Patterico's Pontifications

10/9/2014

The Deepening Divide

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:57 pm



[guest post by Dana]

On the heels of the Affleck/Maher debate (or free-for-all) on Islam, I happened to read about Jan Morgan, owner of the Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who is currently the subject of a letter from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) requesting that the Justice Dept. investigate her for violating federal racial and religious discrimination laws. What did Morgan do to warrant an investigation? She has made her shooting range a Muslim-free zone:

I understand that not all muslims are terrorists. I also believe there are as many Muslims who do not know what is in their Koran as there are Christians who do not know what is in their Bible.

Since I have no way of discerning which muslims will or will not kill in the name of their religion and the commands in their koran, I choose to err on the side of caution for the safety of my patrons, just as I would anyone else who aligns himself with an organization that commands him to commit crimes against innocent people.

Morgan has complied a list of the reasons that led her to draw this conclusion, including personal incidents at her place of business. Further, she justifies her ban noting 9/11, Boston Marathon bombing, Fort Hood massacre and the beheading in Oklahoma:

This is more than enough loss of life on my home soil at the hands of Muslims to substantiate my position that Muslims can and may follow the directives in their Koran and kill here at home.

To put it bluntly:

“This is not a coffee and donut shop,” Jan Morgan, owner of the Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range in Hot Springs, Ark., wrote in an online post last month. “This is a live fire indoor shooting range … Why would I want to rent or sell a gun and hand ammunition to someone who aligns himself with a religion that commands him to kill me?”

Morgan, who says she has “read and studied” the Koran thoroughly, found “109 verses commanding hate, murder and terror against all human beings who refuse to submit or convert to Islam.”

“People who shoot at my range come from all religious backgrounds,” she wrote. “I do not care about their religious beliefs until or unless those beliefs command them to commit violent crimes against innocent people and I witness those crimes increasing, as we all have lately.”

She also cites the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as having told her:

[I]f we feel ANY reason for concern about selling someone a firearm, even sense that something is not right about an individual, or if we are concerned about that [person’s] mental state, even if they pass a background check, we do not have to sell that person a gun. Two different ATF agents stressed that it is better to err on the side of caution. In other words, a federal agency has given [gun shops] discretion on firearms deals.

CAIR believes that Morgan “appears to be misinterpreting the advice given to her and refusing service to all Muslims, which cannot be a correct interpretation of compliance with federal gun laws and the U.S. Constitution.” They are also concerned about the impact on the Arkansas Muslim community:

Given the recent spike in anti-Muslim rhetoric, including Islamophobic statements by government officials, community leaders, and media outlets, death threats, and other bias incidents targeting Muslims, I urge you to investigate this matter soon. CAIR believes that systematically banning Muslims from a place of business is a violation of federal laws prohibiting racial and religious discrimination and will inevitably result in a hostile environment for ordinary Muslims in Arkansas.

Morgan, for her part, isn’t backing down:

It’s easy for CAIR to bully and threaten average American citizens like me who have a business to lose and a life to destroy. It’s what they do. We are the easy targets. I’ve been a target of Islamist threats for five years … fully expecting at any time one of them to follow through with the threat. I may go down for speaking the truth about Islam … I may lose everything I have, (which isn’t much) but they can’t take my integrity … This is a mountain I’m willing to die on.

On a side note, so far the president has not weighed in on the matter.

–Dana

53 Responses to “The Deepening Divide”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (4dbf62)

  2. I hope those professional pilot schools are making the same choices.

    Jack (a742cc)

  3. Well, it is Arkansas, where the police find it hard to identify John Does because the DNA is all the same and there are no dental records; and where the definition of “virgin” is a twelve-year old girl who can run faster than her brothers.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. How does she check for Muslimism, anyway?

    nk (dbc370)

  5. i’m not really clear on what CAIR is trying to accomplish here

    happyfeet (a785d5)

  6. It is certainly interesting the things you can find in the Quran if you actually bother to read it.

    edoc118 (c37322)

  7. They are trying to intimidate her, happyfeet.
    It’s what they do.
    It’s all they know.
    allaakbar

    mg (31009b)

  8. “How does she check for Muslimism, anyway?”

    I’d start with guys wearing beards, then try a bacon sandwich on them

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  9. these CAIR people are playing out the script exactly as Jan’s written it I think Mr. mg

    happyfeet (a785d5)

  10. Hey, I have an idea. Ask every patron to be videorecorded announcing their approval of SSM.

    That should take care of it, right?

    Oh, wait.

    Simon Jester (86191a)

  11. We don’t get to talk about Muslim opinions on the things we hold dear in progressive society, for some reason.

    I think we should.

    It would make progressive skulls implode.

    Simon Jester (86191a)

  12. More seriously, of course it is an attempt to intimidate others.

    I really detest that kind of approach…but it often works in our society. Sadly.

