So Joan Peterson of the Brady Campaign and Joyce Foundation discusses self defense.
Anon- you have chosen to carry a gun and have a gun to “protect” your family. I have not. I see things differently. I don’t see the need for a gun everywhere I go and so far things have worked out fine except for the shooting of my sister by her estranged husband.
First the small point she starts off with the “You made your choice, I made mine”, which is horribly disingenuous. I have NO problem with people choosing NOT to carry or own guns. Gun ownership is elective. Now those who work for the same groups as she does often use the scare tactics of “The NRA wants everybody to carry guns EVERYWHERE!” or “The Gun Lobby is handing out guns to *X Demographic*. Which is bullshit. What we’re for is allowing people to CHOOSE to carry, and CHOOSE where they carry. If you want to buy a gun, BUY ONE. If guns are icky, or you only like one type of gun, nobody is forcing you. If you think AR-15s suck, or 33 round glock magazines are scary, nobody is tossing them in your Christmas stocking.
Of course The Joyce Foundation and the Brady Campaign have a long and storied record of DENYING choice. They want carry laws to be repealed. They want more areas declared “Gun Free Zones” so those who CHOOSE to carry are FORCED to disarm, and they and they have spoken up about banning just about every gun known to man, so if you WANT an AR-15, well they would prefer you couldn’t get one, and if you WANT a 33 Round magazine for your Glock or a rifle, well they want to make that a crime.
Sorry, Joan you can’t hide behind “Well that was your Choice” when you’re working to remove that choice from legal activities. (Of course noting that while it IS illegal to do drugs in this country, criminals still make that choice in spite of the law, as they do with carrying guns and other weapons around to commit predatory violence)
But the big point is her exception made: “except for the shooting of my sister by her estranged husband.” Her sister’s boyfriend was also murdered that day, but she fails to mention that.
You know that’s a pretty big exception, don’t you think? I mean I didn’t put on my gun this morning because I expect to use it. I really expect, just like all the days before, NOT to use it. Same goes for my safety belt, my security alarm, locking my doors, hell I make sure to shut all the windows in the house before I go to bed. Why? Well its just in case a freak thunderstorm comes by, I’d rather wake up in a house that’s a bit stuffy in the morning than deal with water damaged hardwood.
If I expected to use my safety belt or air bag in my truck, I simply wouldn’t go driving that day. I go driving because I assume I’ll be safe, but I understand that there is a real possibility that I might be in a serious accident where those safety devices will save my life.
I don’t expect to use them, but I do anyway because death is kind of a big deal to me.
I don’t expect to use my gun, but I know that if the ball drops and I REALLY NEED my gun and for whatever reason I don’t have one, I and/or somebody else may die.
That’s a HUGE Exception, and one I don’t really think expresses much Common Sense.
What do you think?
I agree. It’s not just a matter of the likelyhood of something happening, but what you have to lose if you’re not prepared.
I’ve seen some anti-rights people ask things like ‘well, do you carry hammers and screwdrivers around with you everywhere in case you need one?’. If I happen to need a screwdriver and I don’t have one on me, it’s going to be an inconvenience. If you need a gun and you don’t have one, then it’s life threatening.
Got a screwdriver on my keychain!
http://www.crkt.com/Gekkota-Pocket-Green-Aluminum-Knife-with-Razor-Edge-Screwdriver-Bottle-Opener
And a 1911 makes a damn fine hammer! 😉
And back in my time as a concert tuba player I had a slick Yamaha concert horn with rotary valves. VERY fast and efficient to play, but massively more complex than your standard piston valve that could be completely adjusted with bare hands.
I used to keep a screwdriver (or a dime would work in a pinch) in case one of my rotors worked lose during a practice or a concert, because I was NOT going to leave the stage because my horn started going on the fritz.
Also my range bag and my truck both have small tool boxes in them (I also keep rain gear in my truck all the time) simply because its like a gun. Small burden for an unlikely use, but a HUGE payoff!
Then again Joan has probably gained some of the biggest achievements in her life because her sister was murdered, so why would she want her to be able to defend her life and be alive today, and Joan a nobody housewife in St. Paul.
Keep in mind this is also the woman who thought people were acting ‘suspicious’ for keeping emergency gear in their cars LOL
And then later said (maybe lied about) keeping gear in HER car.
The fact that she’s a vetted person chosen to represent BOTH the Joyce Foundation AND the Brady Campaign!
This is the same idea as when the President picked Tax Cheat Timothy Geithner to head up the damn treasury!
And if her sister or her friend had been armed maybe, just maybe, the results might have been different. She will never admit that and that is so disingenuous.
Frankly the way she uses her Sister’s death I wonder exactly how much she really cared for her in the first place. Her sister was killed with a shotgun IIRC, and was shot by a mentally ill man who had a restraining order against him, as well as a long history of having a violent temper, criminal activity, and requests for mental evaluations (he got away with most of those because of his money and his juice with the PD)
But she’s referenced her sister in the name of:
“Assault Weapons”
Normal Capacity Magazines
Guns in Bars
the “Gunshow Loophole”
and I’m sure I missed a few. None of these had ANYTHING to do with her sister, and Joan knows it. But she keeps repeating the behavior, which says to me she has ZERO respect for his sister and her memory.
Furthermore she’s a President of the Million Mom March chapter of Minnesota, she’s a Brady Campaign board member, she’s the spokeswoman for a Joyce foundation Anti-Violence group, and she’s been flown around, wined and dined, been interviewed for TV and print, and met with lots of people inside the anti-rights industry.
And the ONLY reason why she has any of that is because she has a dead sister she’s willing to exploit. She probably thinks her sister being shot is the best thing that ever happened to her.
Cold blooded, but tell me it isn’t true!
Ouch, but probably all true. If she cared about her sister, and wanted to do something positive, she would be heavily invested in women’s self-defense classes (including firearms), battered women’s support groups, and other organizations for helping women with abusive or dangerous husbands/boyfriends.
I thought I read somewhere that she had some involvement with one or more of these groups so that is a redeeming thing.
However, the incessant going after guns shows her reasoning skills are lacking. The gun was unimportant in her sister’s death and her broad attack on all of them is bogus as you noted. The psycho ex-husband deserves all of the blame. He could have used his bare hands, a knife, ah hell…an iron to have done the same thing. The weapon is irrelevant…murder is murder.
She steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that firearms are more often used for good and the protection of the innocent, such as her sister, and thus her recommendations are invalid.
The notoriety and the “good life” of being a spokesman is the thing that is a tad troubling. Making a dime off her sister’s death taints her warped message. I certainly hope that her efforts are not governed by selfish motives.
I think that expressing common sense isn’t really her or any other hardcore anti’s strong suit. If common sense worked on all of them we wouldn’t be having any discussions about this.
To paraphrase something I read elsewhere (Lawdog’s place maybe?):
I don’t carry a handgun because I’m expecting trouble. Just to be prepared for it in the unlikely event it finds me.
If I was expecting trouble, I wouldn’t be carrying a pistol, I’d be carrying a rifle.
Fuck that noise. I’d bar the doors and hide in my basement!
The #1 rule to surviving a gunfight is not to be in a gunfight in the first place!
The oldie-but-goodie observation is that people like Joan are often the same folks who say, “If you’re against Abortion — Don’t have one!” The cognitive dissonance is amusing.
FYI I have yet to meet a fetus who’s pro-choice!
Once again, I fall just a litttle more in love with your blog with that comment. =D
*bows*
Bought my friend’s baby this Onesey
http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/now-that-im-safe-im-pro-choice/