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Way back in 1993, there was an episode of "The Simpsons," in which Grandpa Simpson wrote a letter to the White House. Apropos of nothing, ol' Abe wanted the president to eliminate three states from the union because there are "too many states nowadays."
Grandpa added in his letter, "I am not a crackpot."
I thought of this while reading the latest missive from the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre, who had a lengthy opinion piece in the Daily Caller yesterday, explaining why Americans should be terrified enough to want to buy lots and lots of firearms.
During the second Obama term, however, additional threats are growing. Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States. Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals of the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.
The president flagrantly defies the 2006 federal law ordering the construction of a secure border fence along the entire Mexican border. So the border today remains porous not only to people seeking jobs in the U.S., but to criminals whose jobs are murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. Ominously, the border also remains open to agents of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
Wait, it gets worse. LaPierre also envisions mass looting, debt riots, and the collapse of law-enforcement agencies. It's the kind of news you don't hear from President Obama -- who, of course, wants to disarm you for his own nefarious purposes -- and his "'mainstream' media enablers."
And then there's LaPierre's kicker: "These are perils we are sure to face -- not just maybe. It's not paranoia to buy a gun."
"Paranoia"? Who said anything about "paranoia"? This is simply a piece from a powerful right-wing lobbyist warning of Latin-American gangs, terrorists, and rioters, each of which are coming to attack you -- "not just maybe." Why would anyone think this sounds like "paranoia"?
Perhaps for the same reason Abe Simpson understood he might sound like a "crackpot"?
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Living as I do in the kidnap capital of the U.S., I can appreciate the need for a populace armed to the teeth with firepower and not shy about using it. However, Wayne LaPierre overlooks the truth of the Iron River: it flows south from the U.S. All the guns with which the porous Southwestern border states are supersaturated? Here's a hint, Wayne: they are going into the hands of the drug cartels. Maybe make fewer of them, restrict who can buy them, and you start to disarm the desperados I am supposed to fear.
i have been seeing this shooter cat all over the place and the best thing to do is NOT respond to his crazy rants. please stop responding and maybe he will go away. as it is when i see shooter on i page down. he has nothing to say that holds water.
The only way the influence of the NRA can be throttled down is for voters to go after US Reps and Senators who accept campaign contributions from them. Let's let them know that accepting contributions from subversive organizations like the NRA will only help them lose elections.
Sorry...I was led to believe that my comment had not been accepted, so I entered it again, below.
Someone has to create a new, sane NRA.
A good friend of mine just told me that Texas is "this close" to having enough votes to secede from the union and because of that millions of Americans and American corporations are going to flood into the state before the "door of opportunity" closes. I am all for this. The circus that will begin will provide amusement for political pundits for years to come and allow a place for all those gun toting patriots to go and display their talents. The Alamo will be nothing compared to this.
Please, please can we get them to take the South too? Just give me enough time to pack my stuff ;-)
Sammy, I think your friend is pulling your leg.
Texas won't secede from the Union, no matter how many votes it tries to take. Secession is illegal.
What? No mention of Jan Brewer's made-up headless corpses in the desert? Slipping, LaPierre, slipping....
The only way to minimize the impact of the NRA is to go after US Representatives and Senators who accept campaign contributions from them. Let's tell them that we will not vote for anyone who accepts funds from subversive organizations like the NRA. We can make being supported by the NRA a big reason not to vote for a candidate.
OK I am so tired of this argument I am going to be sick other third world countries are a great place to sell guns why not this one. Because that is what we have become we piss and moan about things that will never change like violence if you picked up ever gun in this country we would find a way to kill in mass some other way a gun is about control a tool only man on man or Government over it's people the passed has proven that time after time. We have bigger problems than guns believe it or not and because the CNN CMBC and Fox all these big news shows can entertain you with there crap about these issues. Why not get back to news not BS stop taking sides or being run by big money and just give us news like the old days. WE don't care what you think we just want to here what has happen over a day not what you think happened with your twist. This gun battle will have to go though the courts not an edict from a king on a white house throne.
Keep talking, NRA, You are making our case for common-sense gun control for us. The more you speak about the government not being able to act, the crazier you sound. Have YOU SEEN a mental health professonal lately. WE will NOT stand down and SHUT UP. I stand with Sandy Hook, Tuscon, Columbine, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Chicago, and all victims of gun violence. ENOUGH!!
Coming Memorial Day 2013 an exciting movie starring Diane Lane, John Cusack, and Wayne Lapierre.
"Must Love Guns"
Re: Diane Lane will be playing herself and lost in a gun wonderland were John Cusack is "The Rabbit" and Wayne Lapierre is playing Elmer Fudd.
There is a marketing opportunity here for Apple. "Crazy people like Wayne LaPierre are all over the Internet, the news and the halls of Congress spouting nonsense. Washington DC is now one of the paranoia capitals of the world. Protect yourself and buy an IPod so you can tune them out."
