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Massad Ayoob on Guns


Want to Comment on a blog post? Look for and click on the blue No Comments or # Comments at the end of each post.

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Massad Ayoob

MOTHER’S DAY

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

Let’s not forget Mother’s Day tomorrow, Sunday the 13th…

It gladdens this old shooter’s heart to see how many gun clubs have scheduled Mother’s Day shoots.  Around the country we’re seeing more women purchasing guns on their own, getting training, and even applying for concealed carry permits.  Say what you will about Sarah Palin, but she was spot on with her “Mother Bear” meme.  (Speaking of which, I’ve heard that more women are applying for hunting licenses these days, too.)

Your commentary is welcome. It seems that “pistol-packin’ mama” ain’t just a figure of speech these days…

Massad Ayoob

FIRST TROLL OF THE SEASON

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Darn, I hope this doesn’t signal the beginning of a season of them…

For some time now, this space has been fielding comments from a fellow who calls himself “quick joey small,” taking to task all who think President Obama might not have the best interests of gun owners at heart.  His challenges have been met by myself and others, and he says he has read the provided links. I don’t mind his opinion, I mind his insulting, disingenuous approach.  I explained to him in earlier commentary that while adverse opinions were welcome here, trolling was not. This morning, I found the following waiting for me to moderate on this board (click to make bigger):

The record will show that over the years I’ve been doing this blog, I’ve deleted damn few posts and banned fewer posters than that.

The deleted posts generally involved extreme obscenity, foaming at the mouth racism, threats, or attacks on other posters in the comments section. (I’m fair game here; the blog guests who post are not.)

In the last thirteen months, I’ve had to ban two posters.  One was a foul-mouthed (expletive deleted) who couldn’t accept being told not to do that any more, and degenerated into thinly veiled death threats. He’s gone.  Another was a young man who appeared to be emotionally disturbed, and couldn’t or wouldn’t take the well-intentioned advice given him by me and other posters. He’s gone, too.

“quick joey small” said he checked the links others and yours truly provided to answer his questions and comments, but still ignored the information therein.  While I can probably live with willful ignorance, I won’t abide outright lies.

“Joey,” you call yourself “quick,” but you apparently ain’t too swift.  You accuse me of deleting your post. That never happened.  Your posts of today are seen here above, bigger than they would have appeared in the commentary section.  Enjoy them. They’ll be your last here.

You accuse me of calling our President a Marxist, an African (as opposed to African-American), and a dictator.  You lie.  I never said that, here or anywhere else.

You implied that if I allowed someone to post here that they wanted to shoot the President it would be the same as me saying I wanted to do the same, and I replied in commentary on that post to the effect that I allow YOU to post here, but that doesn’t make me an idiot.  (Upon reflection, I may have been wrong on the latter.)

Furthermore, you claim that such statements WERE posted here.  To the best of my knowledge, you’re lying about that, too.

In your last post, you apologized. Too little, too late. If I had any reason to believe your apology was sincere, I would have respectfully accepted it…but you presented no such reason.

I am happy to host opposing viewpoints here. I will not abide lying trolls.  You now join the short list of those who are banned from this blog.

Enjoy your disengenous trolling wherever you find a place that will accept it…but that place will no longer be here.

Massad Ayoob

GOP VEEP?

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

With Mitt Romney’s nomination a fait accompli, the search is on for the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
Marco Rubio is looking awfully good from this end. I haven’t met the man, but people I know who have, came away from the meeting very much impressed with him. And he seems to be in the right place on issues of gun owners’ civil rights.
Who’s your choice for the position, and why?

Massad Ayoob

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS, A COUPLE WEEKS LATE…

Monday, January 16th, 2012

One thing six-plus decades in this life has taught me is that people are overly-optimistic with our culture’s custom of New Year’s Resolutions. Therefore, I figured I should wait until a couple of weeks in to put my own in perspective.

New Year’s Resolutions often revolve around personal vices. Quit smoking, quit drinking, make your sex life less dangerous. They key here is reasonable expectations. My resolutions in this regard were to make love to only the cleanest and sweetest woman, drink only the finest adult beverages, and smoke only choice tobacco. It’s working so far, which obviously proves that I’m right. J

Another resolution was to put up with less BS, and it’s relevant here because I’ve applied it to the blog you are now reading. In the years I’ve been doing the Backwoods Home firearms blog, the record will show that of 6,417 comments posted here by readers at the time I write this, I approved an even 6400.  (This doesn’t count deletion of spam that made it through the spam filter.)

Of the 17 that were not approved for posting over these years, some came from the posters’ own requests: “Mas, can you delete that, I posted to soon,” or something like that. There were a few for rabid racist ranting, and one or two messages were deleted because they viciously attacked others who had posted comments. (I’m the guy who writes the blog, and if you want to attack me, well, I’m fair game. Ad hominem attacks on others who post here? NO!)

One post deletion was for a filthy-mouthed dude who threatened me and others, and babbled about scenarios he claimed to have experienced that were only one step away from alien abduction anal probe stories in credibility. He was also the only person I’ve ever banned from commenting on this blog.

Until now.

The first full weekend of 2012, I was on the road shooting a couple of pistol matches. I fired up the laptop in the car with the air card, and found a spate of posts by someone who has been haunting this blog since the infestation of cop-haters that occurred here in April of 2011, after I posted about positive feelings toward armed citizens by the master police officers who were teaching at the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association. This kid – he seems to be in early adolescence, and hasn’t contradicted me on that in his many postings – has for several months regurgitated cop-hating propaganda, often without a sense of time or place since he would introduce it into discussion threads such as memorial times for American servicemen who have given their lives for this country. I tried to explain things to him, and tell him where he could learn the reality. So did others. It fell on deaf ears.

His latest diatribes were the worst yet, comparing American police to assorted genocidal death camp executioners, and implying that anyone who had a permit to carry a pistol was a collaborator in un-Constitutional activities. Reading that crap, on the anniversary of the Tucson shooting, I decided that this blog was no longer going to allow the rantings of someone so out of touch with reality that he made me wonder…”Next Jared Laughner?”

So…so long, “sofa.”  I hope you find the help and the understanding you need. It was offered to you here, but you didn’t accept it.  I can’t inflict your out-of-touch-with-reality BS on those who read this blog any longer.

The record will show that anti-gunners and others are welcome to speak here. I trust the other readers, and myself, to handle anything they can bring up. Less than one ban a year? I can live with that. It shows that the vast majority who post comments here are thinking, rational human beings.

Massad Ayoob

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Saturday, December 24th, 2011

With Christmas Eve and Christmas Day upon us, I join the rest of the Backwoods Home team in wishing the best of holidays to you and yours.

I was gonna make this entry about the many more people this year than last, who have given or received the gift of self-protection and protection of others, but my old friend Dave Workman beat me to it, here: http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/wi-experience-should-be-wake-up-call-to-wa-senators .

Dave also shares another amusing observation, here: http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/ccw-rush-surprises-media-elite-authorities-except-for-one-al-mayor-perhaps

Be sure to check the links on both.

Gun purchases are up hugely this Christmas season, all over the country. My last class of the year was last weekend, in Wisconsin, the most recent state to get shall-issue concealed carry. Tens of thousands of people have flooded the authorities with applications for concealed carry permits. I expect that this will save lives as soon as this coming year, if not before 2011 runs its course.

The firearm is a symbol of responsibility, a tool of rural living, and sometimes-needed safety/rescue equipment wherever you live.

If you’ve given such a gift of safety and recognition of responsibility – or received one – feel free to share the experience here.

From this end, best wishes for a safe, happy, and renewing holiday weekend.

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