So it doesn't matter when armed wingnuts are near the President anymore?

A masterpiece on Talking Points Memo:

In a stunning amount of irony, Mansonite Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was released from prison this week, after 34 years in prison. The gun she pointed at President Ford had no bullet in the firing chamber-- unlike Sarah Jane Moore, she never even pulled the trigger or fired.

Presumably, these gun nuts showing up for the health care events have their weapons actually loaded. I repeat, Fromme did *34 years in prison.* Where, may I ask, was the Secret Service today? Far be it from me to tell them how to do their job, but letting armed extremists near the President of the United States would appear to not be in their job description. Were the AR-15 guys questioned? Detained? Quite frankly, given the history of political violence in this country, I would think that the operative policy would be to disarm these guys first and ask questions later. The legal standard for determining what is a threat to the President is rather low, as these things go (as I recall, requiring only a threat and an apparent ability to carry it out-- Francisco Duran, while he fired his gun, never got within a hundred yards of President Clinton, who was behind several walls at the time. He's doing 40 years in prison.). What is going on here?

And this...

In a YouTube video, the man who carried a semi-automatic assault rifle outside yesterday's presidential event tells fellow demonstrators "We will forcefully resist people imposing their will on us through the strength of the majority with a vote."

The man, only identified as "Chris," spoke against taxation: "Just because you sic the government on people doesn't make it morally OK to steal money from people. Taxation is theft."

He also said "it would be insane" not to be armed, saying he wears a gun at all times.

But he didn't seem to be planning any violence. At the beginning of the video, a voice off-camera asks, "You gonna water the tree of liberty?" a reference to a Thomas Jefferson quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Chris responded, "I hope not."

The video comes from a libertarian group called Freedom's Phoenix and another group called 4409, which opposes police security cameras.



http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/where_are_the_limits.php?ref=fpblg

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/watch-man-carries-an-assault-rifle-outside-obama-event.php?ref=fpa