My local newspaper which I do not subscribe to has an online and scaled down version of their hard copy rag. During a brief moment of insanity I logged onto the papers website and saw a letter to the editor: The enemy is not us! Hmm what could that be about I wondered aloud? Of course gun control!
Apparently the news paper ran a anti-NRA cartoon and a local responded with a letter to the editor. I have to say I agree with the author. It is pretty well written and articulate. And I see the news paper allows for comments?
Ok? cool.
Oh My God Becky! The first reply to the original letter to the editor is a page torn right out of some left wing taking points paper on gun control. But wait it gets better. I am actually going to share the rebuttal from someone using the pseudonym of Metalworker.
(Mr. Skowera is the person writing to the editor)
METALWORKER
Yes, Mr. Skowera, you and a lot of NRA members, not all, but a lot, are indeed the enemy.
You say that to have to give up rights is to have no freedom at all.
By letting the free flow of guns, no restrictions, no regulations, walk into a movie, church, restaurant, school football game or other sporting event. Lets cut the list and just say public event and sit along side me with your assault riffle will make me feel safer.
I think not, I don’t know you. You may well be a drunk hot head, perhaps not, I don’t know.
Give teachers guns. For what? Tell little six year old Johnny with a gun pointed at him , be quiet and study or I’ll shoot you.
Who is giving up freedom?
In Boston, a few months back, Hundreds of thousand rounds were fired randomly, those rounds had to lite somewhere and if one was walking down the street and intersected the path of one, well it became a part of you.
In my memory that was the first time all tows in two county’s were locked down, confined to their homes, were not allowed on the streets, they were after one, I repeat, one person.
All you heroes start shooting at once at no defined target in a confined area, wow.
The second amend. states guns may be owned and the rest is up for interpretation.
So, according to you, only your rights count and not the rights of the masses.
You say your first amend. rights allow you to say what you want but no one has a first amend. right to challenge you. So again I say that ACCORDING TO YOU ONLY YOUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS COUNT, not mine , his , hers or theirs, just your and that makes you the enemy of the masses.
I looked at this for a few minutes, reread, thought, reread, and hung my head in disbelief. Is it just me or can you also hear the shrill in this persons voice as they type this? I swear both of my dogs turned their heads skyward with ears perked like they heard a high pitched mechanical noise from far off. A sound more painful than finger nails on a chalkboard kind of sound.
Should I really reply to this dribble? I mean this is suppose to be a moderated forum right? The unsubstantiated words claimed as fact? Jeesh. I stepped to the edge stuck my toes in, and took the plunge.
Open Forum: Response to Anti-NRA Cartoons Published in The NewsTribune
Here are my bonafides: I have served 22 1/2 years in the US Navy and US Army. While giving more than half of my life serving in countries and places so foul that huge majority of Americans, shall I say residents of the (my AO) would never tolerate for more than a minute let alone, live, eat and sleep in said environment, so that YOU, Metalworker and the NEWS TRIBUNE can use your FIRST Amendment without regard, and spew unsubstantiated comments and opinions as factual?
The heart of Metalworkers rebut and The News Tribune comedic strip is not based on fact but on emotion. Metalworker, along with the News Tribune are bigoted. Yes I said bigots. Merriam Webster defines a bigot as:
a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group.
Metalworkers opening statement : Mr. Skowera, you and a lot of NRA members, not all, but a lot, are indeed the enemy.
One could also attribute your statements as highly racial. Checking my history, comments such as yours fall in line with the Nazi Party, Mao ZeDong, Stalin, and Apartheid mantra. Based on your alias, one could say you are an overpaid unionist that thinks you are owed a job and a pension for life at the expense of others. Bigoted comment? Some may think that sort of stereotype is acceptable. I do not.
*Let’s cut the list and just say public event and sit along side me with your assault rifle will make me feel safer.
There is no such thing as an assault rifle, this is a made up term. And if your afraid of me sitting next to you with a concealed weapon (by definition concealed means out of sight and unknown to you) stops you from participating in society then your uneducated and emotional comments already have done that.
*You say that to have to give up rights is to have no freedom at all.
When I took my oath, and reaffirmed my oath of service multiple times, I did not pick and choose what parts of the Constitution I chose to uphold. The Constitution is a whole package, not just parts to be picked and chosen at will. It is designed to be a all inclusive document. Maybe we should take away your Miranda Rights, that would be your Fifth Amendment. Ernesto Miranda was a Mexican American by the way, as long as we are stereotyping.
*To make the statement: Give teachers guns. For what? Tell little six year old Johnny with a gun pointed at him , be quiet and study or I’ll shoot you.