    Simon Jester (86191a)

  13. What if it were Jews, guys? Catholics? Both those groups are hated as much as blacks and other mud people by the KKK and the Aryan Brotherhood.

    nk (dbc370)

  14. I don’t know, nk. I see your point, but it has been a long time since Jews or Catholics have killed thousands of people with bombs or jetliners, or lopped off heads on YouTube. I’m just saying.

    What I am waiting for—and there are a few Muslims brave enough to do this—is a Reform Muslim group to speak out. You know perfectly well if there was such a movement, our Fearless Leaders would have them front and center in the MSM, day after day.

    Funny that they don’t. Right?

    Simon Jester (86191a)

  15. the interesting is about these open letters by born again liberals, like Quradawi, Maqdissi, and their British counterparts, they don’t cite any textual authority for their opposition to ISIS, because that would be very embarassing,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  16. No, I don’t think you’ve got my point yet, Simon. Check out my next comment.

    nk (dbc370)

  17. these CAIR people are playing out the script exactly as Jan’s written it I think Mr. mg

    It does look like she’s picked a cross to be crucified on. It’s better than burning it on her black neighbor’s lawn, I suppose.

    nk (dbc370)

  18. that’s a good way to put it Mr. nk

    happyfeet (a785d5)

  19. I’m sure Obumble will run his mouth about it, knowing precisely zero facts, the first time some reporter asks him about it.

    Edoc118 (c37322)

  20. I have an ointment for the deepening divde. I hate the itching, but I don’t mind the swelling.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  21. One wise dude.

    Rodney King's Spirit (8b9b5a)

  22. #13 If Jews and Catholics were running around blowing things up and beheading folks — I’d support banning them too.

    Rodney King's Spirit (8b9b5a)

  23. Jews kill Christian babies to use their blood for their Passover matzos, and Catholics take their marching orders from the Vatican.

    nk (dbc370)

  24. That was was what the KKK believes, not what I believe, to be clear.

    nk (dbc370)

  25. Freedom of Association, how it should work. It rubs both ways. Her action is risky that it could drive off business if ill advised.

    DejectedHead (9b0c64)

  26. This won’t work. We don’t have Freedom of Association anymore because a few aholes (and actually more than a few aholes) screwed it up with Jim Crow, the KKK and stuff like that.

    She might be better off with some other tack, such as requiring all patrons to recite the Pledge of Allegiance with their hand on a Bible, or banning beards, or requiring a US Passport as ID.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  27. they’re unindicted
    without a cair in the world
    co-conspirators

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  28. she has a very very grandiose opinion of the role her arkansas gun range plays in the scheme of things i think

    can you imagine if she opened a custard shop?

    she could be all hah no custard for you, my muslim friend

    and this way her custard would not freely associate with muslims

    happyfeet (a785d5)

  29. 13 years ago, the owner of the flight school in Venice FL which had trained Mohammed Atta and another of the 9/11 terrorists, was pilloried by a Congressional committee for training the two and not reporting any suspicious activity to the authorities. Didn’t matter that in Minneapolis, another flight school had notified the FBI, but it took no action for strictly PC reasons.

    Six months after 9/11 the Venice flight school owner got his revenge. He received two letters from Immigration and Naturalization Service that extended the visas of the then dead Atta and his cohort. It was a classic case of bureaucratic ineptness.

    Not missing an opportunity to get even with the Feds, the owner called the INS to notify them of the error. He knew what was coming. INS would seize the letters to make the screw up “unhappen”. But before calling the INS, he called the local TV stations and newspapers and provided them with copies of the letter. Right on cue came several black SUVs with INS agents demanding the return of the letters. Of course the cameras were rolling and it was the top story on the local news shows. They looked like a bunch of keystone cops, and they knew they had been had.

    Unfortunately the story has a sad ending. The flight school was harassed by the FAA and fell on hard times. The owner ended up bankrupt. But at least he had his day of glory.

    Better the gun range let Muslims have their target practice, but every day they should report their presence as suspicious to the FBI. The FBI will soon tire of the routine because they too must file tedious reports.

    Corky Boyd (f38e2c)

  30. Banning beards? Don’t tell that to the Duck Dynastics.

    It’s already federal law that firearms may only be sold to citizens or legal permanent residents.

    nk (dbc370)

  31. only cater to dogowning gun people and make them bring their dogs with them.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  32. “she has a very very grandiose opinion of the role her arkansas gun range plays in the scheme of things i think”

    sort of like teh gay folks opinion of their own importance in the Grand Scheme o’things, feets.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  33. i do not understand your analogy Mr. Colonel

    happyfeet (a785d5)

  34. R.I.P. Jan Hooks, alumnus from Saturday Night Live

    Icy (0e1a51)

  35. beatcha to it, IceMan… Ha!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  36. another flight school had notified the FBI, but it took no action for strictly PC reasons.

    It’s gotten to the point that if this society (and the Western World in general) collapses in on itself, I just hope the left takes the biggest, hardest knock, first and foremost.

