Gary Marbut, who may be the only member of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, is at it again: this time, politicizing the recent killing in Glasgow, claiming that the liberal, elite media of Eastern Montana is covering up just how wonderful guns are:
I remain concerned that what role citizen Scott Billingsley played in stopping the killer will be minimized or eliminated in media coverage relying on only “official sources.” I do know that several media outlets are trying hard to confirm Scott’s role. Still, I do not yet have sufficient confirmed information to separate rumors from facts. I did get an email from somebody who says he talked with Scott since the incident, and that the information in my original release was essentially correct. I’ll stick by that until I have confidence in new information.
Now, I’ll admit the media coverage of this incident has been puzzling to say the least, with the shooter still not identified and a lot of information about what happened that night unavailable. It’s absolutely mystifying that the editor of the Glasgow Courier, Samar Fay, is also acting as the Valley County public information officer, for example—no matter how small Glasgow is.
Those concerns aside, how responsible is it for Gary Marbut to spread rumors about what happened that night in an effort to promote his unreasonable gun agenda? Even if the rumors are correct, could someone ask gun nuts like Marbut to have the decency to wait until the funeral to start politicizing tragedies like this?
There is a place and a time for debate about gun control and the right to bear arms. Why can’t the extremist pro-gun community understand that time isn’t while a town is grieving?
Article by Don Pogreba
Don has written 1332 posts for us. He is an English and debate teacher in Helena, MT. When not writing here or working on debate handbooks, he is writing about educational issues at Prairie Pedagogue.
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Marbut is an asss.
He’ll do anything to politicize his agenda, so this doesn’t surprise me. He’s crass, classless and comes off as fool – and that is in person. I can only imagine him writing letters and calling every media source that he knows to push his “guns are great and the solution to everything” agenda.
Young lady, I for one, sure am glad that there are many more "fools"; like Mr. Marbut in Montana than there are well intentioned but totally misguided people that you portray yourself to be. If you wish to advance your views and goals; painting opposing views as "the solution to everything" would have gotten you thrown off the debate team. California by the way is further west! I hear the weather is beautiful this time of year!:)
Marbutt IS an ass! Look, he thinks that ONLY kooks like himself believe in gun rights. And that’s just crap. And as far as this Glasgow thing goes, sumtin’ is REAL wrong with it. I agree with Marbutt on this point though. If a shooting victim was able to shoot back, why can’t we know?
I met Gary Marbut for one of my classes. I will third that he’s an ass. Guns aren’t the solution to everything, weirdly enough.
Ok. I dont know anything about Marbut, but I live in Glasgow. Gary Marbut is not exaggerating anything. If Scott Billingsley had not been at the hospital that night, more people would be dead in our town. If Scott hadn’t had weapons in his vehicle, more tragedy would have occurred, and he and his wife would surely be among the dead. Whether you believen in gun ownership or not (which I DO!), Roger Lynn Sellers would still have had his gun and still would have used it. All gun control is going to do is take guns away from the good guys. The homicidal maniacs will still have them.
Scott is a hero, and I thank God for him.
Ed-
Your admonition that a person from Montana leave the state to move to California might have more credibility if you were not born and raised in New York. I'm not saying that's a compelling argument, but since the wingnuts always make residency in Montana the issue, you should do better.
On another note, it's been over three months…where is either Mr. Marbut's retraction or proof of his claims?
I agree with Ed. Gary is a fantastic person and has done more to protect our 2nd amendment rights in Montana then other.
The writer of this article must have and IQ below my family dog. "Un-reasonable gun agenda" and "Gun nut"?
I have peoples lives in my hands every day providing anesthesia. My wife is a pharmacist and I have two daughters in college. We all love to shoot and yes, gasp even hunt. We must be gun nuts as well.
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