Here’s video of that classy guy who showed up outside Obama’s health care forum today in New Hampshire with a gun strapped to his leg and a sign referencing a Thomas Jefferson quote about how “The tree of liberty must be refreshed, from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

25 replies on “Re: They’re Trying to Get Him Killed”

  1. To all the obtuse jackasses from the last post,

    Where is your apology for not taking the death threats and hysteria seriously…?

    Whenever you’re ready.

  2. I realize it might be very easy to get worked up over this, but according to the report, everything he’s doing is perfectly legal; provocative, yes, but still within his rights under the Second Amendment and New Hampshire State law.

    And frankly, I’d be much less concerned about this guy – who is obviously being tracked by LEO’s and the Secret Service, and who knows he’s under scrutiny – than I would about some other nut-case in the crowd who might be packing, but concealing his weapon from view.

  3. What @3 said. Frankly, despite the fact that he’s an idiot, I kind of admire the balls on this guy.

    How come there weren’t any gun toting protesters at Bush appearances?

  4. Hopefully this guy will not make any sudden movements or sneeze too hard as I am sure he is in the crosshairs of a secret service sniper. Sure, it is legal for him to carry while toting a taunting sign, but so is sticking your dick in a light socket.

  5. I agree with @3. He is doing it legally and its obviously more about just proving a point. Even though I completely disagree with this gun toting conservative douche I still respect his ability to carry this gun.

    Obama’s meeting went well I thought.

  6. Technically, @3, everything you do with a gun is nice and legal until you use it to shoot someone. This guy showed up to the event with a gun and a sign that said essentially “I’ma shoot the prez”, and it’s nothing to be concerned about? I’m sorry, but death threats are more than just provocative.

  7. @4 Because those present at W’s public appearances were hand picked by his handlers. Anyone remotely resembling someone with a dissenting opinion was not allowed in the audience.

  8. @11 No, we’re not. I thought there were an awful lot of softball questions but on the other hand, I’m glad it wasn’t taken over but a bunch of damn mouth breathers. Things were discussed and I think it went reasonably well. But yeah, I’d have liked to have seen a little more well reasoned dissent.

  9. @4: How do you translate “really bad judgement” in to “balls”?

    Carrying a threatening sign and a gun to a presidential appearance doesn’t exactly scream “man of strength and courage” to me. Maybe “too much of a crazy asshole to give a shit”? Is that what you mean by “balls”?

  10. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed, from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

    How about we try refreshing the tree of liberty with the blood of crazed right-wing nutjobs? Or at least refreshing our prisons’ supply of fresh meat?

  11. @12- The trouble is that well reasoned people don’t really object to health care reform. In fact, good reasoning leads to finding the current plan terribly weak.

  12. My take is that it’s not just a threatening image to the safety of the presidency but also to other civilians going to the event (??)

    There has already been much animosity displayed at these events (i.e. pushing, shouting, physical injuries)…so even if this guy isn’t interested in shooting the president, it’s a very scary-uncomfortable thing to know that in such an emotionally charged atomosphere, one of the “protestors” is possessing a gun.

    ?

  13. @18- I think the Secret Service just operates under the assumption that most of the crowd has a gun.

    It’s also a fair assumption that in any crowd, there are a few people with guns. Lots of small penises in the world, and you can’t carry your SUV around Renne Faire with you.

  14. @8:

    And the point is – this guy HASN’T crossed any line; he may have his toes up to it, but I’m pretty sure, if he’d gone over even a hangnail’s length, he would have been dealt with in an appropriate fashion.

    And while one may interpret his sign (very loosely IMO) as an implied threat to the POTUS, quoting Thomas Jefferson wasn’t, last I checked at least, grounds for denying ones Constitutional Rights.

    Sorry folks, but this guy is doing exactly what he intended to do: legally exercising his rights as a citizen. I grant he’s doing it in a very provocative manner, intentionally trying to push the hot-buttons of liberals who clearly disagree with his position, as well as his manner of presenting it. But, if he were truly considered a credible threat against Obama, I can assure you the only image of him we would have seen today would have been the one of some score of LEO’s and Secret Service agents throwing him to the ground, cuffing him, and dumping him into the back of a black SUV.

    Which is exactly what this guy was no doubt hoping would happen. If anything, he’s probably disappointed that he wasn’t, because now he – and by extension any of his fellow mouth-breathers – can’t accuse Obama’s people of being the sort of neo-Nazi thugs he imagines them to be, and in fact their hands-off approach only reinforces the difference between the current Administration and the previous one when it comes to public dissent.

    Nope, the guys in the black sunglasses played this one exactly right:: by allowing this guy to exercise his Constitutional Rights, they completely negated the argument he was probably most hoping to prove, namely, that Obama would take those same rights away from him.

  15. @17 for the historically accurate win.

    @21 for not realizing why we added that law … and still thinking the South shall rise again.

  16. Where were all these people during the Bush administration when he was actively taking away our rights? I guess ‘liberty’ takes sides…

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