I am sure that most readers by now have heard of a Des Moines Register columnist (Donald Kaul) who urged the nation to Repeal 2nd Amendment, Kill Gun Owners a few days ago.  I’ve seen a dozen different articles on this, but since some of the sources are not always that accurate in checking their stories and a bit enthusiastic about reading between the lines, I decided I should check for myself.

Please keep in mind that I am an Army Reserve officer, I may (or may not) own certain weapons, and that I am often in Iowa on business;  if the major newspaper of the state is publishing calls for my death, the deaths of my family, and many others, it might have some impact on me personally and directly or indirectly.  (After all, people who just used “military” terminology in political campaigns were blamed for the attempt to kill Rep. Gifford and the deaths of all those people at that Safeway.)

All I need is to be driving down the roads of rural Iowa checking on plant sites and have some hoplophobic hoploclast (gun-fearing gun-hater) decide to act on the words of his favorite political commentator and use the front corner of his combine or semi to send another gun nut to Judgment.  (After all, he wouldn’t use a gun to kill me, would he?  Boots, fists, or a giant harvester, maybe.)

But maybe the Register (its publisher, editor, and owners) had denounced Kaul’s words as hate speech and death threats, or maybe these other folks had just exaggerated what he said, being such thin-skinned folks that they are.  I want to see it for myself!

So I found the URL for the Des Moines Register column (thanks, Google, and thanks, Examiner!) and clicked on it.  Sure enough, there was the headline and picture and byline and the story – for all of five seconds.  Then a black screen hid everything and a sort of drop-down appeared, saying something like “We hope you enjoyed your complementary view of our newspaper website” and telling me ten different ways to pay for the privilege of viewing this and all the other content of the Register.  I tried it three times, and actually, the column was up for less than five seconds:  I’m a speed reader, but please!

So I looked up and called the Register’s customer service line, an 800 number listed on a page that did NOT require a subscription to view.  After a lengthy wait, I spoke to a pleasant young lady named Heather.

Heather sympathized with me on the problems with the website and promised she would forward that to someone who would see what was wrong.  She also confirmed that the quotes from the column I’d read were accurate and in context.  I told her I was sorry to hear that, but was sure that the Register’s management and owners had quickly repudiated Mr. Kaul’s threats and demands.  But, apparently, they had not.  But, she said, Mr. Kaul was “a retired columnist.”  Of course, that makes it all much better: apparently the newspaper does not avow anything a “retired” columnist writes, so they don’t need to disavow anything.  Nice!

I asked her to pass my request, anyway, on to the Register’s management, and again assured her I was not mad or upset at her for it.  She said she didn’t work for the Register or in Des Moines, and I (assuming she worked for a call center) told her I hoped that her company could find better clients to work for.  Then she told me that she worked for the company which OWNED the Register, Gannett.  Now, Gannett is a familiar name – it was one of their papers that published the names and addresses of all the gun owners in several counties outside NYC a few days ago.  Realizing what I faced, I told Heather I hoped that Gannett would take action to get its newspapers to stop printing death threats.  She agreed that if she or I did something like that, the cops would come knocking.  But maybe Gannett has a permanent “Stay Out of Jail” card or something.

Apparently, the Gannett paper that published the list of gun owners went out and hired a security company to provide armed guards to protect their offices and staff against people angry because they are now known to the public as having guns in their homes or businesses.  (Anti-Gun Newspaper Hires Armed Security) If Gannett is willing to do that, it seems that they ought to be willing to fire or at least discipline their own employees who publish death threats against innocent gun owners. But, it could be that Kaul’s writing has the tacit endorsement of the Register’s management and Gannett.  In which case…

When does someone’s exercise of First Amendment rights of free speech turn into a credible and serious threat of threatening and initiating violence against an innocent person?  Or persons?  And what is an appropriate response to such a credible and serious threat?

Hmmm.  Maybe I need to see just what other papers Gannett owns, and take appropriate precautions when traveling or working near them.  Maybe it isn’t the brainwashed, psychoactive-medicated liberal Iowa farmer or truck driver I need to worry about as anxious to get rid of a gun nut when the opportunity avails itself.  Maybe I (and others) need to worry about one of Gannett’s armed security company thugs “protecting” a delivery driver or a newspaper office, eager to demonstrate that they are not only protecting Gannett but furthering Gannett’s agenda.

After all, if a retired Gannett employee is willing to threaten well-known politicians, including a man within heartbeats of the Oval Office, with tying them to a pickup and driving around with them in tow, then why would killing a gunowner here or there bother them?  They must REALLY have a “Stay Out of Jail” card.

Funny, eh?  It is all us people that own guns that they claim are threatening people’s lives.  But who is it making the threats?  Who wants to steal our liberty?  Who is the real danger to the people of our land and society?