Debating the GunLoons (Part Sechs (continued))
Sometimes you have to shake your head.
Extremism, while a blight on society, can sometimes be funny. I give you Don Gwinn.
Don is exercised about an IL state legislator named Dan Kotowski, who had the temerity to propose some gun control legislation. To Don, this is unconscionable; according to Don, Kotowski “snuck in” to office (in reality, Kotowski beat the incumbent GOP opponent by nearly 1400 votes, becoming the first Dem Senator from that area since before 1860). Further, Don implies that Kotowski’s views on gun control weren’t known; of course, this is unusual since Kotowski was head of a gun control organization prior to his election.
Anyway, the usual gunloons have allegedly sent Kotowski threats in response to his gun control legislation. Don asserts Kotowski has the Illinois State Police at his beck and call and have had police show up at the residences of some of these gunloons. Don accuses Kotowski of inflating the nature of these threats.
Meanwhile, Don chooses to use a passage from Unintended Consequences to illustrate how Kotowski’s behavior is bad/wrong/something.
I think it has escaped Don that Unintended Consequences is a novel.
- Update:
I regret the error.
I will say, though, having done more research–Ross is not credible. Ross all but accuses Banks of murdering his predecessor.
Actually, there was no passage from Unintended Consequences in that post.
You are mistaken.
Kotowski DOES have police detectives at his beck and call as long as he’s willing to claim that someone threatened him. You could do much the same thing if you made the same claim.
The key is whether Kotowski has any evidence that anyone ever threatened him. The quote from John Ross’s real life experience in Missouri (NOT a fictional passage at all–look it up) and my own past experiences at the Illinois capitol were included to illustrate that pro-gun-control legislators have a history of using this dodge before.
Comment by Don Gwinn — June 19, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
So, Don, you would admit Kotowski has no more power than you or I in compelling the Illinois State Police to investigate a threat?
Comment by Administrator — June 19, 2007 @ 8:23 pm
“I regret the error.”
Not enough to redact it, I note…
Comment by Tam — June 19, 2007 @ 8:43 pm
Nope, Tam. Ross is a whackjob.
Comment by Administrator — June 20, 2007 @ 5:58 am
I hope I’m a whackjob in your taxonomy.
Officially Kotowski has no power over the ISP; they’re in a different branch of government.
But this is Illinois, and the official rules are about one-fourth of the story. I will not agree that he doesn’t have more influence than I do; that would be wishful thinking. The guy is a legislator. I can’t say until we get to see all the facts whether his clout as a legislator was the sole reason for the questioning, but if it wasn’t, that still wouldn’t make it right unless somebody actually threatened the guy–and I’m just not buying it. If I turn out to be wrong, I’ll send you a six-pack of your favorite.
Anyway, I was nice enough to go find an AP press release from the mid-1990’s to show John Ross and “Jet” Banks in their natural habitat–sound bites:
Comment by Don Gwinn — June 20, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
Lemme ask you, Don–have you read Unintended Consequences? If so, your thoughts?
Comment by Administrator — June 20, 2007 @ 5:33 pm
Not bad for an amateur novelist’s first major attempt. The characterization is deep, which is good, but obviously pretty fanciful. Henry Bowman is clearly not intended to be a terribly realistic hero.
My favorite part of the novel is about the first third–the long series of anecdotes about “The Gun Culture.” I realize people outside that culture probably find that part boring and maybe even skip it. I think that’s unfortunate, but it’s basically fan service not unlike the new Fantastic Four movie.
If you liked Unintended Consequences, you’ll love Enemies Foreign and Domestic. It’s quite a bit less involved and quite a bit more realistic, although suspension of disbelief is still required. The dialogue is still not exactly on par with Tobias Wolff, but who is? Besides, the author was a Navy SEAL, so he meets your definition of a “real shooter.”
http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/
Comment by Don Gwinn — June 21, 2007 @ 5:34 am
So, you have no problem with the rather graphic descriptions of assassinating law enforcement officers and elected officials?
WRT Bracken, what’s the fascination with killing federal agents?
And why is there often a racial component that runs through these so-called ‘books?’
Comment by Administrator — June 21, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
You can’t even bring yourself to call a book a book, can you? “So-called books?”
I couldn’t explain any racial component to you. There’s none in Unintended Consequences aside from the explanations of how much gun control was originally implemented to keep blacks under control. I don’t recall any racial component to EFAD, either, although I haven’t read Matt’s second book.
To what racial component do you refer?
The fascination, as you put it, is more apprehension. People are wondering how far the abuses are going to go and what’s going to be necessary to put a stop to them. EFAD posits a federal special-tactics team run as more or less a rogue element. The question is, with the powers federal law enforcement keeps piling up, what happens when people come into power who are determined to use those powers for their own ends?
Have you read Unintended Consequences and Enemies Foreign and Domestic? If you’ve read EFAD, it should be clear why the protagonists kill federal agents–the federal agents they kill are part of the “STU” team that killed thousands of people to set up a grab for power, led by a rogue federal agent who is ruthless enough to kill his own people.
Above all, as you once reminded me, these are works of fiction. Rogue federal agents get killed in these books for the same reason as in, say, Tom Clancy’s novels–because they’re the bad guys, and some people still like to read stories where the good guys overcome the odds, kill the bad guys, and get the girls (except that you could argue that Ranya is the hero of EFAD–and she doesn’t get Brad in the end, does she?)
I’ll tell you what: you name two books you’d like me to read this summer, and I’ll read them if I can find them. Whatever you want. I just started The Autobiography of a Formerly Coloured Man today, but I think it’s going to be a quick read. Short book, fascinating book.
Comment by Don Gwinn — June 21, 2007 @ 10:17 pm