San Francisco, 1978, Dianne Feinstein and Gun Control
Harvey Milk and George Moscone.
That something else was the murders that day of Moscone and Milk by White, a former firefighter and city cop who killed them both with his loaded service revolver, which he had brought (along with an extra ten rounds of ammo in his coat pocket) to City Hall that day as he pleaded with Moscone to re-appoint him to the supervisor’s seat he had so rashly given up a couple of weeks earlier. Feinstein, who had seen White exiting Moscone’s office after he’d emptied his revolver into the mayor and reloaded, was also the first to find Milk’s body. And it was left to her to make the tragic announcement, catapulting her to instant national recognition. Even today, I cannot watch this without getting chills: it was one of the finest examples of grace under pressure (Hemingway’s definition of courage) in modern American political history:
Here’s a transcript of the pertinent part of a police interview with White shortly after he turned himself in after killing Moscone and Milk:
Q Dan can you tell Inspector Erdelatz and myself, what was your plan this morning? What did you have in mind?
A I didn’t have any, any devised plan or anything, it’s, I was leaving the house to talk, to see the Mayor and I went downstairs, to, to make a phone can and I had my gun down there.
Q Is this your police service revolver, Dan?
A This is the gun I had when I was a policeman. It’s in my room an ah. . .I don’t know, I just put it on. I, I don’t know why I put it on, it’s just. . .
Q Where is this gun now, Dan?
A I turned it in to Officer ah. . .Paul Chignell who I turned myself in to at Northern Station. I, I. . . . . . . .
Q You turned yourself in, I wasn’t aware of that.
A I turned myself in at Northern Station to Officer Paul Chignell who, who I could trust and I, I know would do things properly. An then, an then I, I went to the, to the Mayor’s office.
Q You went directly from your residence to the Mayor’s office this morning?
A Yes, my, my aide picked me up but she didn’t have any idea ah. . .you know that 1 had a gun on me or, you know, I just was going to the Mayor to, to see if he was going to reappoint me and if not, the reasons why. And I went in to see him an, an he told me he wasn’t going to reappoint me and he, and he wasn’t going to, intending to tell me about it. He had some, he told me he had a press conference scheduled and he was going to announce it at the press conference. Didn’t even have the courtesy to call me or tell me that I wasn’t going to be reappointed. Then ah. . .I got kind of fuzzy and then just my head didn’t feel right and I, then he said, Let’s go into the, the back room an, an have a drink and talk about it. An ah. . . .
Q Was this before any threats on your part, Dan?
A I, I never made any threats.
Q There were no threats at all?
A I, I. . . .oh no.
Q When were you, how, what was the conversation, can you explain to inspector Erdelatz and myself the conversation that existed between the two of you at this time?
A It was pretty much just, you know, I asked, was I going to be reappointed. He said, no I am not, no you’re not. And I said, why. He said, he said well I’ve had people in your district say they don’t want you and I, I reiterated that I told him before that these were people that had brought false charges against me and had been dogging me since I’ve been in office and that he had been in politics and he understood that there are going to be people that dislike you, you, not everybody as a 100% supporter but I told him that oh, you know, an overwhelming majority of the people in my district wanted me as their supervisor and I told him how a person told me last night that they had on their own gone out with neighbors and gathered over a thousand signatures in one day, my constituents, to keep me in office. He knew that and he told me, it’s a political decision and that’s the end of it, and that’s it.
Q Is this when you were having a drink in the back room?
A No, no, it’s before I went to the back room and then he could obviously see, see I was obviously distraught and upset and then he said, let’s go in the back room and and, and have a drink and I, I’m not even a drinker, you know I don’t, once in a while, but I’m not even a drinker. But I just kinda stumbled in the back, went, went, went in the back room and he sat down and he was all, he was talking and nothing was getting through to me. It was just like a roaring in my ears an, and then em. . . . .it just came to me, you know, he.. . .
Q You couldn’t hear what he was saying Dan?
A Just small talk that, you know it just wasn’t registering. What I was going to do now, you know, and how this would affect my family you know an, an just, just all the time knowing he’s going to go out an, an lie to the press an, an tell ‘em, you know, that I, I wasn’t a good supervisor and that people didn’t want me an then that was it. Then I, I just shot him, that was it, it was over.
Q Was he, was he using the telephone at the time or going to use the phone?
A No.
Q Not any time. . . .
