Those gun-toting Phoenix protesters who thought it necessary to pack heat in order to express their displeasure over President Obama's Town Hall discussion of health care reform are now seeing the unintended consequences of their dangerous actions. Travel guru Arther Frommer has posted this entry/travel advisory at his website frommers.com: "Do Guns at Political Events Disturb You? Then Consider Skipping Arizona for Now. This attention-grabbing headline is a major departure from Frommer's typical travel entries, such as "Five Things You Don't Know About Tuscany, or "South African Safari From $1,899. Frommer explains his warning in his blog:
I am not yet certain whether I would advocate a travel boycott by others of the state of Arizona; I want to learn more about Arizona's gun laws and how they compare with those of other states. But I am shocked beyond measure by reports that earlier this week, nearly a dozen persons, including one with an assault rifle strapped about his shoulders and others with pistols in their hands or holsters, were openly congregating outside a hall at which President Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
For myself, without yet suggesting that others follow me in an open boycott, I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more. And I will begin thinking about whether tourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona
As you can imagine, the locked-n-loaded lunatics are up in arms over this very sensible and totally logical advisory. One brilliant Fox "News fan added this comment under the blog:
No weapons were pointed at anybody . . .There was no intimidation here, unlike the New Black Panthers standing outside the polling place, whose charges were coincidentally dropped by Obama's Prosecuter.(sic) Did you know that airplanes fly in the air? Yet one may have a fear of flying, so they should stay off planes too?
Wow -- fear of getting shot by another half-witted right-wing loony whipped up in a Hannity/Beck/Limbaugh inspired hate-frenzy is EXACTLY like the fear of flying! Why didn't I see it before? Oh, except for the fact that Fox "News fanatics have demonstrated they are increasingly capable and willing to take up the charge to go on killing sprees in churches, woman's clinics, pretty much anyplace they believe they can "go kill liberals, whereas your standard Boeing 757 is not so inclined, being an inanimate object and all that.
Frommer wisely suggested further research into Arizona's gun laws before venturing into the state. Well, Arthur, since you asked . . . not only can you take guns to protest the President, and to church (if, for example, you need to fire of a warning round because that dammed choir droned into the fifth verse of "Bringing in the Sheaves ), as of this summer Arizonians can bring their firearms into bars and restaurants that serve liquor. In case, y'know, after a few cocktails at the lounge that T-bone looks really rare and they just wanna make sure that critter is good-n-dead before slathering on the A-1. Drinking and discharging -- what a winning combination!
Forget Frommer; perhaps the AZ Department of Health should add a new category to the restaurant food safety ratings, right above dishwasher water temperature and proximity of garbage cans to food prep areas.Title the category: "Number of fatal/non-fatal shootings at this establishment: ________. I bet the Sun City Chuck-E-Cheese would get a C-minus. Who doesn't want to shoot up that place?
William Kosteric, the Obama protester whose holstered 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol strapped to his leg sparked this recent flurry of debates, claims there is nothing threatening, menacing, or offensive about his visible firearm (next to his gun, he also brandished a sign that made reference to the Jefferson quote about watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots . . . nothing threatening there -- nope!) He states that his gun is strictly for self-protection. In case, y'know, the President took a shot at him, one would assume.
What is up with these gun nuts? Have they been so successfully terrorized and brainwashed by eight years of (largely fabricated) terror alerts and dire warnings about swarthy non-Christians lurking in the neighborhood rose bushes, poised to plant incendiary devices in their Rotary Club bathrooms? Are they indeed so terrified and/or paranoid they must carry loaded weapons everywhere they go? Church? Work? Louie'sRibeye Palace? Are they convinced everybody is out to kill them, right down to their fellow church worshippers?
Really?
That is scary.
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