According to Ed Rendell I’m Looney, Nuts, and Off My Rocker

This morning a bunch of the people I generally shoot IDPA Matches with are on their way to Blue Ridge Cherry Valley Gun Club in Stroudsburg, PA. Not wanting to spend an hour and half in the car (each way), I decided to stay home and wait for a match closer to home.

While my wife and daughter slept in, I decided to spend my morning with a cigar in one hand, a cup of hot coffee in the other, and my laptop infront of me. I found my way over to the PA2A Forum and stumbled onto a thread that caused me to let out a drawn out sigh – Ed Rendell: Good Thing About Newtown is That it Was So Horrific.

In that thread is a YouTube video from News Busters. The video is a a couple of clips from a program which I am not familiar with – Now with Alex Wagner. The clip starts off with the host stating that the response to the recent discussion of responsible guns laws, as it applies to “gun toting enthusiasts and the NRA”, has left her “dismayed and disappointed”.

From there, the video cuts to statements made by former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. The string of words that came out of Ed Rendell’s mouth were so absurd that I had to listen a second time to make sure that I didn’t miss something.

Pardon me if the following block of text seems a little jumbled. I used the voice to text feature on my phone to generate a sort-of transcript. The result was pretty rough, so I went in and cleaned it up a bit. For a clear statement, take a look at the video clip at the head of this post.

This has been an ongoing battle that goes all the way back and even predates Columbine. Each tragedy we resolve to do more. A good thing about Newtown is it was so horrific that I think it galvanized Americans to a point that the intensity on our side is going to match the intensity of their side. Secondly, I’m not dismayed by those statements at all. Those statements convinced the average American that the other side is absolutely looney, nuts, off their rocker. That drives people to the conclusion that we got to do something reasonable

The video abruptly ends at that point so I have no idea what Ed Rendell’s reasonable solutions are. Frankly, with Rendell’s past I really don’t need to hear those reasonable solutions to know that they will be more of a burden to law abiding citizens than they will be to criminals.

As a gun toting enthusiast and member of the NRA, I suppose that makes me absolutely looney, nuts, and off my rocker. Thats alright though, I’ll proudly wear that label if it means that I can maintain the ability to protect myself and those close to me from harm.