A I, I don’t even know if there’s a phone in that back room.
Q What happened after you left there, Dan?
A Well, I, I left his office by one of the back doors an, an I started, I was going to go down the stairs and then I saw Harvey Milk’s aide across the hall at the Supervisors an then it struck me about what Harvey had tried to do an I said, well I’ll go talk to him. I said, you know, at least maybe he’ll be honest with me, you know, because he didn’t know I had, I had heard his conversation and he was all smiles and stuff and I went in and, like I say, I, I was still upset an ah. . . .then I said, I wanted to talk to him an, an, an just try to explain to him, you know, I, I didn’t agree with him on a lot of things but I was always honest, you know, and here they were devious and then he started kind of smirking cause he knew, he knew that I wasn’t going to be reappointed. And ah, . . . .it just didn’t make any impression on him. I started to say you know how hard I worked for it and what it meant to me and my family an then my reputation as, as a hard worker, good honest person and he just kind of smirked at me as if to say, too bad an then and then I just got all flushed an, an hot an I shot him.
Upon Moscone’s death, Feinstein — as president of the Board of Supervisors — was instantly elevated to the mayoralty, where she ably served a couple of terms (she was, believe it or not, a moderate Democrat back then). She ran unsuccessfully for governor of California but quickly won election to the U.S. Senate in 1992, in which she has served ever since.
– and Princess DiFi still has Mommy Issues.
I remember the first Chronicle headline after the Guyana story broke. Something like “400 Dead in the Jungle.” My first thought was, “Right. Sure, probably more like 40.” That was the only time I remember a headline getting the number wrong on the low side.
Huh… never knew the Jonestown people were dedicated communists. No wonder they rarely make it into lists of American homegrown crazies.
It’s also rarely mentioned that people like Feinstein, Moscone and Milk actually supported Jones early on: http://www.salon.com/2012/05/01/jim_jones_sinister_grip_on_san_francisco/
So … does this mean Disco is back? I shudder.
I would rather have disco back if that meant that abomination of rap/hip hop would die out.
At least polyester pants weren’t worn below your butt.
“Avenge,” not “revenge.”
It’s clear Feinstein seeks to rain down retribution from the towering heights of all-knowing, all-powerful government on ordinary American citizens who dare keep and bear arms for the acts of a demented, soft-brained criminal three decades ago. Why did she acquire a rare—extremely rare—concealed carry permit and snub-nosed .38 special revolver? She’s admitted she lived in fear of killers.
Feinstein remains stranded in that fear to this day. It infuriates her we commoners believe our lives are no less valuable than hers when it ought to be obvious to us she’s special and we’re not.
I note with irony so many of the “defining” moments for the lefty Gun Control crowd have to do with what GOVERNMENT personnel do with their issued weapons.
Mi Lie Massacre
Kent State
Milk and Moscone
Add the dozens of “innocent civilians” to go down in a hail of Police fire we see all too often (50-75 shot debacles that result in just three hits, and the “perp” turns out to be unarmed when the smoke clears?) and its clear to me the GOVERNMENT cant handle the responsibility of being armed.
Yet somehow, they think its US that’s the problem, don’t they?
I am so thrilled that Senator Dianne Feinstein has fired a shot across the bow of all gun owners in America.
If this upstanding, gallant, handsome woman could, I’m sure, she’d ban all guns wherever they may be. It’s no longer 1776. Times have changed. Today, guns in the hands of commoners serve no useful purpose
Surely the parents of children caught in the crossfire of arguments between second amendment wingnuts and those who realize the second amendment was never intended to allow miscreants to kill children stand should to shoulder with Senator Feinstein. Unfortunately, not all Americans are so inclined.
One of the most despicable and disturbing groups ever to exist on American soil, of course, is the National Rifle Association.
I am delighted, beyond words, that the great President Obama is seriously considering hunting down all NRA members, and issuing an executive order that they resign from the aforementioned heinous group of psycho and sociopaths who comprise the NRA.
To put teeth into the President’s disgust of the NRA, it should be noted that a refusal to resign from that unseemly group will result in a bi-annual thousand dollar fine to be collected by agents of the Internal Revenue Service. Michelle Obama came up with the wonderful idea that the money collected will go to the families of children harmed by guns.
Another government sponsored group that’s doing America proud is Planned Parenthood of which Dianne Feinstein is a founding member. Since its inception, it has saved more than 55 million women the inconvenience of bringing into the world a child that not only is unwanted but also unplanned for.
