And Who's Holding The Gun In That Photo?

[Todd]

At the top of the CBS News story linked above is a photograph of the TEC-DC9. It's being held by someone. But who's the shooter?

The folks at the gun-rights home page Keepandbeararms.com know who it is. It's none other than Charles Schumer, the esteemed Democratic senator from New York. Schumer has been one of the Senate's leading advocates of gun control, not to mention more restrictions on the law-abiding public's ability to defend themselves.

The full, uncropped Reuters photograph shows Schumer, wearing hearing protection, at an outdoor range, grinning as he blazes away at a target downrange with a TEC-9. CBS trimmed the photo to show only Schumer's hands and the gun. (By the way...shooters will recognize Schumer's blatant disregard for the rules of the shooting range. He's not wearing any eye protection.)

No, it doesn't affect the story itself...but the cropped photograph shows just how far CBS News is willing to go to protect folks like Chuck Schumer from criticism. They're not about to circulate a picture of a prominent Democratic senator exhibiting his poor knowledge of range rules--and enjoying shooting the kind of guns he wants to take away from everybody else.
https://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=1825

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Stupid stupid stupid. CBS News would last ONE day if that were true. I have no more cognitive arguments for you, Todd. You are SO stupid to swallow this conspiracy pap.

 

[Todd]

CBS cropped picture

 

[Todd]

Charles Schumer uncropped

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

No, it doesn't affect the story itself...but the cropped photograph shows just how far CBS News is willing to go to protect folks like Chuck Schumer from criticism.

How you go from the first half of that sentence to the other is where the Stupid Stupid Stupid part comes in.

 

[Problem Child]

Todd-

Do you really think Chuck Schumer goes home at night after a productive day of legislating in the Senate and rips off a couple hundred rounds of 9mm for relaxation? I have less trouble imagining Rosanne Barr running a brisk eight or ten miles a night in preparation for the Boston Marathon.

Have you ever heard the phrase "Know thine enemy?"

I think DCL may be implying the photo is doctored, but I'm not so sure it is.

Most gun control advocates are so badly misinformed about the capabilities of various types of weapons that they pull this kind of PR stunt occasionally, just to try and convince a few people they actually know what the hell they're talking about when it comes to guns. Not that it works, mind you.

Trust me, Chuckie boy is not about to join the NRA.

 

[Todd]

Todd-

I think DCL may be implying the photo is doctored, but I'm not so sure it is.

Which photo, thw one with just the hand and the gun from CBs or the whole body photo?

 

[Always]

Damn. I thought you were talking about Muffkill.

 

[Problem Child]

Which photo, thw one with just the hand and the gun from CBs or the whole body photo?

Why would you have to doctor a hand with a gun?

 

[shadowsource]

Speaking as a NYer who voted for the bugger...

I think it's funny. We're used to our politicians getting caught in compromising situations, and we can only delight in them.

 

[miles]

Some of you guys kill me

Why is it every time someone posts an picture or article which makes the media or a politician look like fools, the response is always that the information is either wrong or has been deliberately falsified by some right wing extremist to make someone look bad.

"Do you think they would be stupid/dishonest/lazy/hypocritical
enough to do something like that."

Fuckin A they would!

I saw the exact same reaction here when someone mentioned that Dan Rather refused to run the Chandra Levy story for six weeks after she disappeared until the suits forced him to. The story was carried on the wire services and wasn't some right wing rag making it up. Rather buried the story, but the buzz on Lit was that it wasn't true.

Where is the uproar when these assholes in Congress look right into the camera and deliberately frighten people into voting for them by lying through their teeth?

How naive can you get?

 

[Closet Desire]

An "undoctored" photo...

...just having some fun here!

Yes it is just what it appears--a tiny slip of an English girl firing a Steyn in full auto. She's a socialist and had never even touched a gun until this day. She had a blast--so to speak--but still sees the middle ground in an issue that is too often dominated by parties who only see the extremes of the spectrum.

As someone who has been pegged on the board as extremely liberal I will mention that I have owned guns since I was a kid and only recently sold off my arsenal before moving to England (I did keep an M1911 and Lee-Enfield that nobody wanted). As I recall, most of those in my family who taught me to shoot and hunt were democrats so I don't see anything hypocritical in a democrat or a liberal firing off a few rounds for fun. I believe in the right to own guns, but I don't believe in carte blanche either.

The two most vocal groups in this are both "nuts" who only see it in terms of absolutes. It really is a grey issue.

Take the tec-9 for example. Let's be serious here for a moment. By comparison it isn't very accurate, reliable, or practical as a sporting weapon and I'd really rather cap tin cans with an old Stevens .22. It's not even ideal for personal defense. It's appeal is to those obsessed with weapons that are paramilitary (and yes, I've met a few of those). It does have the distinction of belonging to a class of guns that are frequently used in crimes that maim and kill a large number of people in one go. I don't think most sports shooters could give rip if it disappeared tomorrow.

Let's face it--there are lots of people of all political pursuasions who use guns in a responsible fashion and the types of guns they prefer actually fit a profile that is seldom used in crimes or massacres.

So...does a culture really need paramilitary or high-capacity weapons to exercise its right to own weapons? Worried about an oppressive government waging war on its citizens? I don't think even a tec-9 would be very convincing in such a showdown. Even without it and its siblings citizens wouldn't be left with pitchforks and shovels.

Just a few thoughts.

(BTW...yes...the Steyn was properly licensed and belongs to the guy in the photo...a Lt. in the state police)