Paints wuite a picture, doesn't it?...To quote what many have been saying this weekend, "words have consequences" - and that includes a map showing targets with "crosshairs" on those pols who don't agree with a wanna-be pol which, btw, has probably been taken down from her PAC web site by now.
Stephanie, Is it premature to say we are now in something comparable to early 1930's Germany? How can we not see the comparisons? And we know where that lead.. Why do we let the right diminish these comparisons because they get their feelings hurt?
Update 1: Insurrectionism Timeline .. repeat two bits ..
"On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court embraced the National Rifle Association's contention that the Second Amendment provides individuals with the right to take violent action against our government should it become "tyrannical." The following timeline catalogues incidents of insurrectionist violence (or the promotion of such violence) that have occurred since that decision was issued:
last one there
December 3, 2010—At "Roe & Roeper's Miracle on Indianapolis Blvd. Holiday Extravaganza" promoting "Toys 4 Tots" in Chicago, Illinois, actor R. Lee Emery (famous for his depiction of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in "Full Metal Jacket") tells those in attendance, "The economy really sucks. Now I hate to point fingers at anybody, but the present administration probably has a lot to do with that. And the way I see it, they're not gonna quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees. So I think we should all rise up and we should stop this administration from what they're doing because they're destroying this country. They're driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us.""
continued
December 31, 2010—An anonymous threat is posted in the "Rants and Raves" section of the Anchorage Craigslist against Andree McLeod, a citizen activist who has requested—under Alaska’s Open Records Act—work-related emails that Sarah Palin sent and received while governor of the state. The threat states, "I think Andre has used up to much oxygen. So I have my scope cross hair on her head! She better watch out, the request may have been her last." The Anchorage Police trace the message to the AOL account of an Anchorage woman in her 50s, but neglect to verify if she is the one who is responsible for it.
January 6, 2011—John Troy Davis, 44, is arrested after threatening to set fire to the office of Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and shoot members of his staff. The threat comes when Davis calls Bennet's office to complain about his Social Security benefits, telling a staffer that he is schizophrenic and "may go to terrorism." "I'm just going to come down there and shoot you all," he declares. Davis is charged with assault on a federal employee.
January 8, 2011—Jared Lee Loughner, 22, shoots U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 19 others at a "Congress in Your Corner" event at a Safeway supermarket in Tucson, Arizona. He kills six, including federal judge John Roll, and wounds 14, including Giffords, who is shot in the head. Loughner has an extensive history of mental illness and substance abuse, yet is able to purchase two handguns and a high-capacity ammunition magazine legally at Sportsman's Warehouse on November 30, 2010. In a YouTube video posted in December 2010, Loughner states, "You don’t have to accept the federalist laws ... Nonetheless, read the United States of America’s Constitution to apprehend all of the current treasonous laws."
January 8, 2011—Fearing violence from tea party activists, Arizona Legislative District 20 Republican Chairman Anthony Miller, Secretary Sophia Johnson, First Vice Chairman Roger Dickinson, and former district spokesman Jeff Kolb resign from their positions. "I don't want to take a bullet for anyone," says Miller, who cites verbal attacks and threatening blog posts from tea party members upset with the fact that he is a former campaign worker for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Miller also reports an incident in which a detractor made his hand into the shape of a gun and pointed it at him.
January 12, 2011—Charles Turner Habermann, 32, is arrested and charged with threatening a federal official after leaving a series of disturbing voicemails for U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) on December 9, 2010. Habermann, enraged by comments that McDermott made opposing tax cuts for the rich, says, "Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, or George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, if any of them had ever met Jim McDermott they would all blow his brains out. They'd shoot him in the head. They'd kill him, because he's a piece of disgusting garbage." Habermann tells McDermott's staff, "You let that [expletive] scumbag know, that if he ever [expletive] with my money, ever the [expletive] again, I'll [expletive] kill him, okay. I'll round them up, I'll kill them, I'll kill his friends, I'll kill his family, I will kill everybody he [expletive] knows."
January 12, 2011—After a report by the Columbia Free Times, Palmetto State Armory removes an advertisement from its website for a personalized assault rifle accessory. “Palmetto State Armory would like to honor our esteemed congressman Joe Wilson with the release of our new ‘You Lie’ AR-15 lower receiver,” the ad reads. A picture of Wilson holding a rifle and standing in the company's gun shop appears on the same webpage. The ad refers to an incident in September 2009 when Wilson disrupted a speech by President Barack Obama in the U.S. Capitol and claimed that impending health care reform legislation would not provide coverage for undocumented immigrants.