Shows not only your bigotry but your opinion is based on lack of education of the subject. Not one person in this country is advocating education by the gun of a barrel. Again, your lack of detail on this subject is apparent. Many third world countries I have been in, a gun is used to keep women and children from having an education. Criminals and mentally ill people do not care about gun free zones or about breaking any one of the multiple laws (née tens of thousands) on the books supposedly keeping them from doing harm. I personally do not want to be a statistic while standing in the Mall waiting to buy a Starbucks, or until the police arrive. I will protect my own self and my family just as I have protected yours while serving in the military.
*In Boston, a few months back, Hundreds of thousand rounds were fired randomly. Your comment is based on what facts? A quick Google search shows multiple articles that only 250 rounds where expended. Even if it was 500 it is still far fewer than “hundreds of thousands” you state. Hundreds of thousands of rounds have been expended during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in total, not in any one engagement or street in Boston for that matter.
*In my memory that was the first time all tows in two county’s were locked down, confined to their homes, were not allowed on the streets, they were after one, I repeat, one person.
This highlights the authorities inability to “protect the public” from gun-toting criminals that do not care about your First Amendment right, let alone the rest of your rights.
*All you heroes start shooting at once at no defined target in a confined area, wow.
Again I take exception to your overly broad and bigoted profiling. I have carried a weapon for many years, there are four basic rules of carrying a fire arm. Attempt to use Google and educate yourself about these four rules before using your mouth as a gun in of itself and shooting off opinions based on no facts.
*The second amend. states guns may be owned and the rest is up for interpretation.
There have been laws enacted and court rulings that disagree with you on many levels. Check District of Columbia v. Heller or even today’s latest , a federal judge ruled that Chicago’s ban on virtually all sales and transfers of firearms is unconstitutional. Maybe we should apply your rights to your standard as stated above and leave it up for interpretation.
*You say your first amend. rights allow you to say what you want but no one has a first amend. right to challenge.
Can YOU stand the challenge? Will the News Tribune publish this? I was told many years ago that just because you sing the loudest at church does not mean god will hear you better. The same applies to you. You talk about your rights loudly, what about your responsibilities?
Metalworker and The News Tribune. I would love to stereotype each of you myself, but in the end I would be no better than either of you. There is an entity called the silent majority that does not agree with you on many levels. Do not mistake silence as a sign of weakness or complacency as an agreement with you.
A person much wiser than me made this statement long before I was born, “Better to be thought a fool then open your mouth and prove it” I will add to it by saying if either of you, Metalworker or the New Tribune desire credibility through your words or publications, drop the emotional drama and stick to factual information.
The Constitution is not a perfect document by any stretch of the imagination and those that take exception to any or “parts” of it while wrapping themselves in the flag, may need to rethink their citizenship.
I am fully cognizant that in this Republic debate is healthy. Uneducated opinions and emotional feelings are not a debate.
Each portion of the Constitution’s amendments support each other and each cannot stand on its own without the whole. In particular, the First and SECOND amendments.
Do not lecture, condemn me or others that choose to exercise our right to “bear arms”. Someday it maybe me putting my life on the line and in many instances I have already while protecting you, and your lifestyle. I have found yours and the New Tribune’s commentary ignorant, politically motivated and without factual data. Are you are so inherently afraid of firearms and people that legally carry them? You sir, have other issues. And those that carry a firearm is not it.
I reaffirm. You talk about your rights, your rights, your rights? What about your responsibilities?
Mr. Skowera’s comment rings very true “The enemy is not us”, your Government that you look to and protect and care for you? Could care less. Read Madison, Jefferson, or The Federalist papers about the possibilities of a oppressive Government. Then respond to me with an educated debate.
So there is my reply to this person. Then I started looking at some of the other letters to the editor and comments on local stories. This guy is a fucking troll! he has a comment for every subject and forum! I am waiting for the paper to change its name to Metalworker Tribune! Further down on the anti-NRA comment section, this moron goes on a rant about the founding fathers, how they killed Native American’s, Christian-Judeo principles, bullets after the Boston bombing were flying like flies. Really? what a nut bag! I initially thought this person was mentally ill. But after reading his follow on posts I think he truly believes what he wrote and even thinks that others care.
Like I said in the beginning, his comments really look like they are being rewritten from a MSNBC left wing shows talking point paper. I guess what took me back by this whole “exercise” in futility is I never really thought that a nut bag like this would be in my AO.
Could you imagine this guy as your neighbor?
For the most part, this part of the country are blue dog Democrats and really don’t spew progressive mantra in much fashion.
SO! after typing my reply, and proof reading it multiple times, spell checking, etc. I find out that I have to pay $6 a month for the e-edition newspaper just to leave a reply! Hence I should have known better. Paying to express my rights, who would have thought?
Ad Parare 