<![CDATA[Colorado Gun Owners - All Forums]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/ Sun, 19 May 2013 12:24:24 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Places to shoot near Denver?]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1961 Thu, 16 May 2013 16:30:03 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1961
I used to live in Fort Collins and from there we had lots of free, outdoor places to go target shooting, like Pawnee NG and up in the Poudre Canyon (I was always conscientious about picking up my mess, although many others were not), but since I've moved to Denver I haven't hardly had any opportunities to practice and that makes me a sad panda...

Is there anywhere around here that might be similar to those places I used to love so much? Folks from FoCO will know what I'm talking about. I have an aversion to paying fees and dealing with sometimes restrictive range rules...]]>
I used to live in Fort Collins and from there we had lots of free, outdoor places to go target shooting, like Pawnee NG and up in the Poudre Canyon (I was always conscientious about picking up my mess, although many others were not), but since I've moved to Denver I haven't hardly had any opportunities to practice and that makes me a sad panda...

Is there anywhere around here that might be similar to those places I used to love so much? Folks from FoCO will know what I'm talking about. I have an aversion to paying fees and dealing with sometimes restrictive range rules...]]> <![CDATA[Aurora police say they will search bags at marathon.]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1960 Wed, 15 May 2013 18:42:47 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1960 Police: Bags at Colfax Marathon route may be subject to search

Quote:Aurora Police announced Wednesday that anyone carrying a bag within one block of the Colfax Marathon route may be subject to search.

WallbashWallbash]]> Police: Bags at Colfax Marathon route may be subject to search

Quote:Aurora Police announced Wednesday that anyone carrying a bag within one block of the Colfax Marathon route may be subject to search.

WallbashWallbash]]> <![CDATA[Best place to shoot rifles]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1959 Wed, 15 May 2013 16:22:30 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1959
Out of all the various clubs and ranges, where do y'all like for shooting rifles?

I'm not looking for giant ranges for sighting in scopes or anything like that.

All iron sights, just going shootin' for fun.

Anything within a two hour drive of Denver Metro is fair game.

Any charges and what-not appreciated if you know 'em. Even club memberships if that's how you like to roll.

My late father had a membership at a club, and I'm just gathering info on whether it'd be worth doing.]]>
Out of all the various clubs and ranges, where do y'all like for shooting rifles?

I'm not looking for giant ranges for sighting in scopes or anything like that.

All iron sights, just going shootin' for fun.

Anything within a two hour drive of Denver Metro is fair game.

Any charges and what-not appreciated if you know 'em. Even club memberships if that's how you like to roll.

My late father had a membership at a club, and I'm just gathering info on whether it'd be worth doing.]]> <![CDATA[target shooting]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1955 Mon, 13 May 2013 20:17:55 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1955 A farmer with a river bank, anything?]]> A farmer with a river bank, anything?]]> <![CDATA[Newbee]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1953 Mon, 13 May 2013 20:11:39 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1953 <![CDATA[Looking for input on a holster with a holographic sight]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1949 Sun, 12 May 2013 06:40:32 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1949
[Image: pu5u4y9e.jpg]]]>
[Image: pu5u4y9e.jpg]]]> <![CDATA[El Paso CCW Permit Issue backlog]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1948 Sat, 11 May 2013 18:52:25 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1948 <![CDATA[Help with Hunting and Open Space shooting locations?]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1945 Mon, 06 May 2013 06:45:28 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1945
I am new to CO, coming from the south. As you can imagine certain areas of this state are a complete culture shock for me. I have been into guns for maybe 10 years now.

After the ridiculous HB passed, and all of the 'incidents' I became worried about where I was going to shoot. I belong to one shooting club that has outrageous fees, and busy body rangemasters that, while in a very small room pacing back and forth back and forth, sometimes regularly interrupting shooters for whatever arbitrary reason.

I regret the membership. I guess it can be an easy access place to shoot but it in every sense takes the word 'fun' out of it for the most part.

This brings me to my next question which is probably sensitive, I am looking for an open space to shoot where people can bring pretty much whatever they want thats legal, and a perk would be a nice hill for a backstop.

I want to teach my girlfriend to shoot without having every lane next to me full, a range master pacing so much I constantly bump into him when I back up, and also people who know that if you stick your arms out far enough, your casings are jumping the lane and hitting me in the face after bouncing off my wall.

I want the freedom and enjoyment I had when I was in the south of driving into the middle of nowhere(accessible by car, though) and just going to town, while also cleaning up after yourself... though I'm sure people would love certain brass types left behind.

I also want to start hunting here and have no idea where to start. All of this feels incredibly futile at this point and I feel like I'm shoehorned into this metro range FLOODED with new shooters(which is fine) but the constant amount of people and busybody rangemasters just ruins it for me and my girlfriend who is a new shooter.

I realize these are sensitive questions so feel free to PM me or if you're bold post here, not sure if anyone even talks about this stuff on here anymore. I was directed here by a google search looking for exactly what I'm asking about.]]>
I am new to CO, coming from the south. As you can imagine certain areas of this state are a complete culture shock for me. I have been into guns for maybe 10 years now.

After the ridiculous HB passed, and all of the 'incidents' I became worried about where I was going to shoot. I belong to one shooting club that has outrageous fees, and busy body rangemasters that, while in a very small room pacing back and forth back and forth, sometimes regularly interrupting shooters for whatever arbitrary reason.

I regret the membership. I guess it can be an easy access place to shoot but it in every sense takes the word 'fun' out of it for the most part.

This brings me to my next question which is probably sensitive, I am looking for an open space to shoot where people can bring pretty much whatever they want thats legal, and a perk would be a nice hill for a backstop.

I want to teach my girlfriend to shoot without having every lane next to me full, a range master pacing so much I constantly bump into him when I back up, and also people who know that if you stick your arms out far enough, your casings are jumping the lane and hitting me in the face after bouncing off my wall.

I want the freedom and enjoyment I had when I was in the south of driving into the middle of nowhere(accessible by car, though) and just going to town, while also cleaning up after yourself... though I'm sure people would love certain brass types left behind.

I also want to start hunting here and have no idea where to start. All of this feels incredibly futile at this point and I feel like I'm shoehorned into this metro range FLOODED with new shooters(which is fine) but the constant amount of people and busybody rangemasters just ruins it for me and my girlfriend who is a new shooter.

I realize these are sensitive questions so feel free to PM me or if you're bold post here, not sure if anyone even talks about this stuff on here anymore. I was directed here by a google search looking for exactly what I'm asking about.]]> <![CDATA[This college senior has them pegged]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1944 Sun, 05 May 2013 18:30:45 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1944 By Barry Snell, barry.snell@iowastatedaily.com | Posted: Friday, May 3, 2013 12:00 am

