NYT's Gail Collins to Gun Rights Supporters: We Don't Want Your Kind Here
Support the Second Amendment and gun rights? Gail Collins doesn't want your kind in her town. In her Thursday New York Times column, "More Guns, Fewer Hoodies," the paper's former editorial page editor dropped her trademark (attempts at) humor in her attempt to use the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida to call for severely limiting access to firearms: "Really, just leave us alone. If you don’t like our rules, don’t come here. Is that too much to ask?"
Collins, a sudden liberal convert to states rights, was notably mute on the recent cases of Meredith Graves and Marine Ryan Jerome, arrested in Manhattan under dubious circumstances for carrying concealed handguns.
You would think that this would be a great time to address the question of handgun proliferation, but it has hardly come up in Washington at all. This is because most politicians are terrified of the National Rifle Association. Also, the small band of gun control advocates are busy with slightly less sweeping issues, such as their ongoing but still utterly futile effort to make it illegal to sell a weapon to anyone on the terror watch list.
The only serious debate Congress is likely to have this year on the subject of guns involves whether to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry their handguns into other states.
Say you were from -- oh, maybe Florida, where George Zimmerman was carrying a legal, loaded pistol while he was driving around his gated community, looking for suspicious characters. In Florida, even non-Floridians can get a concealed carry permit. You can get the application online. From the Department of Agriculture. (“Fresh from Florida.”)
....
There is a serious trend toward states letting their residents carry concealed weapons with no more background check than you need to carry a concealed nutcracker. All of this is based on the gun rights lobby’s argument that the more armed law-abiding people we have on our streets, the safer everybody will be. Under this line of thinking, George Zimmerman’s gated community was safer because Zimmerman was driving around with his legal gun. You can bet that future Trayvon Martins who go to the store to buy Skittles after dark will seriously consider increasing their own safety by packing heat. The next confrontation along these lines may well involve a pair of legally armed individuals, legally responding to perceived, albeit nonexistent, threats by sending a bullet through somebody’s living room window and hitting a senior citizen watching the evening weather report.
....
You would think all of this would cause states to stop and rethink. But no. And, personally, I’m worn down from arguing. Florida, follow your own star. Arizona, arm your kindergarteners. Just stop trying to impose your values on places where the thinking is dramatically different.
Really, just leave us alone. If you don’t like our rules, don’t come here. Is that too much to ask?
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Comments
Voices from the past
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 1:15pm.
COLLINS: Really, just leave us alone. If you don’t like our rules, don’t come here. Is that too much to ask?
She seems to be chaneling the segregationists of the Deep South in the '50s.
First off - Who's "we" you ignorant twit?
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 2:22pm.
Secondly, we could say the EXACT same of you and your loud-mouth ilk - If you don't like our rules, stay the hell out or leave if you're already here (and I'm talking about both the state of Florida and the nation as a whole). Who is it trying to change MY state's laws? Who is it trying to change the rule of law established by MY Constitution? If you're so worried about "state's rights" you might want to read up on just what state's rights are. WE, the residents of our respective states, decide what WE want. Stop accusing others of throwing bombs while you yourself are lobbing twice as many. It's YOUR congress-critters and activist judges trying to impose THEIR will on states that is the issue. What would you be saying if George Zimmerman had been armed but poor little Trayvon has still beat him to death? Would you still be ranting about evil guns and the (apparently most powerful) NRA? Shut up, get lost, and take your ignorant opinions with you. WE are sick of it...
Then STOP imposing YOUR values on us, Gail sweetums.
Submitted by drsamherman on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 3:15pm.
Of course, for garbage like Gail, it's completely okay for THEIR values to be imposed on US because we just "don't know any better". Funny how Texas has survived wars, insurrections, economic upheavals and all manner of natural disasters with its own values intact, and how that has just annoyed the hell out of self-righteous nitwit hacks like Gail.
Feel free to stay in New York, Gasbag Gail--we don't want you in Texas.
"WE" are
Submitted by dr-go on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 3:22pm.
the "experts" here at the NYT. My kind, not yours you silly slope head. My paper may be in the tank for everything liberal but we are still correct and have "some experts" that will support that position.
Who are we? Really now, can't you understand even for a brief moment that "WE" can't be questioned?
"WE" are
Submitted by dr-go on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 3:22pm.
the "experts" here at the NYT. My kind, not yours you silly slope head. My paper may be in the tank for everything liberal but we are still correct and have "some experts" that will support that position.
Who are we? Really now, can't you understand even for a brief moment that "WE" can't be questioned?
