Nikki wants us to know: She’s packin’ heat

Or at least, she’s authorized to pack heat, and wants to make sure we know it. This release was sent out today:

Gun Owners of America endorses Nikki Haley for governor


Grassroots organization praises Republican candidate for protecting 2nd Amendment rights

COLUMBIA, S.C. – State Rep. Nikki Haley, Republican candidate for governor, has earned the endorsement of Gun Owners of America, a grassroots organization with over 300,000 members that supports candidates in South Carolina who are committed to protecting 2nd Amendment rights.

“Gun Owners of America is proud to make this endorsement,” said GOA Vice-Chairman Tim Macy. “Nikki Haley stands 100% behind the rights of South Carolina’s gun owners and sportsmen. In particular, Rep. Haley strongly supports concealed carry of firearms by law-abiding citizens and will work to ease unreasonable restrictions on CWP holders.”

Rep. Haley thanked Gun Owners of America for its endorsement and said, “Few things are as clearly defined as the right of individual Americans to own and use firearms. The right to bear arms was deemed so critical by our Founders that they spelled it out in absolute terms, and it is my belief that any governmental action that undermines that right is in turn undermining the very freedoms that built our great nation. I hold a Concealed Weapons Permit myself, and as governor, I will continue to fight against any government infringement on the 2nd Amendment.”

-###-

The boldfaced emphasis is mine. So now you know. Make of it what you will.

Over the weekend, I went up to visit my relations in Bennettsville, the place of my birth. My uncle told me that my aunt recently finished qualifying for her own concealed-carry permit. When she got home, he asked her how she had done, and she showed him a silhouette target with a cluster of holes in the upper left center of the torso. He then asked, “What would you like for supper, dear?” True story. Or true according to my uncle, who is an accomplished teller of stories.

I wonder how Nikki did when she qualified?

19 thoughts on “Nikki wants us to know: She’s packin’ heat

  1. Lynn T

    My dearly loved elderly cousin also has a permit. Her victims are mostly raccoons stealing from her cats’ food bowls. Her aim remains excellent, even in her mid-80’s, and I would not wish to be a raccoon attempting Purina One theft at her house.

  2. Mark Stewart

    Emphasis on the concealed? Interesting. Though hopefully not as dangerous as Andre behind the wheel. Still, my mind keeps going back to Wilbur Smith and the $40k for connecting them with her local politicians. Where is that behavior enumerated in the Constitution?

    What is this with saying, as a politician, that one supports the Constitution? As voters, we want all politicians to support all of the Constitution. Checks and balances, not potshots.

  3. Jesse S.

    Sheheen should take advantage of this and say that Haley is opposed to SC’s current CC laws and instead favors a policy that resembles Florida’s. Granted this is just made up, but she is damned no matter how she answers the question.

    For Dems it would sound like she was in favor of minimum firearms safety training (if she says anything to counter this she risks angering NRA voters).

    For Republicans this can be used to say that she wants to increase processing fees ($85 for Fl, $50 for SC). If she tries to counter it, she is in favor of proliferating firearms amongst minorities.

  4. Phillip

    Linking the phrase “I will fight” immediately after the phrase acknowledging that she holds a permit herself is either just an unfortunate choice of words, or it puts Haley squarely in the loony-Tea-Party camp of Sharron Angle, the GOP candidate for Senate in Nevada, who has spoken of “armed resistance” and “taking Harry Reid out.” That’s out as in not just voting him out. Taking him out.

  5. Kathryn Fenner

    @Greg Jones–Word from Lexington Way is that she is a terror behind the wheel–usually on her cellphone and not “driving defensively” and perhaps not observing the rules of the road. Perhaps we should make her have a driver, for the safety of innocent people on the road.

  6. David

    Linking the phrase “I will fight” immediately after the phrase acknowledging that she holds a permit herself is either just an unfortunate choice of words, or it puts Haley squarely in the loony-Tea-Party camp of Sharron Angle, the GOP candidate for Senate in Nevada, who has spoken of “armed resistance” and “taking Harry Reid out.” That’s out as in not just voting him out. Taking him out.

    Reasonable people understood exactly what she meant. Her statement does not put her in the crazy-Sharron Angle camp. Maybe we shouldn’t twist or take the least charitable interpretation possible of the words of those people with whom we disagree or of those politicians who we do not support. Maybe doing so makes this country worse.

  7. Juan caruso

    Brad, how long have you lived here now?

    A bigger issue would be if only lawyers could keep their CC permits. You might be as surprised at how many SC lawyers carry, as I am that you seem unaware of it.

    If Vincent Sheheen does not have a CC permit himself, his law practice must be as enviably crème de la crème as our president’s was.

  8. Rose

    I don’t know why Republicans think Democrats don’t own guns. Most of my family members are moderate Democrats (although we do unfortunately have a few loony Tea Party cousins) and we own guns. Shotguns, rifles and handguns. We hunt. We shoot targets. And I guarandamntee you that I’m a helluva better shot than Haley.

    So I don’t understand why Southerners think only Republicans like guns.

    And Herbie’s right. That CWP is just for show.

  9. Phillip

    @ David: I don’t actually think Haley directly believes in what might be considered the more sinister interpretation of that phraseology; but I also don’t think she wouldn’t mind appealing for the votes of those who do, and so it may actually have been pretty clever wording.

    In response to your specific point, you and I would probably agree Ms. Haley deserves credit for steering clear of some of the wackier ideas being floated by other neophyte Tea Party candidates nationally.

  10. Kathryn Fenner

    @ Burl–I’m thinking Betty Draper with the cigarette stuck in her mouth, blasting away at the pigeons.

    AZ is an even scarier place than SC, it looks like!

  11. David

    I’ll agree with that, Phillip, and add that it is sad commentary that we have to give a candidate credit for not embracing conspiracy theories.

  12. Ralph Hightower

    @Kathryn Fenner & @Greg Jones:

    Yes, Nikki Haley is a terror behind the wheel. I think that Nikki Haley went to the Andre Bauer School of Driving.

    I saw her white “Government Motors” Cadillac Escalade SUV, with legislative tags, aggressively zipping in and out of traffic on Hwy 378, briefly signalling only after she had made her lane change before heading onto Corley Mill Rd, and then Andrew Corley Rd.

  13. Doug Ross

    @Ralph

    Does anyone know what Haley’s license plate number is? I was passed by a white Escalade on I26 on Sunday. It had an Iptay sticker and an SC 6 plate.

Comments are closed.