Geez, I Take A couple Of Days Off.....

Borepatch has a post up here about recent events in Massachusetts. In Arlington apparently the First Amendment has been suspended to go along with the Second. A man named Travis Corcoran has had his firearms license (Not a CCW which is apparently impossible to get but a license just to possess weapons and ammunition at all) suspended. It's because of a post he wrote about the Arizona shooting at his blogsite Dispatches From TJICistan.

I never read the guy and from BP's description it doesn't really sound like I'd care for him or his opinions all that much. Read that link to BP's post and decide for yourself. Frankly I'd have told him to STFU. That's exactly the kind of insanity espoused by idiots like Vanderboegh and his ilk and if I heard anyone talk that way about my wife or family member, Mister TJIC would have had a painful visit from me. But I'd have kept the government out of it because it isn't a law enforcement issue until actions are taken in furtherance of a crime. I'm of the opinion that virtually nothing is off limits in the arena of speech as long as it's not slander or libelous. (However, if you insult me or mine I reserve the right to respond as seems best to me. If I was the husband of that congressperson I'd be on Corcorans doorstep inviting a retraction and an apology and yes, violence might well have ensued. Fighting words you know.)


Are we a free nation or are we not? TJIC's words (what I know of them through Borepatch) seems juvenile, idiotic, simplistic and frankly stupid. His wookie suit makes mine look to be of the hairless cat variety. None of that matters. Freedom of speech is just that. Freedom.

TJIC, I think you're a moron and I am completely indifferent as to whether you blog or shout your nonsense from the rooftops or not. But you should be allowed your First Amendment rights and that you've lost your Second as a result of exercising your First is a crime against American society as a whole and cannot be tolerated.

I'm a retired police officer. I am hardly an extremist. I do however have a good understanding of the nuts and bolts of how the Constitution works at the street level and this ain't it. If a crime has been committed then make an arrest and let the thing work itself out in court. If not then no action is necessary or indicated. None. The police are not clubs to be used to beat people with whom you disagree about the head and shoulders and to use us as such undermines the basic understanding between the Citizenry and government.

I've dealt with real threats. Threats from people who had the ability to do me harm if they really had a mind to. If I had a nickel for every time some punk threatened my life I'd be a very rich man and yet I never, not once, charged anyone who did so. Why? Because I can distill the bullshit from the gravy and the posting by TJIC is pure bullshit and merits no law enforcement action and, indeed, very little attention. There's a vast difference between irritation and criminal behavior. Like the size of the Grand Canyon.

It chaps my ass to have to write this. I have little tolerance for idiots who chafe for civil war and the breakdown of society but I have less tolerance for those who put their politics and societal views ahead of each and every persons Constitutional and civil rights. It takes a lot for a guy like me to defend a guy like TJIC but the great state of Massachusetts has managed that trick and I'm really, really pissed about it.

This is still America you bunch of quacking idiots. Act like it.

Six