"One man packs, another attacks" - account of assault on pro-rights/TRT member

[labgrade]

http://www.boulderweekly.com/waynesword.html

"One man packs, another attacks
A leading anti-gunner attacks Shariar Ghalam
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by Wayne Laugesen ([email protected])

Shariar Ghalam, a gun-toting activist, fought a war and smuggled his family from tyranny to freedom. He's seen people hang for their beliefs. He thought he'd seen it all, until last week.

Ghalam-locked and loaded with a Sig Sauer 9mm semi automatic-was attacked by a peace protester while awaiting a Charlton Heston speech.

Get this: The aggressor was Robert Howell, vice president of the Boulder Chapter of the Bell Campaign, which lobbies for gun laws and peace.

Perhaps Howell, 55, thought Ghalam was a Neanderthal loser, as the anti-gunners like to view their opponents. He's not. Ghalam, 36, is successful and smart. He speaks five languages fluently-Persian, English, French, Kurdish and Arabic.

At age 18, Ghalam flew F-5 fighter jets solo into combat, dropping a half dozen 1,500-pound bombs a day on Iraqi targets and shooting down enemy fighters.

He's competent, having started his own construction business in Boulder from scratch. His company, SMG Construction, was widely acclaimed for renovating a church parsonage into a home for the Boulder County AIDS Project in record time.

Ghalam fought hard to be here, smuggling his dad from an Iranian prison to save him from execution by Hezboallah ("Party of God") guards who served the Ayatollah Khomeini. Ghalam is clearly above average, and was able to rise above tyranny in a quest for freedom. He represents everything this country is about.

Yet today, he stands charged with brawling and has been deprived of his right to legally conceal a gun. That's because Ghalam was slugged, then chased down by Howell.

It all began shortly after Ghalam and Howell showed up in front of Macky Auditorium the early evening of March 21. Heston, president of the National Rifle Association, was to give a speech that night that Ghalam wanted to hear. Upon his arrival at Macky, one of several pro-gun protesters handed him a sign and bullhorn. Howell, along with at least 100 others, arrived with signs opposing guns.

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A "dirty Arab"
One peace protester told Ghalam he looked like "a dirty Arab." A small group of peace protesters also antagonized Ghalam, saying he looked like a Middle Eastern terrorist. Ghalam, who is Kurdish, ignored them.

Ghalam had a bullhorn and was chanting pro-gun, pro-freedom slogans. Howell says Ghalam came too close to him with the bullhorn, and refused polite requests to move along.

"I gently pushed the horn sideways," Howell says. "Then he steps back and rams the bullhorn into the side of my head. So I threw a punch and hit him in the nose."

Apparently, nobody in the crowd-including Howell's friend and fellow protester-saw Ghalam hit Howell with a bullhorn. They did see Howell slug Ghalam, and dozens of cameras recorded the blood.

"My witness, Ann Coakley with the Bell Campaign, did not see him hit me, which is a bit puzzling," Howell says. "All I can say is she must have looked away. I'm just hoping some of the kids who were there with other anti-gun groups saw it."

Ghalam says nobody saw it, because it didn't happen.

"We're carrying our signs and this man comes up to me and says take your bullhorn away," Ghalam says. "He calls me something like a 'filthy Arab.' I said I was doing what he was, and exercising my right to free speech and peaceable assembly. He got closer, and closer, and pushed the bullhorn into my face. I shoved him, and repeatedly said 'don't touch me please,' as I continuously backed away."

Whatever happened in the first few moments of the fight remains in dispute. It's an established fact, however, that Ghalam walked away, trying to end the dispute. Channel 4 News has it on tape. Witnesses, including police, saw it.

"I'm walking away, and he's chasing me down hitting me as I try to get away," Ghalam says.

Even Howell doesn't contest that. "After I slugged him, I went after him," Howell told me. "He was backing up, and I proceeded toward him. This went on for about 10 feet."

It went on until University of Colorado police officer Paul Davis tackled Howell and held him to the ground. "Officer Davis went after the man who he thought was the aggressor," says Sgt. Brett Brough, of the CU Police Department.

The police report, written by CU Police Officer Michael Lowry, also reveals which party was more aggressive after police intervened.

Of pro-gunner Ghalam, Lowry wrote: "He was cooperative, and said he did not wish to fight."

Of peace protester Howell, Lowry wrote: "I turned towards Officer Davis, and saw he was on the ground with his subject, later identified as Robert Howell. Officer Davis was telling the subject to calm down."

But Howell did not obey, the report states, and continued to struggle with Officer Davis.

"I released Shariar Ghalam and went to assist Officer Davis," Lowry wrote. "Officer Davis eventually talked Mr. Howell into calming down."

Which fortifies a sociological theory: An armed society is a polite society.

During the altercation, Howell was hostile; Ghalam was polite. And Ghalam-the polite one-was very much armed.

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Locked and loaded
"The gun was loaded, with a round in the chamber," Officer Lowry wrote in his report.

