Gun nuts lose argument over assault weapons ban, threaten civil war - VIDEO

Posted on Friday, January 11, 2013 at 08:00 AM

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James Yeager

If you want to defy the Obama administration’s proposed assault weapons ban - and I don't know why you would - might I suggest that threatening to lead a gun massacre or starting a new civil war is probably the least effective way to do it?

Take James Yeager, the CEO of a Tennessee-based gun company. Yeager took to the internet yesterday to announce he will start killing people if President Obama tries to limit arms ownership:

'I'm not f---ing putting up with this. I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people.'

Looking unhinged and threatening gun violence clearly isn't the best way to advocate against restrictions on lethal assault weapons, so I'm thankful to Yeager for making his opponent’s case.

With new restrictions on the horizon, it's been interesting to watch the increasingly paranoid response from the NRA and its fellow travelers. Yesterday the once staid but not now increasingly outlier Drudge Report compared the president to Hitler and Stalin, positioning him alongside fellow tyrants who had sought to disarm their opponents.

Read more: VP Joe Biden suddenly looks like the smartest politician in America

Problem is, this is not true - Hitler did not ban guns - and Neither did Mussolini, Castro, Stalin or Pol Pot, for that matter. But Drudge and his fellow wingnuts want us to realize that they’ll explode if they have to live in a nation where guns are not as easily accessible as Twinkies.

And because of that we have to listen to the paranoid rantings of people like Alex Jones, as he compares Vice President Joe Biden to Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels. Then we nod as if that meant something. It means nothing, except this: the more belligerent the rhetoric the more certain you can be that they've lost the argument.

I have two words to say to Yeager and Jones and the NRA - Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook changed everything.

634 people have been killed in America since Sandy Hook. You're as insane as you look if you don't understand it's time for comprehensive change.

Yesterday Biden had his speech on gun reform interrupted by the news of another fatal shooting in an American school. That's the hard reality behind all the windy right wing rhetoric. So neither Obama or Biden needs to worry that the public aren't behind them - we are, and more than ever before.

It's common sense to support background checks on every gun sale. It's common sense to curtail the growing public risk posed by high-capacity assault rifles (an idea once backed by Ronald Reagan) that have been used, by the way, in massacre after massacre here since the ban was lifted.

Massacre prevention should really be our first priority.

From Ohio to Texas you can still walk into WalMart and buy a stroller or some school clothes, or you can buy an AR-15, an assault rifle specially manufactured to kill a lot of people in an instant. It's time we stopped making it easy for mass murderers to carry out their massacres. Sensible reform is what's needed. We should look to the president to get it done.

Read more: The NRA will not allow Joe Biden to blame law-abiding gun owners for actions of madmen

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36 comments

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patrickesq | Jan 11, 2013, 10:36 AM EST

The destructive rants of james Yeager shows the paranoia of the gun fanatics. They clearly show the need for strong effective gun control, including the ban on all assault weapons.

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Butch1 | Jan 11, 2013, 10:26 AM EST

They've been looking for any excuse to try this "civil war" baloney and now they have a vehicle to ride. These people have been upset since they lost the election the first time around to Obama ( a black man ) and they haven't gotten over it. They will not give up until he's out of office. These racists can barely contain their outrage with their "birther" nonsense, show me your college transcriptes, trying to discredit his education, and disinformation about calling him a Muslim like there is anything wrong with that. We have people of the Islamic faith serving in our own military but these airhead racists probably do not know that or are so racist towards blacks and Arabs that they don't care. These people are not the "sharpest knives in the drawer." They can be easily mislead by smarter, evil men and women with agendas to push.

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Padraig8 | Jan 11, 2013, 10:23 AM EST

Nicopernicus you should join this guy,you sound a little off yourself a man who threatens to start killing people is of interest to more than 5%of the nation im sure

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hollabackgurl | Jan 11, 2013, 09:01 AM EST

Watching these self-interested gun nuts react like they're the only thing between us and a police state is nauseating. They WANT to put armed police in every school and they say they're defending us from a police state?

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Nicopernicus | Jan 11, 2013, 08:44 AM EST

Your site continually decides to format, write and create news based on .05% of the nation. While its interesting and gets you noticed...its just invalid

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biggles008 | Jan 11, 2013, 08:41 AM EST

Lock him up yesterday before he kills people

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