January 22, 2011—Writing on his blog "Red State," CNN commentator Erick Erickson states, "We will not endorse any candidate who will not reject the judicial usurpation of Roe v. Wade and affirm that the unborn are no less entitled to a right to live simply because of their size or their physical location ... The reason for this is simple: once before, our nation was forced to repudiate the Supreme Court with mass bloodshed. We remain steadfast in our belief that this will not be necessary again, but only if those committed to justice do not waiver or compromise, and send a clear and unmistakable signal to their elected officials of what must be necessary to earn our support."
January 24, 2011—The National Rifle Association (NRA) posts an editorial from the Washington Examiner on its website entitled "Second Amendment is Insurance Against Government Tyranny." The piece states, "Gun control legislation is back after the Tucson tragedy. Congress must confront the reality that the courts have declared two reasons for the Second Amendment right to bear arms. One is self defense, and the other—whether you like it or not—is enabling the American people to resist tyranny."
January 25, 2011—Former U.S. Representative Jay Dickey (R-AR), who introduced a National Rifle Association-drafted amendment that stripped $2.6 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) budget for firearms-related research in 1996, tells the New York Times that he did so because, "We have the right to bear arms because of the threat of government taking over the freedoms that we have."
January 27, 2011—The New American publishes an article entitled "Arizona Shooting & the Assault on Rights" which states: "The ready availability of guns is no more responsible for this or any other such massacre than an all-you-can-eat buffet is responsible for obesity ... More to the point is the fact that the government of the United States is a creation of the people of the United States in whom resides the natural right of sovereignty. An integral and unalienable element of that absolute right is the right of self-defense. It is logically impossible that a creature can proscribe the rights of the creator. It is for this reason that defenders of the right to bear arms need neither compromise nor capitulate to those committed to eroding that right."
February 4, 2011—Montana Rep. Wendy Warburton (R-Havre) introduces legislation to allow state residents to organize armed units called "home guards" that would answer to the governor and sheriffs during emergenices. These paramilitary groups would be formed into "infantry companies" with their own uniforms, flags, and identities, and would not be subject to federal oversight or control. In commenting on the legislation, Gary Marbut of the Montana Shooting Sports Association says, "The question here is where that slider is located on that range between anarchy and tyranny. We'd like to nudge it back a little toward anarchy."
February 5, 2011—During a speech at a Cullman County Republican Party breakfast, Alabama Sen. Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) rails against illegal immigrants and "big government" Democrats and calls on Republicans to "empty the clip, and do what has to be done."
February 6, 2011—The Minnesota Republican Party mails out a campaign brochure for state legislative candidate Paul Jacobson that depicts a hunter looking down a shotgun's sights while urging voters to "take your best shot." The brochure singles out and criticizes Jacobson's opponent in the race, Democrat Carly Melin, calling her a "fake" and stating her campaign is "full of holes." Her photo is included in the brochure.
February 22, 2011—A participant at a town hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) asks the Congressman, "Who is going to shoot Obama?" After a great deal of laughter, another man in the audience states, "We all want to." There is more laughter. After the laughter dies down, Rep. Broun then responds, "Next question." There is more laughter. The Congressman offers no additional comments on the question.
February 23, 2011—The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reports that the number of hate groups in the United States has topped 1,000 for the first time since SPLC began counting such groups in the 1980s. According to the report: "By far the most dramatic growth came in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement—conspiracy-minded organizations that see the federal government as their primary enemy—which gained more than 300 new groups [in 2010], a jump of over 60%."
March 1, 2011—Texas Woman's University is locked down after a 30-year-old student, Christopher Alan Gillette, makes a "terroristic threat" concerning personal grievances with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The lockdown occurs after Gillette talks about riding through the streets of Washington, D.C. in a pick-up truck with an AK-47 assault rifle during a history and government class. Denton Police Department officers detain and arrest Gillette soon after in the parking lot of a VA facility in Dallas. A undated letter that Gillette wrote to U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Lewisville) is released in which Gillette announced, "I will begin preparations to begin offensive combat preparations against the federal government." In the letter, Gillette also embraced a conspiracy theory promoted by the National Rifle Association (NRA) about the mass confiscation of private firearms in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
March 10, 2011—Schaeffer Cox, the 26-year-old leader of the Second Amendment Task Force and the Alaska Peacemakers Militia is arrested along with four of his followers and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, and arson. The group had stockpiled firearms and munitions and was planning to kill multiple Alaska State Troopers and a federal judge. Cox had previously made overt threats against the government, bragging, "We've got them outmanned and outgunned." He claimed he told one judge, "I don't want to put my influence to the test while the lives of you and your children are on the line." Cox believed the U.S. government was "sliding into tyranny, a police state."
