Brickbat: I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

"Glee"

When Pioneer High School choir director Steven Lorenz noticed a man openly wearing a pistol before a concert at the school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he told the man he was making people uncomfortable. Joshua Wade thanked him for letting him know. That wasn't enough for Lorenz, who then called police. Multiple officers responded to the call and quickly determined Wade was lawfully carrying the weapon. And then the concert went off without a hitch. Nah. University of Michigan, Flint, musician Brian DeBlassio took it upon himself to photograph Wade. After the concert ended, he tried to get everyone's attention and pointed out Wade. Later, DeBlassio posted Wade's photo and identifying information online.

Comments

[UnCivilServant]

printf '${RANDOM_SNARK[$rand2]} ${ANTIGOV_COMMENT[$rand1]} ANTIBOT=`SELECT anecdote FROM autocommenter WHERE index=$rand3;`';

[UnCivilServant]

Okay, sorry I couldn't come up with anything clever, so I spat psuedocode. The malformed print statement doesn't run properly.

[PM]

Slap daddy jsut ain't gonna like that

Also, YourAnonCrypt.tk would like to speak with you about an employment opportunity.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

And you won't believe it until you see the draft cheque for $7624, for jsut a few hours of work on your computer! Your friend's sister's dry cleaner's aunt can confirm.

[invisible furry hand]

She bought a Pontiac Aztek, you know

[UnCivilServant]

That one always bothered me, because Pontiac was an Ottowa.

[Almanian!]

The city of Pontiac is in Oakland County. Oakland was the name of another car brand. CONSPIRACY!

*adjusts tinfoil cap*

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

So did the Choir Director wet himself in abject fear, or just stick with his panic attack upon seeing a firearm?

[straffinrun]

Makes you wonder how he reacts when a guy takes a piss at the urinal next to him.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Gleefully?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Gleefully?

[invisible furry hand]

Yes

[invisible furry hand]

Yes

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Thank you

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Thank you

[Fist of Etiquette]

Lorenz and DeBlassio would no doubt have wet their panties in gratitude if Wade had a badge.

[PM]

I like that these retards who are so pants-shittingly terrified at the sight of a firearm dox the guy online. What are you gonna do, go assemble a band of fellow pants-shitters to gather around his house and then cower behind your protest signs when he walks out on the porch carrying the thing?

[Vapourwear]

No, they're just hoping other people will do the dirty work. Can expect the professor to get his hands wet. After all, he's afraid of guns.

What gets me more is that he's so worried about guns in school he calls a band of gun toting men to come to the school.

Seems he's not being entirely honest with himself about what he has a problem with.

[Suthenboy]

^This.

[dantheserene]

And not just any band of men, but a band that is infinitely more likely to bring violence to the situation than Wade. Lucky thing no one was at least maced or tazed with such people running around all hopped up on fear and arrogance.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...a band that is infinitely more likely to bring violence to the situation than Wade.

Not in schools. Usually they wait behind their cars until the violence is done before timidly venturing inside. Unless, of course, it's during an unannounced drill. Then they can scare the children straight without worrying about not going home safe that night.

[Peter Bleswick]

Quite so.

[Suthenboy]

Two words: concealed. carry.

Probably half a dozen in the audience were.

[An Innocent Man]

Yea, I don't get the need to purposely draw attention. I'm not sure it helps the cause, long term. God made flannel shirts for a reason.

[Peter Bleswick]

"While it is illegal for citizens with a pistol licenses to carry concealed weapons on school grounds, license holders can open carry, Ann Arbor police Sgt. Shane Dennis told Michigan Live."

[JeremyR]

If you read the article, according to the law, people with permits have to carry their guns openly in a no-gun zone...

[sarcasmic]

There are no no-gun zones. Only no-Constitution zones.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Some of the comments in linked article are especially special.

But overall pretty balanced.

You know, outside a few prog sites, comments threads seem to be 50/50 when it comes to gun control. This suggests to me whatever Obama wants to legislate regarding the issue may not succeed.

[jay_dubya]

well that and the fact presidents cant 'legislate' anything. thats a job for ... wait for it ... the LEGISLATure

[straffinrun]

Trigger warning.

