Virginia Mom Continues to Receive Misognynistic Threats from Pro-Gun Activists

Recently, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) posted a blog about the heinous, misognynistic threats received by a Virginia mother who advocates for tougher gun laws. Now, just three months later, she has received so many new threats from pro-gun activists that we are compelled to post on this topic once more.

The mom in question is Abby Spangler. Abby has two young children and lives in Alexandra, Virginia. Following the horrific mass shooting at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, she started the Protest Easy Guns movement. As Abby tells it: “I'd been thinking, 'Is this what we've come to in America? But when Virginia Tech happened, I said, ‘I've had enough.’ Then when I found out the Virginia Tech shooter got his gun in a matter of minutes, I was outraged. I decided that someone had to speak out and say this is unacceptable. We're not just going to light candles to mourn the victims. We're going to protest for change.”

And that is exactly what Abby has done. To date, more than 110 “Lie-In” protests have been conducted in more than 30 states across the nation by Protest Easy Guns volunteers. These protests have called for common-sense gun laws to prevent individuals who are clearly violent and/or deranged from easily obtaining firearms.

Unfortunately, the sight of a confident, outspoken woman working to end gun violence is more than many pro-gun activists can take. And they have responded—cowardly and anonymously—by repeatedly emailing her some of the most vicious and ugly comments you can imagine.

The following is a sampling of the comments received by Abby in the last three months alone. The first comment is in reference to a video Abby posted of Lori Haas, a mother whose daughter survived after being shot in the head during the Virginia Tech Massacre of April 16, 2007. Lori is now a staffer with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and also works with the Virginia Center for Public Safety. The remaining five comments are targeted directly at Abby:













Those who think this type of cowardice will stop Abby from working to prevent the 30,000+ gun deaths each year in the United States are wrong. She remains as determined as ever, and has the love and appreciation of not only gun violence victims/survivors, but all those who care about this senseless epidemic.

Pro-Gun Activists Find Humor in Tributes on One-Year Anniversary of Tucson Massacre

January 8, 2012 marked the one-year anniversary of the horrific mass shooting in Tucson, in which a young man, Jared Loughner, killed 6 innocent Americans and wounded 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ). Despite the fact that he was severely mentally ill and a substance abuser, Loughner passed a background check and legally purchased the handgun used in the murders.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence organized a series of “Too Many Victims” candlelight vigils to recognize the anniversary and pay tribute to all Americans who are victims and survivors of gun violence. The staff of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was proud to attend a vigil in the District of Columbia at Shiloh Baptist Church. It was a moving event that included powerful testimony from gun violence survivors including Colin Goddard (who was shot four times at Virginia Tech), Nardyne Jefferies (who lost her daughter Brishell to AK-47 fire in a horrific mass shooting in southeast D.C.) and William Kellibrew (who was forced to watch as his mother’s ex-boyfriend shot and killed her and his brother). This was just one of the scores of solemn vigils that were occurring that evening in states across the country.

These events were emotional and meaningful to the gun violence survivors and other concerned Americans who participated in them. But to pro-gun activists, they were apparently humorous, something to be mocked and laughed at.

One pro-gun blogger in Massachusetts, Andrew Johnston (AKA “Weer’d Beard”) urged his readers “Do More Than Just Light a Candle” by sending him photos of their guns arrayed around a candle. Johnston explained that he “takes offense” to the term “gun violence.” And he urged those who agree to “[show] what tools you have to back up your desire to prevent violence.” Johnston was so proud of his work that he sent it directly to gun violence survivor Joan Peterson, who lost her sister in a gun homicide involving domestic violence (the comment in question was left on Joan’s blog, “Common Gunsense”). Johnston then blogged to tell Peterson, "We show respect for the victims, you dance in their blood."

Another pro-gun blogger, Jon C. Sullivan of Knoxville, Tennessee (AKA "Linoge"), wrote the following at his blog “Walls of the City”: “By holding their candle-light vigils for ‘victims of ‘gun violence’, the Brady Campaign and their sycophants are, by definition, memorializing those murderers, rapists, thieves, muggers, robbers, home-invaders, and other scumbags who were shot down in self-defense by their intended victims, or by the police in the execution of their duties. As always, ‘gun control’ extremists are aiding, abetting, and sympathizing with criminals. Disgusting.”

