There are varying views on gun rights and gun control in America, and since Barack Obama was elected president, the right has been whipping up their fringe base, warning that the Democrats are coming for their guns. We've seen unprecedented displays of weapons outside Obama events in recent months and right wing violence is on the rise.

In this very ironic and tragic story, a woman from Pennsylvania who carried an open, loaded pistol to her child's soccer game was shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide:

Meleanie Hain, the pistol-carrying Lebanon mom who received national attention for taking a loaded gun to her daughter’s soccer game, was shot to death Wednesday night with her husband in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

Meleanie Hain was thrust into the national spotlight when she took a gun, in plain view and holstered on her hip, to a soccer game Sept. 11, 2008, at Optimist Park in Lebanon.

In a case that was sure to get a lot of traction from the right, Hain was in the process of suing the sheriff who revoked her gun permit after the incident -- even though her license was reinstated shortly after.

Hain then filed a lawsuit against DeLeo for $1 million in U.S. Middle District Court seeking reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs, emotional distress and lost wages.

"Just the fact that he was wrong is evidenced by the fact that my license was restored to me. ... I am a victim of Sheriff Michael DeLeo’s. I am a victim of those in society as a direct result of his actions as well. The way people look at me sometimes when I am out running errands, I feel as if I am wearing a scarlet letter, and really it’s a Glock 26." Read on...

I'm not trying to put Hain on trial here, but I disagree with her irresponsible actions in taking a loaded weapon and openly displaying it at a children's sporting event. I feel for their three children who were at home at the time of the shootings and are now faced with growing up without their parents.

A group calling themselves "Answers in Genesis" recently took out a billboard in Texas depicting a young boy holding a gun.

Here’s how Answers in Genesis describes themselves:

An apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively…we also desire to train others to develop a biblical worldview, and seek to expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas, and its bedfellow, a “millions of years old” earth (and even older universe).

[..]Personally, I can’t believe they are implying that non-believers, or to whom God “doesn’t matter,” are going to take a gun and shoot someone in the face.

Striking yes; thoughtful, absolutely not.

Although supposedly their beef is with evolution, I don’t see how that point is conveyed with this picture. So, according to them, believing what Darwin had to say means a person is lawless and will go on a killing rampage?

They were so enamored of this image, they used it in a TV ad as well:

Given the rising violence we're seeing lately, I hope that Answers in Genesis remove the ad and rethink the campaign altogether, before someone interprets it as a way to prove their faith.

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There was another horrible shooting yesterday, this time in Arkansas. And this time, the motive appears to have been a hatred of the American military for the Muslims who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A 23-year-old man upset about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan opened fire from his truck at two soldiers standing outside a military recruiting station here on Monday morning, killing one private and wounding another, the police said.

... In a lengthy interview with the police, Mr. Muhammad said he was angry about the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chief Thomas said. Previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, Mr. Muhammad told investigators that he had converted to Islam as a teenager, Chief Thomas said.

Chief Thomas said investigators believe that Mr. Muhammad acted alone. He seemed to be familiar with the Army recruiting office because it was not far from his home, the chief said, but might have been on the prowl for anyone in uniform.

“I would say he was looking for any and all targets of opportunity that happened to be military,” the chief said in a telephone interview. “That may have well been the first place he found.”

This is, of course, a horrific case, and no one in their right minds would celebrate it.

Yet naturally, the right-wingers -- still feeling the sting from having been held culpable for their inspirational role in the assassination of Dr. George Tiller on Sunday -- have decided that this is all the fault of liberals. As usual, Michelle Malkin is leading that particular parade.

There's a significant difference, though, in this case and the Tiller murder: No one on the left is celebrating this or wishing that the recruiters had had a chance to make their peace with God before being shot. No one is trying to justify it by suggesting that the recruiters met a just fate.

And most of all, while there are smatterings of fringe leftists who hate the military and regularly demonize military recruiters, they exist entirely on the margins. There are no liberal commentators -- particularly not cable-news-show anchors -- who demonize soldiers as "mass murderers" or "baby killers," or suggest they should be "taken out", let alone suggesting that citizens might want to take violent action against them.

You certainly can't say that about right-wingers and their feelings about abortion-clinic operators.

And besides: Wasn't Malkin complaining Sunday about "Those who have jumped to score political points before Tiller is even buried"? Physician, heal thyself.

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(Jed Lewison has the video too and writes: Beck: Daily Kos, C&L blame me for cop killer. Because it’s all about him, right? How self-absorbed can one man possibly be?)

As soon as we posted information about the Pittsburgh execution of three police officers and did a little digging into the type of person Poplawski is, I knew the right wingers would immediately cry foul and say we're trying to silence their opinions and blaming them for the tragedy. Isn't that always the case? Any form of criticism sets off a whinefest.

Free speech is a wonderful thing, but sometimes our words do have consequences. The insane rhetoric that comes out of the mouths of mainstream right-wing talkers is having an effect on the fringe element of the hard right.

When Sarah Palin tells a national audience that Obama hangs out with terrorists, that is fed directly into the arteries of the Patriot movement's militia cells. Obama is a Muslim terrorist lover who hates America, is a spy for al-Qaeda and isn't an American citizen -- all that garbage quickly followed on its heels. Did you hear that kind of treatment of John McCain?

In any event, Glenn Beck says we're blaming him for the shootings and Noel Sheppard heartily agrees:

Beck: Blaming anyone except the nut job for what happened in Pittsburgh is crazy. Police officers over the weekend were killed by a crazy with a gun and blaming anybody else besides him is like blaming the flight attendant after a terrorist takes down a plane. Giving passengers a nice little safety talk to prepare them doesn't mean your responsible should a terrorist actually make that worst case scenario happen. One person is providing who would have acted that way no matter what.

