# Nut With Gun at Town Hall **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 14, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377 "2009-08-14T03:04:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/41 "2009-08-14T15:25:05Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The sign did not say that. The hyperbole is unnecessary. You _do_ know the rest of the quote, right? eta: Beaten to the punch. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/42 "2009-08-14T15:25:15Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > You know the words are from the quote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. > > What other possible interpretation is there. Death wish? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/43 "2009-08-14T15:30:02Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Maybe that was a hose nozzle in his holster. Or maybe he was just glad to see us. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/44 "2009-08-14T15:30:26Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > You know the words are from the quote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. > > What other possible interpretation is there. Do you think he was a “pro-irrigation” supporter? Maybe that was a hose nozzle in his holster. Oh, I’m sure _his_ tree of liberty would be refreshed by baby’s tears. Or kitten pee. Or Mountain Dew. There are _so_ many ways to interpret that sign. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/45 "2009-08-14T15:31:35Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > You know the words are from the quote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. Well, it’s good to know he thinks of Obama as a patriot. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/46 "2009-08-14T15:32:07Z")
If this had been an anti-war protester and Bush the President everyone from Fox on down to the resident right-tards on this board would be frothing at the mouth insane and it’d be dug up and re-used more often than Clinton’s blow-job. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/47 "2009-08-14T15:33:34Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > If this had been an anti-war protester and Bush the President everyone from Fox on down to the resident right-tards on this board would be frothing at the mouth insane and it’d be dug up and re-used more often than Clinton’s blow-job. But they’re already frothing at the mouth insane. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/48 "2009-08-14T15:35:53Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > But they’re already frothing at the mouth insane. You make a telling point. Except when it comes to armed men waving signs around threatening the President. Then it’s apparently all ‘nothing to see here.’ The Secret Service should have just shot the fucker. Wasn’t Oswald on private property with a legally held gun? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/49 "2009-08-14T15:39:57Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > You know the words are from the quote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. > > What other possible interpretation is there. Do you think he was a “pro-irrigation” supporter? Maybe that was a hose nozzle in his holster. I do know the quote, and I know what you think the interpretation is, but that is not what the sign said. You’d think that being a veteran of the Internet you’d know what trolling looked like. And that’s exactly what has happened, you guys have all been trolled. Why are you even giving this guy the time of day? You’re making him famous, and I’m sure he appreciates it. In any event, no matter how boorish the behavior seems to you (and me), he didn’t break any laws and he didn’t threaten anybody. Much ado about nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/50 "2009-08-14T15:41:37Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > My personal theory is that the SS wanted to arrest him, just on general principles, but were stopped by Obama. Really? I suppose that’s internally consistent - you’d expect the SS to hold someone like this for the duration of the event - but it’d be interesting to find out what Obama did or didn’t know or do. > [@](#): > > Anyone remember the guy that got arrested by the SS for refusing to shake Cheney’s hand? No - that’s news to me. Anyone have a link to that story? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/51 "2009-08-14T15:42:19Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > If this had been an anti-war protester and Bush the President everyone from Fox on down to the resident right-tards on this board would be frothing at the mouth insane and it’d be dug up and re-used more often than Clinton’s blow-job. But it wasn’t, and your supposition is nothing more than that which you decry. It isn’t any less so because you name the usual retort. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/52 "2009-08-14T15:51:03Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I say all the power to him. I proudly open-carried my S&W M&P 9 mm… I used to do that; then one day I suddenly remembered, “Wait a sec…I already _have_ a penis!” > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Wish more would do the same. Fuckin’ A Skeeter! Then ya’ll could have a genuine wild west gunfight when the guys in the black hats showed up. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/53 "2009-08-14T15:54:25Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > But it wasn’t, and your supposition is nothing more than that which you decry. It isn’t any less so because you name the usual retort. It’s not a supposition. It’s a fact. [Richard Humphreys](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-13350519.html) got imprisoned for a whole lot less. > [@](#): > > A US man, who talked of “burning Bush” before President George W. Bush visited South Dakota in 2001, was sentenced on Friday to 37 months in prison. > > Richard Humphreys of Portland, Oregon, was convicted in September of threatening to kill or harm Bush. Left or Right. Anyone carrying a gun, threatening sign or not, around the President should be dealt with and in the light of the specious precedent of Humphreys I simply don’t believe anyone’s hands were tied. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/54 "2009-08-14T16:07:20Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I do know the quote, and I know what you think the interpretation is, but that is not what the sign said. I can carry a sign saying “You can lead a horse to water…” and then claim I mean that it’s all about teaching a horse how to swim, but I’d be an idiot if I were to somehow expect anyone to complete the phrase that way. So tell us–what is the reasonable interpretation of such a sign? What in the world was he actually referring to, if not the quote in question? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/55 "2009-08-14T16:53:37Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I do know the quote, and I know what you think the interpretation is, but that is not what the sign said. Huh? What other interpretation for that sign is there that even remotely makes sense? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/56 "2009-08-14T16:59:05Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > When the totality of the story is taken into account, this becomes much ado about nothing. Nobody was threatened in any way, unless of course you think that a gun is always threatening, in which case there’s nothing else to say. Certainly would be threatening to me and I bet it would be to you too if you were there and (for the sake of argument) on the opposite side of the debate from this guy. Some of the protests have gotten heated with each side yelling at the other. How can a guy displaying a weapon _not_ be threatening to the opposite side? Would you happily engage in a shouting match with the guy with the gun who is displaying a sign that advocates violence (or at least his belief it is time to start watering that tree with blood)? ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/57 "2009-08-14T17:15:17Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Really? I suppose that’s internally consistent - you’d expect the SS to hold someone like this for the duration of the event - but it’d be interesting to find out what Obama did or didn’t know or do. > > No - that’s news to me. Anyone have a link to that story? Hmm, looks like I was remembering incorrectly according to [this story](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/us/18colorado.html). I don’t remember seeing anywhere that he had actually touched Cheney, which would be entirely different from just telling him off and not shaking hands. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It has another function: To frighten/intimidate people. For that purpose, it need not be loaded. Police officers carry guns mainly so that they can be seen to carry guns; a cop who actually has to draw his weapon probably already has made at least one mistake. This may be true of you, but I am not frightened nor intimidated just because someone has a gun in their holster. Now if they pull it, or start acting like they will, that can be a different story. And this isn’t because I am a “gun nut”. I do not have a concealed carry permit, I don’t own a handgun, and the .22 rifle and .410 gauge shotgun I do own I have not fired in over 30 years. Probably been almost that long since I have even touched them, since they are at my mothers. Guns are tools. They are not innately good or evil, they do not good or evil, they just exist. They can be used to do good or evil acts, but that is not the gun, that is the person using them, just like a hammer can be used for building or destruction. That guy apparently wanted to intimidate and get attention. Well he can only intimidate you if you let him, but here you are giving him the attention he wanted. Doors is correct, you have been trolled. [QUOTE=tagos] You make a telling point. Except when it comes to armed men waving signs around threatening the President. Then it’s apparently all ‘nothing to see here.’ The Secret Service should have just shot the fucker. Wasn’t Oswald on private property with a legally held gun? [/quote] Are you really advocating murder of someone exercising his legal rights, just because you don’t like him or the way he is doing it? Pot, meet kettle. And again, if the man had issued a threat against Obama, he would have been arrested. It happens all the time, as a [simple Google search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=IQL&q=arrest+Obama+threat&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=) would tell you. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/58 "2009-08-14T17:30:45Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Huh? What other interpretation for that sign is there that even remotely makes sense? Oooh, let me try! I’ve been looking for a career change, and maybe this will land me a swell speeh writing gig. I’ve seen a lot of spin and it looks fairly easy… Okay. Everyone’s thinking that the sign must be referring to the watering of the tree of liberty with the blood of the tyrant Obama. They’re forgetting that there’s another part to the quote. He is simply reminding everyone that when the death panels start their forced abortions and euthanasia at least some of the people they kill will be patriots, thus their blood will be watering the tree. Some of you may be wondering where the actual connection to the tree of liberty comes into this explanation, and to you I say DEATH PANELS!!1! Fox News here I come! ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/59 "2009-08-14T18:32:50Z")
> [@jcheckwood](#): > > Because he can and America is a free country…for now. That doesn’t constitute a purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377/60 "2009-08-14T18:39:04Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > For what purpose I may ask? Because unzipping your pants and strapping your dick to your leg is illegal under most city ordinances. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nut-with-gun-at-town-hall/506377.md?page=4)