Along with bombs and bombers, guns seem to be all the media wants to talk about these days. Death is sexy to our miscreant media, especially when people are killed on purpose. And when that happens, it’s all the newspapers and news stations will print and broadcast, in turn making these events appear worse than they are in reality.
To understand this, one need only look at the difference in coverage between the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, which killed at least 14 confirmed people and injured 200 more at the time of writing this, versus the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, which only killed three and injured a hundred others. Texas was on TV for a day, tops, while we’re still hearing about Boston and will for many weeks to come.
Where the media really didn’t care too much about the Texas incident, once a kid was killed at a race, the Boston bombing is now a foil for everything from gun control to immigration in the wake of Sandy Hook, with both sides of the political spectrum using it against the other. What about Texas, you ask? Nothing but crickets chirping from the mainstream media at the moment. Recent studies have shown that people who consume large amounts of mass media often feel more insecure, are less informed, or can’t distinguish between news and what passes as news, what with all the opinion you’ll find in news today.
But when it comes to something as deadly serious as guns and crime, Americans can’t afford the media hyperbole, misinformation and disinformation.
We have a lot of liberal columnists working for the Daily. As a conservative, I’m fine with that; they’re the ones who apply for the job, and conservatives usually don’t. Free market, baby, deal with it. But many of our liberal columnists are my friends, with whom I have spent time outside of work, too. And they, along with everyone else it seems, have an opinion about guns, as you can see by glancing through the last few weeks of the Daily’s Opinion section.
It’s been an eye-opening experience for me. As assistant opinion editor and friend, my columnists are important to me both professionally and personally. It’s all the more clear to me now after doing this job that people often opine a whole lot about stuff they don’t have any personal experience with or expertise on. Like guns.
Every time a gun issue comes up in conversation around Daily people or during a Daily editorial board meeting, opinion editor Michael Belding almost always tells me, “you should write a column about that!” I hesitate in doing so and have so far resisted the urge mostly; I wrote three gun-related columns back in 2011 and early 2012, and that was enough to brand me the “gun guy” by some folks who use such terms as epithets.
The desire of others for me to write gun columns is reasonable, though, and I understand it. I’m as much of a “gun expert” as you’re likely to find around here, so having me write about guns in the paper is perfectly rational. I won’t bore you with my “gun resume,” but suffice it to say that prior to coming to Iowa State in 2011, I made a living with firearms in one way or another for several years of my life, and have a few pieces of paper laying around that say I know a bit about them, too.
Today, however, I’m going to break my silence on the gun issue and speak out once more — and for the last time. This is my final column for the Iowa State Daily.
No experience necessary
In the gun debate, I’ve discovered that one cannot be expert enough about guns. Indeed, when it comes to the gun issue, opinion rules. There doesn’t seem to be any opportunity for any genuine, honest debate on guns, and even liberals would agree with that. I’ve often wondered about this over the years. Is it because my side of the debate is actually loony? I don’t think so; at least, I think I’m pretty normal. Sure, we’ve got some oddballs we all wish would go away, just like any group does.
But all the pro-gun people I know are normal people too — people so normal that nobody knows they’re gun people until they’re told. In fact, there are so many gun owners that if we are all crazy like some suggest, the daily crime rate in America would look more like our crime rate for the entire decade combined, and CNN would actually have something to report on other than the latest gossip.
That is to say, there’s a hundred million of us, owning a few hundred million guns combined, and we contribute to society peacefully every day. Many of us even literally protect society for a living, or used to.
I’ve come to realize after the Sandy Hook shooting that the reason we can’t have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. Before we even start the conversation, we’re the bad guys and we have to admit it. Without accepting that guns are bad and supplicating themselves to the anti-gunner, the pro-gunner can’t get a word in edgewise, and is quickly reduced to being called a murderer, or a low, immoral and horrible human being.
You might think that’s hyperbole too, but I’ve experienced it personally from people I considered friends until recently. And every day I see it on TV or in the newspapers, from Piers Morgan to the Des Moines Register’s own Donald Kaul, who among others have actually said people like me are stupid, crazy or should be killed ourselves. YouTube is full of examples, and any Google search will result in example after example of gun-owning Americans being lampooned, ridiculed and demonized by the media and citizens somewhere.
Hell, it’s even gotten so bad that a little kid was expelled from school recently for biting a Pop Tart into the vague shape of a handgun during lunch break (it looked more like Idaho to me).
Liberals always make the common plea, “We need to get some experts to solve this problem!” for any public policy issue that comes along, which is a good thing. But when it comes to the gun issue, gun expertise is completely irrelevant to the anti-gunner — people who probably have never fired a gun or even touched one in real life, and whose only experience with guns is what they’ve seen in movies or read about in bastions of (un)balanced, hyper-liberal journalism, like Mother Jones. That a pro-gun person might actually know a lot about their hobby or profession doesn’t stand up against the histrionic cries of the anti-gunner.
How can we “gun people” honestly be expected to come to the table with anti-gunners when anti-gunners are willfully stupid about guns, and openly hate, despise and ridicule those of us who own them? There must first be respect and trust — even just a little — before there can be even the beginnings of legitimate discussion of the issue.
Death by a thousand cuts
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gunners always talk about 90 percent of Americans supporting this gun control measure, or 65 percent supporting that one, as if a majority opinion is what truly matters in America. We don’t trust anti-gun people because you think America is a democracy, when it’s actually a constitutional federal republic. In the American system, the rights of a single individual are what matters and are what our system is designed to protect. The emotional mob does not rule in America.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they keep saying they “respect the Second Amendment” and go on about how they respect the hunting traditions of America. We don’t trust you because you have to be a complete idiot to think the Second Amendment is about hunting. I wish people weren’t so stupid that I have to say this: The Second Amendment is about checking government tyranny. Period. End of story. The founders probably couldn’t have cared less about hunting since, you know, they just got done with that little tiff with England called the Revolutionary War right before they wrote that “little book” called the Constitution.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they lie to us. President Obama directly says he won’t tamper with guns or the Second Amendment, then turns around and pushes Congress to do just that. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they appoint one of the most lying and rabidly (and moronically) anti-gun people in America, Vice President Biden, to head up a “task force” to “solve” the so-called “gun problem,” who in turn talks with anti-gun special interest groups instead of us to complete his task.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they tell us they don’t want to ban guns, only enact what they call “common sense gun laws.” But like a magician using misdirection, they tell everyone else they want to ban every gun everywhere. While some are busy trying to placate us with lies, another anti-gunner somewhere submits a gun ban proposal — proposals that often would automatically make us felons for possession. Felons, for no good reason. And you anti-gunners can roll up your grandfather clauses and stuff them where the sun don’t shine. If it ain’t good enough for our grandchildren in 60 years, it ain’t good enough for us right now.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they make horrifying predictions about how there will be blood in the streets, gunfights on every street corner and America will become the Wild West again if citizens are allowed to carry concealed firearms. We don’t trust anti-gun people because we know that despite the millions of Americans who have carry permits, those who carry guns commit crimes at a much lower rate than people who don’t. We know because we know ourselves and we’re not criminals. We know because concealed carry is now legal nearly everywhere, and guess what? Violent crime continues to go down. What a shocker.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they say gun control is about crime control. Anti-gunners claim that ending crime and “saving children” is why they want to ban so-called “assault weapons.” Yet our very own government says that assault weapons are used in less than two percent of all gun crimes and Department of Justice studies say the last assault weapons ban had little or no effect on crime. Other studies suggest gun control may even make crime worse (one need only look to high crime rates in places where there’s a lot of gun control to see the possible connection).
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because when it comes to their “We need gun control to save the children” argument, many of us can’t understand how an anti-gun liberal can simultaneously be in favor of abortion. Because you know, a ban on abortion would save a child every single time. I’m personally not rabidly against abortion, but the discongruence makes less sense still when the reason abortions are legal is to protect a woman’s individual rights. That’s great, but does the individual rights argument sound familiar? Anti-gunners think that for some bizarre reason, the founding fathers happened to stick a collective right smack dab at the top of a list of individual rights, though. Yeah, because that makes sense.
Truth, treason and the empire of lies
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they are purposely misleading to rile the emotions of the ignorant. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they say more than 30,000 people are killed each year by guns — a fact that is technically true, but the key piece of information withheld is that only a minor fraction of that number is murder; the majority is suicides and accidents. We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know accidents and suicides don’t count in the crime rate, but they’re held against us as if they do.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because suicide is the only human-inflicted leading cause of death in America, and that violent crime has been on the decline for decades. We also know that 10 people die daily in drownings, 87 people die daily by poisoning, more than 20,000 adults die from falls each year, someone dies in a fire every 169 minutes, nearly 31,000 people are killed in car accidents annually and almost 2,000 are stabbed to death. People even kill each other with hammers. Yet fewer than 14,000 people are killed by guns of any kind each year.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because not only is the violent crime rate approaching historic lows, but mass shootings are on the decline too. We don’t trust anti-gun people because they fail to recognize that mass shootings happen where guns are already banned — ridiculous “gun-free zones” which attract homicidal maniacs to perpetrate their mass shootings.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because school shootings have been happening forever, but despite them being on the decline, the media inflates the issue until the perception is that they’re a bigger problem than they really are. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they’re busy riling up the emotions of the ignorant, who in turn direct their ire upon us, demonizing us because we object to the overreaction and focus on the wrong things, like the mentally ill people committing the crimes.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they look down on us for defending the Second Amendment as vigorously as they defend the First Amendment — a fight we too would stand side-by-side with them on otherwise. We don’t trust anti-gunners because someone defending the First Amendment is considered a hero, but a someone defending the Second Amendment is figured down with murderers and other lowlifes. Where the First Amendment has its very own day and week, both near-holy national celebrations beyond reproach, anti-gunners would use the First Amendment to ridicule any equivalent event for the Second Amendment, like they did for a recent local attempt at the University of Iowa.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gun people put us down with dismissals like “just another dumb redneck with a gun.” We are told all over the Internet that we deserve to be in prison for being awful, heartless people; baby-killers and supporters of domestic terrorism, even. We don’t trust anti-gun people because even our own president says people like me are “bitter” and “cling to our guns and religion.” One need only go to any online comments section of any recent gun article in any of the major newspapers to see all this for themselves.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they seek to punish us for crimes we didn’t commit. We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know that the 100 million of us are peaceful, law-abiding citizens who love this country and our society as much as the next liberal. Yet when one previously convicted felon murders someone with a stolen gun five days after his release from prison, or things like the Newtown shooting happen, guns are blamed — and therefore lawful gun owners too, as there is guilt by association, apparently.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because when things like the Boston Marathon bombing happen, everyone correctly blames the bomber, not the bomb. Nobody is calling for bomb control because killing people with bombs is already illegal — just like killing people with guns is illegal too.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they’re fine with guns protecting the money in our banks, our politicians and our celebrities, but they’re against us using guns to protect ourselves, our families, or even our children in schools. Legislative trolls like Dianne Feinstein cry havoc about me protecting my life, while standing comfortably behind armed guards —and the .38 Special revolver she got a California carry permit for. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they tell us our lives aren’t important, or at least are less important than the life of some celebrity like Snooki, who can have all the armed guards her bank account can afford.
