Des Moines Register Allows Retired Columnist To Spew Violence & Threats

[twyacht]

I thought BHO wanted to "tone down" the harsh rhetoric,...... Real nice parts at bottom.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012312300033&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

Kaul: Nation needs a new agenda on guns
This time, the debate has to be about more than not offending the NRA's sensibilities.
2:59 PM, Dec 29, 2012   | 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DONALD KAUL, a retired Des Moines Register columnist, writes for www.OtherWords.org. Contact: donaldkaul@att.net.

I’m glad I retired five months ago.

But then Newtown happened. A misanthropic young man who never seemed particularly violent killed his mother then broke into an elementary school and massacred little kids, teachers and the principal.

And the very air changed. The holiday season suddenly turned somber. You looked at the small children around you differently, as fragile, precious gifts to be cherished and, above all, protected.

Obama struck that note in his moving speech at the memorial service. Speaking for us all, he said: “We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.”

Nice words, but somehow not enough. Not nearly enough.

That’s when I figured I should write a column about it. During my 50-year career, every time some demented soul would take a semiautomatic gun and clean out a post office, a school or a picnic, I’d get up on my soap box and let loose with a withering diatribe about guns, the National Rifle Association and weak-kneed politicians. Did it about 75 times, give or take.

And in every case the main effect was a spike in gun sales.

Still, I thought I’d give it one more shot ... er, chance.

Obama’s speech was fine as far as it went, but it didn’t go very far. Neither have any of the other responses I’ve heard.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she was going to introduce a bill to ban the sale and importation of assault weapons. Great, but the bill wouldn’t apply to weapons already out there, and in defining illegal weapons, it listed more than 900 exceptions.

Nine hundred!

The thing missing from the debate so far is anger — anger that we live in a society where something like the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre can happen and our main concern is not offending the NRA’s sensibilities.

That’s obscene. Here, then, is my “madder-than-hell-and-I’m-not-going-to-take-it-anymore” program for ending gun violence in America:

• Repeal the Second Amendment, the part about guns anyway. It’s badly written, confusing and more trouble than it’s worth. It offers an absolute right to gun ownership, but it puts it in the context of the need for a “well-regulated militia.” We don’t make our militia bring their own guns to battles. And surely the Founders couldn’t have envisioned weapons like those used in the Newtown shooting when they guaranteed gun rights. Owning a gun should be a privilege, not a right.

• Declare the NRA a terrorist organization and make membership illegal. Hey! We did it to the Communist Party, and the NRA has led to the deaths of more of us than American Commies ever did. (I would also raze the organization’s headquarters, clear the rubble and salt the earth, but that’s optional.) Make ownership of unlicensed assault rifles a felony. If some people refused to give up their guns, that “prying the guns from their cold, dead hands” thing works for me.

• Then I would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, our esteemed Republican leaders, to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot until they saw the light on gun control.

And if that didn’t work, I’d adopt radical measures. None of that is going to happen, of course. But I’ll bet gun sales will rise.

******

I'm sure the Des Moines Register is proud.

[MikeBjerum]

He's talking about the NRA and their style.  Wait until he and his like try his proposals.  Those in the limestone of Washington D.C. will quickly learn that there are far more Ted Nugents than Wayne LaPierres in the NRA.

I go back to a proposal I have offered here and in several other settings:  Every infringement (past, present and future) on the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States must be matched with an equal infringement on the free speech aspect of the First Amendment!

[tombogan03884]

If I read this correctly it is yet another case of the people who don't own guns, and have never shot guns displaying their stupidity by threatening those of us who do.

Bring it on azzhole.

[MikeBjerum]

I just took the time to work my way through the paper without registering to read the entire article.  No offense, but if I'm going to share and rant I want evidence I am right.  I also printed it.

Who holds the newspaper responsible for this writer's terroristic threats?  He accuses the National Rifle Association, myself and many others on this forum, of being terrorists; he proposes serious injury to elected officials; and he threatens to kill gun owners in his quote of Charlton Heston.

It shouldn't, but it amazes me that it is the anti-gun crowd that is threatening blood shed, stripping citizens of rights, violence, and even death in their response to this event.  According to them we are the violent blood thirsty fiends.

[jnevis]

So anybody want to charge this guy with assault?  Threats of bodily harm in a public forum is illegal. 

[Sponsor]

[Solus]

So anybody want to charge this guy with assault?  Threats of bodily harm in a public forum is illegal. 

Should also get him held for evaluation after demonstrating violent tendencies and the intent to do harm to others.

[MikeBjerum]

That sounds like a good idea!  I will be notifying the DesMoines and Polk County law enforcement.  Maybe our buddy in western Iowa has some contacts he can use as well.

However, I fear that this will be handled like David Gregory and his breaking the law on Meet The Press.

If you or I had done either of these things we would have been arrested, Ted Nugent was visited by the Secret Service for less than this, but I believe all we will do as we point this out is raise awareness that we are paying attention.

[tombogan03884]

Nothing will be done.
There is one standard for Americans and another one for Dems.

[MikeBjerum]

It falls under the advice of "Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel."  A person of power or influence who disagrees with the media publicly could end up out of influence quickly.

[tombogan03884]

It falls under the advice of "Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel."  A person of power or influence who disagrees with the media publicly could end up out of influence quickly.

Not if you burn his presses , and dynamite the newspaper office.