Similar to the attack on patriotic Americans who work tirelessly to rid this nation of weapons capable of taking away the childhood of ten thousand children a year is the attack launched like clockwork by enemies of President Obama and Planned Parenthood, an organization he is proud to support with your tax dollars.
Forcefully and proudly, President Obama will soon be announcing a Presidential Mandate that makes it a class B misdemeanor to speak derisively, mockingly or scornfully when addressing any member of Planned Parenthood. Further, verbal criticism of the Planned Parenthood organization will be punished with a hundred dollar fine. Published criticism will considered libel per se, and will be dealt with in civil courts with the burden of proof being charged to the defendant.
As you can see, in the next four years, President Obama has decided to make America safer, saner and much more childhood friendly than it ever was before. Where Republicans try to destroy what the President is building up, Republicans will be dealt with in the harshest terms.
On the basis of every action and statement so far coming from the anointed one, it appears to every clear thinking American that this is a President who recognizes the need for a firm hand.
His enemies dare not oppose him. Protest in groups of more than one hundred in the streets will be considered grounds for actionable treason.
Barack Obama. The new American Dream is his American Dream. If you ever have the pleasure of seeing him in person, bow your head. Make no mistake.
Where he leads you will follow.
Your satire sounds too close to reality I’m sorry to say.
Right. My “Sarc Filter” barely caught the satire of Cheleases’ post.
Dan White passed his .38 though a window into City Hall to avoid the metal detectors in the lobby. He retrieved it when he got inside.
Would Sen. Feinstein’s bill, if passed today as it is written, have prevented the shootings at Newtown?
Dan White was a flunky of Diane Feinstein.
Isn’t this multimillionaire “liberal-progressive” woman, like, 80 or so years old? Honey, you need to put your feet up. Honestly. How much of our freedom will satisfy you, Dianne, in your Golden Years?
That’s one, just one, of the central problems with the Senate. They get in that exclusive club once and it is almost impossible to get them out again, so cushy is the power and privilege. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you exhibit A, Bill “Spaceman” Nelson, moonbat of the very first water barely disguised as a rational human.
Feinstein was up for re-election this past November. She infamously refused to even debate her challenger, Elisabeth Emkin. Talk about imperial hubris. And my fellow citizens were ok with that.
There is no democracy here in California. There is only lockstep control by the Democrat Party. And the people just lap it up and beg for more. They deserve to be enslaved. And that is precisely why I am leaving. F**k them. Sideways.
Diaaaaanne Foinstoin thinks this is still the 20th century, where fablabs and 3d printers don’t exist and gun bans have a 1% chance of working.
So does the Senator still carry a concealed weapon? I wonder what she carries? Is she banning her own gun?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/dianne-feinstein-i-carried-a-concealed-weapon.html
Do as I say, not as I do.
Swung by Drudge and my question was answered. “Feinstein Gun Control Bill to Exempt Government Officials”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/feinstein-gun-control-bill-exempt-government-officials_697732.html
The rules are only for us plebeians, not our betters.
It has been rumored that Bill Clinton gave DiFi a Deputy U.S. Marshall’s badge and ID so that she could carry concealed in all 50-states, plus DC.
Of course she carries. She is afraid of ‘killers’. Some sorry soul will take her out. Count on it.
Funny side story to this tragedy. Supervisor Ammiano, now State Senator, once proposed that supervisors be allowed to bypass the magnetometers in city hall. He had to be reminded that the only shooting ever in city hall was perpetrated by a supervisor.
Actually, by then, he was an Ex-Supervisor, because as the article pointed out, he had rashly resigned.
This woman is obviously suffering from severe mental issues and desperately needs an intervention. She is either an idiot or insane if she believes that parts of the constitution can be summarily invalidated. I don’t believe she is stupid, so the conclusion is obvious. Californians should be ashamed that this thing “represents” them. Another gift from low information voters that keeps on giving.
Note to DiFi: We know that you hate guns and don’t want the peasants possessing them, so do it the right way and mount an effort to repeal the second amendment. Do it legally. I dare you. I’m waiting……..
While I’m 100% against the policies she espouses (of which this is just one), don’t assume she is nuts or demagoguing the issue.
Never underestimate how much both this incident, and the 101 California Street shooting in 1993 affected the attitudes of both her and her constituents regarding this issue. The emotional need to “do something – otherwise, they died in vain” is very strong.