Christie Caywood (AKA "Bitterb"), the girlfriend of fellow NRA volunteer election coordinator Keith Milligan of Langhorne, Pennsylvania (AKA "Sebastian"), found the vigils hilarious. Along with Milligan, she co-authors the blog “Shall Not Be Questioned.” On December 19, she mocked the “Too Many Victims” tributes, writing, “Yes, they want you to light a candle. Because candles will stop violence ... If candles can stop bullets, then they can do anything in this season of holiday miracles, right?” On Twitter, she said the following about gun violence prevention activists holding candlelight vigils: "We should report them as arsonists." Caywood and Milligan also shared a laugh about Joan Peterson's loss of her sister to gun violence. Milligan Tweeted that he won a bet with his girlfriend that Peterson would ring a bell instead of lighting a candle at the vigil. He hash-tagged the Tweet #toomanyfools. Milligan was referring to bell-ringing ceremonies held by the group Protect Minnesota, of which Joan is member. Gun violence survivors step forward to ring a bell once for each loved one they have lost to gun violence. Caywood loved it. "I didn't bet against you dear," she Tweeted back.

Milligan also issued the following warning to victims and survivors of gun violence: "Once your grief crosses over into trying to remove my freedoms and shred part of the Bill of Rights you can no longer claim the right to be left alone." "These aren’t people who are just concerned citizens," Milligan declared. "They are hate filled people out to destroy lives. How are these people different from a bigot who would enjoy the idea if a black man got an ass beating because he was visiting Mississippi in 1954, and didn’t know certain fountains weren’t for his kind? I posit they are no different in terms of their corrupt character, only in the form of bigotry they have chosen."

Miguel Gonzalez of Miami, Florida, author of the pro-gun blog “Gun-Free Zone,” described “Too Many Victims” as the “Candlelight Dance Over Corpses.” And as the South Florida Daily Blog and Florida Progressive Coalition Blog pointed out, he published another offensive post in which he attacked Colin Goddard—who was shot four times at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007—for "doing nothing till he got shot" without even identifying him correctly (Andrew Goddard is Colin's father). According to the South Florida Daily Blog, "[Gonzalez] and his minions have become the gun advocates' version of Westboro Baptist Church and have decided that posting callous and inflammatory pictures that are nothing more than gun porn is the best way of delivering their message. Good job, guys ... MLK Day is just around the corner."

Illinois militia member Roy Kubicek (AKA "Thirdpower"), co-author of the blog “Days of Our Trailers,” said that those who participated in the candlelight vigils are “enablers of violent crime, religious and racial bigotry.”

St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner blogger Kurt Hoffman used the Too Many Victims vigils to reiterate his standing threat of armed violence against our government.

Perhaps most offensive, however, was a video posted by pro-gun bloggers Barron Barnett of Washington and Joe Huffman of North Central Idaho. The video shows pro-gun activists holding candles, saying “candles don’t stop violence” and then drawing their handguns and firing at paper targets that are supposed to “simulate the January 8th 2011 shooting in Tucson.” On his blog, Barnett added that those who participated in the vigils "are faster on the draw than a personal injury lawyer to dance in blood."

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to understand how pro-gun activists believe such comments were appropriate on a day when gun violence survivors and others were remembering those they have lost.

Meet a Pro-Gun Activist: Karl Hadley

In a universe of pro-gun activists that love to harass, intimidate and threaten Americans who call for stronger gun laws, perhaps no single activist is more aptly nicknamed than Karl Hadley, AKA “Kaveman.”

Hadley, a 40-year-old resident of Corvallis, Oregon, is well known to those in the gun violence prevention movement as the co-author of the blog “Days of Our Trailers” (http://daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/). There—along with co-blogger Roy Kubicek (an Illinois militia member who goes by the screen name “Thirdpower”)—Hadley launches endless personal attacks on gun violence survivors and others engaged in the fight to reduce gun violence in America. Hadley and Kubicek pride themselves on being “the bane of hoplophobes everywhere” (“hoplophobe” being an imaginary term made up by former NRA board member Jeff Cooper to describe those with a supposedly "irrational" fear of firearms).