*narrows own gaze, takes whiz in the corner and tuck-rolls off a cliff*

[Warren]

Oh look someone exercised their right to free speech and press to express a view you disagree with. By all means, disparage them and intimate their mentally unhinged.

[Warren]

their they're there
take your pick

[Scarecrow Repair]

.,A-Z

Take your pick.

[UnCivilServant]

And then you disparage our use of our freedom of speech to disparage ignorant animists. Something isn't adding up...

[Fist of Etiquette]

And here you are disparaging him for disparaging you. IT IS YOU WHO ARE THE HYPOCRITE, SIR.

[JeremyR]

It's alright that he expressed his viewpoint. "I find guns scary, so will you please take it away before I wet my pants?"

What's not alright is calling the police on him (which can get people killed), then repeatedly harassing him, then inciting the audience to assault the guy's father.

[Contrarian P]

Honestly, I don't have that much of a problem with him calling the police. It's an overreaction to say the least, but he was concerned so I can at least somewhat understand. The police showed up, verified in a peaceful and professional manner that the person in question was in compliance with the law, and that should have been it. The issue is with the behavior after the man's lawful behavior was established. I doubt very seriously that most of the crowd had any idea that there was a gun there until it was repeatedly pointed out.

[Almanian!]

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!

I actually view this attitude as having gone so far past "potentially helpful" into "derptastically dangerous" that I can't agree any more with the tattle tales.

Fuck 'em.

[invisible furry hand]

Next time musician Brian DeBlassio hits a bum note, I'm calling the cops

[Rich]

So, he'd better C # or he'll B??

[Heroic Mulatto]

*narrows eyes*

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Thank you for stepping up - I have been busy lately.

[Vapourwear]

Maybe read the article where the man stood up in a high school auditorium and told those present that there was a man with a gun and their children are in danger.

I think there's an argument to be made that the professor was attempting to incite violence...

[Rich]

At least he didn't yell "Fire!"

[Almanian!]

+1 DUCK!

[Ted S.]

Oh look someone exercised their right to free speech and press to express a view you disagree with.

That's not how I would describe siccing the cops on the guy.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You can contact Steven R. Lorenz, pictured here at:
Pioneer High School
601 West Stadium Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
[phone] x2
(734)-994-2198 FAX
[e-mail]

Prof. Brian DiBlassio, pictured here, "strangely" is the only faculty member in the department of Music to have his contact information scrubbed from the department's webpage. That must make it awfully hard for his students to set appointments to meet him during his office hours.

Nevertheless, I'm sure if you ask the department's administrative assistant, Karri Spoelstra, nicely, you could find out how to get in contact with Prof. DiBlassio. You can reach Ms. Spoelstra at:

303 East Kearsley St.
Flint, Mi 48502
810-762-3377 Office
810-762-3326 FAX

[Charles Easterly]

Nicely researched HM. Thanks.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Actually, nice research is discovering buried in the html of the page this:
phone [phone]
email [e-mail]

No need to bother the nice lady.

[Vapourwear]

THIS is the problem with WYSIWYG editors.

/&bksp;

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You're a credit to democracy (AND diamond mines everywhere), HM.

[SugarFree]

You can contact Steven R. Lorenz, pictured here at:

That's not cool, man. The painfully gay 12-year-old pictured at the link doesn't deserve this level of derision.

[Ted S.]

If you call the school, ask them how encouraging others by example to sic the police on people is consistent their anti-bullying policies.

[Charles Easterly]

The great divide:

"I acknowledge second amendment rights. I have no problem with people owning guns," [musician Brian DeBlassio] said. "I think there's a difference between owning guns and bringing it into a sensitive environment like a school."

Wade said criminals would see gun-free zones as "opposition-free" zones and would be more likely to attack locations where there is no one there to stop them.
"Where better to be armed? Where is there a place you need to be armed more than a place that could be perceived as a target-rich environment?" he said.

I think these views are irreconcilable.

[Contrarian P]

I missed where the second amendment was changed to read "the right of people to own guns shall not be infringed". I'm pretty sure you're allowed to keep and bear them. Unless he believes "bear" means in the sense that he has the right to tolerate the existence of guns only as he sees fit.

