Lessons on How to Be Offensive

Of course, the demise of the long gun registry has come with it's fair share of controversy, but today New Brunswick-Southwest MP John Williamson took controversy to a whole new level. Let's go to the video tape:

So at what point do you think Williamson will realize that he did something wrong:

1) The fact that he used the words of King, the coup de grâce to 1963's "I Have a Dream" speech on the Washington Mall, quoting an old African-American spiritual touting the idea that one day, people - no matter their race, colour or creed - would stand together in peace, as a celebratory instance of macho bravado like a high five...

2) The fact that it was 44 years ago yesterday that King was assassinated outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, or...

3) The fact that he was killed by James Earl Ray with a Remington 760 Game Master chambered in 30-06. A long gun. 

It's also worth noting that on Wednesday, Memphis joined the list of nearly 900 U.S. cities with roadway memorials to King by renaming Linden Avenue as Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Avenue.

I find it hard to believe that Williamson had no idea that he was doing anything wrong when he did this, and despite the timing, I have no idea what would possess him to invoke King while celebrating the overturning of a gun control law, no matter what he personally or politically thinks of the thing. Perhaps we'll just chalk this instance up to the words of a famous citizen from Tennessee neighbour, Alabama: "Stupid is as stupid does."

Or to use another proverb from the culture Williamson is so eager to borrow from (as quoted in "The Mind of the African Negro as Reflected in His Proverbs" by A. O. Stafford in The Journal of Negro History Vol. 1. No. 1): "After a foolish action, comes remorse."

Here's hoping.