A dangerous servant and fearful master
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they completely ignore the fact that true conservatism is about, in part, the preservation of traditions and long-standing principles. We don’t trust anti-gunners because the American Revolution was kicked off by an attempt at gun control when the British marched to Concord to seize the colonists’ muskets and powder. Since the shot heard ‘round the world was fired on Lexington Green, the possession of a firearm has been the mark and symbol of a citizen, distinguishing them from a subject of a monarchy or tyrannical government. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they prefer the post-modern world where anything means anything, and they therefore don’t understand the power of or need for the preservation of traditions — or at least, ones of which they don’t personally approve.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because in a single breath they tell us that the Second Amendment is irrelevant today and should be repealed because semi-automatic weapons didn’t exist when the Bill of Rights was written, then turn around and say the First Amendment protects radio, television, movies, video games, the Internet, domain names, Facebook and Twitter. Carrying liberal logic on the Second Amendment through to the First Amendment, it would only cover the town crier, and hand-operated printing presses producing only books and newspapers, and nothing else. Even anything written with a No. 2 pencil or ballpoint pen would not be included. And those of you belonging to religions that formed after the 1790s? You’re screwed under liberal logic, too.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because, while liberals seek to expand government regulation and services — things that may not be bad or ill-intended on their own — they simultaneously try to curtail the Second Amendment. We don’t trust anti-gun people for this reason because history shows us that every genocide and democide is preceded by expansion of government power and gun control. We don’t trust anti-gunners because here in America, gun control is rooted in slavery and racism, with some of America’s modern anti-gun laws being direct copies of former Nazi laws that banned gun possession for Jews, blacks, gays and other “undesirables.”
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gunners tell us that the police and military are the only people who should have guns (which is a joke in itself), and that we need to give up our own guns and trust the government. We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know that hundreds of millions of people have been killed by their own governments in the last century, and not a single law seeking to ban the government from possessing guns has ever been submitted. Yet when but a few thousand people are killed by civilian criminals, tens of millions of American citizens like myself who did not commit any crimes at all are subjected to gun restrictions and personal persecution at the hands of emotional anti-gun bigots.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gunners insult us for our opposition to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (aka the “ATF”). We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know the ATF is hardly a law enforcement agency but is really a glorified tax collection agency that has abused, ruined the lives of, or murdered dozens of innocent gun owners through overzealous enforcement of gun-related tax and paperwork regulations. Just ask Louis Katona, Patty and Paul Mueller, John Lawmaster, Tuscon Police Lt. Mike Lara or any of the dozens of other victims of criminal ATF agents. Where was the ACLU for all that? And it doesn’t help that President Obama tried to appoint known anti-gunner Andrew Traver to be the ATF director. Check out the ATF’s “Good Ol’ Boys Roundup,” “Project Gunrunner” scandal and their loss of department guns for a little F-Troop entertainment sometime, too.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they always bemoan the NRA, claiming the NRA is the source of all their anti-gun legislation problems. We don’t trust anti-gunners because it never occurs to them that perhaps it’s not the NRA per se that has the power, but the millions of members that belong to it, and the millions more Americans who otherwise support it and its mission. The NRA is probably the largest private organization in America; maybe that has something to do with its influence...? We also don’t trust anti-gunners because they’re too ignorant to understand that the NRA only represents a minority of us anyway.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because while they were crying about the victims of 9/11 or Aurora or Sandy Hook, and thanking God they weren’t there, I and many other gun people like me were crying because we weren’t there, and asked God why we couldn’t have been. Many of us wish we were on one of the 9/11 airplanes, and not because we have a death wish but because we have a life wish. Because when we sit in silence and the world’s distractions fall away, the thought creeps in: Could I have made a difference?
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because I and many of us are what they call “sheepdogs” and we’re proud of that. Yet anti-gunners make fun of us, calling us “cowboys” and “wannabes” for it. Wanting to save lives and being willing to sacrifice one’s own to do it used to be considered a virtue in this country. Anti-gunners think they have the moral outrage, but the moral outrage is ours. I have never expressed any of these feelings openly to anyone because they are private and deeply personal. Screw you for demeaning us and motivating me to speak them.
Do unto others
No, anti-gunners, we don’t trust you. And you’ve given us no reason to, either. We gun owners obey the law each and every day, same as you. We defend your nation, protect your communities, teach your children, take care of you when you’re sick, defend you when you go to court or prosecute those who do you wrong. We cook and serve your food, haul and deliver your goods, construct your homes, unclog your sewers, make your electricity, and build or fix your cars.
We are everywhere and all around you, and we exist with you peacefully. You are our friends, neighbors and countrymen, and we are these things proudly. We mourn with you when radicals crash airplanes into our buildings, when hurricanes destroy the lives of our people, or when the criminal and mentally ill kill dozens of our school children. We cheer with you when USA wins the gold medal, when terrorists like Bin Laden are brought to justice, or when we land a machine built by American hands on Mars.
So what more can we do to earn your trust, your love and your acceptance other than surrender our rights, bow down to you and take your non-stop attacks?
Anti-gunners label people like me “gun nuts” even though we're anything but nutty. Our enjoyment of firearms doesn’t define us; it is but a single value and right we enjoy and cherish, among many other rights and values we enjoy and cherish — including the very same ones anti-gunners do too — like the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights.
No, anti-gunners are absolutely right: There can be no rational debate on this issue anymore. Anti-gunners don’t understand guns, they don’t understand crime, they don’t understand American history and traditions, they don’t understand gun owners and don’t care to understand us, and they reduce people like me to a debasing label or a number they’ve got no clue about.
Anti-gunners reject our passions, our traditions, our knowledge, our experiences, our beliefs, our wisdom, our rights. Anti-gunners reject our very individuality by reducing us to labels, stereotypes and false or distorted statistics. Screw you for destroying that individuality and denying our humanity.
I am proudly one of many: a caring, friendly, loyal and loving human being. I am an educated and intelligent person, and while I may not be the best-looking guy, friends tell me I have a great personality (yay?). Perhaps more importantly though, I am a proud citizen of this country, and I’d perform any sacrifice for others so that they may not themselves have to sacrifice.
And unlike most anti-gunners, it seems, I have served my community and nation in various roles throughout the years — roles that, ironically, often entailed guns. Where I was once given a uniform and a gun, and trusted with it to ensure the safety and security of others, I am now a pariah among many of the very people I sacrificed for. I am sadly one of many here, too. What a terrible, hurtful insult and betrayal!
An anti-gunner reads a book though, or sees a documentary on TV — or perhaps worst of all, gets a degree — and suddenly they have the almighty authority and expertise to tell us how we ought to live our lives, replying to our objections to their onslaught by throwing pictures of dead kids in our faces and commanding us to shut up, because we’re just a bunch of stupid radicals and liberals alone know what’s best for America.
You anti-gunners out there will lead us down a path you do not want to go down. Your lack of care and understanding of those who abide by America’s oldest and deepest-rooted tradition will cause a social rift in this country of the likes we have never seen in America’s young history. Your lack of understanding chances causing a civil war — a civil war that will be far worse, more acrimonious, more prolonged and more deadly than the last one.
Anti-gunners may think the military could prevent such a thing — an argument often used against us pro-gunners — but with only a few million people in the military, and with the United States containing 300 million citizens spread across nearly four million square miles, many of whom are themselves veterans, well, military occupation of this country is impossible. It doesn’t help that most street cops (opposed to their politician bosses) are pro-gun, too. And what happens when the civilian industries that support the military stop producing the supplies our military needs?
The rift is already beginning. We must mend fences...Now.
Sleeping dragons and terrible resolve
I do not want to live through a war in my own backyard. I do not want our children to grow up in such an America, either. So anti-gunners: Please stop, I beg you. See the writing on the wall before it’s too late.
Yes, there is a terrible crime problem, and yes, that problem sometimes involves guns — but it is the perpetrator that is the problem, not the instrument. Yes, there is a great divide between liberals and conservatives on the issue of guns. And while I will be the very first person to criticize the Republican Party on its many and frequent mistakes, and even stand with my democratic friends in my disfavor of those things, on the gun issue it is not the conservatives who are mostly in the wrong this time.
We want the crime and killings to stop as much as you do, so to my fellow citizens who are anti-gun I say: So long as you deny our humanity, so long as you malign our dignity, intelligence and wisdom, so long as you seek to shade us under a cloud of evil that we do not partake in or support, so long as you tell us that because we own guns we are terrible people, you will prove yourselves absolutely right in that we won’t come to the table to talk with you.
And there will be no hope for resolution but through victory by force initiated by one side or the other, God help us, for we will not plow for those who didn’t beat their swords into plowshares.
Barry Snell is a senior in history and political science from Muscatine, Iowa.]]> By Barry Snell, barry.snell@iowastatedaily.com | Posted: Friday, May 3, 2013 12:00 am