Yo, yo, Cappmann.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 3:41pm.
I'll cut a deal with Gail and NYC anytime they want. We will not allow any Floridians to go to NYC for even a visit, if NYC will swear to never, never, NEVER send another Noo Yawka down here, especially Key West!
Funny thing is, y'all kin say whut y'all want 'about the South, but y'all never heard o' nobody retirin' an' movin' North, 'specially to Noo Yawk.
Amen to that!
Submitted by panzerakc on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 5:39pm.
Although I live in Colorado now, I spent about 15 years of my life in the Tampa/St. Pete area. And last time I was there, the place was nearly overrun with lost New York tourists.
So here's the deal, Gail. (As my folks still live there, I feel I can make this kind of offer.) Floridians will stay out of New York, if you stay out of Florida.
That means no Orlando, no Disneyworld or Universal Studios. No sunny beaches anywhere on the state. No Miami. No Ft. Lauderdale or wherever for spring break. No leaving on a cruise from Miami, or Tampa, or wherever.
Heck, I'd even say you can get your citrus from California or Arizona. (Oops, guess you don't like Arizona much, either. My bad.)
So Florida can keep the folks from Illinois, Indiana, golly, even Canada, and you lovely residents of New York can stay home.
Deal?
Oh, by the way, Tim Tebow is exempt from this ban.
You have a deal Bubba!
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 10:39am.
Don't want them down heah no how, no way anyways. Hope she reads these posts and pops her cork at the "podunk talk"! Just another reason for her to stay the hell out of MY state.
Collins and many others in
Submitted by kg on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 4:50pm.
Collins and many others in the Democrat media fail to realize there is a vast world outside the metropolis. What works in the metropolis doesn't work elsewhere. Life outside the metropolis is not like it is inside the metropolis and never will be. Nor can they push the rest of the US to live like them.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
Oh if only the leftist swine
Submitted by MrSnuggles on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 12:46pm.
Oh if only the leftist swine would extend the same courtesy to, say, Georgetown University and the Catholic Church.
Gail? I'm going to take you to school on a BIG TRUTH...
Submitted by Annie Ashe Fields on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 1:09pm.
...The very people you don't want in your neighborhood (good guy gun owners), are the very people you will WANT in your neighborhood when people who don't look like they belong in your neighborhood THREATEN YOU or your STUFF. You will be the FIRST & LOUDEST SCREAMER when you've got caliber pressed to your temple.
So here's what you need to know about the difference between you and the GOOD GUYS who have guns:
We'll help you even though we find you personally repugnant. We won't pistol whip you with a morality lesson while we do it. We'll just save your butt and leave.
YOU, on the other hand, WOULDN'T LIFT A MANICURED FINGER to help the good gun owner if they - for reasons unimaginable - needed YOU.
That's about all I need to know about this situation - and all you SHOULD know and will promptly ignore, dismiss, and forget.
More's the pity.
Translation
Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 1:09pm.
The unspoken translation: we don't have guns, feel free to rob us any time.
Any place with "gun conrol" has a higher crime rate than those that don't have "gun control."
-Jon
Hey Gail, guess what?
Submitted by KyWriter on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 1:30pm.
We really don't want your kind around here either. But much to your disgust, this is still mostly a free country.
Hell I'd support that idea.
Submitted by texastommy on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 1:32pm.
But, only if she'll accept my plea that if you don't belive in the right to bear arms, then stay the hell out of here. Not the just this city, but everywhere in the state. (And other states are welcome to join this plea.)
Property rights, suspicious looking character and guns
Submitted by lrgon on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 2:08pm.
How many of you have run across signs that state, demand, blare out: "No for thru traffic"? The implication is that unless you live on that street keep the hell out!
What if, or let's say, you are out looking to check out homes for sale in the neighborhood in hopes of finding one you can "flip/" You are in your beatup Ford pickup instead of your new Lexus that is having work done on the power windows. You just finished mowing your lawn and are wearing torn up shorts and a dingy tee shirt. You ignore the warning sign and drive slowly looking at the condition of homes and the kind of people that live in the neighborhood. You are "checking them out," and they are suspiciously "checking you out" and memorizing your car tag! You look threatening to them.
Your kid whom you've brought along is wearing his hoodie and has his baseball caps with the bill turned backwards. Geraldo is right, hoodies don't exactly communicate "boy scout out to do his good deed of the day."