Normally, Hadley’s attacks wouldn’t raise many eyebrows here at CSGV, but certain comments he recently left at one of CSGV staffer Ladd Everitt’s blogs surpass even his “standard” in terms of profanity, crudeness, and viciousness.

On October 24, 2011, Ladd posted a blog at Waging Nonviolence entitled “The Racist Charge.” The blog dealt with accusations by pro-gun activists that gun control was “racist,” based on some very flimsy suppositions.

Hadley jumped in with a series of ugly comments on the blog, including this one:

"Hey Laddie, have you consulted with your mommy about the hard majic of black cock?

She sure does like sucking her own shit off it.

Don't tell your dad."



He also made some not so thinly-veiled threats, by suggesting he could post Ladd’s home address and even the location at which his wife works:



This is nothing new for “Kaveman.” Earlier this year, he celebrated the threatened posting of the home address of Joan Peterson, a gun violence survivor from Minnesota (Joan’s sister was shot and killed by her husband three years into divorce proceedings) in a blog entitled, “The Most Dangerous Game.”

There is certainly concern that Hadley could back up these threats. He has bragged of owning an arsenal of firearms and other military-style equipment (e.g., grenade launchers), is permitted to carry a concealed handgun in public in Oregon and 15 other states, and brags of serving with a paramilitary citizen’s militia in Oregon. He had at least one felony arrest in April 1994, when he was charged with manufacturing and/or dealing a controlled substance. And he is well-tied to other pro-gun activists nationwide who regularly spew venom at Americans who disagree with them about gun laws. For our part, CSGV promptly reported Hadley’s recent comments to law enforcement authorities.

But perhaps the most disturbing of all our recent discoveries about “Kaveman” is that he and Roy Kubicek are treated as credentialed media by the NRA at their annual conventions. It’s a disturbing statement about how extreme today’s pro-gun movement has become.

Pro-Gun Activists Make Heinous, Misognynistic Threats to Virginia Mom

Male pro-gun activists frequently target Americans who work in the field of gun violence prevention in an attempt to intimidate, harass, threaten, and generally deter them from working to strengthen our nation’s gun laws. And the “softer” the target, the better—because there is certainly nothing brave about abusing someone online behind the anonymity of a keyboard. Sadly, the brunt of these attacks has often fallen on women.

One such woman is Abby Spangler. Spangler—a mother of two young children who lives in Alexandra, Virginia—started the Protest Easy Guns movement following the horrific mass shooting at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. At that point, she realized she couldn’t remain silent anymore. "I'd been thinking, 'Is this what we've come to in America?'” she told the Washington Post. "But when Virginia Tech happened, I said, 'I've had enough.' Then when I found out the Virginia Tech shooter got his gun in a matter of minutes, I was outraged. I decided that someone had to speak out and say this is unacceptable. We're not just going to light candles to mourn the victims. We're going to protest for change."

And that is exactly what Spangler has done. In just a matter of four years, her protest movement has spread across the nation. To date, more than 110 “Lie-In” protests have been conducted in more than 30 states by Protest Easy Guns volunteers. These protests have called for common-sense gun laws to prevent individuals who are clearly violent and/or deranged from easily obtaining firearms.

The success of her movement has brought Spangler acclaim from Americans concerned about the 30,000+ gun deaths each year in the United States, and venom from gun rights activists. Recently, Abby shared with us the following communications she has received from gun rights activists online. They speak for themselves:













One thing is for sure. The gun-fetishizing cowards that typed these messages in their parents' basements don't know Abby Spangler very well. Her good work to prevent the loss of life to gun violence continues, and she now has hundreds (if not thousands) of gun violence survivors across this country standing behind her. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is proud to stand behind Abby as well. We always will stand behind her, and all other Americans working to prevent gun violence.

New Threat from Pro-Gun Activist: "There will be no acceptance of any arms control."