Oh yeah back to the NRA I haven't been a member for years not because I think there bad but because their leadership is off the mark they are about money just like every other Government type. But Maddow I use to watch your show not because I take you seriously but I found you entertaining your not a news reporter your a comic and a good one but tearing down an organization with millions of members is not the way to make your point and it is not news. Report news ! MSMBC your included in the monkey dance so just because I missed you in the list above doesn't mean your not included. Maybe I should have put you first.
Shooter shooting blanks again. Remember people hit the exclamation point under Boomer, er Shooter's hundreds of screen names and that will collapse his many inane threads.
37 - Spoken like a true third grader.
I have a question: Who is going to protect me from Lapierre and the NRA? Should I buy a gun? OK, that was 2 questions.
THEY DESERVE A VOTE! Personally I think the Dems should be mass producing this slogan on t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc as long the materials are made in America by union workers. Ok, that's another subject. Sorry.
This man has become the epitome of "domestic terrorist."
Just when we are thinking that ol' Wayne is an idiot, he opens his mouth and removes all doubt. How nice to be thinking about this on Valentine's Day!
This guy just wants to sell guns. Because of lax guns laws here in the US, guns from the US end up in Mexico. Oh then we are suppose to buy guns to protect our selves when they come back over the border. What a marketing scheme.
I agree with Tia. The gun manufacturers have the NRA in their pocket. The more guns sold the more money they make without any responsibility to anyone. They stop any reasonable moves to help stop the killings and rake in the money. People listen to this as they listened to weapons of mass destruction in Iran. How disgusting.
And So the same cycle goes round and round, Play the fear game, Gun and ammo sails increase, More money goes to lobbiests, Lobbiests give money to NRA. Find another reason to play the fear game
Wayne LaPierre is extremely good at his job. Can you imagine how much this kind of advertising would have otherwise cost gun manufacturers? And let's face it -- there are a lot of venues that would never accept a gun ad, but will run this story.
LaPierre sounds like a good 'ol boy who is desperately trying to stay relevant in a world where even the NRA membership disagrees with him. Is the NRA shamelessly discrediting LaPierre by handing him whacky talking points... effectively making him a scapegoat for a ridiculous last ditch effort at spreading propaganda?
Shooter get a grip!!! You lost the election, and you are a good example why.Stop crying.
I gave my gun away. I purchased a shot gun from my local fleet store just a week before 12/21/12. Nothing fancy, just a single shot to scare away the intruding zombies who were promised for that day. I never told my partner that I had it, I never even opened the box. I'ts not that I feel that the world is any safer today than it was on Dec 21st, on the contrary, I still feel like we are teetering on the edge of global cataclysm and mayhem. But, I realized that the gun had only weakened me, it allowed me to withdraw from the present chaotic reality, it took away the belief I had that this world is worth saving.
I am happy to be rid of it.
I agree with you One Hundred Percent.My Husband and I own 5 guns ourselves.We keep one in every room in the house.And a Shotgun at the ready.Because even in a State such as Ohio we have at least one Home Invasion every freakin night.And up to 3 robberys at gas stations and One Bank Robbery all in one day or night.How are we expected to feel safe in our own homes.Or even to go to the Grocery store.Someone is always getting robbed in a parking lot.And even when stopped at a RED LIGHT FOR GODS SAKE.We don't have to go to other countrys for WAR.WE HAVE IT RIGHT HERE.The whole united states is nothing but a War Zone.IT'S SICKENING THE WAY WE HAVE TO LIVE IF WE WANT TO LIVE.But we sure don't need a riffle that shoots 100 bullets just to protect ourselves.One Bullet in the right spot will work fine.
The quote that PHX is some kind of kidnapping center was and never has been true. Our PHX Police Dept. had used some creative accounting of stats to acquire extra Federal dollars to combat such incidences. They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and some lost jobs and the Feds are trying to decide if the dollars have to be returned. Leave it to LaPierre to make up @!$%# to scare the country.
But wait! It's not just near the Mexican border. Up here in the Northwest, in the sleepy Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle, a gang of subversive migrant apple pickers revealed their true nefarious nature and surrounded my house in the middle of the night. There were 4, 7, 15 of them. All armed with machetes and rotten apples. It was all I could do to defend myself with my Twitter account and my iPhone. "Damn you, Obama!" I shouted. Actually, I tweeted. "If only you hadn't taken my assault rifles from the underground bunker I built below my 3BR townhouse next to the lake." (Which also stores my stand up paddle board and my roller blades). "I'd have been able to take down these illegal, Muslim, Mexican, al-Qaeda, Asian gang members and their rotten apples with one, hair trigger rain of gunmetal glory." Instead, they made off with my two flat screen TVs, my XBox (WITH my new copy of Halo 4!), my juicer, and the keys to my brand new Nissan Leaf! Where are my 2nd Amendment rights!!
Oh, wait. I'm Canadian. Nevermind.