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Howie, Heidelberger, Guns — Discuss!

I should be wary of any conversation that starts with my interlocutor's promise not to shoot me. But Gordon Howie stuck to his promise: cameraman Ed Randazzo aimed nothing but the cameras at me during this conversation about guns and the Second Amendment in South Dakota politics:

Mr. Howie and I both invite your comments on just what good guns do in our culture and which of us, given our statements here, is more likely to win public office in South Dakota.

46 Comments

  1. Rorschach 2014.06.09

    Gordon colors his hair just like that RINO Willard Romney. Leaves gray in the sideburns and browns off the rest.

  2. Kurt Evans 2014.06.09

    I'm a traditional libertarian Protestant, and I regard the Heidelberger-Howie sessions as the best thing happening in South Dakota politics.

    Both of you guys make me think ... and crack me up. :)

  3. Jessie 2014.06.09

    Civil discourse, even jovial civil discourse. How nice.

  4. Tim 2014.06.09

    Was in Sams Club a couple weeks ago, seen a guy in the checkout line just in front of us wearing camos and a sidearm and was also storing his fishing tackle in his face, have to say it made my wife and I very uncomfortable. I read someplace that the second amendment actually doesn't give everybody the right to carry or own guns, that is something the right and NRA has come up with in the last 10-15 years. It was originally intended to make sure the militia was armed, back in the day. I'm no constitutional scholar like the republicans are so not sure.

  5. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.09

    There have been several articles in the local paper lately about gun nuts trying to normalize open carry. The photos show people with military style rifles with those big, curving ammunition clips sticking out, slung over their shoulder as they wait in the checkout line.

    WTH! Why does anyone need such a weapon in a Target store?! If they keep this up, no one will be able to identify the bad guys. It's perfect cover for them.

    Walk into Target with your big gun, bag full of additional clips and grenades, backpack bomb, and you're set for a mass killing!

    Geez, those people scare me. I think they want to look like either the Old West Cowboys, or macho military. Either way, go hunting or shooting at the range. I don't trust you gun nuts to be sensible with your weapons! All I have to do is see you toting your gun around town and I can tell you're nuts.

  6. Joan Brown 2014.06.09

    My 18 year old grandson recently got his concealed carry permit and I don't think any 18 year old is mature enough for that responsibility. If he ever comes into my apartment with it, he will be told to either go put in the car or leave. I don't allow guns in my house.

  7. mike from iowa 2014.06.09

    Open carry meet stand your ground. Let the bloodbath begin. Your imaginary right to prove you maleness interferes with my right to feel safe and secure in public places. That is what we have police for. If you think you need a weapon to feel safe in church or the local grocery store it is because wingnuts and the NRA are scaring you into believing you are not safe. Innocent people being slaughtered in schools is not a price we have to pay to have sensible,enforceable gun laws. For all you have done to make the US less safe,NRA,both middle fingers are for you.

  8. Stan Gibilisco 2014.06.09

    Wholey buffalo burgers. I agree with your take in the video, Cory, 100 percent.

    Obviously you have something better than Diet Mountain Dew going around in your head.

    Wish I'd had you as a teacher in high school history class.

  9. JeniW 2014.06.09

    The second amendment is giving us and others right to be murdered by someone using a firearm (even though murder is illegal.)

  10. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.09

    The ongoing OC-T (Open Carry-Texas) has been dismissed by the NRA as "weird", so much so that OC-T are tearing up and burning NRA membership cards and denouncing them.
    The photographs of these groups does not show handguns being worn openly, they are groups of armed militia confronting and challenging Texas laws, with little or no resistance.
    The OC-T, the Cliven Bundy welfare guy, the recent ambush/murder of two police officers in Las Vegas, all have a common denominator, the tea party. As these groups continue to push buttons, there will be pretty consequences.
    All it takes is one loose cannon that feels the need to fire his military type weapon at anyone they choose. Eventually a federal officer will get killed and the war with the idiots will be on, this is probably what they wishing for.

