If Tea Party sympathizers and National Rifle Association members harrassed a gun-control petition effort at even one percent of the level of what recently occurred in Colorado at the hands of gun-control advocates, it would have been prominent national news.
During the several weeks, supporters of gun control menaced and intimidated petition gatherers and petition signers in Colorado who were attempting to recall State Senator Evie Hudak who a few days ago decided to resign her seat to keep it in Democratic Party hands. There was virtually no coverage of the thuggishness in the national establishment press. Charles Cooke at National Review (HT Hot Air) relayed some of the more recent details which should be more widely known, as they reveal how fundamentally undemocratic and disrespectful the left is (bolds are mine):
Having been roundly beaten last time, the gun-control movement changed its tactics for this fight. For September’s recalls, anti-gun advocates managed to outspend their opposition by 8-1. They lost anyway. In September, they brought in heavy hitters from the Obama campaign and beyond, waging a professional campaign against rank amateurs whose campaigns were widely regarded as a waste of time. They lost anyway. In September, they had reams of positive national news coverage. They lost anyway.
This time, in desperation, the gloves came off.
“As we speak, we have multiple cars monitoring us at our offices and filming us from the parking lot,” Mike McAlpine, who headed up the recall effort, told me yesterday. “This is not a one-off event. We hold sign-and-drive events on the sidewalks near to busy intersections, and we hold signs inviting people to pull over and sign the petition. Our opponents have taken to blocking us: as cars pull in, they run up to the driver’s side door and physically stand next to the door so that the person inside cannot open the door and come outside.”
Elsewhere, opponents have formed human chains in order to block anyone who wants to sign. “They yell at the person while they’re at the table trying to sign, or blow an airhorn in their ear,” McAlpine added. “There have been a half-dozen examples of that. In addition, when we go out to knock on doors and present the petition, they will follow us down the sidewalk and scream and yell.” Recently, McAlpine told me, protesters encircled a young black man who was collecting signatures. “They yelled at him, ‘you killed Trayvon! You killed Trayvon!’”
The anti-recall groups also took to distributing flyers accusing those collecting signatures of being sex offenders ...
... “I have three cars following me at all times,” McAlpine continued. “We have tails in most of our locations, and the police will not address this. We’ve shared the statute with the police. We think this is stalking and intimidation.”
Whether it is or not is difficult to tell. Nonetheless, authorities were of little general help.
Thanks to the press and law enforcement giving them cover by ignoring them (with some rare exceptions in local TV), these tactics will continue in future contentious elections until exposure and prosecutions occur.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
