Here are two disturbing videos regarding the Walmart gun-pulling incident I wrote about for the current Bird column. One is from the gun-puller herself, nativist Lynne Stevens, the other from activist/videographer Dennis Gilman.
Stevens' YouTube video is revealing, but not in a good way for her or her cohorts. She starts off by showing some of "Angry Jim" Markins' new signs, one of which repeats the nativist shibboleth of "142,000 Americans Killed by Illegal Aliens since 9/11."
Lynne Stevens offers her video take on the events of January 9
The video also records Angry Jim and Stevens getting into a verbal altercation with a motorist, who had stopped his car to get out and argue with them. He asks Stevens if she knows who Jesus Christ is, and Stevens says she's never heard of the guy.
One of the day laborers I talked to after the fact mentioned such an altercation and said Stevens pulled a gun on the motorist, but this video -- heavily edited as it is, does not show a gun being pulled on the man. As the man leaves, the day-laborers applaud him. Stevens comments that when he left, some of the day laborers started throwing rocks at her, but she offers no video of the rock throwing.
Dennis Gilman's take on the Stevens gun-pulling incident
She mentions that she "brandished" her weapon, and that she was, "asked by police to leave before illegal has hole in them from rock throwing."
Stevens concludes with a photo of a sniper, and this quote:
A CNN reporter, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked, "What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist?"
The Marine shrugged and replied, "Recoil."
That Stevens regards undocumented aliens as possible gun fodder is evidenced by Gilman's video commenting on the incident. He offers footage of Stevens making ominous comments about what might happen "when the police turn their backs." Also, there's footage of Stevens bragging about shooting "several" people on the border.
In addition, Gilman interviews a day laborer who describes the gun-pulling incident. The man says Stevens pointed the gun at him and his friends.
Watched back-to-back, the videos have a Rashomon type of effect. That Stevens pulled her gun on January 9 seems to be the one thing everyone agrees on. Beyond this, it turns into a sort of he-said, she-said game.
One might normally consider Stevens numerous murderous comments to be bravado, but she repeats them often, usually with a straight face and a pistol always on her hip. That she fantasizes about killing people seems obvious. Whether or not she would ever act on these dark desires-- or has acted on them -- remains the question.
Still, her pulling a gun should give the Phoenix PD something to worry about, as should the better documented acts of aggression on the part of Angry Jim, who recently whacked Gilman with one of his signs.
One wonders how the Phoenix PD or any local law enforcement agency would react to a group of Mexicans showing up at a shopping mall hitting people with signs, arguing with motorists, and pulling guns -- even if someone had allegedly thrown rocks at them. Would such perpetrators stay out of custody and un-cited by the cops for long? It's a fair question. I think the PPD wants to avoid the appearance of bias. But eventually they may have to act to prevent someone from getting seriously hurt over at 37th Street and Thomas.