Along with bombs and bombers, guns seem to be all the media wants to talk about these days. Death is sexy to our miscreant media, especially when people are killed on purpose. And when that happens, it’s all the newspapers and news stations will print and broadcast, in turn making these events appear worse than they are in reality.
To understand this, one need only look at the difference in coverage between the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, which killed at least 14 confirmed people and injured 200 more at the time of writing this, versus the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, which only killed three and injured a hundred others. Texas was on TV for a day, tops, while we’re still hearing about Boston and will for many weeks to come.
Where the media really didn’t care too much about the Texas incident, once a kid was killed at a race, the Boston bombing is now a foil for everything from gun control to immigration in the wake of Sandy Hook, with both sides of the political spectrum using it against the other. What about Texas, you ask? Nothing but crickets chirping from the mainstream media at the moment. Recent studies have shown that people who consume large amounts of mass media often feel more insecure, are less informed, or can’t distinguish between news and what passes as news, what with all the opinion you’ll find in news today.
But when it comes to something as deadly serious as guns and crime, Americans can’t afford the media hyperbole, misinformation and disinformation.
We have a lot of liberal columnists working for the Daily. As a conservative, I’m fine with that; they’re the ones who apply for the job, and conservatives usually don’t. Free market, baby, deal with it. But many of our liberal columnists are my friends, with whom I have spent time outside of work, too. And they, along with everyone else it seems, have an opinion about guns, as you can see by glancing through the last few weeks of the Daily’s Opinion section.
It’s been an eye-opening experience for me. As assistant opinion editor and friend, my columnists are important to me both professionally and personally. It’s all the more clear to me now after doing this job that people often opine a whole lot about stuff they don’t have any personal experience with or expertise on. Like guns.
Every time a gun issue comes up in conversation around Daily people or during a Daily editorial board meeting, opinion editor Michael Belding almost always tells me, “you should write a column about that!” I hesitate in doing so and have so far resisted the urge mostly; I wrote three gun-related columns back in 2011 and early 2012, and that was enough to brand me the “gun guy” by some folks who use such terms as epithets.
The desire of others for me to write gun columns is reasonable, though, and I understand it. I’m as much of a “gun expert” as you’re likely to find around here, so having me write about guns in the paper is perfectly rational. I won’t bore you with my “gun resume,” but suffice it to say that prior to coming to Iowa State in 2011, I made a living with firearms in one way or another for several years of my life, and have a few pieces of paper laying around that say I know a bit about them, too.
Today, however, I’m going to break my silence on the gun issue and speak out once more — and for the last time. This is my final column for the Iowa State Daily.
No experience necessary
In the gun debate, I’ve discovered that one cannot be expert enough about guns. Indeed, when it comes to the gun issue, opinion rules. There doesn’t seem to be any opportunity for any genuine, honest debate on guns, and even liberals would agree with that. I’ve often wondered about this over the years. Is it because my side of the debate is actually loony? I don’t think so; at least, I think I’m pretty normal. Sure, we’ve got some oddballs we all wish would go away, just like any group does.
But all the pro-gun people I know are normal people too — people so normal that nobody knows they’re gun people until they’re told. In fact, there are so many gun owners that if we are all crazy like some suggest, the daily crime rate in America would look more like our crime rate for the entire decade combined, and CNN would actually have something to report on other than the latest gossip.
That is to say, there’s a hundred million of us, owning a few hundred million guns combined, and we contribute to society peacefully every day. Many of us even literally protect society for a living, or used to.
I’ve come to realize after the Sandy Hook shooting that the reason we can’t have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. Before we even start the conversation, we’re the bad guys and we have to admit it. Without accepting that guns are bad and supplicating themselves to the anti-gunner, the pro-gunner can’t get a word in edgewise, and is quickly reduced to being called a murderer, or a low, immoral and horrible human being.
You might think that’s hyperbole too, but I’ve experienced it personally from people I considered friends until recently. And every day I see it on TV or in the newspapers, from Piers Morgan to the Des Moines Register’s own Donald Kaul, who among others have actually said people like me are stupid, crazy or should be killed ourselves. YouTube is full of examples, and any Google search will result in example after example of gun-owning Americans being lampooned, ridiculed and demonized by the media and citizens somewhere.
Hell, it’s even gotten so bad that a little kid was expelled from school recently for biting a Pop Tart into the vague shape of a handgun during lunch break (it looked more like Idaho to me).
Liberals always make the common plea, “We need to get some experts to solve this problem!” for any public policy issue that comes along, which is a good thing. But when it comes to the gun issue, gun expertise is completely irrelevant to the anti-gunner — people who probably have never fired a gun or even touched one in real life, and whose only experience with guns is what they’ve seen in movies or read about in bastions of (un)balanced, hyper-liberal journalism, like Mother Jones. That a pro-gun person might actually know a lot about their hobby or profession doesn’t stand up against the histrionic cries of the anti-gunner.
How can we “gun people” honestly be expected to come to the table with anti-gunners when anti-gunners are willfully stupid about guns, and openly hate, despise and ridicule those of us who own them? There must first be respect and trust — even just a little — before there can be even the beginnings of legitimate discussion of the issue.
Death by a thousand cuts
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gunners always talk about 90 percent of Americans supporting this gun control measure, or 65 percent supporting that one, as if a majority opinion is what truly matters in America. We don’t trust anti-gun people because you think America is a democracy, when it’s actually a constitutional federal republic. In the American system, the rights of a single individual are what matters and are what our system is designed to protect. The emotional mob does not rule in America.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they keep saying they “respect the Second Amendment” and go on about how they respect the hunting traditions of America. We don’t trust you because you have to be a complete idiot to think the Second Amendment is about hunting. I wish people weren’t so stupid that I have to say this: The Second Amendment is about checking government tyranny. Period. End of story. The founders probably couldn’t have cared less about hunting since, you know, they just got done with that little tiff with England called the Revolutionary War right before they wrote that “little book” called the Constitution.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they lie to us. President Obama directly says he won’t tamper with guns or the Second Amendment, then turns around and pushes Congress to do just that. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they appoint one of the most lying and rabidly (and moronically) anti-gun people in America, Vice President Biden, to head up a “task force” to “solve” the so-called “gun problem,” who in turn talks with anti-gun special interest groups instead of us to complete his task.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they tell us they don’t want to ban guns, only enact what they call “common sense gun laws.” But like a magician using misdirection, they tell everyone else they want to ban every gun everywhere. While some are busy trying to placate us with lies, another anti-gunner somewhere submits a gun ban proposal — proposals that often would automatically make us felons for possession. Felons, for no good reason. And you anti-gunners can roll up your grandfather clauses and stuff them where the sun don’t shine. If it ain’t good enough for our grandchildren in 60 years, it ain’t good enough for us right now.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they make horrifying predictions about how there will be blood in the streets, gunfights on every street corner and America will become the Wild West again if citizens are allowed to carry concealed firearms. We don’t trust anti-gun people because we know that despite the millions of Americans who have carry permits, those who carry guns commit crimes at a much lower rate than people who don’t. We know because we know ourselves and we’re not criminals. We know because concealed carry is now legal nearly everywhere, and guess what? Violent crime continues to go down. What a shocker.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they say gun control is about crime control. Anti-gunners claim that ending crime and “saving children” is why they want to ban so-called “assault weapons.” Yet our very own government says that assault weapons are used in less than two percent of all gun crimes and Department of Justice studies say the last assault weapons ban had little or no effect on crime. Other studies suggest gun control may even make crime worse (one need only look to high crime rates in places where there’s a lot of gun control to see the possible connection).