  11. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.09

    Here are photos of gun nuts in Target stores. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/03/open-carry-gun-fight-moves-to-target-stores/

    Just what Target needs, after the credit card mess plus lagging sales, pics of "burly he-men" in camouflage with big guns hanging off their "manly" shoulders filling the aisles of their stores. I'm sure that won't help business. (BTW, I don't think camouflage like they are wearing is very effective in a department store.)

    If I see one of those loonies in a store I'm in, I'm dropping everything and getting out of there.

  12. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.09

    Cory, you did a good job in that interview. Howie did a lousy job. He did not contribute anything but bufoonery.

  13. moses 2014.06.09

    Cory, you were good keep it up dude.

  14. lorahubbel 2014.06.09

    This is off-topic...but related to Independent candidates. You obviously looked at SDCL 12-6-8 (but keep reading...after the Gosch gaff amendment)
    ...The petition shall be verified under oath by the persons circulating the petition. The verification by the person circulating the petition may not be notarized by the candidate whom the petition is nominating. The provisions of this section may not prohibit a person registered with party affiliation from signing either a petition nominating an independent or a nonpolitical candidate for office if the person has not previously signed a petition for that office to be filled.

    So are Republicans breaking the law when they prohibit Independents from signing Gordon's and Mike Myers petitions (and maybe also by not allowing them to vote for a Republican in a primary)? if so, it would not be the first time...I suppose they will just get another letter written by a 2 bit lawyer in the State house to assure us everything is just fine.

  15. lorahubbel 2014.06.09

    Granted it says "MAY NOT prohibit a person...from signing" (which the Republican clearly do)...it doesn't say SHALL NOT. However, if it was written to allow a choice in the matter it would have been written..."MAY prohibit a person from signing...."

  16. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.06.10

    (You're right, Lora—that is off-topic. No points to make... other than to note that if someone got in the way of folks signing Gordon's petition, his firearms wouldn't have helped him resolve the issue.)

    Thanks, Jessie! "Jovial" is good—I just worry that I'll get carried away and lose sight of serious points.

    Deb, I do what I can with the questions offered. :-)

    Moses, gladly! Thanks!

  17. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    Deb-the nutjob on the right in your picture is the leader(guffaw) Kory Watkins. He is running for 6th district congressweasel in Texas,currently held by Joe(please accept my sincerest apologies,BP,for the black guy in the White House holding you responsible for your oil spill in the Gulf) Barton,wingnut/t-bagger of Texas.

    Roger C-the NRA has already apologized for their open carry weird statements.

  18. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    Link doesn't work. Nevermind.

  19. Michael B 2014.06.10

    I still think you talk TOO FAST and wave you arms too much.

    The real world is uncomfortable and fearful of people that carry guns like Chuck Connors did in the show "The Rifleman". If I saw someone with a long gun slung over their should walk into a grocery store, I'd be on my cell phone calling 911 because it is not the place for a rifle.

  20. Steve Sibson 2014.06.10

    "If I saw someone with a long gun slung over their should walk into a grocery store, I'd be on my cell phone calling 911 "

    Another thread of fear inducing paranoia in leftists.

  21. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    If I saw someone with a long gun slung over their shoulder heading for any store,I call in a drone strike and waste them then,claim self defense and probably get acquitted in a court of law. That'd teach wingnuts a thing or two about scaring law abiding citizens with idiots who carry long guns to make up for short weinies.

  22. 96 Tears 2014.06.10

    The thugs who show up in stores, malls and public sidewalks brandishing their sidearms and semi-auto rifles are not good guys with guns. They're provocateurs. They act to incite. People who go out in public and walk up to me or you with their guns are looking for trouble. They should not be surprised when people start reacting in kind. Maybe that's what they want.

  23. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    Long guns>short weinies=ammosexuals

  24. PNR 2014.06.10

    Howie seemed most intent on eliciting Cory's views, which he did, and which Cory expressed well.

    I haven't the problems Cory has with the legislation allowing school boards to decide the question of weapons in their schools - I trust them to make good decisions on that matter and, to date, SD school boards have done so. In a way, it is of a piece with my views regarding private property - views very similar to those Cory expressed.