[Charles Easterly]

"Unless he believes 'bear' means in the sense that he has the right to tolerate the existence of guns only as he sees fit."

I think you've picked up on something:

"In between sets, DiBlassio approached the row Wade was sitting in and attempted to photograph him. Following the concert, he stood at the back of the theater and asked for everyone's attention before pointing out that Wade had been openly carrying his pistol during the event.

'I told everyone I thought they should be aware that while they were at the concert watching their kids that there was someone with a firearm and ammunition and maybe we want to think about that,' DiBlassio said.

He went on to tell people to look into contacting school board members and state representatives if they also felt uncomfortable.

'I posed the question to them saying "don't we want something like a gun-free campus for our schools," DiBlassio said. 'And I said I personally wasn't comfortable with this.'

As he finished speaking, DiBlassio said told everyone in the audience where Wade had been sitting and that he was wearing a white shirt....

DiBlassio said he is uncomfortable with guns being brought into school buildings whether they are concealed or openly carried."

There you have it.

[sarcasmic]

He's uncomfortable with armed peasants. He's got no issue with the king's men being armed at school.

[sarcasmic]

No need to change the text of the 2A when you can water-down the meaning of the word "infringed" to the point of nothingness.

[mr lizard]

Michigan will never have a good running game with this kind of attitude

[straffinrun]

But he added that even if he had known that open carry was legal beforehand, "I would not have responded any differently, and I will not respond any differently in the future.

Just bask in the wisdom of that statement.

[JeremyR]

It is wise, at least from his point of view. He gets attention, and he's probably eventually going to get someone killed by trigger happy cops (like that poor guy in Wal-mart with a toy gun).

Leftists aren't playing nice, they are going to use every dirty trick they can to push their agenda. Who cares if it's legal or if people end up getting killed?

[sarcasmic]

People? Bitter clingers aren't people.

[Rich]

DiBlassio says he is "otherwise fine with people owning guns," but objects to them being brought into schools.

I'm "otherwise fine with people not owning guns", but object to people spouting off nonsense about guns in schools.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm otherwise fine with people being ignorant, but strenuously object to them having professorial roles.

[Rich]

Perhaps he merely professes to be a professor.

[Redmanfms]

DiBlassio says he is "otherwise fine with people owning guns,"...

I suspect that isn't true.

[Rich]

He probably meant "people should be fined for owning guns".

[Bo Cara Esq.]

So was the concert of Annie Get Your Gun?

[Vapourwear]

Should write a parody: "Ann Arbor, Get Your Shit Together About Guns."

[Heroic Mulatto]

Update: The Daily Caller contacted the open carrier, Joshua Wade, after this article was published. Wade granted permission to use his name while restricting other personal information given that he has received death threats online.

How dare you carry that 'instrument of death' into our schools! I'm going to murder you!!!!

[Almanian!]

As always, fuck the collective known as the People's Republic of Ann Arbor. Unfortunately, that's where my Masonic Lodge is....but the city and most of its residents? Yeah, no thanks. They were full retard before retardation was....popular, if not cool (you never wanna go full retard).

[Heroic Mulatto]

that's where my Masonic Lodge is

Wait, what?

[SugarFree]

He just really hates Papists.

[Lord Humungus]

Ann Arbor - a nice place to go shopping but I wouldn't want to live there.

[Harvard]

After 4 years at Jew U, I must concur. Even the Art Fair has become over-done.

[Agile Cyborg]

The Ann Arbor media will stand united against this threat and coupled with the power of local school administrators thousands of children will be saved from the extremely rare occurrence of seeing a firearm worn legally on a lowly goddamn parent.

This democratic firestorm will prevail and children will be delivered.... and the collective progressive hive of super-busy-professional-people will once again host a dramatic resistance to fucking absolutely nothing.

[dantheserene]

If Wade was as dangerous as these idiots claimed, he would have taken action against them. Either they are so brave they were will to harass a homicidal maniac, or they knew Wade wasn't actually a threat.

[Dave H]

I never thought I'd see my high school in a brickbat. But there seem to be a lot of stories here about the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor. I forget. Who's the U of M alum on the Reason staff?