Uh oh... New push to demonize gunowners?

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Mike Irwin

Staff
By connecting them to "secret militias"?

I can't see the video here at the office, but the buzz words, and history, don't leave me with a lot of hope that this is going to be anything more than a guilt by association hatchet job.

Secret Militias on the Rise


Last time we played this game some years ago anyone who owned a rifle, espeically one of those EVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL ASSAUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT RIFLESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS was immediately considered to be a militia member bent on overthrowing the US Government...

Funny how this crops up right now in the run up to the elections and with lots of claims of fundamentalist religious beliefs being bandied about by the left to smear candidates on the right.
 
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Sefner

New member
Working hard, Mike? :D

I'll sum the video up for you.

Talk of extremist militias that are "trying to take down the American government" with backgrounds of guns and ammo even though nothing in the content is about guns.

"Sovereign Citizen Movement". They go "inside" the movement, where there are like 6 people in some diner talking about "just Google United States Concentration Camp".

Thinly veiled suggestions of "turning to violence". They did manage to get one of the "militia members" to say something real stupid on camera about "if they come with guns, I have guns". Grats to that guy for giving them what they wanted.

Standard pulp journlaism.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
I should say I can see the video, I simply can't hear it.

The sound on this computer is apparently totally blitzed.

And I can't read lips.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
You're not missing much, Mike. ...just a bunch of crap about how millions of Americans are trying to overthrow the U.S. government, because they don't think United States laws apply to them. And all of those individuals are members of militias and "sovereigns" that have super-secret meetings to set up their terroristic contingency plans.

Oh... and some of these people happen to own guns.
 
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Sefner

New member
Oh... and some of these people happen to own guns.
Click to expand...

They didn't really mention guns in the report, only that one guy who was going on about how he didn't want to look nice for the news people did, and even then he just said "I have guns".

But they did have the gun graphics along with the "EXTREMIST MILITIA" and such lettering.

edit: Looks like CNN is running a very similar story about "Patriot" groups. IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!
 
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Newton24b

Moderator
every few years the southern poverty law center puts out an article stating that the number of militia groups has tripled and that the government needs to take our guns away and create a new form of government control akin to farenheit 451 or 1984.
however after the election the fbi will redo the count and realize that the numbers were exagerated. last year it was a "confirmed" 320 militia groups, this week its supposedly 1360+. in december itll be back down to 300 once the elections are done.

youll notice also, that when obama started tos trugle in public opinion, the southern poverty law center published that "anti minority" /anti government militia groups had risen to 1300+, and then when the elections were over, they recalculated back to a few hundred, after they altered the elections outcome.
 
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johnbt

New member
If they're secret, how'd they find out about them? Maybe they heard about them when the UFOs abducted them and probed them. :p
 
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Jamie B

New member
Always remember that the SPLC justifies their own existence only by identifying these "radical hate groups."

No hate groups, no SPLC.
 
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seed

New member
I'd be more concerned about this being used to push for further expanding the powers of agencies (government and private - the latter more and more being contracted by the government) to ignore the Bill of Rights as a whole, not just the 2nd Ammendment.
 
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Walklightly

Moderator
Mike Irwin?

Reminds me of the LA "Black" Panther's.

White power has more than one meaning.:eek:

What does this have to do with gun's?:confused:

I think you just broke your own rules.

I know, this board is full of grey area's!
 
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alloy

New member
Despite the SPLC memo and those from DHS over the last couple of years, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser was speaking in New York in defense of NYPD and Ray Kelly last week. One thing he said stood out when considering this supposed massive growth of Patriot/Hate groups.

Quote:"When you look at terrorism arrests, of the last 200 arrests, over 80 percent have been from Muslims, yet we're only 1-½ percent of the population," Dr. Zuhdi Jasser pointed out"

http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-third-...,6372483.story
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
"What does this have to do with gun's?"

Hey Walklightly, re-read my first post. As I said at the time I posted, I didn't know if this was an effort by the news cast to tar gunowners.