Which doesn't seem to alarm CU police. Right away, after police intervened, Ghalam told them he had a concealed weapon and a permit to carry it. Police thanked him for his professional demeanor. Boulder County Sheriff George Epp has suspended the permit until the case is resolved. Although police clearly viewed Howell as the aggressor, both men were ticketed for brawling-a standard procedure when police break up fights.

Ghalam's actions teach us that concealed weapons permits are a sound form of gun control. Here's a man so responsible that he wouldn't think of breaking a gun law, so he went through a rigorous process to obtain special permission from the sheriff to carry his weapon responsibly. Ghalam is so oriented toward peace that he chooses not to defend himself, and not to fight, unless it's a matter of life or death.

The peace protester, by contrast, bloodied another man, chased him down, and later struggled with police.

Ghalam, like most of the pro-gun protesters last week, believes private gun ownership is essential to peace. In Iran, under the tyrant Shah, citizens were allowed no guns. When the oppression became too much, citizens stormed military arsenals, armed themselves, and overthrew the Shah.

"The revolution began with fists in the air," Ghalam says. "It ended with citizens taking up arms to overthrow the government."

At first, new leader Ayatollah Khomeini asked nicely that all the guns be turned in. The revolution is over, Khomeini argued, and I'm a nice man-a God-fearing, responsible leader who wants nothing but freedom and peace.

"The next step from Khomeini was to tell people if they wanted peace they needed to turn in any of their neighbors who still had weapons," Ghalam says. Next, guns were taken forcefully, at gun point, by Khomeini's soldiers.

"I remember an entire family being machine gunned down because one of Khomeini's good citizens reported them for having military weapons," Ghalam says. "It was a lot like Waco (Texas), only the government didn't bother with spin."

Once the guns were gone, oppression and enslavement ensued. The nice man with the white beard became a tyrant, and made it illegal to belong to any party other than Hezboallah.

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Public hangings
"People were killed for their beliefs," Ghalam says. "The government would tie four or five people by their necks to an I-beam, then hang them from a crane. If you went to the supermarket, it was common to see people hanging in the parking lot. And the people had no weapons to overthrow this government."

Ghalam's father, a former general suspected of plotting a coup, was captured for execution. Ghalam, fighting in the Iran/Iraq war, paid an insider and professional smuggler to help his dad escape. Ultimately, Ghalam, his three brothers, his mother and father ended up in France.

Ghalam came to the United States in 1989, because as a teenager he had read and memorized our Constitution-a violation of law for which he could have been imprisoned.

"It was in a Boy Scout manual, which I carry with me to this day," Ghalam says. "I remember the first time I read the Second Amendment. I said there is no way this can be true. There is no such thing as a country that would write into its constitution a law that would allow people to have weapons to protect themselves against tyranny. I said 'This is too good to be true.' I made it my mission in life to someday live in the country that was so devoted to freedom that it allowed its people the tools necessary to overthrow a government."

Howell doesn't get it. He sees no reason for people to have guns, other than to hunt.

"It's very unlikely what happened in Iran will ever happen here," says Howell. "This country is very different from Iran. We have a tremendous government, a constitution and a Bill of Rights."

Exactly. And the second "right" is the freedom to own a gun. Why? To limit government power, just like everything else in the document. Guns are why America seems different. Guns are why suburban housewives shop at Safeway without seeing bloody corpses hanging from cranes. Guns, which killed federal agents at Waco, are why the government has taken time off from attacking religious groups. Guns are why people can confront each other with signs and bullhorns in public. Shariar Ghalam is living proof.

Wayne Laugesen can be reached at [email protected] or 303-499-4187. Send letters to the editor to: Boulder Weekly Letters, 690 S. Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO 80303; e-mail to [email protected]; fax 303-494-2585.

© 2000 Boulder Weekly. All Rights Reserved."

[Jeff Thomas]

labgrade, thanks for posting this. Excellent article.

Howell is the perfect example of an 'aggressive pacifist' - a human being so beneath contempt that he would coerce others into remaining defenseless.

Ghalam deserves a medal.

Regards from AZ

[Dennis Olson]

Yeah, baaaayyyyybeeeee!

Ya gotta LOVE that story! Another keeper for my archives.

And no, Jeff, I wouldn't call him an "aggressive pacifist". He's the kind of guy that would KILL an abortion doctor because "it'll save the lives of the defenseless", or KILL a scentist because he's experimenting on animals because "animals have rights too". Hurting, maiming and killing are OKAY with these people, as long as it's THEIR agenda that's being furthered.

A VERY dangerous personality type, and becoming ever-more prevalent in our country. All the more reason to carry, IMHO.

I would call him a "domestic terrorist".

[This message has been edited by Dennis Olson (edited April 01, 2000).]

[Colombe]

Umm. Care to guess which part of that last comment I disagreed with?

Excellent article, btw, thank you.