99% of the people who die, die in vain. Most people are not martyrs. Politicians, preachers, pundits, and poets don’t seem to get that. Everything has to “mean” something.
In our culture, it’s become almost mechanical. Someone dies, the survivors go on a crusade of some sort. Found a charity. Start a movement to outlaw or stamp out whatever killed the deceased. Nobody thinks they should take death lying down. Every corpse becomes a cause. There’s not much you can do with a person who’s engaged in this sort of thing. They are the heroes in their own stories.
Feinstein seems to be one such person.
P.S. – I had to read up on the 101 Californi Street incident. The shooter had two TEC-9s and a 1911 clone. Are TEC-9s considered “assault weapons?” I wouldn’t put them in the same class as AR-15s and AK-47s. They are tiny, easily concealed, capable of accepting huge magazines – basically, they’re auto or semi-auto pistols. They may even be banned already – I don’t know.
They are specifically banned in CA precisely because of this incident (part of the State version of an “assault weapon ban” that remains in effect here). But essentially they are short-barreled 9mm semi-auto pistols, with a design that cosmetically looks a bit like a sub-machine gun (magazine well forward of the trigger guard) and comes generally with a 20 round magazine, as I recall. I also seem to remember that they are of moderate quality at best and prone to misfire (I think they fire from an open bolt).
They were becoming popular with crack-dealing gang members at the time, mostly due to the appearance and native high-capacity magazines; this also lead to the stigma against them in CA (which has a huge gang problem, concentrated in LA, about 1/3 of SF, and Oakland).
It should be remembered that Ms. Feinstein had finished THIRD in the immediately past mayoral election, behind George Moscone and Leo McCarthy. McCarthy went back to the state legislature (he was not up for re-election that year), and Ms. Feinstein seemed doomed to finish out her career as a San Francisco Supervisor – lots of perks but little or no prognosis. BTW, I seem to recall that there were seven (7) CCW permits issued in San Francisco, including the supervisors and the head of the AFL-CIO Labor Council.
The only purpose for a 38 special is to kill people — or, more dramatically, spray bullets. Nobody hunts with one. Consequently, all owners of 38 specials will be required to bring it to local law enforcement and exchange it for a good and proper hunting caliber of 454 Casull (for sissies) or 500 S&W (for real men).
There now. The world just got a whole lot safer.
Why not a 460 Smith? It gives you 3 options; 45LC, 454 Cassul, 460 Smith.
It was the shooting of the Arizona congresswoman that has gotten Feinstein and her ilk in such a roil. They are using the Connecticut schoolchildren as a sentimental blind. The elite’s own bodyguards get more numerous and more well-armed, even as the Establishment seeks to disarm the general populace, because they fear the righteous wrath of the American people.
Feinstein is an attractive woman, and she usually takes a common-sense approach that can be loosely described as main-stream, although it is well to the left of my own. But when it comes to the safety of herself and her elitist colleagues, she seems to lose her cool. America has had a long history of political assassinations — one could argue that Alexander Hamilton was the first A-list victim — but so have most other countries, even those that have extraordinarily tight prohibitions on the possession of guns. Risk goes with the territory, even in places like Sweden.
You must be using some definition of “attractive” that I’m not familiar with. True, Feinstein hasn’t sunk to Pelosi’s level of horrible-old-baggery, but she’s definitely on her way there. I keep waiting for one of them to turn Boehner into a newt…
…And a bunch of gays rioted because liberals are soft on crime. Figures.
Yup.
Gotta love the Irony, dont ya!!
Choose Your Own Crime Stats
An interesting look at Crime Stats in the United States using data from the FBI that doesn’t seem to be getting much discussion from either the press or politicians. There has been a 50% reduction in the violent crime rate in the last twenty years and neither political party is taking credit for this? I thought politicians always wanted to take credit for good things? Perhaps they don’t want to draw attention to the fact that higher crime rates seem to correspond with inner cities? The great thing about living in the United States is you’re Free To Choose, at least for now, so feel free to Choose Your Own Crime Stats if you don’t like these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooa98FHuaU0&feature=player_embedded
Mayor Feinstein told SFPD not to swing their batons during the the gay rebellion. This resulted in the injury of many officers who were reticent to defend themselves for fear of demotion.
