I don't think that any single post did more to attract attention to this blog than I Am TJIC, posted this day ten years ago. TJIC had his guns seized by the People's Republic of Arlington (Mass) for posting about the Gabby Giffords shooting. There was no better illustration of how vague gun control laws are applied in Blue states. Now the Congress is promising more of the same* and even Florida has a bunch bad bills under consideration. Ten years ago it looked like gun rights were ascendent, now it looks like we all may end up like TJIC. My comment about Heller and MacDonald looks pretty naive right now, as the Republic slips into Banana Republic territory.
* To answer Sarah Hoyt's question, molon labe is pronounced "moh LOHN la VEH".
(originally posted 19 January 2011)
I am TJIC
I've linked several times to posts over at the blog Dispatches from TJICistan. TJIC is an outspoken (some might say extremely so) advocate of smaller government. He's also a firearms owner in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. While he owns guns, it appears that he's no longer allowed to possess any:
They claim that Corcoran is so dangerous that, while he has done nothing more than put up a blog post, he must be restrained from possessing firearms. However, it appears that it's not worth it for the police to follow him, or stake out his place, or arrest him.
Huh?
Look, guys, if you think that his speech rises to the level of an actual threat of specific harm to specific persons, he should be in jail. If you're not sure, then do the leg work to establish whether it is or not.
So, what do we know about the Arlington Police Department? We know that they're lazy - nobody assigned to watch over this "dangerous" suspect. We know that they're biased - Arlington is a hotbed of George W. Bush hatred, and the last decade would offer a wealth of examples of similar or worse speech, none of which was investigated.
And we know that they're idiots. It's not like there isn't a ton of case law on how the First Amendment applies to threats of political violence. Arlington will lose this, if it ever gets to trial. Post Heller and McDonald, they'll lose even worse. Idiots.
But this is, as JayG points out, an attack not only on the First Amendment, but on the Second as well. An attack of this sort - groundless in logic, and arguably mendacious in nature - is an attack on all. And so I have to stand with TJIC.
I am TJIC. So are you. If you blog, you are hereby authorized to use this image (created by your humble host, using The Gimp, not that it took any skill). Please link back to this post.
It would be one thing if the law were applied equally to all. It's not, and it will be applied disproportionately to us, because we hold views considered by some in power to be Double Plus Ungood. Lefties in particular, this is your moment. You say that you stand for good governance. Prove it.
It was not a famous Massachusetts citizen who said We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin was more circumspect than the men from Massachusetts, such as Sam Adams, who said this:
ARLINGTON (CBS) – A blog threatening members of Congress in the wake of the Tucson, Arizona shooting has prompted Arlington police to temporarily suspend the firearms license of an Arlington man.Let's ignore for the moment how many people were investigated for making similar comments about George W. Bush. Let's look at the "logic" being exercised by the Arlington Po-Po, shall we?
It was the headline “1 down and 534 to go” that caught the attention. “One” refers to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in the rampage, while 534 refers to the other members of the U.S. House and Senate.
Police are investigating the “suitability” of 39-year-old Travis Corcoran to have a firearms license
They claim that Corcoran is so dangerous that, while he has done nothing more than put up a blog post, he must be restrained from possessing firearms. However, it appears that it's not worth it for the police to follow him, or stake out his place, or arrest him.
Huh?
Look, guys, if you think that his speech rises to the level of an actual threat of specific harm to specific persons, he should be in jail. If you're not sure, then do the leg work to establish whether it is or not.
So, what do we know about the Arlington Police Department? We know that they're lazy - nobody assigned to watch over this "dangerous" suspect. We know that they're biased - Arlington is a hotbed of George W. Bush hatred, and the last decade would offer a wealth of examples of similar or worse speech, none of which was investigated.
And we know that they're idiots. It's not like there isn't a ton of case law on how the First Amendment applies to threats of political violence. Arlington will lose this, if it ever gets to trial. Post Heller and McDonald, they'll lose even worse. Idiots.
But this is, as JayG points out, an attack not only on the First Amendment, but on the Second as well. An attack of this sort - groundless in logic, and arguably mendacious in nature - is an attack on all. And so I have to stand with TJIC.
I am TJIC. So are you. If you blog, you are hereby authorized to use this image (created by your humble host, using The Gimp, not that it took any skill). Please link back to this post.
It would be one thing if the law were applied equally to all. It's not, and it will be applied disproportionately to us, because we hold views considered by some in power to be Double Plus Ungood. Lefties in particular, this is your moment. You say that you stand for good governance. Prove it.
It was not a famous Massachusetts citizen who said We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin was more circumspect than the men from Massachusetts, such as Sam Adams, who said this:
Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!Eliminationist rhetoric right there. Clearly, the Arlington Police would have seized his firearms. What a sad, degraded state for a once proud Commonwealth. It seems that I got out just in the nick of time.
Well, it's not looking good.
ReplyDeleteI had the thought last night that if the police came to the door, and right now, they have no right to, and had a search warrant to seize my firearms, what would my response be?
I mean, I assume the boxcars would be next, right?
I was born and raised in Arlington, it used to be a normal place,
ReplyDeleteIt started going down the tubes in the 80s, just like the rest of Massachusetts
So I got the hell out
Oh, that's why the name is familiar - I have some of Corcoran's books. I did a simple search, but couldn't find an answer - whatever happened with the Arlington P.D. incident? Did he get his guns back, win a lawsuit.....?
ReplyDeleteBorepatch you've had a string of posts about gun rights and Trump sweeping that have been off. Though to be fair you also did state it would take industrial cheating to do it, which they did.
ReplyDeleteConsider this all of you: They don't fear reprisals. They don't have to worry about being reelected. Some may get burned in the purple areas or they may all mysteriously have just enough votes turned in now to insulate them from the voters anger about firearms.
Votes just show up in the right districts so unpopular gun legislation is well just that. Nothing matters anymore.
Votes do not matter and I promise you that anything 2nd related is going to be totally fucked. Hell the supreme courte we all were cheering for pissed their pants and decided an election had less merit to hear than some college kids playing sports and making money.
Think about that.
Can't vote out those that pass the laws anymore or vote in those that will vote how the people really want.
Hey Borepatch;
ReplyDeleteI remembered this, it hit right after I started blogging and I ran his image for a while on my new blog 10 years ago and I paid a lot of attention to it because 2nd amendment issues was(and still is a hot button) issue for me. I recall he moved to another state, I had gotten an email from the guy as a thank you for the support if memory serves, it has been a while. if it happen to him, it could happen to anyone. We ARE TJIC
Just a reminder that we remember Nathan Hale to this very day because he was willing to lay down his life - - his precious life - - because he believed that the principles he fought for were more precious still.
ReplyDeleteMost of us, when the knock comes on the door, will behave as TJIC did in his Nathan Hale moment - - "discretion is the better part of valor," "better to live to fight another day," etc. We've been very carefully trained that patriotism is a fool's game, that no country or cause is worth fighting or dying for.