[paratrooper]

Kinda sounds like " Support Mental Health or I'll kill you . "

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TomDeCarver SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA

[Art Eatman]

Colombe, could it be that you think Howell was very poorly domesticated? Probably not housebroken?

, Art

[Bud Helms]

That is an excellent post. Thanks, Labgrade.

[Colombe]

Hehe, no. I was referring to Dennis' post in that case. But it really had no place in this thread anyway, I suppose. Still, what a great article.

[Don Gwinn]

Simply amazing. Howell is a good example of the "Oh come on, if people could carry guns they'd kill everyone who scratched their cars--I know I would!" type of anti. I know 'em well.

[7.62X39]

Don i know what you mean, the most feirce antis i have met are very bitter, vioent,caustic people.

[jimpeel]

In a kind of a companion piece, 400 protesters showed up to the givernor's dinner in Longmont which is about ten miles from Boulder.
http://www.bouldernews.com/news/local/01aowen.html



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Gun Control: The proposition that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is more acceptable than allowing that same woman to defend herself with a firearm.

[Don Gwinn]

Seven, you got it. And the strange thing is the way they don't seem too bothered by it. One of my neighbors last year in my old dorm told me CCW was a bad idea because people would kill each other over fender-benders. I told him I sure wouldn't, and his reply was "why not, if you had a gun right there? I would!"

My jaw dropped. I guess I can understand how if I thought I was a murderous psycho who would snap over a traffic accident, and I thought everyone else was the same, I wouldn't want to carry a gun. But this guy just wasn't bothered by what he'd said at all. If I thought I was likely to kill someone over a traffic accident I'd check myself into the clinic!

[Dennis Olson]

You hit on the "real issue" IMO. I had this same discussion with someone on the Ms. board a couple weeks ago. The bottom line is these people know that THEY would kill someone, given the means and opportunity. Because of that, they think everyone else is as dangerous and unstable as they are.

They have no self-control, and figure that it's the same for everyone. A more powerful case for PEOPLE CONTROL cannot be made. And the anti's are the ones making it!

(snicker...)

[jeffer]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Don Gwinn:
One of my neighbors last year in my old dorm told me CCW was a bad idea because people would kill each other over fender-benders. I told him I sure wouldn't, and his reply was "why not, if you had a gun right there? I would!"

[/quote]
!!!!!!!!!!
Dangerous people in the world. I’m glad I have a gun.

[James K]

A nut group calling itself "Citizens Against Guns" once proposed the impostion of martial law, house-to-house searches by the military and police, and the "execution, without the nonsense of a trial" of everyone living in a house or apartment "where a gun or a bullet is found." Believe me, the anti-gun gang is very violent and very dangerous.

Jim

[Monkeyleg]

Dennis, you may disagree with this, but what you're describing is the essence of contemporary liberalism: they love everybody, they want to give everybody everything, but they don't trust anybody. They don't trust anybody to be armed, they don't trust anyone to invest their own Social Security funds, they don't trust anyone to do the "right thing" with a tax cut. Perhaps because they feel that they wouldn't do the "right thing."
It's a sad way to look at people.

Dick

[Gopher a 45]

Wait, so he's now charged with brawling and can't CCW? Even though the Howell guy was the aggressor and Ghalam wasn't arrested? This is BS! Let us know how it goes, please. If he doesn't get CCW back, we need to raise a BIG stink about this, especially as he didn't even pull his gun on this moron. GRRRRRR.

[Battler]

Being a foreigner myself, I understand how Mr. Ghalam feels.

I too am from a country devoid of individual liberties, with a regime based on a failed and bankrupt ideology, a police state where the authorities can act with impunity against the populace, and where in speaking out you are not protected by law.

Not that I have anything against my fellow Australians. But experiencing the breath of fresh air that is (the remainder of) the individual freedom in the United States, I have come to STRONGLY appreciate the Bill of Rights, and LOVE America.

It saddens me however to see those Americans who "fight AGAINST freedom" with such diligence and passion, like Mr. Howell (people like that made contries like Australia and Iran what they are today). And I see so many fellow foreigners who miss the comfort of the suppression they left behind, and complain that the US has "too much freedom".

It does warm my heart though to see a (fellow) foreigner - one who's figured out what's REALLY great about America/American society (the wealth is but a side-effect of hard working & great people and the liberties they enjoy), going out of his way to protect it.


Battler.


[This message has been edited by Battler (edited April 02, 2000).]

[Ledbetter]

Great article. Truth is way stranger than fiction. Dangerous, dangerous people who don't even trust their own character, but want to control the lives of others.

I hope someone from Boulder keeps us posted on this. Mr. Ghalam is to be complimented on his self-control, among other things. More people need to know about his experience with the "pacifists."

Mr. Howell is beneath contempt or pity.

[scott510]

I have six original copies of this article for any archivists out there. The first six emails with address get them, first come, first serve. It's a shame, it seems that the REAL Americans more and more often are from somewhere else!

[Christopher]

Something is telling me that this Howell guy just wanted to be a martyr for his cause.