So Caleb Giddings engaged Dennis Henigan on Fox News this morning, and I would say that he did a fairly decent job of it – while Dennis seemingly could neither remain on-topic nor answer the host’s questions without rambling on about context-lacking statistics. Yes, Dennis, some people do get permits when they should not have them. That, however, is a reflection upon the state granting the permits, and does not give you the right or reason to invade 99.87% of the handgun carry permit holders in a state simply because 0.13% of them were erroneously granted permits by a government organization. That logic simply does not fly, and, furthermore, it is a direct evasion of the host’s questions and segment’s topic about how those who seek to defend themselves and their families are being treated like some of the more disgusting criminals present in society today.
But, hey, I know how hard it is to think on your feet, and, in Dennis’ case, I know how important it is for him to stick to a script, lest he misquote something and be forced to threaten people with legal action if they do not remove the records of his error.
Oh, and I just loved how neither Caleb nor the host, Steve Doocy, could keep straight faces while Dennis claimed, with no backing whatsoever, that “lots of people” get handgun carry permits without using them, or without owning firearms. Yeah. Righto then.
I would like to thank both Caleb and Steve for mentioning the Commercial Appeal and its privacy-invading database of handgun carry permit holders here in Tennessee – that database is still going strong, and unlike the database in Indiana, it does provide full names (and even birth years) to anyone who can run a simple web search. Squeaky brings home the truth, though:
Kudos, as well, for also pointing out that the Commercial Appeal website also lists names. I’m one of the women he was talking about – I got a gun because of an ex who’d raped me and then began stalking me. I went through all of the appropriate steps to become licensed to carry a concealed weapon, and I’m listed in the same database section that my ex would be if he was arrested for that rape. How is that a public service?
So, Denis Hennigan, Chris Peck, and everyone else who supports the flagrant and unnecessary invasion of law-abiding citizens’ privacy, how about you answer the lady’s question?
Oh, and Caleb? Bravo Zulu.
Yeah, Doocy did a poor job of containing his expressions, which was priceless.
I thought Caleb did OK. Nothing stellar, but he got to say his piece, didn’t come off bad. There was no interaction between the two and it’s evident Henigan is more seasoned at how to utilize the 5-minute format to his advantage. But for a first run, Caleb did OK, stayed on point. SailorCurt’s analysis was spot-on, but certainly hindsight; I’m not sure I would have faired any better than Caleb did.
One thing that did bug me was how they presented Caleb, as just some NRA member. It somewhat poised him as a spokesperson (no), or some “right wing gun nut” (no… well, maybe, if you consider his “Gun Nuts Media”). Point being, they never presented why HE was the one brought on TV about this matter. It was as if they grabbed some guy off the street to talk about it… no presenting of why Caleb was relevant to the discussion. I wish Doocy and/or Fox would have set that up better.
When comparing a rank amateur to the national stage, a newcomer to the boob toob, and a part-time pro-rights advocate against a paid, experienced, and trained individual who literally makes a living trying to deprive law-abiding Americans of their natural, Constitutionally-protected rights, I think it is fair to say that the “rank amateur” in question did a fairly good job of holding his own.
And, yeah, hindsight is 20/20… and I sure as hell know I could not have come up with something anywhere near that useful on such a short notice.
I certainly agree that it would have helped if Doocy and Fox had set the stage a little more about why Caleb was up there, what he is doing in the firearm community, etc. etc. I guess free advertising is not exactly in their best interests, but the Brady Bunch got their 10 seconds, so it should balance out. Of course, I just said “should”…
All in all, it was nice to see the topic getting some sort of national play. I’m sure in the long run, many good things will come from this experience.
Concur. Anything that increases public awareness helps us.