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because when it comes to their “We need gun control to save the children” argument, many of us can’t understand how an anti-gun liberal can simultaneously be in favor of abortion. Because you know, a ban on abortion would save a child every single time. I’m personally not rabidly against abortion, but the discongruence makes less sense still when the reason abortions are legal is to protect a woman’s individual rights. That’s great, but does the individual rights argument sound familiar? Anti-gunners think that for some bizarre reason, the founding fathers happened to stick a collective right smack dab at the top of a list of individual rights, though. Yeah, because that makes sense.
Truth, treason and the empire of lies
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they are purposely misleading to rile the emotions of the ignorant. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they say more than 30,000 people are killed each year by guns — a fact that is technically true, but the key piece of information withheld is that only a minor fraction of that number is murder; the majority is suicides and accidents. We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know accidents and suicides don’t count in the crime rate, but they’re held against us as if they do.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because suicide is the only human-inflicted leading cause of death in America, and that violent crime has been on the decline for decades. We also know that 10 people die daily in drownings, 87 people die daily by poisoning, more than 20,000 adults die from falls each year, someone dies in a fire every 169 minutes, nearly 31,000 people are killed in car accidents annually and almost 2,000 are stabbed to death. People even kill each other with hammers. Yet fewer than 14,000 people are killed by guns of any kind each year.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because not only is the violent crime rate approaching historic lows, but mass shootings are on the decline too. We don’t trust anti-gun people because they fail to recognize that mass shootings happen where guns are already banned — ridiculous “gun-free zones” which attract homicidal maniacs to perpetrate their mass shootings.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because school shootings have been happening forever, but despite them being on the decline, the media inflates the issue until the perception is that they’re a bigger problem than they really are. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they’re busy riling up the emotions of the ignorant, who in turn direct their ire upon us, demonizing us because we object to the overreaction and focus on the wrong things, like the mentally ill people committing the crimes.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they look down on us for defending the Second Amendment as vigorously as they defend the First Amendment — a fight we too would stand side-by-side with them on otherwise. We don’t trust anti-gunners because someone defending the First Amendment is considered a hero, but a someone defending the Second Amendment is figured down with murderers and other lowlifes. Where the First Amendment has its very own day and week, both near-holy national celebrations beyond reproach, anti-gunners would use the First Amendment to ridicule any equivalent event for the Second Amendment, like they did for a recent local attempt at the University of Iowa.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gun people put us down with dismissals like “just another dumb redneck with a gun.” We are told all over the Internet that we deserve to be in prison for being awful, heartless people; baby-killers and supporters of domestic terrorism, even. We don’t trust anti-gun people because even our own president says people like me are “bitter” and “cling to our guns and religion.” One need only go to any online comments section of any recent gun article in any of the major newspapers to see all this for themselves.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they seek to punish us for crimes we didn’t commit. We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know that the 100 million of us are peaceful, law-abiding citizens who love this country and our society as much as the next liberal. Yet when one previously convicted felon murders someone with a stolen gun five days after his release from prison, or things like the Newtown shooting happen, guns are blamed — and therefore lawful gun owners too, as there is guilt by association, apparently.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because when things like the Boston Marathon bombing happen, everyone correctly blames the bomber, not the bomb. Nobody is calling for bomb control because killing people with bombs is already illegal — just like killing people with guns is illegal too.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they’re fine with guns protecting the money in our banks, our politicians and our celebrities, but they’re against us using guns to protect ourselves, our families, or even our children in schools. Legislative trolls like Dianne Feinstein cry havoc about me protecting my life, while standing comfortably behind armed guards —and the .38 Special revolver she got a California carry permit for. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they tell us our lives aren’t important, or at least are less important than the life of some celebrity like Snooki, who can have all the armed guards her bank account can afford.
A dangerous servant and fearful master
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they completely ignore the fact that true conservatism is about, in part, the preservation of traditions and long-standing principles. We don’t trust anti-gunners because the American Revolution was kicked off by an attempt at gun control when the British marched to Concord to seize the colonists’ muskets and powder. Since the shot heard ‘round the world was fired on Lexington Green, the possession of a firearm has been the mark and symbol of a citizen, distinguishing them from a subject of a monarchy or tyrannical government. We don’t trust anti-gunners because they prefer the post-modern world where anything means anything, and they therefore don’t understand the power of or need for the preservation of traditions — or at least, ones of which they don’t personally approve.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because in a single breath they tell us that the Second Amendment is irrelevant today and should be repealed because semi-automatic weapons didn’t exist when the Bill of Rights was written, then turn around and say the First Amendment protects radio, television, movies, video games, the Internet, domain names, Facebook and Twitter. Carrying liberal logic on the Second Amendment through to the First Amendment, it would only cover the town crier, and hand-operated printing presses producing only books and newspapers, and nothing else. Even anything written with a No. 2 pencil or ballpoint pen would not be included. And those of you belonging to religions that formed after the 1790s? You’re screwed under liberal logic, too.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because, while liberals seek to expand government regulation and services — things that may not be bad or ill-intended on their own — they simultaneously try to curtail the Second Amendment. We don’t trust anti-gun people for this reason because history shows us that every genocide and democide is preceded by expansion of government power and gun control. We don’t trust anti-gunners because here in America, gun control is rooted in slavery and racism, with some of America’s modern anti-gun laws being direct copies of former Nazi laws that banned gun possession for Jews, blacks, gays and other “undesirables.”
