners would find it acceptable to execute two cops of a verbal disagreement.

[lies and propaganda]

2. the OP is dead on

though it wasnt a post but a link to a blog anyway..

Cops ARE racist assholes. White gun nuts are losing their minds and the situation would have TOTALLY played out differently if the colors of the people were vice versa..

But hey, i'll live in that adorable utopia with you..

[Statistical]

4. Quite a nice set of stereotypes you got there

All cop are racists. Even the non white cops?

White gun nuts willing to use violence against law enforcement are an extreme minority.
There are approximately 20 million arrests per year. Lets say half of them are white = 10 million white arrests. 35% of the population owns a gun. So every year give or take 3.5 million white gun owners are arrested. Now lets say only 1% of those are false arrests. That is 35,000 false arrests of a white gun owners.

So we should see tens of thousands of cops being killed each year due to "gun nuts". Wait we don't. Only about 40-60 cops are killed in the line of duty every year. Lets pad the stats and assume all of them are killed by white gun owners (not a single cop killed by a non white gun owners).

That means somewhere in the ballpark of 99.8%+ of white gun owners manage to not execute cops over a false arrest.

[Caliman73]

6. Disagree

Not all cops are racist nor are they all assholes. We hear about the racist assholes much more than the good ones because of the nature of our media. Tragedy fills seats and coffers. Hearing about police officers who perform their duty without incident is boring. In the same vein, you hear about the crazy or racist asshole gun owner way more than you hear about those who own guns without ever committing crimes or having problems because that too is boring and attracts no one.

There are a subset of people who would have supported Gates had he shot a police for "invading his home". We have militants in this country that detest any form of authority and threats against sovereignty. There are also those who would in principle support the action, but would definitely not support Gates simply because of the color of his skin. We have those too. Our population is made up of extremists on any side of any issue. Some are more vocal and some receive more notoriety because of their controversial ideas or the danger they might pose.

I think the scenario is odd and their are a great many assumptions made as Statistical pointed out. It is an interesting question posed to be posed to the more militant anarchist or radical libertarian fringes. They, however will most likely not see the question because they do not typically read more left leaning blogs. Who will more likely see the question are people like Statistical, myself, and others who are more left leaning, law respecting firearms owners hence the WTF? response.

[N7255Q]

13. I keep seeing that picture of Gates with 3 cops. One of them is black.

What was he doing there?

[Paladin]

7. Both Sides Of The Guns Argument Are Fueled By Raw Emotion.

Daily proof of this is available in DU's Guns forum.......

[BlooInBloo]

3. Heh.

[aikoaiko]

5. I don't get it.

what point are you trying to make?

:shrug:

[AuntPatsy]

8. Understand where he is going and yet I am one of those gun owners who highly

value my right to remain armed and in a way resent this comparison as it stereotypes and isn't that what we are attempting to get away from? I usually enjoy the rude pundit but in this case it is obvious in his haste to board his plane and more than likely thinking about his future destination not much thought was used in order to share this little piece. this particular little doozy shows he should have waited until he got to his destination in order to fine tune this particular piece of writings.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. Do they ever come to the defense of a black person charged with a gun crime?

There have been high profile cases involving African American athletes and musicians arrested for having weapons and I have yet to hear a peep out of the gun rights enthusiasts.

[Caliman73]

10. Responsible firearms owners do not usually defend anyone charged with a gun crime.

As I said earlier in the thread, there are racists in any subgroup. Gun owners have their share, but to imply that gun owners defend the criminal activity of White people and simultaneously frown upon equal activity non-Whites is insulting. There are laws with which some gun owners disagree and have challenged in court, but when people misuse firearms or engage in criminal activity with firearms it puts all of our rights in jeopardy and that elicits a condemnation regardless of the ethnic background of the person who committed the crime. The Plaxico Burress case involved an athlete carrying a concealed firearm illegally and discharging it negligently. I seriously doubt it would have mattered if it were Brett Farve, the response would have been the same.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. Nice tautology!

Gun owners have their share, but to imply that gun owners defend the criminal activity of White people and simultaneously frown upon equal activity non-Whites is insulting.

HAHAHAHA!! :rofl: You funny. I seriously don't doubt it would matter if it were Favre and not Burress.

[Caliman73]

12. Stereotypes do make for easier living.

They also stifle growth. Enjoy.:hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. White gun owners are exercising their second amendment rights. Black ones are gang bangers.

As usual, RP provides an interesting insight.