It's not an overt attempt, but it certainly doesn't put gunowners in the best light.
 
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Uncle Billy

New member
Listen to the video again: After showing a couple of shootouts with police that involve 3 or 4 miscreants, the video concentrates on "Sovereign Citizens". The word "gun" comes up three times in all of the rest of the video:

One of the "Sovereign Citizens" in the cafe says "...come at me with a gun, I got a gun too..."

Later the reporter says that Sovereign Citizens are "...not using guns, but legal theories based on obscure laws, the Constitution, the Bible.." to flaunt the laws and not pay taxes.

If this is specifically anti-gun, I missed it.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
Election Year...

The politics of fear demand every scary image that can be used, will be used.

And, face it, guns scare a number of people. It's not rational, but then, neither are they. And each one of them has a vote, the same way each one of us does.

Guns in the hands of scary people scare a lot more of us, even rational types.

The underlying message is to show a scary thing, then imply, or outright claim, that voting for ......(insert group/poitical cause here)... will protect you.

Its done to some degree with all issues, all the time, by all sides.

Look for something really bad to happen closer to the elections. Something they can get a lot of sensational press from. There seems to be a pattern.

And while I don't THINK I'm a nutjob, I'm in the camp that believes if fate doesn't provide the event they want, they will manufacture it, or try very hard to.

Gunwalker, anyone?
 
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shortwave

New member
It's not an overt attempt, but it certainly doesn't put gunowners in the best light.
Click to expand...

Hence the American flag with demonistic(sp), killer 'assault' weapons embossed in it at the onset of the newscast.

IMO, the overtone of the newscast DOES try to reflect an image of BAD ='s militia + guns.

IMO, Militia is a term the news media loves to use whenever they get the opportunity to use it for the sake of casting to the public the thought that 'guns are bad'. Using that term, and guns in the same sentence gives the story more of a public 'WOW' factor.:rolleyes:

I have to ask, why the pics of the guns in the flag? Militia's don't necessarily have to have guns.

Has this specific organization/militia boasted of arming themselves or made threats towards the government of using arms against them?

If the answer is no, then why did the media attempt to spin the correlation between guns and this militia by having the pics of the flag with the embossed guns? Why were guns even brought into the newscast?

Agree with 44 Amp that the closer to election time, the more of these 'oooh guns are bad'... mind, seed planting tactics will be used.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
It's too bad desecration of the flag was declared constitutional free speech in 1974, and resulted in repealing protection for the flag. ...otherwise, we could file a complaint against ABC for misuse of the flag.

(Along with Chevy, Dodge, Chrysler, Ford, Subaru, and everyone else that uses the flag in advertising or "attention-getter" photos.)

Congress (sort of) tried to fix it in 2005 and 2006, but it didn't go through. So, flag t-shirts, toilet paper, and 'assault rifle' graphics are still acceptable.
 
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Glenn E. Meyer

New member
No, it is surprising that folks who want absolute freedom to carry guns want to control freedom of expression - however, unpleasant it is to you.

This discussion is getting a touch out there. The reason for the 2nd Amend. is to defend against tyranny and prevent the freedom of expression from being shut down.

So someone uses the American flag in a nasty expression - how about our posters from California being arrested when they type Kalifornia or the People's Republic, etc.

Let's not go off the deep end and demand symbolic purity. That way leads to a Taliban like control of thought.

Do you actually believe in freedom or just your little slice of the social world?
 
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K_Mac

New member
No, it is surprising that folks who want absolute freedom to carry guns want to control freedom of expression - however, unpleasant it is to you.
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Well said Glenn.

I have also seen the increased coverage of "militia" stories of late. Fear is a powerful weapon, and is used by ideologues on both sides of the issue. All guns and their owners are evil, or anyone who expresses any thoughts regarding limits concerning gun use or ownership is the enemy, makes for good scary headlines and divisive pontificating by self-proclaimed experts. Freedom is a messy business...
 
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