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gunners tell us that the police and military are the only people who should have guns (which is a joke in itself), and that we need to give up our own guns and trust the government. We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know that hundreds of millions of people have been killed by their own governments in the last century, and not a single law seeking to ban the government from possessing guns has ever been submitted. Yet when but a few thousand people are killed by civilian criminals, tens of millions of American citizens like myself who did not commit any crimes at all are subjected to gun restrictions and personal persecution at the hands of emotional anti-gun bigots.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because anti-gunners insult us for our opposition to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (aka the “ATF”). We don’t trust anti-gunners because we know the ATF is hardly a law enforcement agency but is really a glorified tax collection agency that has abused, ruined the lives of, or murdered dozens of innocent gun owners through overzealous enforcement of gun-related tax and paperwork regulations. Just ask Louis Katona, Patty and Paul Mueller, John Lawmaster, Tuscon Police Lt. Mike Lara or any of the dozens of other victims of criminal ATF agents. Where was the ACLU for all that? And it doesn’t help that President Obama tried to appoint known anti-gunner Andrew Traver to be the ATF director. Check out the ATF’s “Good Ol’ Boys Roundup,” “Project Gunrunner” scandal and their loss of department guns for a little F-Troop entertainment sometime, too.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they always bemoan the NRA, claiming the NRA is the source of all their anti-gun legislation problems. We don’t trust anti-gunners because it never occurs to them that perhaps it’s not the NRA per se that has the power, but the millions of members that belong to it, and the millions more Americans who otherwise support it and its mission. The NRA is probably the largest private organization in America; maybe that has something to do with its influence...? We also don’t trust anti-gunners because they’re too ignorant to understand that the NRA only represents a minority of us anyway.
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because while they were crying about the victims of 9/11 or Aurora or Sandy Hook, and thanking God they weren’t there, I and many other gun people like me were crying because we weren’t there, and asked God why we couldn’t have been. Many of us wish we were on one of the 9/11 airplanes, and not because we have a death wish but because we have a life wish. Because when we sit in silence and the world’s distractions fall away, the thought creeps in: Could I have made a difference?
Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because I and many of us are what they call “sheepdogs” and we’re proud of that. Yet anti-gunners make fun of us, calling us “cowboys” and “wannabes” for it. Wanting to save lives and being willing to sacrifice one’s own to do it used to be considered a virtue in this country. Anti-gunners think they have the moral outrage, but the moral outrage is ours. I have never expressed any of these feelings openly to anyone because they are private and deeply personal. Screw you for demeaning us and motivating me to speak them.
Do unto others
No, anti-gunners, we don’t trust you. And you’ve given us no reason to, either. We gun owners obey the law each and every day, same as you. We defend your nation, protect your communities, teach your children, take care of you when you’re sick, defend you when you go to court or prosecute those who do you wrong. We cook and serve your food, haul and deliver your goods, construct your homes, unclog your sewers, make your electricity, and build or fix your cars.
We are everywhere and all around you, and we exist with you peacefully. You are our friends, neighbors and countrymen, and we are these things proudly. We mourn with you when radicals crash airplanes into our buildings, when hurricanes destroy the lives of our people, or when the criminal and mentally ill kill dozens of our school children. We cheer with you when USA wins the gold medal, when terrorists like Bin Laden are brought to justice, or when we land a machine built by American hands on Mars.
So what more can we do to earn your trust, your love and your acceptance other than surrender our rights, bow down to you and take your non-stop attacks?
Anti-gunners label people like me “gun nuts” even though we're anything but nutty. Our enjoyment of firearms doesn’t define us; it is but a single value and right we enjoy and cherish, among many other rights and values we enjoy and cherish — including the very same ones anti-gunners do too — like the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights.
No, anti-gunners are absolutely right: There can be no rational debate on this issue anymore. Anti-gunners don’t understand guns, they don’t understand crime, they don’t understand American history and traditions, they don’t understand gun owners and don’t care to understand us, and they reduce people like me to a debasing label or a number they’ve got no clue about.
Anti-gunners reject our passions, our traditions, our knowledge, our experiences, our beliefs, our wisdom, our rights. Anti-gunners reject our very individuality by reducing us to labels, stereotypes and false or distorted statistics. Screw you for destroying that individuality and denying our humanity.
I am proudly one of many: a caring, friendly, loyal and loving human being. I am an educated and intelligent person, and while I may not be the best-looking guy, friends tell me I have a great personality (yay?). Perhaps more importantly though, I am a proud citizen of this country, and I’d perform any sacrifice for others so that they may not themselves have to sacrifice.
And unlike most anti-gunners, it seems, I have served my community and nation in various roles throughout the years — roles that, ironically, often entailed guns. Where I was once given a uniform and a gun, and trusted with it to ensure the safety and security of others, I am now a pariah among many of the very people I sacrificed for. I am sadly one of many here, too. What a terrible, hurtful insult and betrayal!
An anti-gunner reads a book though, or sees a documentary on TV — or perhaps worst of all, gets a degree — and suddenly they have the almighty authority and expertise to tell us how we ought to live our lives, replying to our objections to their onslaught by throwing pictures of dead kids in our faces and commanding us to shut up, because we’re just a bunch of stupid radicals and liberals alone know what’s best for America.
You anti-gunners out there will lead us down a path you do not want to go down. Your lack of care and understanding of those who abide by America’s oldest and deepest-rooted tradition will cause a social rift in this country of the likes we have never seen in America’s young history. Your lack of understanding chances causing a civil war — a civil war that will be far worse, more acrimonious, more prolonged and more deadly than the last one.
Anti-gunners may think the military could prevent such a thing — an argument often used against us pro-gunners — but with only a few million people in the military, and with the United States containing 300 million citizens spread across nearly four million square miles, many of whom are themselves veterans, well, military occupation of this country is impossible. It doesn’t help that most street cops (opposed to their politician bosses) are pro-gun, too. And what happens when the civilian industries that support the military stop producing the supplies our military needs?
The rift is already beginning. We must mend fences...Now.
Sleeping dragons and terrible resolve
I do not want to live through a war in my own backyard. I do not want our children to grow up in such an America, either. So anti-gunners: Please stop, I beg you. See the writing on the wall before it’s too late.
Yes, there is a terrible crime problem, and yes, that problem sometimes involves guns — but it is the perpetrator that is the problem, not the instrument. Yes, there is a great divide between liberals and conservatives on the issue of guns. And while I will be the very first person to criticize the Republican Party on its many and frequent mistakes, and even stand with my democratic friends in my disfavor of those things, on the gun issue it is not the conservatives who are mostly in the wrong this time.
We want the crime and killings to stop as much as you do, so to my fellow citizens who are anti-gun I say: So long as you deny our humanity, so long as you malign our dignity, intelligence and wisdom, so long as you seek to shade us under a cloud of evil that we do not partake in or support, so long as you tell us that because we own guns we are terrible people, you will prove yourselves absolutely right in that we won’t come to the table to talk with you.
And there will be no hope for resolution but through victory by force initiated by one side or the other, God help us, for we will not plow for those who didn’t beat their swords into plowshares.
Barry Snell is a senior in history and political science from Muscatine, Iowa.]]> <![CDATA[Canon City Parade 5/4/2013]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1943 Sun, 05 May 2013 15:21:04 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1943 Look at the link at the top Thanks for those of you that showed up, to give your support...]]> Look at the link at the top Thanks for those of you that showed up, to give your support...]]> <![CDATA[And now something that will make you want to vomit]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1942 Sun, 05 May 2013 14:15:05 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1942 : WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES FROM KIDNAPPERS AT THE NRA
I’m talking about the real terrorist threat here in America: the National Rifle Association
BY DAVE PERRY, Aurora Sentinel editor
04/25/13 7:39 AM :: LAST UPDATED: 04/25/13 7:39 AM

