Politics

NY Democrat calls gun rights advocates ‘gun toting tea party psychotards’

Vince Coglianese Editorial Director
Font Size:

A local lawmaker in Hudson, NY is catching some flak after he accused gun rights advocates of being “gun toting tea party psychotards” in an email.

“Its really neat that all you gun toting tea party psychotards are so interested in the goings on of our little City,” Hudson Alderman David Marston wrote to Joanna Johnson-Smith — the New York state organizer of Gun Rights Across America — on February 22.

“On the other hand, I guess its not surprising, considering you ideologues aren’t interested in actual policy, but rather grandstanding on mythical narratives of victimization,” Marston continued.

Johnson-Smith had emailed Marston days earlier to insist that he reject a city council proposal to ban all guns on city property, including for permit-holders, according to a local Fox affiliate.

“The VERY few Law Enforcement Officers that support the Safe Act [New York’s new gun law], about 2%, are all Democrats and Liberals who have never given a donkey’s behind about the Constitutional Rights of the people who employ them,” Johnson-Smith wrote to Marston on February 19. “Patriotic Americans … are incensed over the State and Federal attempts to disarm law-abiding Americans and spit on the Constitution.”

“Two things: The only spit here is the white stuff frothing on the ends of that rotten little mouth of yours from which you spew this hateful ignorant trash,” Marston shot back. “And a donkeys behind?  The rabid ignorance of the fringe is best illustrated by its sad metaphors, I mean seriously, thank you for the laughs.”

Marston then told Johnson-Smith that any effort to protest the vote would be a welcome chance to “beat you barbarians back with the clubs of reason & responsibility.”

“By all means, come on down, we’ll be happy to beat you barbarians back with the clubs of reason & responsibility, radical lunatics that you are,” Marston wrote. “And say, a quick ProTip, since you’re the ‘organizer’ for unemployed guns nuts USA.  Next time you think these unhinged rants will change the mind of anyone who has even a modicum of intelligence, you might instead just go back down into your basement & watch another episode of wheel-of-fortune.  It’ll certainly be just as effective.  Remember: there are millions of Eagle Scout God Worshiping Patriots who find you & your radical ilk as disgraceful to American Democracy as the Brown Shirt jackboots you act like.  I happen to be just one of them.  Good Luck.”

Not long after that, the exchange went viral.

By Tuesday, the emails had been posted to Facebook by New York Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin and had received nearly 6,000 “likes” by midday Wednesday. A conservative blog, The Mental Recession, featured the exchange as well.

Reached by email Wednesday, Marston told The Daily Caller that his email “was a draft that was accidentally sent” and that he emailed Johnson-Smith an apology a half hour later.

“I am embarrassed & ashamed that letter ever saw the light of day,” Marston told TheDC. “[A]s I explained to her, I had been getting tons of inflammatory hate mail about a proposed resolution to ban guns at our City Hall, Day Care, & Waterfront Park.  Not a single one was from a City of Hudson resident.”

“I stupidly drafted an email in the heat of emotion, that was a direct reflection of the type of emails I was getting,” Marston continued. “I had no intention of it ever being sent.  I am sorry it was, because in all honesty I have had plenty of fruitful exchanges with gun rights advocates who engage this issue with decency & respect.”

Marston told TheDC that it was the tone of Johnson-Smith’s email that elicited his initial response.

“Please understand that when addressing an elected official in [a] City you do not live in with ‘you spit on the constitution’ ‘aren’t a real american’ and ‘could give a donkeys ass about rights’ before ever having even known whether I support the resolution, might just mean civility is not in order,” Marston told TheDC. “But as I said, sending it was a mistake, for which I am sorry.”

The Hudson city counsel’s legal committee will hold a discussion Wednesday evening on the merits of the proposal to ban guns on city property, according to Marston.

“I support the idea that if our employees can’t bring guns to work, nobody else can, but I need to see the language of the proposal before I know for certain my position,” Marston told TheDC.

Johnson-Smith did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Follow Vince on Twitter

Read the full email exchange below:

Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 12:45 AM
Subject: Saratoga
From: Joanna Johnson-Smith
To: David Marston

This letter, from a Saratoga County, New York, Deputy Sheriff speaks of honor, commitment, and respecting any Oath you take. It was sent to Glenn Maine, one of our State leaders. It is placed here with the author’s permission. What would you say to your children about how to live? I think Deputy David Jones said some important things to his children.