By now, America is becoming familiar with the "Insurrectionist Idea" that is the foundation of the modern gun rights movement. This radical idea holds that the Second Amendment provides individuals with the right to shoot and kill government officials when they determine our government has become "tyrannical."

Apparently, the boogeyman of a tyrannical U.S. government is not enough for gun rights activists, however, because their paranoid fears also extend to the United Nations. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has raised a significant amount of money in recent years by convincing gun rights activists that a draft U.N. treaty focused on the illegal international trade in small arms is somehow a secret plot to disarm American citizens.

The following comment was recently received by Million Mom March leader Joan Peterson on her blog "Common Gunsense" from a gun rights activist in Dodge City, Kansas. The blog focused on bizarre and offensive comments that NRA Board Member Ted Nugent made about the United Nations in a Washington Times editorial:

Setting aside Mr. Nugent's rather intemperate style of speaking (he's a rock star, after all) just what is incorrect about his statements?

That historically, governments are the greatest murderers of their own citizens is without dispute. Countless millions have been slaughtered by their own governments over the last century, and in nearly every case, the massacre was preceeded by one important fact: the intended victims were disarmed.

Should it ever arrive, this treaty should be, and will be, rejected by the Senate. Frankly it does little but enable some governments to wrap the veneer of respectablity around their attempts to disarm and, in some tragic cases, murder their own citizens. It has happened before, over and over again.

Have we learned nothing?

If nothing else, the experience of Europe's Jews should have taught us all: Never again.

Never.

Personally, I'd advise each and every American gun owner to take a paper bullseye of his choosing, place a nice tight group of bulletholes in it his or her favorite caliber, and send same (with a notation of the caliber and range) to the U.N., along with these words written on the bottom: A well regulated milita being necessary to the security of a free State, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

No threats. No rants. Just a simple statement of fact: we are armed, and we know how to use them. There will be no acceptance of any arms control, treaty or not. There will be no compromise on fundamental principles.

We will not disarm. Molon labe.

Not a threat, huh?

Pro-Gunner Shares His Thoughts Via Voicemail

On August 7, 2011, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) received the following voicemail from a pro-gun activist. Listen to him lay his Southern Charm on extra-thick:

Threat of Arizona Pro-Gun Activist: "The dragon is too large to quell with the ballot."

For years, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) has closely monitored insurrectionist activity across the country, in part by publishing an "Insurrectionism Timeline" that logs threats and actual acts of violence against the U.S. government by gun rights activists who believe the Second Amendment gives them an individual right to respond to what they perceive as "tyranny" with force of arms.

Occasionally, we will receive correspondence from pro-gun extremists who make it clear—in no uncertain terms—that a war with our government is what they want. On July 11, 2011 we received exactly such an email from Steve Grant of the "Republic of Arizona." A Google search indicates that the group is incorporated in Benson, Arizona. On its homepage, the Republic of Arizona shares missives like "We stand with all Arizonians that oppose illegal aliens in this country" and "We will not serve with queers nor will we defend a nation that embraces this abomnation in the sight of both God and man."

The text of the email we received from Grant—which conveys a direct threat of violence against our government—is as follows:

Lets see if you can answer the following:

Do you believe that there is at least 30% of American gun owners that will take the same path as the Founding Fathers did to throw off tyranny?

Do you believe that this path will be an actual house to house blood fight?

If you answered no to either, you better guess again.

The British called it insurrection as well.

The very foundation, the thread of this nation was built on God, guns and blood to throw off tyranny.

You may not think that we live in a nation of growing government tyranny, but you are not the last word nor are you the majority.

The regime in power and the socialist sludge that supports it do not want guns outlawed to make it safe for citizens from gun crime, they want the guns to give the people that same power the people in Darfur and Syria have ..... none.

Go back to the two questions. Reread them ad get a clue.

May God steady our aim and deliver our enemies, both abroad and especially at home, into our hands.

To arms! ye soldiers, The trumpet call obey! Arise from dreary slumbers. To watch, and fight, and pray.

The dragon is too large to quell with the ballot.