1162 353 23 1874
I have seen the light. After all these years, I now agree that it’s fruitless to give the benefit of the doubt to people who are so obviously corrupt, so clearly malevolent, so bent on hurting innocent people for their own sick gain.

No more due process in the clear-cut case of insidious terrorism. When the facts are so clearly before all Americans, for the whole world to see, why bother with this country’s odious and cumbersome system of justice? Send the guilty monsters directly to Guantanamo Bay for all eternity and let them rot in their own mental squalor.

No, no, no. Not the wannabe sick kid who blew up the Boston marathon or the freak that’s mailing ricin-laced letters to the president. I’m talking about the real terrorist threat here in America: the National Rifle Association.

I’m not laughing. What the NRA did last week was no laughing matter. Aurora is a community that knows only too well the downside of prolific guns, of military weapons in the hands of crazy people, of a nation that’s gone so far off base when it comes to firearm regulations that common sense is beyond our reach.

If you don’t read the thousands of newspapers in this country that came out with their own editorial guns a’blazing last week after a minority of craven, lying, sniveling, cowardly U.S. senators cheated the very premise of American government to back their masters at the NRA, let me offer you a few choice excerpts:

“But now, the cowards defied the will of most Americans and helped the hardliners and hypocrites prevail. They allowed themselves to be cowed into submission by a loud but very unrepresentative minority of NRA members who threatened retribution against anyone who voted in favor of the bill.”

Just another liberal rag in a liberal wasteland toeing the liberal line? No, that was the Dallas Morning News.

“It would be shameful, except too many of our politicians have no shame. Again, the gun bill showed that … Nobody wants the mentally ill having a gun. Nobody, that is, except many of your senators. They just don’t care.”

Barefoot hippies in Boulder? No. That was the Florida Sun Sentinel in Orlando.

“The U.S. Senate’s handling of a gun safety package was cowardly and contemptible … What kind of a governing body responds to a national crisis by refusing to even discuss it openly and publicly?”

I agree with that, but it was written by the Kansas City Star. Hundreds of editorials across the country used the same language, making it clear that the NRA had bullied a handful of low-life senators who are so cowardly, so corrupt that they would knowingly lie and distort the issue in a painfully obvious attempt to cover their political tracts and back ends. This, this is on par with Nixon’s nastiness. This is unforgiveable.

And not only did the liars at the NRA cheat the 90 percent of Americans wanting expanded gun registration out of what they want, by cheating and extorting and misleading, they celebrated their successful deceit when they “won.”

Mission accomplished. You want to know who those people really are? Well some people estimate that 1 in 4 Americans now own a gun. That would be about 76 million people. How many “belong” to the NRA? About 4.5 million. You know how many Americans don’t answer to the NRA goons? 309 million Americans. You know who dropped his membership to the NRA? George W. Bush after NRA freaks bought paid ads calling the government “jack-booted thugs.”

By using the weapon of choice for all terrorist organizations, extortion, the NRA has forced the action of about 45 ineffectual U.S. senators, a clear act of terrorism and treason. And Wayne LaPierre and his arrogant cronies are laughing about it. They’re laughing at 9 out of 10 of you and your insistence that Congress do something reasonable to stop the insanity in this country.

It’s time for the majority of Americans to fight the battle cowards in the Senate are too gutless to handle. If you have a relationship with the terrorists at the NRA, end it. Insist your political heroes do the same and turn back NRA blood money from gun makers. If you really stand behind the spirit of the American Constitution, push back against the cancerous threat that seeks to undermine it for the sake of U.S. gun makers.

Reach Editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com

This entry was posted in Columnists, Opinion, z oped and tagged american government, aurora batman movie massacre shootings, dallas morning news, gun bill, hypocrites, national rifle association. Bookmark the permalink.]]> : WE CAN ONLY SAVE OURSELVES FROM KIDNAPPERS AT THE NRA
I’m talking about the real terrorist threat here in America: the National Rifle Association
BY DAVE PERRY, Aurora Sentinel editor
04/25/13 7:39 AM :: LAST UPDATED: 04/25/13 7:39 AM

1162 353 23 1874
I have seen the light. After all these years, I now agree that it’s fruitless to give the benefit of the doubt to people who are so obviously corrupt, so clearly malevolent, so bent on hurting innocent people for their own sick gain.

No more due process in the clear-cut case of insidious terrorism. When the facts are so clearly before all Americans, for the whole world to see, why bother with this country’s odious and cumbersome system of justice? Send the guilty monsters directly to Guantanamo Bay for all eternity and let them rot in their own mental squalor.

No, no, no. Not the wannabe sick kid who blew up the Boston marathon or the freak that’s mailing ricin-laced letters to the president. I’m talking about the real terrorist threat here in America: the National Rifle Association.

I’m not laughing. What the NRA did last week was no laughing matter. Aurora is a community that knows only too well the downside of prolific guns, of military weapons in the hands of crazy people, of a nation that’s gone so far off base when it comes to firearm regulations that common sense is beyond our reach.

If you don’t read the thousands of newspapers in this country that came out with their own editorial guns a’blazing last week after a minority of craven, lying, sniveling, cowardly U.S. senators cheated the very premise of American government to back their masters at the NRA, let me offer you a few choice excerpts:

“But now, the cowards defied the will of most Americans and helped the hardliners and hypocrites prevail. They allowed themselves to be cowed into submission by a loud but very unrepresentative minority of NRA members who threatened retribution against anyone who voted in favor of the bill.”

Just another liberal rag in a liberal wasteland toeing the liberal line? No, that was the Dallas Morning News.

“It would be shameful, except too many of our politicians have no shame. Again, the gun bill showed that … Nobody wants the mentally ill having a gun. Nobody, that is, except many of your senators. They just don’t care.”

