nonsensical

univisionnews:

By TED HESSON

How would you respond if more than 100 activists turned up outside your house to protest your policies?

If you’re Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, you turn to gun rhetoric.

Kobach, a Republican, wasn’t around when protesters showed up at his Kansas City-area home this weekend to voice their opposition to his immigration policies. But when the immigration hawk found out, he wasn’t happy about it.

“If we had been in the home and not been armed, I would have felt very afraid — because it took the police 15 minutes to show up,” Kobach told a Fox News commentator. “It’s important we recognize there’s a reason we have the Second Amendment. There are situations like this where you have a mob and you do need to be able to protect yourself.”

Protesting in front of someone’s home is obviously a controversial choice. I don’t know about you, but if 100 plus people showed up outside my house, I’d probably pretty scared. Kobach has kids, too — four daughters. I imagine that could be just plain terrifying.

That said, Kobach made these comments without actually being able to access the situation. There’s a difference between a mob of people with pitchforks and a community group opposing deportation policies. I can’t speak to what the scene was like, but I think there’s a pretty high bar for playing the “I might have shot you” card. 

As a public official, Kobach should be extra careful about what says. He’s known for backing harsh immigration laws, and this comment gives the impression that he’s threatening gun violence against a group of people he’s actively clashed with in the past. He really shouldn’t be taking the dialogue to that level if it can at all be avoided. (Unless you really plan on shooting someone. If that’s the case, please do say something before you shoot. And count to 10 or something). Basically, let’s not send out the message that shooting people is the first form of defense.

The protesters play a role in this, too. Sure, you might get more media attention for showing up at someone’s doorstep. And, as a protester, you probably don’t feel bad for Kobach, who helped draft Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070, and has shown no sympathy for families torn apart by deportations. 

But there’s a risk for protesters, both personal and political. You never know if someone is the type of gun owner who just decides to shoot first, ask questions later. That’s a legitimate question.

And there’s also a strategic concern: by invading a politician’s personal space, you’ve turned that person into a victim, when you’re actually trying to expose policies and actions that you think are unjust.

And that’s what played out here. Instead of Kobach’s immigration record, we’re talking about gun rights and the legitimacy of a protest at someone’s home.

I despise this man.

obey:

“Yesterday, Glenn Beck accused the immigration reform advocates who held a peaceful protest outside the home of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach of practicing “domestic terrorism” just like the Ku Klux Klan. Today, Kobach himself appeared on Beck’s radio show and agreed with this assessment. “They’re just not wearing white cloaks, but this is exactly KKK type of intimidation,” the Kobach said.

“The left is set up on revenge,” Beck responded, “and so they’re using the tactics of those who kept them down in the past that we all tried to defeat…So they’re just changing their hood or changing their language, but it is not changing who they really are or what they’re trying to do.”

Kobach previously threatened to use violence against the “mob” of protesters.”

I figure eventually I’ll have every single Kansas song black listed on Tumblr Savior. It’s not that I hate the band, but when I go to the Kansas tag I want to read about my state. Not some band.

Also, I don’t want to read about Supernatural on the Kansas tag.

Sorry, I’m super picky about what I see on that tag.