March 24, 2011—Gary John Mikulich, 42, of Kingsford, Michigan is arrested on charges relating to explosives that were found at the McNamara Federal Building in Detroit on February 26, 2011. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Mihigan reports that, "Mikulich frequently complains to local law enforcement officers about the FBI's 'card system.' This 'card system' is responsible, according to Mikulich's complaints to local law enforcement officers, for the murder of Mikulich's father and thousands of other people."
March 31, 2011—John Matika, 67, or Ansonia, Connecticut is arrested and charged with misdemeanor harrassment after making several threatening phone calls to the office of state Rep. Linda Gentile. Indicating his opposition to a bill that would prohibit the possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines, Matika references the January 8 massacre in Tucson and tells Gentile's staff that if the bill passes she should "duck her head" because "more bullets would fly." Antonia police search Matika's home and recover three assault rifles, an Uzi and 11 other firearms. Rep. Gentile issues a statement that says that "threats and acts of violence toward public servants...weaken the very principles of democracy, as well as undermine the public's welfare and safety."
April 2011—Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) publishes an article on its website detailing "The Sixth Reason" why citizens need high capacity ammunition magazines for firearms that hold more than 10 rounds. The article argues that "'We the People'...must retain the right to overthrow our own government" and states that "the American citizenry must now have, as much as ever, some semblance of parity in regards to weaponry" with the U.S. military. "The somber truth is that freedom's 'bottom line' remains the 'bullet box,' not the ballot box," JPFO declares.
April 29, 2011—Speaking at the National Rifle Association's 2011 annual meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain told those in attendance: "I said [to a young man who had recently called into his radio show], 'Here's what you can do if you want to help take this nation back.' When you get to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' [in the Declaration of Independence], keep reading. Because it says when any form of government becomes destructive of those ideals it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. We've got some altering and abolishing to do! Alter...and abolish! ... You know your rights, not just your Second Amendment rights—you know all of your rights—and even though we have some people that are trying to rewrite the Declaration of Independence and they're trying to ignore the Constitution of the United States of America, the patriots of this nation are saying, 'We will not ignore the Declaration and we will not try to rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America because we will be the defending fathers of this great nation.'"
May 18, 2011—National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent appears on "Piers Morgan Tonight" on CNN and states, "Anybody that wants to disarm me can drop dead. Anybody that wants to make me unarmed and helpless, people that want to literally create the proven places where more innocents are killed called gun-free zones, we're going to beat you. We're going to vote you out of office or suck on my machine gun." Nugent also declares, "The reason the whole world sucks and America sucks less is because the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights outlines an experiment where freedom rules the day of individuality and that that can only be secured by crushing those enemies that would take it away ... Anybody who would take away our individual rights and individual freedoms, they're the enemy. They need to be killed."
May 30, 2011—Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) tells The Morning Call that the purpose of his "Castle Doctrine" bill is as follows: "We must be able not only to hunt but to protect ourselves from an overbearing government that does not do the will of the people." The bill in question, HB 40, would liberalize the law concerning the use of lethal force with a firearm outside the home by eliminating the duty to retreat safely from a potential conflict if possible. Individuals would be allowed to shoot to kill if they believed they were under threat of "serious bodily injury."
July 2011—A gun store in Ellettsville, Indiana is closed after its owner, 61-year-old Donald Mullendore, is revealed to have sold guns to convicted felons, transferred firearms without conducting the necessary background checks on purchasers, and failed to keep records of sale. According to the U.S. Attorney's office in Indiana, Mullendore is alleged to have said to a confidential informant "that he did not believe in paperwork....because that would be, quote, 'telling the government where you got your gun.'"
July 15, 2011—Jeff Mattox, a South Carolina Republican county co-chair and activist with the Kershaw County Tea Party Patriots, is asked to resign as co-chair after he Likes an article on the Patriots' Facebook page entitled, "When Should You Shoot a Cop." The article is taken from the website copblock.org and states: "That's what it means to have an unalienable right. If you have the unalienable right to speak your mind (a la the First Amendment), then you have the right to KILL 'government' agents who try to shut you up. If you have the unalienable right to be armed, then you have the right to KILL 'government' agents who try to disarm you."
August 1-2, 2011—Radio host Alex Jones posts a video to his website PrisonPlanet.com in which he lays out a bizarre conspiracy theory concerning mass gun confiscation. In Jones' words: "I have confirmed through two Texas gun dealers and through someone in my office that when you buy two rifles, and by the way it's in this letter, or two handguns, revolver or pistol, that you get an ATF or FBI visit to your house. And they demand to come in your home and see your guns without a warrant. It's a chilling effect, it's intimidation, just like in Nazi Germany ... The system does not want armed citizens, they want to set a precedent. And as our country goes into designed banker depression, as we implode, they are coming after our guns ... The system is having the police and military start a fight where they know gun-owning constitutionalists are not going to along with it. They are going to start responding as things degenerate. And they are going to be called terrorists. The system, the social engineers, are sending the ATF and the Feds on a collision course with law abiding patriotic Americans so they can kick off a civil war in America." The following day, Jones claims on his radio show that the so-called "Super Congress" established by a recent debt-ceiling deal is a vehicle to advance gun control legislation, calling it "another final nail in the coffin of the American Republic and its replacement with an executive dictatorship run by the political state."
