Missouri Lawmakers: Gun Nuts, Craven Idiots, or Both

13.42K

Hamilton Nolan

08/28/13 03:58PM

Filed to: usa

The great state of Missouri (state animal: the mule) is poised to pass a bill that would make it illegal for federal agents to enforce federal gun laws, in Missouri. Really? What, are all of Missouri's Democratic representatives just craven idiots?

State Representative T. J. McKenna, a Democrat from Festus, voted for the bill despite saying it was unconstitutional and raised a firestorm of protest against himself. “If you just Google my name, it’s all over the place about what a big coward I am,” he said with consternation, and “how big of a ‘craven’ I was. I had to look that up.”

Aha.

Don't really see that on the Google but... forget it.

[NYT. Photo: Mark Anderson/ Flickr]

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ThisMachineKillsNeoliberals Hamilton Nolan 08/28/13 04:01PM

And the big nullification battle starts anew. If the Second Civil War breaks out, I'm not even going to front. I will sign up to kill me some conservatives and I'll be doing it with a black nationalist/Soviet Union headband.

AnastaciaBeaverhausen ThisMachineKillsNeoliberals 08/28/13 04:16PM

Your comments turned me on. It's not the killing part so much as the way you said it. I don't understand my reaction.

ThisRaccoonIsOnFire ThisMachineKillsNeoliberals 08/28/13 04:28PM

Yeah, good luck throwing rocks at the people with machine guns dumb ass.

Old Bobby Soldier ThisMachineKillsNeoliberals 08/28/13 04:35PM

States pass bills like these all the time and nothing happens.

Cherith Cutestory ThisRaccoonIsOnFire 08/28/13 04:39PM

Good luck firing machine guns at drones.

quebecois Hamilton Nolan 08/28/13 04:20PM

You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end.It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it… Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.
Comments to Prof. David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary (24 December 1860); quoted in The Civil War: A Narrative (1986) by Shelby Foote, p. 58; also in The Civil War : A Book of Quotations (2004) by Robert Blaisdell

Angry Wasp quebecois 08/28/13 04:55PM

I quote this all the time when dealing with Neo confederates.

BuffaloRude quebecois 08/28/13 04:59PM

This.

MarcabExpat quebecois 08/28/13 05:53PM

I regret that I have but one star to give for this comment.

bunnywatson quebecois 08/28/13 07:36PM

Oh how I dearly love Shelby Foote. I fell in love with him thanks to Ken Burns. His voice, telling stories, made the people just come to life so vibrantly!

EastboundStumptown Hamilton Nolan 08/28/13 04:07PM

Is it just me, or are we slowly devolving back into a confederation of states? I realize that a lot of this is states' taking matters into their own hands due to inaction at the federal level (both real and perceived), but between cannabis legislation, gay rights, gun laws - stepping over an arbitrary state line can sometimes feel like going to another country. (I'm looking at you OR/ID & WA/ID borders...)

Sheeeeeeit-ClayDavis EastboundStumptown 08/28/13 04:14PM

Its the logical step when you have a state of people who disagree whole heartedly with federal extortion (IE withholding of fund until you do what the Federal Government says). States were supposed to have the right to make certain decisions. I am not arguing for or against it, but it is their prerogative.

Craven EastboundStumptown 08/28/13 04:14PM

Short answer is "Yes." Google "Devolution Revolution."

cheerful_exgirlfriend EastboundStumptown 08/28/13 04:16PM

They are just making our rights, state by state, more divergent across the board. Used to be you had to be black or a lady to need to check up on every little law at the border, now there's something for everyone.

EastboundStumptown Sheeeeeeit-ClayDavis 08/28/13 04:25PM

I completely agree with you and your take on the current state of affairs. It just feels so different now than when I was a child - we traveled pretty extensively for my father's work and most places felt the "same" apart from climate or accent. Now, I'm an Oregonian who lives by a different set of laws (radically, it seems) from my friends back in Ohio or Florida or NY.

Fnarsbourg Hamilton Nolan 08/28/13 04:01PM

I'm sure the great state of Missouri has absolutely no other problems to deal with, so their legislators must fill their time passing "protest" bills.

LeNoceur Fnarsbourg 08/28/13 04:17PM

You have to understand that the Missouri legislature is not, for the most part, made up of professional politicians. There are strict term limits, and the legislature is not in session year-round. Other than the (few, mostly Democratic) members from St. Louis and KC, it's a combination of asshole small business owners (ahem, "job creators"), Tea Partiers, and agribarons. Republicans have a veto-proof majority in both chambers. They pass all kinds of stupid, unconstitutional shit, some of which gets struck down and some of which just gets ignored. Because of term limits, there is no institutional memory or loyalty to the legislature itself as an institution. Lobbyists run the town, and the very lax ethics laws make anything short of outright bribery par for the course. A lot of these people are just passing time until they can get hired somewhere as a lobbyist or get appointed to a sinecure position in the executive branch.

Exponential Grape Fnarsbourg 08/28/13 09:02PM

How that state ended up with two professional football teams is beyond me.