Armed Texas Governor says, "Don't mess with Perry!"

[Ben Lahnger]

Ben - Who packs a gun when they want to go jogging? Better yet, who packs a 380 Ruger — loaded with hollow-point bullets — with a laser sight ... when they go jogging?!?!?!? Why, that would be Texas Governor Rick Perry, of course!


Texas gov. shoots, kills 'wily' coyote during jog

SOURCE

AUSTIN, Texas - Pistol-packing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don't mess with my dog.

Perry told The Associated Press on Tuesday he needed just one shot from the laser-sighted pistol he sometimes carries while jogging to take down a coyote that menaced his puppy during a February run near Austin.

Perry said he will carry his .380 Ruger — loaded with hollow-point bullets — when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He'd also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area.

When one came out of the brush toward his daughter's Labrador retriever, Perry charged.

"Don't attack my dog or you might get shot ... if you're a coyote," he said Tuesday.

Perry, a Republican running for a third full term against Democrat Bill White, is living in a private house in a hilly area southwest of downtown Austin while the Governor's Mansion is being repaired after a 2008 fire. A concealed handgun permit holder, Perry carries the pistol in a belt.

"I knew there were a lot of predators out there. You'll hear a pack of coyotes. People are losing small cats and dogs all the time out there in that community," Perry said.

"They're very wily creatures."

On this particular morning, Perry said, he was jogging without his security detail shortly after sunrise.

"I'm enjoying the run when something catches my eye and it's this coyote. I know he knows I'm there. He never looks at me, he is laser-locked on that dog," Perry said.

"I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go," he said.

Perry said the laser-pointer helped make a quick, clean kill.

"It was not in a lot of pain," he said. "It pretty much went down at that particular juncture."

Texas state law allows people to shoot coyotes that are threatening livestock or domestic animals. The dog was unharmed, Perry said.

Perry's security detail was not required to file a report about the governor discharging a weapon, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange.

"People shoot coyotes all the time, snakes all the time," Mange said. "We don't write reports."

The governor left the coyote where it fell.

"He became mulch," Perry said.

[gothicusmaximus]

"I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go," he said.

Sounds like he was... JUSTIFIED

[CptSternn]

It's coming right for us!

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

He took a .380 with hollowpoints and a laser sight out jogging? Jesus, I shudder to think what he takes when he goes to "shady neighborhoods".

[Despanan]

Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack

He took a .380 with hollowpoints and a laser sight out jogging?

...because he's afraid of snakes.

What a pussy.

[Ben Lahnger]

There's a comic begging to be written:

The Adventures of Scared Pussy Rick Perry, Governor of Mice!

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Originally Posted by Despanan

...because he's afraid of snakes.

What a pussy.

Jesus, man. You can kill a snake with a well placed shoe.

[KissMeDeadly]

Of course he shot the coyote! What the hell was that coyote thinking, you know, being in it's natural habitat like it owns the place! Who the hell is letting wild animals into forests now!? That's my goddamn forest!

Seriously, that guy is a dick. Unless the coyote was actually attacking him, or, hell, even growling at him, I could *maybe* see shooting it, but from what I can tell it was just chillin' out bein' a coyote. That'll teach it to not be afraid of humans!

[Deadmanwalking_05]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Musi...led/index.html

(CNN) -- A rising Canadian folk singer was killed by coyotes this week in a national park in Nova Scotia, a park spokesman said Thursday.

Taylor Mitchell, 19, was at the beginning of the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park on Tuesday afternoon when she was attacked, according to Chip Bird, the Parks Canada field unit superintendent for Cape Breton.

Bird said hikers saw the coyotes attacking Mitchell and called 911. She was airlifted to a hospital in Halifax, where she died about 12 hours later, he said.

Mitchell was recently nominated for Young Performer of the Year honors by Canadian Folk Music Awards. She was touring the Maritime provinces and had a break between gigs to go hiking Tuesday, her manager, Lisa Weitz, said in an e-mail.

"She loved the woods and had a deep affinity for their beauty and serenity," she wrote.

"Words can't begin to express the sadness and tragedy of losing such a sweet, compassionate, vibrant, and phenomenally talented young woman," Weitz said.

"Her warmth, loving nature, astounding artistry, and infectious enthusiasm will be so missed and forever remembered."
Mitchell, who was originally from the Georgian Bay area in Ontario, lived in Toronto, Weitz said.

Bird said the area where the attack occurred is popular and well traveled. It remained closed, and park authorities had shot one coyote believed to be involved. A pathologist will test the animal's body for diseases that might have triggered the attack, he said.

Searches for other aggressive animals in the park continue, he said.

"Public safety is our primary concern," he said.

He said no other coyote attacks had ever occurred in the park. "We've had coyotes approach people too closely," he said, and about six years ago one nipped a person.

That animal was killed because of "lack of fear," he said.

But Tuesday's attack is "unprecedented and a totally isolated incident," he said.

In a written statement, Emily Mitchell described her daughter as "a seasoned naturalist and well versed in wilderness camping. She loved the woods and had a deep affinity for their beauty and serenity. Tragically it was her time to be taken from us so soon.

"We take a calculated risk when spending time in nature's fold -- it's the wildlife's terrain," Emily Mitchell's statement continued. "When the decision had been made to kill the pack of coyotes, I clearly heard Taylor's voice say, 'please don't, this is their space.' She wouldn't have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own. She was passionate about animals, was an environmentalist, and was also planning to volunteer at the Toronto Wildlife Centre in the coming months."

No wonder they call the place Cana-duh little morons like the lady in the article "Don't kill them,they only turned me into a bi-pedal meal on wheels,it's an experience everyone should go through,having their throat ripped out in front of them and all that"

[Ben Lahnger]

Dude, the coyotes should have been shot and the chick shouldn't have been hiking alone in the wilderness, no matter how well traveled the trail is. But that's not the point of this thread.

The point of this thread was to point out an asshole who is into a ridiculous amount of overkill. But I don't expect you to get it. Just as you won't get the irony of me saying that I understand that you own guns because you think you live in a dangerous neighborhood, but your neighborhood would be a lot safer if you moved out of it.

Just to point out why this thread is about what an asshole Rick Perry is, let me post a link to another story that confirms it:

Texas dump might get other states' radioactive waste

To highlight the story, a commission of 8 people (including 6 Perry appointed) are ruling on whether a Texas dump site will take in commercial-grade radioactive waste from 36 states, the majority of which could be safely sat upon if properly sealed in a drum and will lose its radioactivity within about 100 years.

The plan will benefit one company, Waste Control Specialists. Waste Control is a subsidiary of Valhi, whose board chairman is Harold Simmons, a Dallas investor who has given at least $620,000 to Perry since 2001, according to campaign finance records.

The Democratic candidate challenging Perry for the position of Governor this fall, former Houston Mayor Bill White, says the proposed site is in West Texas, near the Ogallala Acquifer. He's asking if there's been enough discussion of this. I suspect that Perry wishes he could just pull out his laser scope and quiet the dissidents down so he can help out his business buddy.