If you wish to comment on this article, please do so at Oath Keepers’ website, here:
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2013/02/17/an-inspiring-letter-about-commitment-and-oaths/
I’m sure Deputy Jones will be pleased to read your support for his stand.
– Shorty Dawkins, Associate Editor.
——————–
Glen,
I am not one who seeks or intentionally brings attention to myself. I am one who participates, but does so from the rear of the crowd. My articulation skills are lacking, and in a crowd, I will often pronounce a word with error or stutter through a phrase. I have known the Sheriff of Fulton County for some time now. I call Tom Lorey a friend. I understand and agree with his philosophy and I’m motivated by his passion. I, if allowed, would like to stand next to Sheriff Lorey and do whatever I can to assist in the completion of this mission. I will stand in the shadows no more.
I am an Army veteran and have been a police officer for nearly 24 years. I have taken all my oaths freely and accepted the responsibility of an oath as a promise to those that I serve. In today’s society, it seems that an oath is now nothing more than a ceremony of useless words and phrases which no longer are binding to those who have repeated them. Our Government was formed as a representative government for the people and by the people. Our elected representatives should mirror the beliefs and morality of the people they served. If a representative wanders from those beliefs, they feared the vote of the people. Now it seems the government no longer fears the people. Our government has become a government by the government and for the government. Special interest, and money, bribes if you will, tell many of representatives how they will vote and the will of the people are ignored.
Elected politicians and appointed government figures have been knowingly and intentionally violating law whenever it suits them to push a political agenda. Never let a good crisis go to waste, even when they are told by a majority of the people they represent that their agenda is not wanted. Yet, they will call one of our citizens, who have committed no crime on Tuesday, who is compliance with the laws and openly accepts personal responsibility, a criminal on Wednesday for being in compliance with Tuesday’s law, only because someone rewrote the definition of a term. Now that the executive branch of our federal government has made the Congress powerless through Executive Order and they believe that there is no need for any type of a spending plan to exist, is there any possible way to hold these politicians accountable since those in Congress appear to be in no hurry or have little to provide except wonderful sounding press releases that never have an action attached to them.
I have been thinking about this for some time and from my recent experiences I believe that I must start with our young citizens. Recently I attended a function at the local High School. My daughter was being inducted into the National Honor Society. The auditorium was full of families and school officials. At the beginning of the ceremony everyone was asked to stand for the National Anthem. I stood, clicked my heels and placed my hand over my heart. I was in horror to see the number of adults who stood but considered it a hassle and did nothing else. I looked up and onto the stage and saw my daughter standing with her hand over her heart and smiling while looking at our Nation’s flag. While some students also had their hand over their heart, I was amazed by the number of students who were standing, but talking to the student next to them, chewing gum or fidgeting around. The High School Principal, who is the leader of the school and the primary role model for these students, was standing front and center of the stage and had her hands behind her back. For a moment I said to myself, “What is wrong with me, I am the one who is out of touch, doesn’t this matter anymore and what has happened to our children?” If I had acted the way some of these young adults were acting when I was their age, I would have been punished by my parents for embarrassing them in public. Citizenship is no longer taught properly in our homes or our schools if it is taught at all. It has become the responsibility of those who still believe that this is the greatest country in the world and it is because of an old piece of paper written a long time ago that makes it that way, to teach this to our young people. I am dedicating myself at this time to help teach our young people the true meanings of our forefathers; I just don’t know how to accomplish this.
Both of my boys as well as I, are Eagle Scouts. I have taught citizenship, national history and flag etiquette to scouts for many years. This is great, except scouting only reaches a small percentage of our male youth. Part of an Eagle Scout ceremony is called the “Challenge”. It is given to a new Eagle Scout by an Eagle Scout and I had the pleasure, honor and responsibility to challenge my sons. I told them that as of this day, they are marked men to everyone who knows them. That minimal effort and turning away from a situation is not acceptable and to never compromise on their personal beliefs and morals. I then led my sons and every Eagle Scout in that room in the Eagle Scout Oath. This Oath as well as many others ends with, “On my sacred honor.” Meaningless words? I think not.
My wife and I have tried, and believe we have accomplished, to teach our children their National heritage and what the meaning of our forefather’s written words actually mean. We have taught our children not to lie. We have taught our children not to steal or cheat or associate with those who do. We have taught our children that morality counts and that there is right and wrong as well as good and evil. The saying in our home is, “Do what you know to be right”, when our children leave our home unaccompanied by an adult. We are all hypocrites in one way or another but we have taught and shown our children that after we are gone, we will only be remembered for our character.
Our country is changing at a rapid pace; it seems to be out of control. I do not know how much longer my law enforcement career will last, as I will not violate my oaths because some elected or appointed official does not possess the courage, morality, integrity or guts to say “no” to laws and directives that violate the Constitution of the United States of America. I am asking all of you who read these words not to stand at the rear of the crowd anymore. Let’s all stand together at the front of the crowd with Sheriff Tom Lorey.
Respectfully submitted,
David P. Jones
Deputy Sheriff Saratoga County