August 11, 2011—The chairwoman of the Sumter (South Carolina) Tea Party, Shery Lanford Smith, posts a "joke" on her Facebook profile about killing the president and first lady. In the joke, the Obamas' helicopter pilot says to his co-pilot, "I could throw both of them out of the window and make 256 million people very happy!" Smith then added, "If you're one of [the] 256 million, pass it on."
August 15, 2011—Two days after entering the 2012 presidential race, Republican candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry makes the following comment about Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke at an event in Iowa: "If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y'all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion."
August 17, 2011—During a tour of northeast Oklahoma, U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) calls his colleagues "career elitists" and "cowards" and states, "It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor."
September 16, 2011—During a speech to Tea Party members with the Red Mass Group and Empower Massachusetts in Lexington, Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart fantasizes about employing armed violence against Americans who disagree with him politically: "I'm under attack all the time. If you see it on Twitter, they're taunting and call me gay. They're vicious, the death threats and everything. And so there are times where I'm not thinking as clearly as I should and in those unclear moments I always think to myself, 'Fire the first shot. Bring it on.' Because I know who's on our side and they know that. They can only win a rhetorical and propaganda war. They cannot win. We outnumber them in this country and we have the guns. I'm not kidding. They talk a mean game, but they will not cross that line, because they know what they're dealing with."
September 25, 2011—Responding to a viral video of U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren speaking with Massachusetts residents about the social contract underlying the establishment of the U.S. government, right wing blogger Michael Laprarie writes the following at Wizbang: "When I hear the word 'contract' I reach for my revolver think of two unique definitions—formally, a legally binding mutual agreement made between two or more parties, or idiomatically, an attempt to hire an assassin to kill one or more of your enemies."
September 28, 2011—While speaking at a forum on "The Second Amendment and the Right of Citizens to Conceal Carry" organized by the Huntley Area Tea Party, U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (IL-08) told the crowd: "The most important issue in that Bill of Rights is the Second Amendment. It protects every other amendment. It is the last line of defense between us and our government.
November 2, 2011—Four men are charged with conspiracy to kill officials of the federal government in Gainesville, Georgia. The men—one of whom is listed as a "captain" in the 440th Squad of the Georgia Militia—had conducted surveillance on IRS and ATF buildings in Atlanta, which they were planning to attack with explosives, firearms, and biological weapons. The ringleader of the group indicates that the plot is based on the self-published novel "Absolved" by former Alabama militia leader Mike Vanderboegh. Vanderboegh, a Fox News commentator, previously made national headlines in March 2010 when he encouraged pro-gun activists to vandalize the offices of Democratic Members of Congress in response to their votes on health care reform.
November 4, 2011—Appearing on the "Real Time with Bill Maher" show on HBO, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) states, "We have a problem in America which is that we misunderstand, quite frankly, what the Second Amendment's for. It's for law-abiding citizens to have a right both to protect themselves and to be protected from living under tyranny. Nobody in this room has lived under tyranny ... In Egypt, the only reason there was a change in government is the military backed the protesters. Qadafi kept the military and the only reason that Qadafi is gone today really is their people got guns, their people became part of a popular movement. Now, we may not consider ourselves like Libya ever, but our Second Amendment is one of the reasons we know we never will." Issa does not respond when Maher and other guests on the show question how civilians would fight and defeat a military armed with nucear weapons, fighter planes, and other sophisticated weaponry.
November 7, 2011—A Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Florida, Mike McCalister, says the following in a speech before the Palms West Republican Club: "I get asked sometimes where do I stand on the Second and 10th Amendment, and I have a little saying. We need a sign at every harbor, every airport and every road entering our state: 'You're entering a 10th Amendment -owned and operated state, and justice will be served with the Second Amendment.'"
December 4, 2011—In an editorial at the Renew America website, Freedom Watch/Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman responds to a report about an uptick in gun sales on "Black Friday" by writing, "The American people, true to the intent of the Founding Fathers as embodied in the Second Amendment, are largely stocking up on guns during this time of economic and international crisis and peril to protect themselves from the evils of a dishonest, non-responsive and incompetent government that has brought the nation and the rest of the Western world to the brink of total collapse. This so-called government—as seen with Obamacare, the threat of increased taxes and other forms of fiscal confiscation and violation of property and privacy rights, to name just a few 'atrocities'—is busy invading our individual and family rights and taking away our liberties ... It is evident that the people have near lost total hope and now are arming themselves to the hilt for the next revolution ... Our Founding Fathers, faced with a similar dilemma, were forced to eventually choose this path by risking, and in many cases sacrificing, their fortunes and lives. Is the past a prologue? With no functioning form of representative government likely to be installed in 2012, it well may be!"