Barefoot hippies in Boulder? No. That was the Florida Sun Sentinel in Orlando.

“The U.S. Senate’s handling of a gun safety package was cowardly and contemptible … What kind of a governing body responds to a national crisis by refusing to even discuss it openly and publicly?”

I agree with that, but it was written by the Kansas City Star. Hundreds of editorials across the country used the same language, making it clear that the NRA had bullied a handful of low-life senators who are so cowardly, so corrupt that they would knowingly lie and distort the issue in a painfully obvious attempt to cover their political tracts and back ends. This, this is on par with Nixon’s nastiness. This is unforgiveable.

And not only did the liars at the NRA cheat the 90 percent of Americans wanting expanded gun registration out of what they want, by cheating and extorting and misleading, they celebrated their successful deceit when they “won.”

Mission accomplished. You want to know who those people really are? Well some people estimate that 1 in 4 Americans now own a gun. That would be about 76 million people. How many “belong” to the NRA? About 4.5 million. You know how many Americans don’t answer to the NRA goons? 309 million Americans. You know who dropped his membership to the NRA? George W. Bush after NRA freaks bought paid ads calling the government “jack-booted thugs.”

By using the weapon of choice for all terrorist organizations, extortion, the NRA has forced the action of about 45 ineffectual U.S. senators, a clear act of terrorism and treason. And Wayne LaPierre and his arrogant cronies are laughing about it. They’re laughing at 9 out of 10 of you and your insistence that Congress do something reasonable to stop the insanity in this country.

It’s time for the majority of Americans to fight the battle cowards in the Senate are too gutless to handle. If you have a relationship with the terrorists at the NRA, end it. Insist your political heroes do the same and turn back NRA blood money from gun makers. If you really stand behind the spirit of the American Constitution, push back against the cancerous threat that seeks to undermine it for the sake of U.S. gun makers.

Reach Editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com

This entry was posted in Columnists, Opinion, z oped and tagged american government, aurora batman movie massacre shootings, dallas morning news, gun bill, hypocrites, national rifle association. Bookmark the permalink.]]> <![CDATA[Archuleta county passes bill nullifying new Colorado gun law]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1938 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:31:38 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1938 <![CDATA[Cop carries 145 rounds.]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1937 Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:08:58 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1937 http://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/a...on-the-job

I rarely carry less than 40 rounds. I always get irritated by the people that make statements like, "if I need more than 8 rounds I'm dead anyway." Well if you need more than 8 rounds and you don't have them then yes, you probably are dead. I've considered two extra mags on the belt to be sufficient middle ground between to much an to little. Now I'm not so sure.]]> http://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/a...on-the-job

I rarely carry less than 40 rounds. I always get irritated by the people that make statements like, "if I need more than 8 rounds I'm dead anyway." Well if you need more than 8 rounds and you don't have them then yes, you probably are dead. I've considered two extra mags on the belt to be sufficient middle ground between to much an to little. Now I'm not so sure.]]> <![CDATA["**** Act of 1902"]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1935 Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:09:50 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1935
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Act_of_1903

http://www.knowthelies.com/?q=node/3949

http://www.webenews.com/dick_act_of_1902.htm

http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/dickact.asp


There are more links, but you can look it up yourself, some sites seem in favor of it and others seem against, but if we have something that we can lean on when fighting against un-constitutional "laws" then we should use whatever we can!!


*LOL, the site "censured" my post, it is the DI*K act!!]]>
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Act_of_1903

http://www.knowthelies.com/?q=node/3949

http://www.webenews.com/dick_act_of_1902.htm

http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/dickact.asp


There are more links, but you can look it up yourself, some sites seem in favor of it and others seem against, but if we have something that we can lean on when fighting against un-constitutional "laws" then we should use whatever we can!!


*LOL, the site "censured" my post, it is the DI*K act!!]]> <![CDATA[Hello from the hoosier state]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1934 Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:19:15 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1934 <![CDATA[Tom Knapp R. I . P.]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1933 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:04:51 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1933 <![CDATA[Do Not Have a Home]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1931 Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:05:37 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1931
This is for Denver Metro folks, I am trying to start a Denver Metro Tac group.

If you think, you would like to be part of this group, give a yell. If you have not been to http://www.wramsite.com check it out. pm me with your email and name, will add to meetup list, we get get enough names. Ar15 type weapon or sniper rifle and sidearm. Will be required.
As always, any questions. Give a yell]]>
This is for Denver Metro folks, I am trying to start a Denver Metro Tac group.

If you think, you would like to be part of this group, give a yell. If you have not been to http://www.wramsite.com check it out. pm me with your email and name, will add to meetup list, we get get enough names. Ar15 type weapon or sniper rifle and sidearm. Will be required.
As always, any questions. Give a yell]]> <![CDATA[Dot Matrix NSG Sage Int'l EBR 1 of 25]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1930 Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:31:08 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1930 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...RK:MESE:IT

In case anyone is interested.

Thanks]]> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...RK:MESE:IT

In case anyone is interested.

Thanks]]> <![CDATA[Officials considering ban to open carry of guns in Jeffco buildings]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1929 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:23:32 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1929

Denver Post: Officials considering ban to open carry of guns in Jeffco buildings

Quote:Jefferson County may bar citizens from openly carrying firearms in some county buildings.

Sheriff Ted Mink on Tuesday asked the Board of County Commissioners to consider passing an ordinance restricting guns from certain county buildings because, in recent weeks, people have brought firearms into his office and to a Department of Human Services building.

Current county ordinance allows citizens to openly carry their guns into the buildings, but Mink said employees reported feeling uneasy and, in some cases, reported that citizens became confrontational when asked to leave their guns in their vehicles.

"It's not to take away anyone's Second Amendment rights," Mink said. "But in some cases, it helps to remove that visual sight of a gun in situations that can be kind of volatile."

The proposed ordinance would give the sheriff's office authority to complete threat assessments of county owned or leased buildings and decide which buildings are most vulnerable. Buildings where the ban may be put into place would have signs at all entrances alerting people that they are not allowed to openly carry their guns — such as in a visible holster.

The ban would not affect gun owners who have obtained a concealed-carry permit. Citizens are not allowed to carry any guns into secured buildings, such as the courthouse, where people must pass through metal detectors.
]]>

Denver Post: Officials considering ban to open carry of guns in Jeffco buildings

Quote:Jefferson County may bar citizens from openly carrying firearms in some county buildings.

Sheriff Ted Mink on Tuesday asked the Board of County Commissioners to consider passing an ordinance restricting guns from certain county buildings because, in recent weeks, people have brought firearms into his office and to a Department of Human Services building.

Current county ordinance allows citizens to openly carry their guns into the buildings, but Mink said employees reported feeling uneasy and, in some cases, reported that citizens became confrontational when asked to leave their guns in their vehicles.

"It's not to take away anyone's Second Amendment rights," Mink said. "But in some cases, it helps to remove that visual sight of a gun in situations that can be kind of volatile."

The proposed ordinance would give the sheriff's office authority to complete threat assessments of county owned or leased buildings and decide which buildings are most vulnerable. Buildings where the ban may be put into place would have signs at all entrances alerting people that they are not allowed to openly carry their guns — such as in a visible holster.

The ban would not affect gun owners who have obtained a concealed-carry permit. Citizens are not allowed to carry any guns into secured buildings, such as the courthouse, where people must pass through metal detectors.
]]> <![CDATA[Remington 700 SPS Varmint]]> http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1928 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:21:34 -0700 http://www.cogunowners.com/showthread.php?tid=1928