We await the coming storm.

Steve Grant
Republic of Arizona

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

Gun owner till death do us part.

We support the Arizona Immigration Law

In nomine Dei et sanguinem belli

Pro-Gun Activists Fantasize About Brutally Killing Young Black Men

It’s no secret that pro-gun activists like to fantasize about using their guns to take down “bad guys.” As author and concealed handgun permit holder Dan Baum wrote in an August 2010 article for Harper’s magazine, “Anyone who tells you he has no fantasy life constructed around his gun either has been packing it for as long as he’s been watching television or is flat-out lying.” Speaking from experience, Baum says that firearm training classes in modern America are “less about self-defense than about recruiting us into a culture animated by fear of violent crime.”

For decades, the primary target of these fantasies has been young black men. Recall longtime NRA Board Member Jeff Cooper, who voiced the feelings of white gun-toting males throughout the pro-gun movement when he (in)famously wrote in 1991, "Our men in the Los Angeles area tell us that the radical rise in the murder rate in the L.A. basin should be viewed with due reference to the Good Riddance factor ... A certain amount of subjective guesswork is involved, of course, but the consensus is that no more than five to ten people in a hundred who die by gunfire in Los Angeles are any loss to society. These people fight small wars amongst themselves. It would seem a valid social service to keep them well-supplied with ammunition."

While the current-day crop of pro-gunners might not be as brash and candid as Cooper, the violence-fueled, racially-tinged day-dreaming remains the same. Consider the July 1, 2011 edition of the "VCDL Update," the e-newsletter of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a radical pro-gun group that seeks to eradicate all existing gun laws (including background checks on gun purchasers).

In the newsletter, VCDL President Philip Van Cleave points members to a June 26, 2011 article by Gabe Suarez, who fancies himself a "Professional Personal Combat Consultant" in "Arizona Territory." The article, entitled, "The Flash Mob Attack—How to Defend?” promotes a bizarre conspiracy theory about "flash mob events" in which hordes of "urban thugs" converge on innocent whites to beat and rob them while yelling things like "Kill Whitey!" Suarez describes four such "events," but fails to provide any links to the original source material to confirm that they actually happened.

That doesn't stop him, however, from telling readers—in graphically violent terms—how to kill black teenagers. "If you cannot avoid," he instructs, "attack...brutally and viciously." And there's more:

Stab the first man deep and hard in his face and move to the next guy and repeat the exercise. Do the same to anyone within reach. When their buddies reel back, screaming in horror and pain, holding their bloodied faces with eyeballs hanging out, it will create hesitation. Use that time to disengage. If you have a pistol, please make sure it is a modern high capacity weapon with a couple of spare magazines in your belt. The Suarez International company gun, a Glock 17 with three magazines, yields a sum total of 52 rounds. Figure three rounds per man, and you can reduce an angry mob of panga swinging killers into a fleeing group of bloodied bad guys. Draw it and yell, "Get The F*** Back!" If they do, run away. If they do not, shoot the first man in the face. The rest will take care of itself.

A panga, for those who are not familiar, is an African weapon similar to a machete.

During the same week that Van Cleave and the VCDL were sharing this reading material with their friends, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence received the following short email from pro-gun activist "John Jackson":

I want guns in all houses because you wacko people don't want to have the death penalty and you let all these thugs run loose. So if another drug dealer gang Banger gets killed its less money from our taxes."

Jeff Cooper, who passed away in 2006, would have been proud...

Latest Violent Threat from a Pro-Gun Activist

The latest violent threat received by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) from a pro-gun activist:



All the predictable/standard elements are here: profanity; paranoid fears about mass gun confiscation (driven by NRA fundraising material); poor grammar/spelling errors; and a warped sense of ownership of the Constitution, despite the fact that that document was drafted and ratified by Federalists. See "Setting the Record Straight: The Tea Party and the Constitutional Powers of the Federal Government" and and "The Truth About 'Second Amendment Remedies': How to Counter Insurrectionist Arguments."

It's hard to tell which incident of homicide this individual is referring to, but it could be a case in which a 20-year-old man was shot, killed and dragged into the woods.