January 24, 2012—Just hours before U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)—one of the victims (and the primary target) of the mass shooting in Tuscon on January 8, 2011—appears publicly at the State of the Union speech in Washington, D.C., orange stickers with an image of rifle crosshairs are found on the office doors of several Democratic state senators in the Missouri State Capitol. Specifically, the stickers are placed on the doors of all four Democratic women in the Missouri Senate and Sen. Victor Callahan (D-Kansas City), the Democrats' floor leader. One Republican, state Rep. Scott Dieckhaus, also has a sticker placed on his door.
January 26, 2012—Kansas State Rep. Forrest Knox (R-Altoona), the sponsor of a bill that would allow the carrying of concealed handguns on college campuses and in public buildings (i.e., libraries, city halls, visitor centers, etc.), explains his legislation in the following terms to the Lawrence Journal-World: "The benefits of a well-armed society included not only personal security, but national security and security from a tyrannical government as well. This was clearly the intention of the Founders. We still see that this applies today. A well-armed society is a polite society."
February 8, 2012—At a gathering of tea party and grassroots organizations in Llano, Texas, Republican presidential candidate (and former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania) Rick Santorum tells the audience that the Supreme Court's Second Amendment ruling in the 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller would be in jeopardy if President Barack Obama is re-elected in November 2012. Santorum is then asked whether the Second Amendment is only for hunting and sports, and responds emphatically, "The Second Amendment is there to protect the First Amendment!"
February 22, 2012—Speaking at a town hall meeting in Bixby, Oklahoma, U.S. Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) makes the following reference to a budget plan by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) that had passed earlier in 2012 in the House of Representatives: "Like I said, after this last election, the first order of business is pass a budget. Now, I believe that. I supported the Paul Ryan budget and sent it over to the Senate. Now I live with some Senators, I yell at them all the time, I grabbed one of them the other day and shook him and I'd love to get them to vote for it—boy I'd love that. You know but other than me going over there with a gun and holding it to their head and maybe killing a couple of them, I don't think they're going to listen unless they get beat."
February 29, 2012—During a legislative hearing, the Republican Chairwoman of the Georgia House's Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, Ann Purcell, reveals that she is receiving death threats by individuals upset with her lack of action on a bill that would allow Georgians to carry concealed handguns in public without a permit (and therefore, without any screening or training). Commenting on this revelation, the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jason Spencer, states, "Some of these gun activists are a bit radical. I can understand their frustration in the bill not moving, but making threats to the chairwoman is not helping."
March 19, 2012—The Greene County, Virginia Republican Committee publishes a newsletter calling for violence should President Barack Obama be re-elected in the November 2012 presidential election. In the "Whitehouse Watchdog" column, editor Ponch McPhee writes, "We have before us a challenge to remove an ideologue unlike anything world history has ever witnessed or recognized ... The ultimate task for the people is to remain vigilant and aware that the government, their government, is out of control, and this moment, this opportunity, must not be forsaken, must not escape us, for we shall not have any coarse but armed revolution should we fail with the power of the vote in November. This Republic cannot survive for 4 more years underneath this political socialist ideologue."
April 9, 2012—During an interview with the Fox Business Network, billionaire Foster Friess says of 2012 Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, "There's a lot of things that haven't been hammered at because Rick and Mitt have been going at each other. Now that they have trained their barrels on President Obama, I hope his teleprompters are bullet-proof."
April 14, 2012—During a live interview at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in St. Louis, NRA Board Member Ted Nugent says, "If you don't know that our government is wiping its ass with the Constitution, you're living under a rock someplace ... We got a president and an attorney general who doesn't even like the Constitution. We got four Supreme Court Justices who don't believe in the Constitution ... Four Supreme Court justices signed their name to a declaration that Americans have no fundamental right to self defense." He then adds, "And if you want more of those kinds of evil, anti-American people in the Supreme Court then don't get involved and let Obama take office again. Because I'll tell you this right now, if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Continuing on the topic of the 2012 presidential elections, Nugent looks directly at the NRA members in the convention hall around him and says, “Our president and attorney general, our vice president, Hillary Clinton, they're criminals. They're criminals ... Remember we're Americans because we defied the king, we didn't negotiate and compromise with the king, we defied the emperors. We are patriots. We are Braveheart. We need to ride into that battlefield and chop [Democrats'] heads off in November. Any questions?” In the wake of Nugent’s comments, the Secret Service places him under investigation and meets personally with him. The campaign of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney—who sought and received Nugent’s endorsement—releases a statement saying, “Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.”