    But then, I tend to be far more absolutist regarding private property than Cory is. I think if I wish to allow smoking in my privately owned business, then I should be allowed to do so, just as I should be allowed to permit or ban weapons in my establishment. Allowing local school boards to regulate what is or is not permitted on local school property is in line with that.

    I also think the open carry movement in Texas and elsewhere misunderstands the 2nd Amendment and, frankly, manhood. It is ill-disciplined, in my opinion, as well as inconsiderate. Respect is never given when demanded. It must be earned, and one of the chief methods of earning it is to extend it.

  25. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.06.10

    Michael B: what do you think would make people more nervous: my talking fast and waving my arms, or my talking slowly and keeping my hands at my sides, resting on two holstered, openly carried pistols?

  26. Lynn 2014.06.10

    Ahh! Nothing like a nice relaxing summer day taking kids to the Sioux Falls zoo and Falls Park with each of us shouldering a fully loaded AR-15, side arm, wearing civilian seasonally and fashionable flack jackets which would be quite warm and one or two grenades. Even the baby stroller would have vented Kevlar protection.

  27. owen reitzel 2014.06.10

    ""If I saw someone with a long gun slung over their should walk into a grocery store, I'd be on my cell phone calling 911 "

    Another thread of fear inducing paranoia in leftists."

    Steve, I'd do the same thing as Michael B. Why should soembody be allowed to carry a rifle into a store? No paranoia here Steve. Just common sense.

  28. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    Quick OT on Cliven Bundy. He owes the gubmint more back lease fees and penalties than all other ranchers combined. Somewhere out there,those are virtues of patriotic wingnuts.

  29. Jessie 2014.06.10

    What is it with you guys? Why does every conversation about weapons eventually degrade into remarks about male genitalia?

  30. lesliengland 2014.06.10

    ...or economics. insurance forces school boards to ignore NRA. capitalism sometimes works!

  31. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    Because guys who just feel the need to parade huge weapons in public are compensating. It is the duty of all rill 'murricans to point that out.

  32. JeniW 2014.06.10

    Jessie,

    Blame Sigmund Freud. The firearm is a symbol of the male body part that women do not have, and the bullets are symbolic of sperm.

  33. Jessie 2014.06.10

    Mike, Jeni, I understand all that, except Freudism which is bunk. What I don't understand is why it appears in an otherwise more or less mature/civil discussion?

  34. mike from iowa 2014.06.10

    Lucky Lynn. You have it so much better than Don Rumsfeld. You get to got to war with the army you want,not the army you inherited from Bill Clinton.

  35. JeniW 2014.06.10

    Jessie, I understood your point. I was trying to be silly.

    They are toting their firearms into businesses for the same reason why people try to climb the most dangerous mountain, because it is there, and they can.

  36. Joan Brown 2014.06.10

    A question for all the people that think they need guns for self protection------how well did that work for the two armed law officers in Neveda?

  37. larry kurtz 2014.06.10

    Howie just got a bump and Eric Cantor just got the hook: curious whether don Juan Thune could stand a teabag challenger. Kristi has been moving to the center: watch her lurch hard right.

  38. Jessie 2014.06.10

    Maybe Boehner won't be such a twit without Cantor breathing down his neck all the time.

    FYI, Noem just announced being a hanger-on for HR4813, to block Obama's new EPA policy. Her press release touts it as "bipartisan" but that's only barely. They brought in one measly Dem from West Virginia (coal country of course) so they can call it that. Did she think we wouldn't notice?

  39. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.11

    "Ammosexuals!" Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

    Best ever Larry! I'm going to use it too, with your permission, of course.

  40. grainofsalt 2014.06.11

    I'm on board with the people who are very uncomfortable with so called "good guys" openly carrying guns in public places. How do I know you're a "good guy"? Those Walmart guys looked like they could by "bad guys". If I happened to be a "patriotic, tea party, gun toting, I'm a real man" sort of guy, I might just decide you're here to commit a mass murder. If you put your hand on your gun in a way I don't like, I might just jump the gun and shoot you, in self defense, you know. I agree with Deb and 96.

  41. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.11

    Good point Grain.

Comments are closed.