Debating the GunLoons (Part Sechs)
Extremism.
Why is it the gunloon culture seems inexorably intertwined with extremist groups and whackos? Here’s an account from a visitor to a gunshow:
Actually, though, racism at the gun show is more implicit than explicit. Certainly many attendees are not racist at all. The militia table does not exhibit any racist material, though one can buy videos featuring John Trochmann, a Montana militia leader with a checkered racist past. Other exhibitors show less reluctance to wear their commitments on their sleeve. Several Nazi flags are in evidence at the gun show, and though most are displayed as militaria, one has to wonder who–other than Marge Schott–might want to buy a Nazi flag. There are some more obvious examples of bigotry. A grim-looking vendor near the front of one of the fairgrounds buildings sits behind piles of material that he is selling which include copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. At another table one can purchase the infamous Turner Diaries, which merely labeling “racist” seems not to do them justice. And several exhibitors have copies of the weekly newspaper, The Spotlight, published by the blatantly anti-Semitic organization The Liberty Lobby, which also helped to fund the Institute for Historical Review, a group that denies the Holocaust ever happened.
My own visits to gunshows mirror those above; you also tend to see a lot of “how to” books/tapes/DVDs on subjects such as not paying taxes, being your own lawyer, and making millions with no apparent work or effort.
Gunloons will try and explain this extremism away by arguing it’s just capitalism; that such vendors will naturally flock to where there are a lot of customers. Of course, this explanation doesn’t hold water– at computer shows, car shows, etc., you just don’t find The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or other racist materials.
I can’t figure out why people collect Nazi flags, either, but you also find a lot of Soviet flags and militaria being sold by collectors at gun shows as well. Does that mean that gun owners are closet Communists?
Comment by Clayton E. Cramer — July 13, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
Could be, Clayton. Could be.
A phenomenom found in many Soviet gulags were prisoners who idolized Stalin. Nevermind the fact Stalin was very likely the reason for their incarceration.
Go figure.
Comment by Administrator — July 13, 2007 @ 6:19 pm