April 17, 2012—At an Illinois Chamber of Commerce appearance by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in Springfield, a protest is conducted in response to the governor's labor and economic policies. Speaking at the protest, Rev. T. Ray McJunkins of Springfield's Union Baptist Church shouts to a cheering crowd, "Scott Walker, we send you back to Wisconsin, as David did Goliath. We cut your head off and go back into town singing a new song."
April 24, 2012—John Harris, the executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, sends out an email alert targeting Tennessee House Republican Caucus Chair Debra Maggart, who the group blames for holding up a bill that would have barred employers from punishing workers who keep firearms in their cars in company parking lots. "Rep. Debra Maggart's political career needs to end much as the Romans crucified criminals—not just to end her tenure but as a glaring example to other Republicans that you cannot take the grassroots groups or the rights of citizens for granted," Harris writes. "It is time to display a used crucifix at the entrance to the General Assembly as a warning." NRA lobbyist Darren LaSorte responds to the email by saying, "One thing that John Harris has going is he is critical of the leadership—no doubt about that—and that is part of the political discourse. It's part of how politics works."
May 2, 2012—Christopher Hecker, 41, is arrested in Waynesboro, Virginia, and charged with the federal crime of threatening to take the life of President Barack Obama. Sending emails from his cell phone while hiking the Appalachian trail, Hecker made death threats against the president and threatened to bomb the White House, hotels and other places, including Philadelphia City Hall and the site of the former World Trade Center. In one email, Hecker wrote, "Sooner or later I will grab someone, maybe in the woods, on the trail, and beat the life out of them ... [Obama] is the one that is destroying patriotism in the U.S.A. Ted Nugent is right. So, Obama is allowing me to be tortured to the point that I may murder someone, rather than deal with the mess he made. Your president is a coward." NRA board member Ted Nugent made national headlines on April 14, 2012 when he said, "I'll tell you this right now, if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year ... We need to ride into that battlefield and chop [Democrats'] heads off in November. Any questions?"
May 9, 2012—U.S. Senator Rand Paul authors an email on behalf of the National Association for Gun Rights that contains a banner image of a rifle pointed at President Barack Obama's head. The email's subject line is "Obama just banned 1 million firearms" and Paul warns readers of "a series of anti-gun schemes from the Obama Administration" and "President Obama's deep seated hatred for gun rights."
May 2012—The Daily Caller initiates a program to give away a free handgun each week until Election Day to someone subscribed to its email lists. The handguns are "engraved with the Bill of Rights" and manufactured by Jim Pontillo of FMK Firearms. Pontillo has a history of extreme politics, having warned, "I can't imagine how much more insult the American people are willing to endure under the 'enterprises of ambition' by our politicians, but I do know, gun ownership and an understanding of our American Founders' vision will have positive and deliberate effect on the psyche of our populace and can subdue the overzealous and prejudicial effect of this ambition. When law is abused to achieve political ends where do the gallant citizens turn? Quite possibly to their guns." Pontillo also claimed that those who advocate for secession are acting "in the Founding tradition."
June 18, 2012—Samuel Wurzelbacher (AKA "Joe The Plumber"), a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in Ohio's 9th congressional district, uploads a campaign video to YouTube in which he is shown loading and firing a shotgun while a narrator says, "In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated. In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, six million Jews and seven million others, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated." "I love America," Wurzelbacher then says, smiling. A caption on the video page states, "History also tells us [the Second Amendment is] our last line of defense in the face of an out-of-control government."
June 28, 2012—Moments after the U.S. Supreme Court rules to uphold the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, former Michigan Republican Party spokesman Matthew Davis sends an email to colleagues entitled, "Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified?" The email reads, in part, "In 2008, we the people elected Barack Obama as president, and the 100-year progressive trek to tyranny begun in 1912 with Woodrow Wilson's election was complete ... If government can mandate that I pay for something I don't want, then what is beyond its power? If the Supreme Court's decision Thursday paves the way for unprecedented intrusion into personal decisions, then has the Republic all but ceased to exist? If so, then is armed rebellion today justified? God willing, this oppression will be lifted and America free again before the first shot is fired." Davis explains his email by saying, "You can't have people walking with lattes and signs and think the object of your opposition is going to take you seriously. Armed rebellion is the end point of that physical confrontation."