Bloggers rushed to paint this killer as a conservative, presumably one who is clinging to his God and his guns.

Actually, we didn't paint him as a "conservative," we called him a "right-winger" -- which he is. It turned out he was an extreme right-winger, but the description was accurate.

Now, notice how Beck uses 9/11 as his defense? We do agree on that fact that the man was a crazy person, but flight attendants don't get involved in fearmongering and scapegoating and have a megaphone that reaches millions of people a day. They don't call Obama and liberals "socialists" and "fascists" who want to take your guns away, either. They don't spread cockamamie stories intended to drive up the fearfulness quotient in the populace.

And when right wingers talk about the insane possibility that an "upcoming revolution" is on the way -- that isn't preparing America for anything except more acts of violence by crazy people, Glenn. Michelle Bachmann is sitting in Congress telling Americans that she's a foreign correspondent on enemy lines. Watch out for those re-education camps for young people too. Oh, and let's not forget about the nonexistent "global currency" both Bachmann and Beck believe is going to be forced upon us. Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly goes on the air and informs millions that Obama is selling us out to a One World Government.

I doubt you'll see Beck invite somebody on who would be able to counter his argument -- although it might give him a chance to shed a few more tears for the camera to show us how much he cares for America. He does think the 9/11 widows are whiners, but that doesn't count to his fans. I didn't see him crying for the families of the three police officers who had their families ripped apart by this weekend's violence.

Beck: Civil unrest for a number of reasons is coming. Lone nut jobs and people who are just angry and frustrated and have had enough. You've got to seek those people out. You've got to start asking people in your own neighborhood, "How are you?" And actually care about the answer.

... Is this what these bloggers think what conservatives are when they say, "Oh yeah, he's a Nazi isn't he. He's a conservative?" Is that really who they think we are?

Noel Sheppard: The incident actually happened probably somewhere around eleven O'clock, eleven thirty eastern time, and by oh, I guess two o'clock eastern time, a gentleman had clipped a FOX News report -- FOX had reported that a friend of the assailant apparently was worried about his gun rights because of Obama, so a liberal blog took a piece of this video and posted it at a very, very popular liberal website called CrooksandLiars, and now the game was on and every liberal blogger was linking to his post. What was kind of interesting is in the piece the blogger mentioned, Where do you think this killer got the idea from?, and in that sentence is a link to an article about you interviewing Wayne LaPierre, the NRA head.

Beck: Acchk...Wow,

Sheppard: So that's where this all started.

Beck: They're not offended, all the want to do is to do anything they can to discredit not just people like me, but the people who watch people like me. We are allll dangerous. This has nothing to do with Barack Obama.

Thanks Noel for at least crediting C&L with doing our homework and breaking the story. By the way, they should ask Bill O'Reilly about his use of the word Nazi and why he calls Kos and other left-wingers Nazis and a "hate group". For all their denials, the militia patriot right is indeed voting Republican and became part of the conservative movement after Pat Buchanan ran for President on the Reform Party ticket (which comprised the David Dukes of the right along with Ross Perot-style "independents") in 2000, but when he added an African American women to the ticket they rebelled -- ran from the party and voted Republican.

And notice how Beck mocks President Obama with his little doll? It's another way to dehumanize him and turn him into a caricature. I don't think Beck paraded around with a cute little doll of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

At the end of his segment they are both lamenting the thought that lefties will blame them for violent actions and once again we will silence them.

Sheppard: We'll they're the NY Times and they are allowed to say what ever they want, buy you're a conservative; you're not allowed to say what you want.

Beck: And I don't want to blow this out of proportion, but I am allowed to say what I want, but let's, you don't honor freedom of speech by shutting one side down or the other. Everybody can say what they want.

Once again, we're not trying to shut conservatives down. Actually, the more they speak, the better it is for America, because they are exposed as crazy people. But they should understand the impact their words do have on the "nutjobs" of America.

Beck included a long rant about how "freedoms" always entail "responsibilities" -- and we heartily agree. But he forgot to mention freedom of speech and the responsibilities that come with that. Those responsibilities include not using words that scapegoat and incite fearfulness in the public, especially when there is no actual evidence to support those fears. Those responsibilities are magnified a thousandfold when you hold a major media megaphone like Glenn Beck does.

By the way, the hate mail I've been receiving ever since Barack Obama was elected has become really scary and nuttier than ever. I won't post the lynching pictures I received, but now it's getting more violent.

Another mass murder---lone gunmen scenario.

Twelve or 13 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in an immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y., Gov. David A. Paterson said Friday.

According to several news reports, the police said the gunman shot and killed himself and may be among the count of 12 or 13 dead. killed also.

The gunman has been identified as 42 year old Jiverly Voong. Nothing shows up about him on Google. VP Biden said people they were taking a test for their citizenship and said we have to find a way to stop this type of violence. A better form of gun control might help.

Watching cable news cover these types of stories is very tough. As soon as some crisis breaks, they fill their airwaves with endless speculation and unsubstantiated facts that usually are proven wrong. I could speculate too, but it's kind of premature. The fact that it happened in an immigration services center will fuel wild speculation as well.

By JAY COHEN, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A gunman charged onstage at a nightclub and opened fire on the band and crowd, killing top heavy metal guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and three other people before a police officer shot him to death, authorities said. The gunman had a hostage in a headlock and appeared to be preparing to kill him when the officer fired, police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said. The hostage escaped uninjured, Mull said...Damageplan had just begun its first song at Alrosa Villa club Wednesday night when the gunman climbed onstage, started yelling and shot Abbott five or six times at point-blank range, witness Chris Couch said.