Wednesday, April 25, 2007

All You Need is Love Guns

An ugly, racist incident played out Tuesday in the Pennsylvania state Capitol Rotunda.

Apparently still flush with excitement over last week's massacre of innocents at Virginia Tech, a group of mostly-Republican Pennsylvania legislators played host there to hundreds of gun nuts at a gun-rights rally.

At least two of these Second Amendment absolutists displayed a banner urging the bill's Democratic sponsor, Rep. Angel Cruz, "be hung from the tree of liberty for treasonous acts against the constitution." [sic]

Example
[photo credit: GARY DWIGHT MILLER / Patriot-News]

"You've got to make a stand," said Paul Estus, one of the men holding the banner, although he later made a cunning defense of his lynching talk as "just a figure of speech."

The obvious lesson here? More guns!

If not for current gun laws, peaceable citizens like 69-year-old retiree Charles McKelly could have been out "hunting, clay-pigeon shooting and self-defen[ding]," rather than rallying with racists.

And had Rep. Angel Cruz been packing heat on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda, as currently prohibited by law, it is doubtful that any hunters, clay-pigeon shooters or self-defenders would have been so free with their figures of speech.

(h/t No More Mister Nice Blog; photo added to original post)