June 28, 2012—Former Alabama militia leader Mike Vanderboegh responds to a Supreme Court ruling validating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by threatening violent insurrection on his blog, "Sipsey Street Irregulars." In the blog, entitled "Black Thursday," Vanderboegh writes, "You may call tyranny a mandate or you may call it a tax, but it still is tyranny and invites the same response ... If we refuse to obey, we will be fined. If we refuse to pay the fine, we will in time be jailed. If we refuse to report meekly to jail, we will be sent for by armed men. And if we refuse their violent invitation at the doorsteps of our own homes we will be killed--unless we kill them first. ... I am on record as advocating the right of defensive violence against a tyrannical regime." Vanderboegh was the subject of national headlines in 2010 when he urged readers at his blog to respond to the passage of the Affordable Care Act by vandalizing Democratic offices. He then took credit after vandals struck several offices, including that of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
June 29, 2012—The day after the Supreme Court issues a ruling upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mississippi Tea Party Chairman Roy Nicholson issues the following statement: "When a gang of criminals subvert legitimate government offices and seize all power to themselves without the real consent of the governed their every act and edict is of itself illegal and is outside the bounds of the Rule of Law. In such cases submission is treason. Treason against the Constitution and the valid legitimate government of the nation to which we have pledged our allegiance for years. To resist by all means that are right in the eyes of God is not rebellion or insurrection, it is patriotic resistance to invasion. May all of us fall on our faces before the Heavenly Judge, repent of our sins, and humbly cry out to Him for mercy on our country. And, may godly courageous leaders rise up in His wisdom and power to lead us in displacing the criminal invaders from their seats and restore our constitutional republic."
July 17, 2012—Anti-government extremist Rex Michael Sherwood, 48, takes his own life after a firefight with tribal and state police at a gas station on the Jicarilla Apached reservation in Dulce, New Mexico. Sherwood is armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and wearing a t-shirt bearing the name of a "right wing milita group." It is Sherwood's second violent confrontation with law enforcement in the span of a week. On July 10, he exchanged gunfire with tribal police who pulled him over during a traffic stop. Sherwood led officers on a 10-mile chase before leaving his vehicle and escaping into the woods. "Homemade bombs" were found in the back of his abandoned truck.
August 1, 2012—In a letter to the Biloxi Sun Herald, Ron Williams, a congressional candidate from the Libertarian Party of Mississippi, expresses his opposition to comments from mayors in Boston, Chicago and other U.S. cities, who vowed not to allow Chick-fil-A restaurants in their municipalities because of anti-gay statements made by the franchise's chief operating officer, Dan Cathy. "Let me make it clear," Williams wrote. "The [COO] is being punished by government officials because he exercised his First Amendment right of free speech. The Constitution is very clear. When government restricts and punishes the people for exercising their First Amendment rights, then we are to default to the Second Amendment (right to keep and bear arms). These two mayors need to be introduced to the Second Amendment ASAP. The correct response to these mayors would be to send troops or whatever to remove these men from office, by whatever means is necessary."
August 2012—The Tea Party group We the People posts billboards in Indiana, Minnesota and other states that depict Navy Seals alongside the slogan, "THE SEALS REMOVED ONE THREAT TO AMERICA ... REMOVE THE OTHER IN NOVEMBER." When asked if the billboard might encourage violence against President Barack Obama, Don Nunemaker, the head of We the People in Marshall and Fulton counties, says, "Heavens no! If someone goes and does something stupid, they already had that in mind."
August 15, 2012—Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, walks into the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Family Research Council and shoots a security guard after a brief altercation. Corkins—who volunteered at a local support center for the gay community—said "I don't like your politics" just before brandishing his Sig Sauer 9mm pistol. In Corkins' backpack, authorities find 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, suggesting he might have been upset about the Family Research Council's support for the fast food chain's vocal stance against gay marriage.
August 17, 2012—In an editorial at the Daily Caller, retired U.S. Army Major General Jerry Curry comments about recent ammunition purchases by the federal government and engages in wide-ranging speculation about their motives, writing, "The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S. No one has yet said what the purpose of these purchases is, though we are led to believe that they will be used only in an emergency to counteract and control civil unrest. Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used—those causing the civil unrest—must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their citizens ... Obama is a deadly serious, persistent man. Once he focuses on an object, he pursues it to the end. What is his focus here? All of these rounds of ammunition can only be used to kill American citizens, though there is enough ammunition being ordered to kill, in addition to every American citizen, also every Iranian, Syrian or Mexican. There is simply too much of it. And this much ammunition can't be just for training, there aren't that many weapons and 'shooters' in the U.S. to fire it. Perhaps it is to be used to arm illegal immigrants?" The National Rifle Association issues a press release on the same day, making it clear that the ammunition purchases are perfectly normal and to be used for "training, mandatory quarterly qualification shooting and duty use."