Kids seem to be natually prone to do stupid things and jump walls and take shortcuts thru areas that are posted "no tresspassing." But with the public education system conspiring to keep them from reading the english language and teaching them to be rebellious against "the man," kids have been misled by the creeps that run our government owned schools. The goonies that run our "public schools" are to blame for not teaching their subjects about respecting private property. Not totally but they are to blame for setting kids up are they not? Parents too for not deprogramming their children from Marxist propaganda. Ok, can we can agree that schools don't teach the philosophy of Adam Smith and the Author of the Bible?
The left wing controlled educationists play it something like this: "The wig-wearing, rich white plantation slave masters, hypocritically wrote that 'all men are created equal' ....except." Then the race card is pulled out to show students (we'll call them subjects) how unjust the founders were and that they considered black slaves as just 2/3 of a man or 3/5th, whatever and etc..
Gated community up ahead. Sure why not? I like to jump over walls wearing my hoodie. The hoodie protects me from harm. It's magical and tells the noncool people to keep away from me.
The Neighborhood Watch patrol dude has perhaps tuned his radio too many times to the wrong stations and gotten some pretty serious shots of propaganda psy-ops directed at his addled brain from Randy Rhodes and Tom Harmon, and, boy howdy, he's ready to defend his territory from suspicious-looking interlopers wearing preppy blazers with fraternity monograms stitched on the breast pocket. The shoes are a dead give-away. That is one dangerous dude. Stop!
There is no shootout at the gated corral. The NW patrol dude drives the kid to the exit gate. The preppy kid explains that his laptop is his private property and the NW patrol dude explains that his gun is his property. They wave goodbye and the NW dude yells "if you text me next time you're in the neighborhood I'll meet you and give you ride, preppy dude."
Moron. Irgon. TomAto. TomAHto.
Submitted by Free Stinker on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 2:06pm.
You are a moron.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Hey Igor (whatever)
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 10:52am.
You want to avoid a "shootout at the gated community"? Simple. Just keep "your kid whom you've brought along is wearing his hoodie and has his baseball caps with the bill turned backwards" from attacking the NW patrol dude. You check them out and they check you out "suspiciously"? Let it go at that and no one dies. And what's wrong with the NW patrol dude checking out a beatup pickup, with someone driving with torn up shorts and dingy t-shirt, with a kid who is wearing his hoodie and has his baseball caps with the bill turned backwards, driving slowly through HIS neighborhood? If you look shady, you're going to be watched by people who live there. It's got NOTHING to do with race. It's called PROTECTING THEIR HOMES AND FAMILIES. If you just drive through, it is HIGHLY unlikely anything at all will happen (unless, of course, you're white and cruising through a black neighborhood - but we won't go there right now).
Holy ...!
Submitted by Dave the mailman on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 1:54pm.
Her arguement is so full of holes, its not even funny....
but the bottom line is "the best way to stop an armed bad guy is with armed GOOD GUYS."
"Really, just leave us alone.
Submitted by Antisocial-ism on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 2:54pm.
"Really, just leave us alone. If you don’t like our rules, don’t come here. Is that too much to ask?"
It seems to me that the same argument could be made for the administration staying the hell out of Church business concerning what kind of health care they can and can't offer.
What say you, Gail?
"Just stop trying to impose
Submitted by NC Cop on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 3:32pm.
"Just stop trying to impose your values on places where the thinking is dramatically different."
Yes, apparently "US" gun nuts are very fond of the Constitution, something you are, not surprisingly, ignorant of.
I think she needs to get down
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 4:02pm.
I think she needs to get down on her knees and thank the good Lord that our kind are around. Unarmed people are subjects, look at Great Britian and armed people are citizens.
I am not happy about the abortion amendement. OMG it is not there.
What Collins and the rest of
Submitted by celator on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 5:32pm.
What Collins and the rest of the gun ban crowd will never understand, nor do they want to understand, is this: the problem is not the gun in the hand, but the craziness in the head which kills people. In parts of the UK, the weapon of choice is a knife (though gun crimes do occur). So should the UK ban hunting knives, switchblades, finger knives, sliding knives, carving knives, folding knives, butter knives because knives are dangerous?
I agree with Ms. Collins
Submitted by anarcho-capitalizt on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 6:47pm.
Sure, no problem but this has to come as a part of a coherent philosophy based on the rule of law. The 10th ammendment is already on the books to protect our interests, I say allow states to determine their own laws without the Federal Government dictating each jot and tittle.
Now, let's apply this to all manner of laws, regulations, and programs. Return government chiefly to the statehouses and restrict the feds to their legitimate functions. I am all in for that.
Let's move