U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Guest view: David Chipman can unite us on Second Amendment issues,” an August 5 testimonial appearing in, among other outlets, the Montana Standard, declares. The author is Dave Stalling, a self-described “past president of the Montana Wildlife Federation, … gun owner, former Force Recon Marine and avid hunter who lives in Missoula.”
The only surprise is that such a piece hasn’t appeared earlier. Gun owners have long been subjected to sudden appearances of Democrat citizen disarmament enablers trying to pass themselves off as fellow “tribe” members when there is a political goal to be attained. In the last presidential election, two groups tried to make their mark, “Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Biden — a coalition of more than 50 prominent hunters and anglers from across the country, who have come together to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States,” and the Giffords’-bankrolled Gun Owners for Safety.
Yeah, they’re Fudds for Biden. If you’re inclined to take offense at that word, hold on a second: It’s not a pejorative for all hunters and sport shooters – just the ones who throw their fellow gun owners under the bus and support citizen disarmament edicts that don’t impact their hobbies. But a Fudd is what Stalling proves himself to be, particularly when he accuses Donald Trump Jr. of lying when he says Montana Sen. Jon Tester is not “staunchly pro-Second Amendment.” He’s not.
Tester’s a prime example of a self-serving opportunist who recognized that he had to vote “pro-gun” in order to be elected in that state, and was allowed to get away with it by Democrat Party leadership because it served their purposes to have him advance the rest of the agenda. Revealingly, Tester showed his true nature when he voted to keep Post Offices “gun-free zones.” The last straw for NRA was Tester’s Supreme Court confirmation votes (for Kagan and Sotomayor, against Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) when they downgraded his one-time “A” to a “D.”
“As a gun owner, former ATF special agent, and internationally recognized gun safety expert, David Chipman is hardly ‘anti-Second Amendment,’” Stalling continues. “As a Montana citizen, gun owner, former Force Recon Marine, and hunter, I fully support Chipman’s nomination, and urge my fellow Montanans to do the same.”
“Hardly”? And “recognized” by who? As for being a gun owner, so is Dianne Feinstein – who was reported to have a concealed carry permit that you or I couldn’t get to save our lives –literally. What does that prove? With all the evidence of his personal penchant for infringements that’s been amassed to the contrary (just enter the search term “Chipman” in the AmmoLand search bar), you wonder what more the guy has to do.
As for Stalling being a Montana citizen, that doesn’t qualify the correctness of his opinions. Mentioning he is a “former Force Recon Marine” to make himself appear authoritative on the Second Amendment is a logical fallacy, equivalent to pediatricians presuming their medical degrees confer all the credentialing they need in order to prescribe that gun owners lock up their safety. And as every real personal arms advocate knows, it ain’t about duck hunting.
The curious thing about his being past president of the Montana Wildlife Federation: They’re putting a lot of energy into confirming Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Campaigning for someone who was closely involved with eco-terrorist tree spikers might make the whole MSF nominee supporting process suspect.
That certainly raises a different flag than the one Stalling’s waving. Then again, his assertions bring nothing to mind so much as Sir Wilfrid’s cross-examination of Frau Helm in the classic movie Witness for the Prosecution (if you haven’t seen it, go ahead and take two minutes and watch it).
That he fools no one who understands the issue is not the point. Stalling’s not trying to persuade or change the minds of anyone who knows what they’re talking about on the Second Amendment. What he’s doing is following a strategy similar to the efforts of a new organization passing itself off as a “reasonable” alternative to more confrontational gun-grabbers, 97percent.org. And they’re counting on “40% of the 2020 spike in new gun owners were women, and 90% of gun owners do not view guns as part of their identity.”
In other words, take the new gun owners who don’t understand the issue and apathetic, uninvolved gun owners who haven’t been paying attention, and make sure they stay low-information and don’t get spooked by the truth. It’s a similar tactic to characterizing disarmament edicts as “commonsense gun safety.” Who could be against that?
It’s up to gun owners who believe in the Second Amendment to use our influence to counter the deception. There’s a lot of new gun owners out there and it would be both a shame and a waste to not do what we can to show them where they’re being misdirected, and the tricks the snake oil salesmen employ to get them to swallow political poison.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
David, as a gun owner, shooter, and hunter, I will say you are so right about Stalling. He should be embarrassed for supporting Chipman!
” Former Force Recon Marine’… I was reminded of a ” Former Navy Seal, missing an eye and currently holding public office” that is happy to remove the due process of those who own or seek to own/ bear arms….not accusing him of specific Judas Iscariot behavior but I do take note of the jingling of the silver in their pockets.
When I see Chipman, I SEE WACO TEXAS. Enough Said.
Incrementalism (death by a thousand cuts) is the method dogma & always a metastasizing gain in function disease tyrants use & employ to erode & decay the enemy to achieve the goal.
Stupefying ignorance
Fudds are our worst enemy; they pretend to be part of the “tribe” when in fact they are NOT and they work to undermine our Rights with what they call “reasonable” restrictions/infringements.
No infringement is ‘reasonable’; all gun laws are infringements and are therefore unreasonable.
For all this bs anti gun crap we deal with I have started a petition to file a lawsuit to overturn the 1989 assault weapons import ban please share this and make sure it gets to groups like the Goa or Fpc who do an awesome job at fighting for our rights https://www.change.org/p/firearms-policy-coalition-file-a-lawsuit-to-challenge-the-1989-assault-weapons-import-ban?redirect=false
Even “Senator Gun Control” himself, Chuck Schumer, says, he supports the Second Amendment. For the uninitiated, it’s called paying lip service.
he is another “person” that only calls for common sense restrictions on the Second Amendment. exactly how many more restrictions would be enough for people like the dave’s, stalling and chipman? we are only allowed by our government to purchase semi-automatic firearms, except rarely and with great effort and expense automatic firearms, and they want to restrict our right to purchase and bear those. seems like only a total ban and confiscation would appease these righteous persons. it is immoral to tell another person what they can do, as long as it does not violate another’s rights. it is immoral… Read more »
Activist Marines (such as Stalling) – too bad they are activists to push further infringements on Americans’ firearm rights. USMC0351Grunt, when are you going to GOYAA and organize veterans to form a group opposing Chipman’s appointment and write a letter to Tester (the ranking member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee)? Tester (his staff) responded to me with a letter, but he just said he has met with Chipman and asked him tough questions about his views on protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners and that he will continue to review Chipman’s record. He will be influenced by… Read more »
We are in a cold civil war for the nation. 98% of elected reps and senators are treasonous backstabbing hypocrites who don’t value the Constitution, and many virulently oppose it. Many others don’t even know it, or the BOR.
We would be best removing all of them, all 535, and starting from scratch with business owners willing to serve for one term only.
The rate rights are being trampled, this goes hot in 1-3 years, way before we can even begin to remove treacherous government employees…