    Mark (c160ec)

  37. A bartender can, actually must, refuse to serve you if you appear drunk. It appears that the ATF advised the lady that she could refuse to sell a firearm to a person who appeared dangerous. If she were sincere, she would have followed that policy on the quiet. F*** her! Pay someone to f*** her. She’s just a publicity [lady of negotiable affection] and her mode of publicity was to demonize a currently despised and hated minority. To get kudos from her fellow inbred, dog-molesting, bigoted, Arkansan s***kickers.

    nk (dbc370)

  38. #26. Jim Crow was government enforced. It wasn’t strictly a freedom of association issue. Plus, groups like the KKK exist now, you just have people picking and choosing which ones are acceptable. Nation of Islam and La Raza preach racial superiority and racial solutions.

    DejectedHead (9b0c64)

  39. Yep. Nothing worse than bigotry. The ironic part is how we see it so clearly in others, but not in our own actions. Our own actions are completely reasonable. Not like those bigots over there. Me, I don’t like politicians and the media telling me whom to tiptoe around and to whom I should deliver a Two Minute Hate. Makes me shake my head.

    Simon Jester (86191a)

  40. Simon, do you mean to tell me that it’s unjust to indiscriminately vilify an entire group of people even if they are Arkansans? 😉

    Sedriously, I am especially annoyed because a recurring mantra of the RKBA folks, which I have chanted myself, is the racist origins of gun control laws.

    nk (dbc370)

  41. Why would a Muslim want to go to such a business anyway?

    Patterico (9c670f)

  42. a lot of muslims got displaced by superstorm sandy and had to live in bad neighborhoods while they got back on their feet so they probably went to arkansas to buy some guns and learn how to shoot them so nobody would steal their stuffs or take unwanted liberties with their person or their children

    there’s a lot of scary criminals out there in the world

    you have to keep your wits about you

    happyfeet (a785d5)

  43. Muslims fetishize weapons more than Westerners do. Both the sharp kind and the kind that go bang.

    nk (dbc370)

  44. nk #37 – sadly, what we have at the moment is almost the direct opposite of the situation of the anti-Jewish propaganda of the 1930s in Germany …

    Then, the Jews were publicly caricatured and persecuted for things that members of their ‘group’ were not doing and had not done … and that public caricaturing and persecuting was done with governmental approval and support …

    Now, we have a group, Muslims, which the government does its best *not* to allow to be caricatured and prosecuted for things that members of their group have done and *are* doing …

    Historically, our planet has gone through periods when Islam and Islamists were sufficiently barbarian that it mobilised other countries (and even, at times, Muslim countries) to intervene forcibly and prevent the barbarities … in *this* country, the Marine Corps owes its formation to the need to counter the Barbary Pirates and their state-sponsored enslavement of infidels … at another period in history, “1090-1256 A.D. In Khorasan, Persia, Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain, recruits followers to commit assassinations…legends develop around their supposed use of hashish.” – the Assassins were wiped out when enough Muslim states realised that they had become too dangerous to allow to be around (and were no longer a useful tool of statecraft) …

    “her mode of publicity was to demonize a currently despised and hated minority” – most of the folk I know do not “despise and hate” nor do they “demonize” Muslims … if anything, I suspect that the concern is more analogous to the concern when a population which used to be peaceful comparatively suddenly turns violent for not locally-understood reasons …

    Alastor (2e7f9f)

  45. The Assassins were destroyed by the Mongols. They made the mistake of threatening (or taking out a contract on?) one of the Khans. Not to correct you pedantically, but for the point that they took on the wrong guys. Al Qaeda took on the wrong guy in Bush 43, but it seems that ISIS has a soft target in the SCOAMF now.

    nk (dbc370)

  46. Simon Jester – How about a tranny at the register? Would that work?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  47. That would probably bring in business from some Muslims, daleyrocks. Here’s a story about some Afghan villagers who attacked the Taliban for abusing their trannies. http://www.dawn.com/news/242127/militants-beat-up-dancers

    nk (dbc370)

  48. Korans as targets?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  49. In general terms, Rand Paul spoke about this before. He was vilified for doing so.

    JD (d238f6)

  50. Daley: good call. Doesn’t have to be a transgendered cashier. Maybe RuPaul eating a shrimp cocktail out of glass in the shape of Mohammed’s head?

    Simon Jester (86191a)

  51. I’m not sure why CAIR fancies the U.S. Constitution requires a private vendor to delineate their custom in a particular way. I also cannot figure out how this woman got the idea she was not running afoul of statutory law. The law is an ass, and in a more just order she could do business or refrain from doing business with whomever she pleased (though I do think her strictures are rude).

    Art Deco (ee8de5)

  52. Just use the Mohammed cartoon head as targets on the range.

    Dan (00fc90)

  53. Fortunately, the gun shop doesn’t serve food to the public.

    luagha (e5bf64)


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