Shall Not Be Questioned

I warned the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence that they didn’t want to go down the road of picking on bloggers by releasing their personal information, but they decided instead to extend a great big middle finger to the community. I’m guessing now they see what I mean, thanks to the efforts of Linoge, who has delivered a victory so sweet, I’m scheduling the root canal now. It gets even better:

I’d like to think that after this we can all be adults here. A bit of new media advice for Ladd Everitt and the other folks at Coalition to Stop Gun Violence: the best way to be left alone is to ignore your tormenters. But you could not help it, could you? You were drawn to lash out like moths to the flame. You might have thought that the harder you squeezed, the more crazy would ooze out, but it’s been pretty apparent that’s a two way street. And let’s face it, CSGV, your people are way more outside the mainstream than ours. That’s why we win, and you’re reduced to picking on bloggers and getting your Twitter account suspended for crossing the line.

UPDATE: More following:

I’m pretty sure the only firepower Linoge needed for that one was “Send” and the only army was himself. In case you are wondering what Dylan is talking about, since CSGV deleted he context, you can see for yourself here. He is rationally explaining that Twitter vets any complaints. Obviously CSGV deleted it, because the last thing we want is rational discourse in the gun control movement, and for their supporters to see they were in the wrong by crossing the line.

Joan, however, is quite correct, however, that we’ll stop at nothing. This is true. We think the Bill of Rights is that important. We see our opponents for the petulant busybodies, intent in destroying it, that they are. We are relentless. Don’t forget it. I am here to tell CSGV, Joan and their supporters that your nightmare is true. We’re going to hammer gun control on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy. We’re going to beat gun control into submission.

On the heels of an important vote in Texas on campus carry, CSGV will instead of have to spend time groveling before the Twitter gods for forgiveness because they have no conception of how to handle this issue professionally. They were goaded by rank amateurs into themselves acting like rank amateurs, and paid the price by crossing the line. I will, perhaps, pour a little more salt on the wound by suggesting that Everitt and CSGV have much they could learn about handling the issue professionally from the Brady Campaign. Even Sugarmann knows better than this.

John Richardson managed to find Ladd Everitt’s comment on ATF Request for Comment on the multi-sale reporting requirement for long guns. [Fixed an error – Seb] Ladd Everitt is Communication Director for Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, but he did not respond in his official capacity.

One interesting note is that he approves of the multiple long gun reporting requirement, and enforcement of “laws already on the books,” even though the laws already on the books prohibit the reporting of multiple long gun sales. What he’s really saying is that he wants ATF to break the law.

The real funny thing, however, as John notes, is that his response is a form letter from Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun MAIG coalition. I guess he’s spending too much time arguing with gun bloggers, and revealing personal information about them on Facebook and Twitter, that CSGV has no time to start their own astroturfing campaign. They have to rely on someone else’s.

I already made fun of a New York group that was giving out flowers in exchange for guns when they sent out a release that butchered most rules of the English language on 4/20, making me think it could be a joke. It turns out that it’s not a joke – at least in terms of being an intentionally funny event. But, it would seem that their attempt to make a political statement through the guns for flowers program was an even bigger failure than their previous event which was a guns for nothing program. They both did significantly worse than their first attempt at a guns for gift certificates event.

In 2009, the group gave out gift certificates in exchange for weapons and collected 53 firearms. Last year, the group did not have money for gift certificates, and turn-ins dropped to 18 hand guns and long guns, Gilroy said.

On Saturday, the group collected four handguns, four long guns and 15 loads of ammunition, he said.

They have to count the ammunition in order to make it into the double digits.

The peace and justice committee hopes to get funding again next year to spur more turn-ins, Gilroy said.

“If we don’t get the funding, we may look for a different way to express our views through debates or discussions,” he said.

If his goal is to make a statement on his ideas, then perhaps he can start an anti-gun blog. He’ll no doubt garner quite a bit of traffic – from gun owners.

Our opponents think it’s very important to look at interesting and novel ways to eliminate gun violence in society. They are willing to sacrifice anything to reach their dream where everyone trades in their guns for flowers and unicorns. Apparently even their freedom and privacy. Let’s take a look at this gem from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Facebook page:

Apparently this gun free fantasy extends to the point of putting body scanners in public places, so your bank can stare at pictures of  your nude body. Ladd gets an A for trying to steer this particular supporter off the crazy, and back on the path to productive activism, but it was too late.

Our opponents will be the first to vote for a pervasive police state to carry forward their idealist fantasies.