HOLY SHIT THAT'S A GUN

So…here’s an interesting issue. We’ve had a few gun-rights people coming in for endorsement interviews. This morning, we had Marcus Tempey, who’s running in the Republican primary for Chip Shields’ seat. He’s a gun-rights dude who favors a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. But when I asked if he was packing during the interview, he said no. “In deference to the prevailing conditions at most newspapers,” he said, “I prefer not to.”

It was John Sweeney, the Democratic challenger for Earl Blumenauer’s congressional district, who actually pulled his gun out after I asked if he was packing. He’s running on a gun rights platform because Blumenauer has talked about having “reasonable controls” for firearms over the last few years. Sweeney, a former city parks employee who spent 28 years in the Army Guard, came in with a list of nine reasons for private ownership of firearms—including, and I quote, “because many criminals are infected with HIV/AIDS, it is best to defeat them at a distance. That means firearms!”

He pulled out his loaded Beretta 21, unloaded it, and showed me.

HOLY SHIT THATS A GUN

  • HOLY SHIT THAT’S A GUN

Mummy!

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

13 replies on “Someone Just Pulled A Gun Out In My Interview”

  2. That’s a perfectly reasonable gun to carry. I’m more akin to Mr. Tempey. When I carry, I carry a Taurus .38 Special. I don’t feel the need to carry very often, though (and I have a CCW permit for several states).

    I honestly don’t understand the need to pack everywhere I go, and I don’t understand others’ needs to do so, but whatever. We all have our reasons and it’s our right to so…

    You might be surprised who carries and who doesn’t. Believe me, if more people knew how many people carried, there’d be a lot less road rage.

  3. That would make a cool video game – shooting HIV-infected criminals from a distance. And if you use a gun that’s too powerful, there would be a greater chance of their blood splattering 40 feet and onto you and into your circulatory system somehow.

  4. I’m not a gun rights advocate or a gun owner (I like my whiskey from time to time and I feel that, if you’re smart, you’re either a whiskey lover or a gun lover, but not both). Even so, where is the conclusive evidence that controlling guns reduces crime or the murder rate? When I search I find examples, but I can also find seemingly good arguments and evidence the other way: that a criminal will get a gun if he wants one. If you raise the stakes by drastically increasing penalties for illegal gun possession, that will simply increase the motivation of the criminal to top off his mugging with a murder, to keep the victim from identifying him.

  5. “…if you’re smart, you’re either a whiskey lover or a gun lover, but not both”

    I like that. I go for the whiskey and the virtual guns myself.

  6. Exactly right, Amanda. Just look at the UK, or DC, or anywhere else where private gun ownership is banned.

    All the criminals have guns and none of the civilians do. On top of that, the murder rates by gun are no lower than anywhere else (if not higher..*ahem* DC *ahem*)

  7. Some possibly relevant statistics:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count…

    The UK (with a population of around 60 million) had 42 gun deaths in 2008.

    The US (with a population of around 307 million) has around 30,000 gun deaths (including suicide) per year.

    I’m not saying people in the US should give up their guns, but the US does indeed have a much higher gun murder rate than the UK and many other countries in the world.

  9. I just think its strange that this is still the #1 issue for so many conservative politicians. Democrats don’t even talk about gun control any more. I hang out with liberals all the time, and this never comes up.

    You’ve won, guys. Strap on your weapon and go pick up that OJ.

  11. We don’t need gun control. We need crazy people with guns control.

    I’d rather put my money toward universal mental health care.

  12. Welcome to the U S of fucking A, Mr. Davis — a few years too late.

    Would you care to have your medication dosage upped a tad now?

    And may I see your papers, please?

Comments are closed.