Note from Elias Alias, editor: The letter above, written by Deputy Jones, stands as an individual example of the character and honor held by the Deputies of Saratoga County, New York. That Sheriff’s Department has written its own statement opposing New York’s Redcoat Governor Cuomo’s S.A.F.E. Act, which was hastily rushed through the State legislature and forged into law in a very despicable skirting of normal legislative processes. Please also read the official Sheriff’s Department letter of condemnation:
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2013/02/04/saratoga-county-sheriffs-association-stands-against-ny-safe-act/
Oath Keepers salutes the whole Sheriff’s Department of Saratoga County, New York for honoring their Oath to the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of New York.

Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 9:53 AM
Subject: Re: Saratoga
From: David Marston
To: Joanna Johnson-Smith

What is this? Is this about the Pledge of Allegiance or the S.A.F.E. act? Is it a personal essay submission? I’m not clear why I was sent this and what purposes it purports to serve? Please Advise.

David Marston.

Fri, Feb 19, 2013 at 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: Saratoga
From: Joanna Johnson-Smith
To: David Marston

Dear Mr. Marston, This was sent to you as an Alderman of the City of Hudson, so you can see where 98% of NY Law Enforcement stand on the NY Safe Act before your Legal Committee decides to impose a Total Gun Ban in your city. The VERY few Law Enforcement Officers that support the Safe Act, about 2%, are all Democrats and Liberals who have never given a donkey’s behind about the Constitutional Rights of the people who employ them. Patriotic Americans like the Deputy who wrote this letter, are incensed over the State and Federal attempts to disarm law-abiding Americans and spit on the Constitution. We all know what the REAL agenda is, and we will never allow it. Many of us will be at the meeting in Hudson on 2-27-2013 to make certain our voices are heard.

Respectfully,

JJ. Johnson-Smith NYS Organizer for Gun Rights Across America

New Lebanon,N.Y

Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: Saratoga
From: David Marston
To: Joanna Johnson-Smith

Dear Joanna Johnson-Smith,

Its really neat that all you gun toting tea party psychotards are so interested in the goings on of our little City, even though I find it amazing that you don’t have any other pressing issues before you in New Lebanon. On the other hand, I guess its not surprising, considering you ideologues aren’t interested in actual policy, but rather grandstanding on mythical narratives of victimization.

Two things: The only spit here is the white stuff frothing on the ends of that rotten little mouth of yours from which you spew this hateful ignorant trash. And a donkeys behind? The rabid ignorance of the fringe is best illustrated by its sad metaphors, I mean seriously, thank you for the laughs.

By all means, come on down, we’ll be happy to beat you barbarians back with the clubs of reason & responsibility, radical lunatics that you are. And say, a quick ProTip, since you’re the “organizer” for unemployed guns nuts USA. Next time you think these unhinged rants will change the mind of anyone who has even a modicum of intelligence, you might instead just go back down into your basement & watch another episode of wheel-of-fortune. It’ll certainly be just as effective. Remember: there are millions of Eagle Scout God Worshiping Patriots who find you & your radical ilk as disgraceful to American Democracy as the Brown Shirt jackboots you act like. I happen to be just one of them. Good Luck.

Best Regards,
David Marston.

Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: Saratoga
From: David Marston
To: Joanna Johnson-Smith

Dear Joanna,
My sincerest apologies, I had no intention of ever sending this email.  I’ve been getting endless emails from people who don’t live here calling me names because of a gun legislation I didn’t write, I happened to take out my frustration and anger on your email, and for that I am sorry.  It was accidentally send from my drafts.  Again, I hope you can understand how upsetting it is for a patriot like myself to get emails saying I spit on the constitution and could give an ass about rights.  It’s offensive, but it certainly does not warrant this kind of unhinged response.  I’m embarrassed & I’m sorry.
Sincerely,
David Marston.
Vince Coglianese