Stop trying to be on our side!!

In the news currently is Gia Arnold of New York State. Arnold, a 26 year old mother of three, gained some fame and attention in 2014 as she ran for a State Senate seat in the Republican primary, making her opposition to New York's draconian S.A.F.E. Act the centerpiece of her campaign.

She ran as a Tea Party candidate, opposing Robert G. Ortt, current mayor of North Tonawanda, and was doing fairly well until is was discovered that she was having an affair behind her husband's back, at which time she dropped out of the race. A week or so later, she changed her mind and re-entered the race, but lost to Ortt by a huge margin. She then did what every "pro-gun Republican" does and used her facebook page to call everyone who voted for her opponent "stupid". She then began endorsing his democrat opponent--an anti-gunner--in the general election. (Ortt won and is now State Senator. Ortt also opposes the S.A.F.E. Act, BTW.)

Gia Arnold dropped off the radar for a bit, and according to her Linkedin page, she went to work as a bartender/server at a movie theater for a few months and then wound up as Senior Administrative Assistant at Iroquois Job Corps Center. OK, good for hr, right? Bouncing back, she finds a job and goes on with life, raising her kids and living a quiet law-abiding life.

Well, not so much. She was just arrested Wednesday night at around 10:30 pm in Niagara Falls when police stopped her car after observing a traffic violation. The car was being driven by Halim Johnson, 18 years old. Arnold was present too, in the passenger seat. Johnson is already pending trial on a recent drug arrest, and he was visibly nervous, according to the police. As the officers were talking to Johnson about that arrest and his pre-trial release conditions, they noticed a AR-15 magazine on Arnold's seat and took both occupants out of the car. As they did so, officers found a handgun in the driver's door cup holder (Johnson's side), and an AR-15 rifle stuck in between the passenger side seat and door frame on Arnold's side. Arnold had tried to cover it with a jacket as she was being removed, but that failed. Police also reportedly found a ski mask and marijuana in the car. Both were arrested and taken to jail, charged with felony weapons possession. Arnold's friends set up a fund-raising page to raise money for both Arnold's and Johnson's bond and legal expenses. Arnold managed to post bond but Johnson is still being held. Arnold, who describes Halim Johnson as her "boyfriend", is again eschewing the whole "personal responsibility" thing and publicly crying that the police "racially profiled them". (Halim Johnson is black.)
Her facebook page got scrubbed right off, but Johnson's was still up, at least until Arnold bonded out and reported claimed his phone. Before his page got scrubbed--and I saw it--it was chock full of pictures of Johnson with drugs, Johnson making gang poses, and Johnson posting about smoking weed and getting high. This article has a few examples.

Yep. She's latched on to a wanna-be hood rat. And that, kids, is why she went from this:

to this:

Like I tell my nephew, The Spud: "You show me your friends, and I'll show you your future."

Now this still hasn't stopped her supporters from calling her a "patriot" and trying to raise cash for her. And some simpletons have donated some, on a page I won't bother linking to. At this time, they've raised about $3,400 to help her and her "boyfriend". Meanwhile, the media, particularly the liberal anti-gun media, is having a field day with this story, pointing out her bad acts and history of poor decision-making and linking her to the rest of us. Yep, they're holding her up as our standard-bearer now, and nothing could be farther from the truth. Most of us don't hang around with drug users or drug dealers or blame everyone else for problems that we create for ourselves. We don't need this kind of negative press anymore than we need Gia Arnold holding herself out as some kind of victim here. Let me be clear on this: she's not a victim.

Had she been sitting in her home, tucking her three little kids in bed, and been subject to a police raid on her home over that rifle or other guns that she may have owned, I'd probably be writing in her defense or heading up that way to try to help her myself. But that's not what happened. She chose to hook up with a known criminal and go rolling around city streets with that rifle and another handgun for no lawful purpose that I can fathom, and by doing so, she created her own problems and gave the rest of us a black eye, be we gunnies, Republicans, Tea Party types, or what have you. I have no sympathy for her now and nothing but scorn for those who still insist that by helping her, it will somehow overturn New York's S.A.F.E. Act. Sorry, folks...wrong star to hitch our wagons to. We don't need this mess and we don't need Gia Arnold and/or Halim Johnson hooked to our fight for our gun rights and liberties.