Lawmaker (R-moran) calls critic 'coward,' 'idiot' in Facebook feud over gun laws

[jpak]

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/shelby-55914-feud-gun.html

State Rep. Kelly Hastings said he isn’t sorry for calling a former classmate a liar, a coward and an idiot in a fiery Facebook exchange over a gun rights bill he supported.

Hastings was debating the merits of House Bill 650 with Chris D. Mitchell on The Star’s Facebook page Monday. The first-term Republican (edit - MORAN) representing Cleveland and Gaston counties became upset when Mitchell erroneously stated that Hastings owns guns and has a concealed handgun permit.

<snip>

Hastings told The Star in April that he was taking a concealed handgun class with other lawmakers and aides at the General Assembly in Raleigh. He has not been issued a concealed-carry permit, however, and said Monday that he has a BB gun and a youth training rifle but doesn’t own handguns.

<snip>

The exchange began when Mitchell posted comments about a story on HB 650, a provision of which would allow concealed handgun permit-holders to possess guns on school grounds as long as the firearms remained in a closed compartment of a locked car. Hastings co-sponsored the bill, which passed the House last week and is scheduled for committee hearings in the state Senate.

<more>

[ileus]

1. Why did his classmate feel the need to lie...

[gejohnston]

2. I don't get the point.

[jpak]

4. The point is this R-mo-ran thinks it's OK for parents to bring guns on school property

he's the idiot

yup

[gejohnston]

10. depends on

if it is a pick up and drop off or carrying to sporting events. There is a difference. I thought it was about this guy's childish behavior.

[GreenStormCloud]

15. I drove onto school grounds with two guns today.

Wife needed to find the location of a certain high school's performing arts building. We had a couple of other errands to run in that same area so we also went to find the building. The school had a no guns sign. It had no legal standing so we ignored it. Hell if were going to drive 20 miles round trip to take the guns out of the car. We drove on campus, found the building, drove off campus. Our guns didn't jump up and shoot anybody.

[benEzra]

3. Welcome to the world of NC politics. We should hold cage matches and sell tickets.

But I do hope we make some progress reforming some of our Jim Crow era gun laws, and make the others easier to follow. We do have a lot of pro-gun Dems in the legislature, so the bills have a good chance of passing with bipartisan support. Keeping my fingers crossed.

FWIW, NC has relatively strict gun laws (13th strictest in the nation, per the Brady Campaign) as a result of our sad Jim Crow history, and a number of them are so abstruse that it is difficult to follow them. For example, driving on the wrong street while talking your child to a doctor in Raleigh or Durham can unknowingly make you a felon if you have even an unloaded gun locked in the trunk, so I do hope that provision of the law gets changed. It's hard to know which roads cut through "college" areas and which ones don't, since they aren't marked, and GPS certainly doesn't show you if you're on a legal road or not.

NC's CHL requirements are stricter than the vast majority of states, and I don't see any serious challenge right now to our 1950's "get written permission from whites before you can own a handgun" law either, so I don't see how you can complain too much about the proposals this year.

[Tesha]

5. It's the same here.

I'm routinely called a liar, an idiot, and a host of
other things. You don't see them all because the mods
do eventually delete a lot of it but if one is going
to debate guns, one has to accept that that's the way
a lot of the "debate" goes.

Tesha

[benEzra]

6. Oh, me too. And I'm on the opposite side of the issue from you.

The issue can be discussed in a civil manner (and often is), but I think on this and a lot of other deeply held issues, people like to go for the personal attack too much. :(

[gejohnston]

11. How about the three of us head over to the abortion forum and see how that is going?

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tesha]

8. Thank you for proving my point. (NT)

[gejohnston]

9. I go out of my way not to be personal but

I get called the same names and worse on your side at other "liberal" sites. Out of the, for the lack of a better word, "antis" the more civilized ones are here including you.

[Tesha]

12. Thank you. (NT)

[oneshooter]

13. We can't help it if you can't answer simple "yes" or "no" answers. n/t

[Tesha]

14. Ahh, another person proving my point. This time not quite across the line, though. (NT)

[DWC]

16. And your point? You have called people far worse things.

You can dish it out but you sure can't take it.

Semper Fi,

[GreenStormCloud]

17. Just a reminder for you.

Your have a love of calling any R a moran. You seem to have forgotten that only a few months ago in the mid-term elections of 2010 they beat the living stuffings our of lots of Democrats. What does that say about us if a bunch of "morans" can defeat so many of us in one election?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

19. I wouldn't say...

...that says anything in particular about Democrats as a group.
The candidates from the Democratic party were, in many cases, easy to defeat.

[GreenStormCloud]

21. Respect one's enemies.

I am tired of him constantly refering to any R as a moran. Such an attitude leads to constantly underestimating your opponent and in doing so you set yourself up for defeat. During the last election we got savaged. Many of those defeated were experienced, well known, legislators who had run tough campaigns before. Face it - the Republicans ran a tough effective campaign with competent candidates. If we go into 2012 thinking all Republicans are stupid we will see another disaster.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

22. +1 very true

Republicans aren't so good at winning elections as they are at defeating Democrats. ;)

But seriously, I see the Democratic party as too fragmented and covering folks with sometimes countering POVs.
Trying to do all things for all people is just a bit...unfocused.

[rl6214]

18. Well maybe if mitchell wasn't such an idiot and did a little research

before writing his hit piece, he wouldn't be such a cowardly, lying idiot.

[krispos42]

20. And you're posting this because he's stealing your schtick? n/t