The linkage between pro-gun extremism and Anti-Semitism has been well documented over the decades, but it is still jarring to find modern-day examples of such bigotry. The pro-gun movement has long tried to have it both ways when it comes to this element in their ranks, on the one hand showing remarkable tolerance for the Nazi "paraphernalia" and "literature" that is a common staple at gun shows across America, while on the other disparaging proponents of gun violence prevention as Nazis and wannabe Hitlers. Two comments recently received by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) highlight this dynamic in its barest hypocrisy.
The first comment was left on a post at the CSGV Facebook Wall. A young pro-gun activist, Albert Erdmenger, had posted there to tell us that our page is "Anti-Constitutional." "I smell rebellion pretty damn soon," he warned. When we questioned Erdmenger to inquire as to whether he believes he has an individual right under the Second Amendment to shoot and kill elected officials when he senses "tyranny," another pro-gun activist, Terri Angel Fogler of Tallahassee, Florida, jumped in and left the following comment:
Albert: He's baiting you; trying to get you to say something you CLEARLY never suggested or said. That's what zionist instigators do, they're pathetically ignorant that way. The FACT that OUR Constitution gives us inalienable RIGHTS goes against the grain of his obvious agenda (i.e. Agenda 21). We have Rights and we do not have to justify nor should we have to explain it to anyone... besides, guns don't kill people; people kill people.
Fogler's comment was Liked both by Erdmenger and another pro-gun activist, Mike McCausley of North Carolina. It is unclear why Fogler believes CSGV is connected to Agenda 21, a nonbinding resolution enacted by the UN in 1992 that encouraged nations to conserve energy and protect pristine lands by steering development to areas that are already populated. But Agenda 21 has increasingly become the source of "One World Order" conspiracy theories promoted by Tea Party groups.
The second comment was Tweeted at us by Keith Milligan, an Election Volunteer Coordinator with the NRA-ILA, author of the pro-gun blog "Shall Not Be Questioned," and fixture here at Things Pro-Gun Activists Say.
When we responded to pro-gun activists on Twitter who claimed that the ownership and carrying of firearms was a "nonviolent" activity, Milligan (who goes by the pseudonym "Sebastian") reacted angrily and directed the following Tweet at us (which was also re-Tweeted by a New Jersey pro-gun activist):
The thing you should realize about @CSGV...they believe all violence is bad. They would have let Hitler finish his final solution.
CSGV is a coalition of 48 national organizations. Among our member organizations are the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Jewish Community Center Association, Jewish Women International, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and the Women's League for Conservative Judaism.
When Milligan was informed of this fact, he offered no apology, but backed up somewhat, saying, "If that is the case, I would not say they supported it, certainly, but it's a naive position. Only armed force would defeat the Nazis."
What "position" was Milligan referring to? He couldn't say, at least not by documenting any statements that CSGV or its member organizations have made, either recently or in the past. He just appeared generally enraged that some Americans would support efforts to find peaceful, nonviolent resolutions to conflicts that can lead to gun violence.
The really funny thing is that many of these same racist gun zealots will claim that WE are the ones who are discriminatory because we want reasonable gun regulation (their read of the 2A is that it's an anything-goes permission to do whatever they wish with guns, and that we are therefore going against a human right comparable to freedom from slavery), as if prohibiting the carrying of a gun in a school, for instance, is comparable to centuries of forced oppression and torture of Blacks!
ReplyDeleteIt seems these guys have learned nothing from the J.T. Ready case.