August 20, 2012—Lubbock County Judge Tom Head, in a television interview with FOX-34 News, voices fears about the potential re-election of President Barack Obama in November 2012, saying, "He's going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the UN, and what is going to happen when that happens? I'm thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we're not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we're talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy. Now what's going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He's going to send in U.N. troops. I don't want 'em in Lubbock County. OK. So I'm going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say, 'You're not coming in here.' And the sheriff, I've already asked him, I said, 'You gonna back me?' He said, 'Yeah, I'll back you'. Well, I don't want a bunch of rookies back there. I want trained, equipped, seasoned veteran officers to back me."
August 25, 2012—Speaking at a "Second Amendment Rally" co-hosted by the National Rifle Association and the Iowa Firearms Coalition, U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) suggests that it's important to train childen in the use of firearms so they can be prepared to confront their government on the battlefield. "Raise our children with gun safety and bring them out to the range, get them comfortable with guns and make sure they understand both the danger and the responsibility with it," states King. "And they understand the danger of a country that could be taken over by tyranny one day if we fail to do our job."
August 27, 2012—Four Army soliders based at Fort Stewart—Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Anthony Peden, Pvt. Chrisopher Salmon and Pfc. Michael Burnett—are indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault, and using a firearm while committing a felonly. Prosecutors allege the four are part of a anarchist militia group called FEAR (Forever Enduring Always Ready) that plotted to assassinate the President and stockpiled $83,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles in preparation for a series of anti-government attacks. Prosecutors also allege the four shot and killed a former soldier and his 17-year-old girlfriend in order to keep their plans secret. In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Aguigui calls himself "the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet."
September 27, 2012—Stratasys, a desktop manufacturing company, reclaims a 3-D printer it leased to Texas law student Cody Wilson after Wilson announces that he is going to use the printer to manufacture handguns. "It is the policy of Stratasys not to knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes," the company tells Wilson, citing existing federal firearms laws. Wilson, the director of Defense Distributed, the online collective overseeing the "Wiki Weapon Project," had described its purpose on his website:"How do governments behave if they must one day operate on the assumption that any and every citizen has near instant access to a firearm through the Internet? Let's find out." In a video circulated by Defense Distributed, Wilson also sought to raise money for his project by stating, "Every dollar is a statement to these international kleptocrats that, 'This isn't in your control anymore. You want to announce treaties and new legal regimes announcing greater and greater eras and stratas of gun control, but listen it's over. You don't understand the world you're living in. We're bringing something else into being.'"
September 28, 2012—Brad Staats, a Republican candidate for Congress in Tennessee's 5th District, posts a photo of his handgun to his campaign page on Facebook with the following message: "Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights. Apparently Tennesseans are part of that crazy crowd that Obama says 'cling to their religion and guns.' Well, then I must be part of that crazy crowd. Here is something that I usually have with me. Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama, where we appreciate our 2nd Amendment rights and the Constitution that was wisely given to us by our founding fathers." When asked to explain the posting, Staats tells WKRN-TV, "I do want President Obama to know as well as the rest of Congress and everyone else regarding our constitutional, rights don't tread on America's Constitution. I think that your liberties, your life can be defended by the proper instructed use of a handgun."
October 3, 2012—During an interview with the Ames Tribune editorial board, U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) King is asked about remarks he had made suggesting that the original purpose of the Second Amendment was not to assure hunting rights or allow for individual self-defense, but "to guard against tyranny because our Founding Fathers understood that if we did not have an armed populace, an armed tyrant could take over America." When asked whether such a threat was legitimate in 2012, he said, "We don't have that threat now because we have an armed populace." King added that he doesn't think the military, National Guard, police, CIA, FBI, or any other government-run force should be solely responsible for national security: "All of those groups that you've talked about, most all of them wear uniforms and they do take orders from somebody. That's a different concept than it is to have just a populace that has the capability of self-defense. That's what our Founding Fathers wanted. They had been invaded by the British, and they knew they could pick up their muskets and go defend themselves. Down the road, if we're wrong on that, it's too late." When asked who he envisioned as the "armed tyrant," King said, "I don't see it as our own federal government. I wouldn't rule it out down the line in a generation or two. I wouldn't say that's not part of it."
October 12, 2012—At approximately 3:00 p.m., a shot is fired into the field office for the campaign of President Barack Obama in Denver, Colorado, breaking one of the office's large front windows. No one is injured despite the fact that several people are inside when the incident occurs.
November 6, 2012—Tweeting moments after Barack Obama is re-elected President of the United States, American business magnate Donald Trump reacts by stating (incorrectly), "He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election." He then adds, "We should have a revolution in this country." Trump follows up with a series of tweets threatening violence, including "More votes equal a loss...revolution!" and "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty."
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