Such threats from thugs, criminals, and insurrectionists smack of desperation and they will not stop the work of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. We are committed to building a more peaceful, nonviolent society.

Man Who Lost Son to Gun Violence Responds to Cruelty with Grace and Dignity

Recently, The Bay Citizen featured a wonderful article about gun violence survivor Griffin Dix. Tragically, Griffin lost his 15-year-old son Kenzo to gun violence in 1994 when his 14-year-old friend accidentally shot him. The boy invited Kenzo over to his house and was trying to show off his father's Beretta 92 Compact L handgun. He had removed the ammunition magazine, but wasn't aware a round was still in the chamber of the handgun. When he pulled the trigger a round fired and penetrated Kenzo's heart, killing him.

The article was upbeat, noting that, "Griffin has helped transform the dialogue about guns in California from being centered on Second Amendment rights, as it was 20 years ago, to one focused on personal tragedies and consequences."

Sadly, however, pro-gun activists have used the Comments area on the web version of the article to post unbelievably crude personal attacks against Griffin.

A pro-gun activist using the screen name "Tom P" initiated the attacks, telling Griffin:

I know it is not desirable in our society to attack victims, but I see so many things wrong with this situation that I have to do just that. As a parent, you have a responsibility to teach your children how to deal with dangerous situations, all of them. I'm guessing you're probably not a gun owner and never have been. Because your child was not around firearms in your household, you probably felt it was not neccessary to teach your son what to do should he ever encounter a firearm. That is pure and simple stupidity on your part ... It's your kind of simple minded thinking that causes these tragedies to occur. You cannot go through life ignoring facts just because you don't agree with them ... It saddens me to know that someone with your lack of depth of thought has been responsible for educating our young people. I'm thinking it's more likely than not that you're just another one of the thousands of 'educators' who pursued that career for the long vacations, decent pay and guaranteed pensions.

Tom P wasn't done though. He added, in a superfluous comment seemed designed to purely injure, this thought: "I see no sign that you take any responsibility for preparing your son for the dangers of this world. You need to get past your grief, own up to your own responsibility of not teaching your son and move on."

Next up was a pro-gun activist going by the screen name "W W." About Griffin, he commented, "He needs psychiatric help..He has become hoplophobic and concentric ... So Griffin Dix you failed as a father seek help and get over your grief...I feel for you...SEEK HELP."

Griffin's response to this, however, is what stands out the most. In the face of these vile attacks on himself and his son, he was both gracious and dignified, writing:

Thanks for the comments. In answer to a few who assumed that my son was playing with a gun, he was not. The friend he was visiting—without telling my son—went and got the gun which his father kept loaded and unlocked next to his bed for "protection." The boy thought he had unloaded the gun when he took out the loaded magazine. Then he walked back upstairs to the room where my son was, walked in and, as a childish joke, pulled the trigger. My son’s friend made a bad mistake; kids sometimes do that. They shouldn’t; but they do. If the gun had a prominent chamber-loaded indicator, the boy, when he had shot this gun with his father at the shooting range, would have seen the indicator pop up red right in front of his face whenever a bullet was put into the chamber and disappear when the round was fired. The boy would have been able to tell easily when a bullet still remained in the chamber. It is up to parents and the entire community of adults to see to it that the foreseeable mistakes of a kid do not result in a death. I am interested in preventing this kind of thing from happening ... The father of my son’s friend believed he had to store the gun loaded and unlocked because there was no other way to have the gun instantly available for use. But guns could be designed so that they can be stored safely and be available very quickly. However the gun industry resists these designs and keeps trying to put all of the blame on the gun owner (their customer) over and over and over every time. Of course the gun owner is at fault. But under the product liability laws of most states if there is foreseeable misuse of a product, the product must be designed to minimize the harm. Firearms sold to consumers could be more safely designed and still be available. This is not a "battle against guns" so much as a battle for better guns—more safely designed guns.

There's not a day that goes by that we at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) fail to be inspired by the courage and decency of gun violence survivors.

Griffin Dix is certainly one of them.