by David Safier
"I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people."
That statement is on a video made by James Yaeger, CEO of Tactical Response which TPM calls "a Tennessee-based company that specializes in firearms and tactical training." He's responding to the possibility that Obama might issue and executive order on gun control. The video is below, along with a transcript.
"Fuck that. I'm telling you, if that happens, it's going to spark a civil war, and I'll be glad to fire the first shot. I'm not putting up with it. You shouldn't put up with it. And I need all you patriots to start thinking about what you're going to do, load your damn mags, make sure your rifle's clean, pack a backpack with some food in it and get ready to fight. I'm not fucking putting up with this. I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people."
I'm a big First Amendment guy and I don't know the law very well, but I wonder if this guy has crossed some legal line. Probably not. But someone should certainly check the kind of arsenal he has amassed given the threatening nature of his statements.
JAEGER'S NON-APOLOGY APOLOGY UPDATE: James Yaeger said he went a little too far in that video I posted above. I "probably allowed my mouth to overrun my logic," he said. In a new video, he clarified his statement: "I do not condone anybody committing any kind of felonies up to and including any aggravated assaults or murders, unless it's necessary," Yeager said in the second video. "Right now it is not necessary." Good to hear it's not necessary yet, though he went on to say, "But I don't, I don't retract any of my statements." I wonder, does Wayne LaPierre think we should be checking into this guy's mental health and his fitness to own weapons?
OH. MY. GOD. UPDATE: I know, I shouldn't be surprised. Yeager listed a bunch of federal and state firearms instructor certifications he doesn't actually have.
“Of course, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.” (this line comes in handy)
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/101791621 (3rd in a series)
At least those videos he makes with on attorney on camera are apparently unlikely to include any statements that would cause the powers that be to suspend any other government licenses he may or may not hold.
“A Middle Tennessee firearms trainer who made an ominous and very public promise in a YouTube video that gained national attention this week, has had his handgun carry permit suspended Friday by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
Yeager told Channel 4 News he is aware of the suspension, and his attorney will handle his statements going forward.”
I doesn’t sound like we are likely to see any video segments from James Yaeger in the near future.
http://www.kpho.com/story/20559778/tn-firearms-instructor-gains-attention-from-youtube-rant
That’s a very nice footnote but I don’t think that James Yaeger or other folks who are concerned about government registration and potential confiscation of privately owned firearms are going to be reassured by a post by Elspeth Reeve [Thank you for the effort in any case.]. Of course, I am a skeptic by nature so I also say as does a guy called Dennis that “Of course, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”
Just because agents of the government aren’t legally permitted to confiscate legally owned and possessed firearms doesn’t prevent them from attempting to do so.
I imagine that folks like James Yaeger would be less prone to making such a video if government cheerleaders stopped claiming that the 2nd Amendment doesn’t mean that private individuals have a right to keep and bear arms instead of claiming that it only recognizes government rights.
Perhaps we can get Eric Holder to make a reassuring public presentation on how the US government will not make any effort to touch James Yaeger’s junk (or his lawfully purchased, owned and possessed firearms).
“Don’t Touch My Junk (the TSA Hustle) song + video by Michael Adams”
http://youtu.be/QhEMRSp7vaY
Whenever I see these mental midgets screaming about how they and their ilk are ‘patriots’, I rend to replace that word with ‘domestic terrorist’.
This wingnut is off his meds. Elspeth Reeve at The Atlantic reports http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/01/dont-worry-nra-obama-cant-do-big-things-guns-without-congress/60778/
“The [only] things Obama can get done through executive order are much smaller. They include “changes to federal mental-health programs and modernization of gun-tracking efforts by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” the Post says. Other Congress-less reforms floated include tracking gun buyers’ history of mental illness, sharing more information between state and local law enforcement, keeping information on gun sales longer, and banning the importation of military-style weapons.”