Potential for Dueling: High

Perhaps my campaign to bring handgun ownership back to DC will get a boost from Jim Webb. As Lindsay Gibson explains at DCist:

As we noted yesterday, Phillip Thompson, a top aide for Sen. Jim Webb, was arrested carrying a loaded pistol into the Russel Senate Office Building. Sources now confirm that the pistol belongs to Webb, who gave the gun to Thompson when he dropped the senator off at the airport. The story left us scratching our heads about the legalities of congressmen carrying loaded weapons in the District, where such a practice is illegal -- at least for now. Apparently, senators can bring a registered gun onto congressional property as long as its unloaded and "securely wrapped", whatever that means. Webb and Thompson will appear in a D.C. court today to explain the matter to a judge.

Why not let Senators pack heat as they roam the corridors? Then, next time Dick Cheney tells Pat Leahy to go fuck himself, Leahy can pull out his piece and fill Cheney's belly with lead. Even better, if Cheney tries to shoot back, he'll probably wind up missing and taking out half the Republican caucus.

Comments

it would sure put the caning of charles sumner into perspective.

Posted by right | March 27, 2007 10:09 AM

"Even better, if Cheney tries to shoot back, he'll probably wind up missing and taking out half the Republican caucus."

Sometime around early 2004, I started thinking that "the gang that couldn't shoot straight" really was the best way of describing this WH.

Posted by Petey | March 27, 2007 10:16 AM

Lead bullets? Those wouldn't affect Cheney. You'd need a silver bullet instead. Better yet a more hands on approach with a wooden stake through the heart.

Posted by steve duncan | March 27, 2007 10:17 AM

Webb is a political genius. Seriously. I'm dying to know what the the NRA's response will be.

Posted by John Emerson | March 27, 2007 10:29 AM

Boy, that Capitol guard that had the run-in with Cynthia McKinney must be thanking his lucky stars that she wasn't packing heat.

Posted by Glenn | March 27, 2007 10:30 AM

"...Why not let Senators pack heat as they roam the corridors? Then, next time Dick Cheney tells Pat Leahy to go fuck himself, Leahy can pull out his piece and fill Cheney's belly with lead. Even better, if Cheney tries to shoot back, he'll probably wind up missing and taking out half the Republican caucus."

The problem is I agree with this.

Posted by fightingdem | March 27, 2007 10:48 AM

Sigh. Whatever happened to REAL journalism? You know--
who, WHAT, when ,where, and how? The hack who wrote this
news report left out the MOST important piece of information:
what type of gun --manufacturer, model, and caliber-- does Jim Webb carry?

I mean, how can you judge a politican without knowing what
kind of piece he carries?

22 -> hopeless pansy who poses as a macho man who's "armed".
Will freeze in panic and have to be rescued by friends in any situation calling for competence. Uses totems as psychological crutch. (Exempler: George Bush,
who thinks wearing a white cowboy hat and driving a pickup makes you tough.)

38 revolver->
an unintelligent traditionist likely to be surprised and overwhelmed in any real fight. (Ex: Trent Lott)

Colt 45 automatic -> prone to use of blunt force. Reasonably competent but tactically obsolete. Simpleminded --limited intelligence is a weakness. Compensates via hairtrigger aggressiveness and hidden strengths--> fast lock time and hairtrigger giving high accuracy. (Ex: Rudi Giulani. )

9mm +P Sig -> Sophisticated, stays current with technology and detail oriented. (Body armor -> instant-stop head shots ->
16 round plus magazines. ) Smart enough to know that street level drug dealers, Iraqi insurgents, and SOCOM are the tactical innovators, not the $500 Billion/year Pentagon program managers and their corporate defense contractors.

Globalist --as shown by choice of ammo that can purchased/"commandeered" anywhere in the world (yes, including China and Russia) and choice of products that are best in class.
(Ex: Rahm Emmanuel )

Posted by Don Williams | March 27, 2007 11:08 AM

Ah yes, the other point about "38 revolver" types like Trent Lott. In a political debate, They come up empty and at a loss after they fire off 4 or 5 pre-loaded talking points.

Then, of course, there's people like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and the Fox News people. They are not really guns -- they are more like strings of noisy firecrackers used as diversions to pull peoples' attention away from what's really going on: The $4 Trillion bank robbery that the Republican gang pulled at the Social Security Savings and Trust.

Posted by Don Williams | March 27, 2007 11:21 AM

I'd like to welcome our friends from the Treasury Department.

Hi, guys!

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | March 27, 2007 11:40 AM

I wouldn't be surprised if the Webb circle staged the event (i.e., the aide carried the weapon with the express purpose of getting caught) as a way of telegraphing solidarity with white proles. If so, bully for Webb & company, about time we had someone on our side who knows how to play the game.

Posted by kth | March 27, 2007 12:20 PM

I shot a man on K street
just to watch him die
When I hear that roll call startin
I hang my head and cry

Posted by metalpetic | March 27, 2007 12:35 PM

Re Don Williams

Real man pack a 44 Magnum.

Posted by SLC | March 27, 2007 12:52 PM

It was a .45, and was Webb's, according to Tumulty at Swampland. Also, two spare, loaded magazines. I'm not sure what Tumulty's source for the extra info was, as she linked to the same item Matt linked to.

Posted by kth | March 27, 2007 1:07 PM

You'd need a silver bullet instead.

He's not one of mine! And cool it with the silver bullets.

Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | March 27, 2007 1:23 PM

Boy, that Capitol guard that had the run-in with Cynthia McKinney must be thanking his lucky stars that she wasn't packing heat.
Posted by: Glenn on March 27, 2007 10:30 AM

Yeah, but she'd probably hold it sideways and miss wide, and get taken down by the PoPos.

Posted by steve | March 27, 2007 1:33 PM

Make my fucking day, Dick.

Or is it, "do you feel lucky Dick -- well do you?"

A .45 for Webbb - is he concerned about filipino insurgents circa 1905?

Posted by Klein's Tiny Left Nut | March 27, 2007 2:40 PM

Even better, if Cheney tries to shoot back, he'll probably wind up missing and taking out half the Republican caucus.

Not if Leahy was in a cage. Cheney is good at shooting caged animals.

Posted by Tom Hilton | March 27, 2007 3:39 PM

Well, it would liven up those policy debates!

(Zell Miller could officiate!)

Posted by Batocchio | March 27, 2007 4:15 PM

My biggest problem with Matt's scenario is the idea that Cheney wouldn't shoot first. Have we not learned anything in the last 6 years?

Posted by Sam L. | March 27, 2007 4:31 PM

Jeffrey Davis,

The Secret Service is no longer part of the Treasury Department, it was moved over to Homeland Security in 2003. Its odd that the two most competent federal law enforcement agencies (the Secret Service and the Coast Guard, though the DEA is up there) were torn out of the their existing departments (USCG had been part of Commerce) and moved over to Homeland Security, but the two agencies that dropped the ball on 9/11 (CIA and FBI) were not, and in fact are still the lead anti-terrorism agencies. Not sure how that happened.

Posted by beowulf | March 27, 2007 5:59 PM

For the record, Webb loses points on my scorecard for this.

Posted by BroD | March 27, 2007 6:42 PM

I'm sure handguns are in good hands with Jim Webb. But I'm not supporting lifting the handgun ban in DC until I'm convinced MY knows how to use one safely. We all know that repealing the DC law is going to lead to an armed Yglesias, so we have to take that into account.

Posted by Jeremiah J. | March 27, 2007 8:57 PM

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Webb circle staged the event (i.e., the aide carried the weapon with the express purpose of getting caught) as a way of telegraphing solidarity with white proles."

If that was the point, wouldn't work any better than Kerry's photo op with the geese. It's well understood among us proles that gun controlers don't mean to disarm the elite, just the masses. Photo ops vs voting records, we go with the voting record every time.

Webb doesn't seem to be too bad, for a Democrat. If he wound up running against Guliani, I'd probably vote for him.

Posted by Brett Bellmore | March 27, 2007 9:13 PM

1) I wonder if Webb's gun is the one he handed to Chief of Naval Operations Jeremy Boorda.

You all remember Admiral Boorda don't you? He's the CNO who killed himself --with a 38 slug to his chest -- after
James Webb delivered a scathing critique of Boorda's behavior in a 1996 speech at Annapolis.

Trigger for Webb's wrath was Boorda's sacrifice of several Naval aviators to female members of Congress upset over Tailhook. Army Col. Hackworth's pending Newsweek
story --re how Boorda had wore combat medals to which he was not entitled-- was another round in the chamber.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Boorda#Suicide and

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/navy/readings/jwebbspeech.html

2) Of course, Commander-in-Chief Bill Clinton preferred to pander to the feminists rather than defend his military subordinates --men who had risked their lives
in the Vietnam War which Mr Clinton avoided.

All of which later gave the Lewinsky affair a certain ironic justice.

Posted by Don Williams | March 27, 2007 11:30 PM

Ah yes. Webb didn't disappoint me.

His pistola is a 9mm --per NY Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/washington/28gun.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

With a total of 3 magazines (one in the pistol and 2 more carried), he would have 48 rounds -- enough to shoot every Republican in the Senate. I assume he could simply pistol-whip the living crap out of VP Cheney. Speakly hypothetically, of course.

Maybe the constitutional checks and balances are working better than we think.

Posted by Don Williams | March 27, 2007 11:43 PM

I remember the late Col. Hackworth tearing into Boorda, didn't know Webb had as well. As you may or may not know, Hackworth and Webb are related.

""Rules of Engagement," conceived by my cousin, Marine war hero Jim Webb, and directed by Hollywood veteran Billy Friedkin, also has incredible you-are-there combat footage."

http://www.hackworth.com/04apr00.html

Posted by beowulf | March 28, 2007 12:26 AM

You'd need a silver bullet instead.

More like a stake, and a clear shot at his heart. Oh, wait...

Posted by Summer | March 28, 2007 12:40 AM

Matt, you're a straight-up biatch.

Posted by wheeeee | March 28, 2007 10:59 AM

Re Don Williams

Rather interesting Mr. Williams attack on draft dodger Bill Clinton but silence on draft dodger George W. Bush. I would also point out that Webb was a Rethuglican at the time he alleged attacked Boorda.

Posted by SLC | March 28, 2007 11:40 AM

VT has some of the highest gun ownership rates, so Leahy might pack heat in Congress if he could (he's 4th generation too, traditions die hard). VT is one of the few places where you can bring a concealed weapon to church (and I believe up until Fed. law usurped it, to a school as well), as long as it's registered. that's why bernie NEVER touches gun issues, like, ever.

Posted by looj | March 28, 2007 6:32 PM