Earlier this morning at the House Public Safety Committee hearings on the “Stand your Ground” billl, a “pro-bill” testifier erupted in a caracature of a pro-Trump, white supremacist tirade; at one point, he reportedly said it was time for gun owners to return to “lynching” people.
Then he got up and walked out.
He’s utterly unknown to Minnesota’s close-knit 2nd Amendment activist community.
The moment I saw the photo (a screen grab from video), that voice in my head that monitors stereotypes screamed “Carlton graduate and non-profiteer paid to be a false-flagger”.
Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.
“He” registered for the event as “Ross Koon”
And, sure enough, searching for “Russ Koon” leads you to a Facebook profile.
And here’s his publicly-visible post:
So he misrepresented himself about being a pro-gunner, and his “testimony” was a “satirical” sham designed to defame people he pretty much hates.
That’s pretty much the whole story, right?
Of course not. Anti-gun ghoul Joan Peterson tweeted instantly:
Coincidence that the doyenne of Minnesota criminal-safety is right there ready to go with a tweet in support of this bit of “satire?”
But that’s just a clenched old liberal exercising her penchant for overheated hypberbole – right?
Of course not. Mr. Koons’ pro-criminal-safety pedigree goes back a ways. Turns out Mr. Koon’s mother is one Mary Koon. And Mary Koon is a pastor at ultra-liberal Oak Grove Presbyterian Church, and publicly lists as her “likes”…
…Moms Want Action.
(“But” you might say, “that doesn’t make her a member!”. Perhaps. On the other hand, it’s pretty much all you need to do to be counted as a member, so we’ll run with it).
So let’s sum it up:
- The scion of one of Minnesota’s white, privileged “elite” liberal families lied about his personal beliefs, in order to…
- Slander gun owners in front of the legislature, and did it…
- …with the obvious, full knowledge of Minnesota’s anti-gun/pro-criminal-safety “elite”.
This was just the most egregious episode in a hearing where the anti-gunners essentially beclowned themselves, treating the hearings like a private flash mob.
Keep up the good work, Reverend Bence!
(Thanks to the crew from MNGOC for all the research on this post)
UPDATE: From a witness:
He didn’t immediately leave the building. I watched him get hugs and attaboys from several of the anti-gunners present, including the lady in charge of handing out red Everytown shirts.
Someone needs to learn to hide their Facebook profile better… moron. Hope this catches legs that it was an elaborate set up
I’d suggest that Ross Koon and Woody Kane might want to check their privilege.
Huh, his name actually is Koon. I assumed it was a “clever” misspelled pseudonym “Coon.”
The anti’s did a pretty bad job hiding his real allegiance. He hung out with them before testifying and received several hugs and high fives from the antis, including from the lady in charge of handing out the red Everytown shirts. I saw all this from my seat in the back of the room. Wish I’d grabbed some video of it.
If indeed stunts like this are common in such hearings, maybe it’s time to consider swearing people in before testimony, and if they clearly betray that they’re actually on the other side, then file perjury charges. At the very least, people need to be willing to say “did everybody notice this? the previous witness was a fraud.”
I really wish there was some payback for this prick, and the scum that surely knew (if not promoted) what he was up to. What a dishonest bunch of slime balls.
The Right should emulate this “trick.”
Not in an attempt to deceive people, but in an attempt to neutralize it.
The motto of the populist Right seems to be “fight.”
The motto of the populist Left seems to be “organize.”
I suggest the populist Left has been more successful..
The Right wouldn’t get away with it. Sock puppets like this clown are emboldened because they know they can fall back into the tacit approval, if not warm embrace, of the cultural leaders. They know they’re stroking the beast, not putting a thumb in it’s eye. The other way around, not so much.
Brilliantly clear expose, Mitch. The background vetting (hard work) was superb, my friends at MNGOC.
They wanted us to have to say, “Get off my side!”, to force a denial of their fraud.
I think that it was LBJ who put out that a certain Senator was rumored to have sex with animals (or was it children?), which he knew to be untrue, and was asked the reason that he would defame a colleague with something which he knew to be untrue. He allegedly replied with something to the effect that, “Nobody is going to really believe it, when he denies it; I just want to hear him have to deny it.”
Nothing new under the sun for people willing to lie and to misrepresent in order to be spoilers, to put the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.
It’s too bad that nobody on the committee called him out on it and challenged him and the antis for lying, AGAIN, as always, on the record.
Of course, with this little bit of writing, it can be done later, on the record, in discussion and comment/reasoning by members of the committee dealing with the laid-over bills.
Good job, and thank you, again.
Pioneer Press posted a clip of Koons, and suggests he was legit.
http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/08/gun-rights-debate-at-capitol-draws-overflow-crowd-and-a-sideshow/
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