This report from Grassroots North Carolina :
http://www.grnc.org/grnc-alerts-archive/644-grnc-alert-06-04-14-did-anti-gun-nao-columnist-commit-a-gun-crime
http://www.grnc.org/grnc-alerts-archive/644-grnc-alert-06-04-14-did-anti-gun-nao-columnist-commit-a-gun-crime
The N&O’s Gun-Totin’ Action Hero
In his May 28 News & Observer (N&O) column, anti-gun writer Barry Saunders refers to pro-gun-freedom Facebook commenters as “Hopalong Cassidy wannabes” and “Quick Draw McRib[s].” Yes, ol’ Barry sees all them stoopid, gun-totin’ rednecks as wannabe action heroes with more ammo than sense. Of course, these absurd caricatures that Saunders has floating around his head are exactly that—absurd caricatures. If Barry wants to track down a real gun-totin’ action hero wannabe, he may not have to look very far. In this very same column, Saunders writes of an incident that suggests that he himself may be guilty of a gun crime.
Shootout at the Saunders Corral
Saunders’ misguided column about how scary a soccer mom with a .380 can be does have one very important take-away:
Anti-gun Barry, who it turns out actually owns a gun, may have confessed to engaging in the dangerous and illegal behavior that he consistently forecasts others will engage in. In his May 28 column, while telling of his own experience finding a burglar in his home, Barry shamelessly admits the following:
Anti-gun Barry, who it turns out actually owns a gun, may have confessed to engaging in the dangerous and illegal behavior that he consistently forecasts others will engage in. In his May 28 column, while telling of his own experience finding a burglar in his home, Barry shamelessly admits the following:
“Fortunately for [the burglar], by the time I threw him out, ran back upstairs to get my gun and went looking for him, I saw a Durham cop who took his description and sent my ridiculous self home.”
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Yes, you read that right. According to his own words, Saunders first saw the burglar flee his home. Then, instead of locking the door and waiting for the police, he ran upstairs to get his gun, and then went outside to look for the burglar. Had it not been for the police arriving in time to get between Barry and the fleeing man, Barry’s own street may have run red with blood. Whose life or limb would Barry have been defending?
Barry Saunders’ horrific visions of citizens carrying guns are clear cases of psychological projection. Prophecy of shootouts over fender benders and drive-thru murders over condiment errors are likely the columnist’s own imaginings of how he, in his own undisciplined and sporadic ways, might react to such things. Saunders may not understand that most people do not live in such erratic self-indulgence, and they would never react in such horrific fashion to life’s inconveniences and aggravations.
According to his own statement, Barry Saunders may indeed react in this sort of irrational and undisciplined manner. True, finding a burglar in one’s home is no small thing (a bit more than an aggravation). However, seeing him flee your home, and then meditatively retrieving a gun in order to go outside and chase him down is not only irrational, it’s likely illegal. Threatening the use of a gun against a person who is not an immediate threat to you is against the law, and if Barry had shot the man before the police arrived to cut the hunt short, neither the “Castle Doctrine,” nor “Stand Your Ground,” laws that Barry almost surely hates, would offer him legal protection.
Barry Saunders’ horrific visions of citizens carrying guns are clear cases of psychological projection. Prophecy of shootouts over fender benders and drive-thru murders over condiment errors are likely the columnist’s own imaginings of how he, in his own undisciplined and sporadic ways, might react to such things. Saunders may not understand that most people do not live in such erratic self-indulgence, and they would never react in such horrific fashion to life’s inconveniences and aggravations.
According to his own statement, Barry Saunders may indeed react in this sort of irrational and undisciplined manner. True, finding a burglar in one’s home is no small thing (a bit more than an aggravation). However, seeing him flee your home, and then meditatively retrieving a gun in order to go outside and chase him down is not only irrational, it’s likely illegal. Threatening the use of a gun against a person who is not an immediate threat to you is against the law, and if Barry had shot the man before the police arrived to cut the hunt short, neither the “Castle Doctrine,” nor “Stand Your Ground,” laws that Barry almost surely hates, would offer him legal protection.
Saunders Must Go
Is it sensible for the N&O to employ an anti-gun columnist who demands one thing, admits to doing the opposite, and then boasts about his hypocrisy? Like the Carl T. Rowan story, are we seeing another case where an “elite” few see themselves as above the law, while impugning the character of the rest of us? Enough is enough. Confessed hypocrite and, according to his own words, possible gun-criminal, Barry Saunders, should not be the anti-gun voice of the N&O.
Below, find out how you can get in touch with the N&O, and tell them that you’ve taken all of the insults you can stand from Barry Saunders. Tell them you don’t appreciate being preached to about guns by self-professed gun-toting man-hunter, Barry Saunders. Insist that N&O management show Barry Saunders the door (but you might advise them to stay behind cover when they do it).
Is it sensible for the N&O to employ an anti-gun columnist who demands one thing, admits to doing the opposite, and then boasts about his hypocrisy? Like the Carl T. Rowan story, are we seeing another case where an “elite” few see themselves as above the law, while impugning the character of the rest of us? Enough is enough. Confessed hypocrite and, according to his own words, possible gun-criminal, Barry Saunders, should not be the anti-gun voice of the N&O.
Below, find out how you can get in touch with the N&O, and tell them that you’ve taken all of the insults you can stand from Barry Saunders. Tell them you don’t appreciate being preached to about guns by self-professed gun-toting man-hunter, Barry Saunders. Insist that N&O management show Barry Saunders the door (but you might advise them to stay behind cover when they do it).
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