An unorganized force is no match for an organized force. Feinsten allowed the rioters to run amok for political reasons. Feinsten has very, very good political radar.
The left loved lenient sentencing including the concpet of “diminished capacity” that kept Dan White off death row at San Quentin.
However when a leftist constituent was the victim instead of the perpetrator, they exploded in anger.
Lady Di isn’t concerned about addressing the “problem”. Almost ALL of the high-profile shooting incidents have involved the mentally ill. Just to name 3, Cho, Loughner and Harris were ALL able to LEGALLY purchase firearms. But don’t look for liberals to touch that topic. Liberals pushed for the liberation of the mentally ill from being warehoused in mental institutions. The ACLU championed their right NOT to take medications to control their aberrant behavior. We are a kinder gentler nation now. We warehouse our mentally ill in county jails and state prisons.
Among them we must include Mr. Dan White himself. To a great extent, the jury knocked down his sentence because they felt he was mentally ill; hence “diminished capacity.”
Feinstein and Speier — what a couple of clowns. Too bad we have to live with both of them for the next 20 years or so. Jackie Speier is the most dishonest naiive person in Congress. She went to Jonestown on a “fact finding mission” with Ryan, which really was a publicity tour. She stated she made out a will before she left because she knew is was dangerous. But she and her group only armed themselves with a couple of cameras. They said they wanted to help people leave Jonestown but they only took a tiny plane with them. If you see the film of Jackie and Ryan the night before they were shot they were laughing and having a grand old time. I bet she wished she had a semi automatic the next day. And now these two privileged women are trying to disarm everyone. It turns my stomach. Feinstein is surrounded by armed guards at the Senate and is fortified at her mansion in Pacific Heights. Hypocrites.
Wow, just did some reading on Mascone/White/Milk/Feinstein and that era of SF politics. Reads like a dysfunctional Who’s Who! Mascone and Milk were duped by Jim Jones. Of course, who can figure out the liberal mind. So easy when ethics and morals don’t have to be followed.
On this issue I think Conservatives have to have a balanced approach. Let’s remind people that what is worse than kids being gunned down in school are millions of people being gunned down (or worse) by a tyrant.
At the same time, we have to be empathetic to the current problem. Kids are different than 20+ years ago. We can debate why, I have my theories. Most of all I go to John Adams quote about our type of government only practical for a moral people. Regardless, we need to have our guns locked up and safe from those who would use them for the wrong reason. Maybe the NRA could promote “locked and loaded” with the “locked” part showing we are securing our guns in gun safes. Maybe we could diffuse the situation by showing we are also concerned for the vulnerable among us and at the same time championing our right to preserves our lives and that of our posterity.
The NRA preaches gun safety 24/7. Liberals choose not to listen.
Part of that is the NRA’s own approach. It has to SCREAM about the 2nd Amendment, which tends to drown out its messages about safety. But the NRA wouldn’t be so loud about 2nd Amendment issues if liberals would stop f-ing with the 2nd Amendment.
They won’t, though. They’re too busy listening to their own smug, morally-superior voices. Heroes in their own minds…
Moscone, Brown, Milk et al were NOT duped by Jones. They knew exactly what he was doing but they loved the way he delivered the votes. Read “Raven” and you will see how they all turned a blind eye to what was going on in the Temple. They were all willing partners in Jones’ endeavors but chose not to say anything negative about him.
I was in California in 1982 when the harlot Feinstein made a big deal about turning in one of her two carry guns to the San Francisco police as part of an attempt to drum up support for a handgun freeze initiative. The proposal got rejected by almost a 2-1 margin.
San Francisco, November 1978:
A Democrat former board of supervisor member assassinates both a Democrat mayor and a fellow Democrat board of supervisor member.
Then, he uses a liberal Democrat defense method (“The Twinkie defense”) to lessen his culpability, and a Democrat jury and a Democrat judge sentence him to seven years in prison in a Democrat state-run prison under a Democrat governor.
Then, the angry Democrat gays riot in 1979 to protest his light sentence and burn down and attack Democrat police in an overwhelmingly Democrat city, subsequently run by a Democrat mayor as a result of the assassinations.
This my folks, is called Democrat on Democrat crime. They deserve it. All of it. It was not a tragedy; it was what they do best. As for Jonestown, Democrats culling the Democrat herd.
Take a look at some of Dianne’s finest constituents:
http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/
She must be in that crowd somewhere.
A .38; how quaint.