OK, I’m sort of putting words in the mouth of former Braves closer turned conservative pundit John Rocker (above), but only slightly.  After observing mostly negative reactions to Jonathan Papelbon’s ill-advised decision to interject his pro-guns rhetoric into a discussion of the Boston Marathon bombings, Rocker uses his latest WND.com editorial to come to the Phillies reliever’s defense (“in our increasingly leftist-dominated, totalitarian climate of discourse, where the mainstream media serve as little more than 24/7 marketers (cheerleaders) for whatever policy is pushed by the Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee, Papelbon’s slip of the tongue was like throwing fresh chum to the sharks”)

To the left, Papelbon’s admission that “Obama wants to take our guns from us” translates to the type of image they have of gun-rights enthusiasts. Primarily a white male – most of the time Southern or easily classifiable as a “redneck,” worried about the federal government coming and depriving them of their rights.

To the left, pseudo-intellectuals or those with the right Eastern Establishment credentials (a degree from an Ivy League school) always know what is best for America, and Papelbon’s brand of free speech, they demand, is exactly the kind of divisive talk that must come to an end.

One of my former Atlanta Brave teammates, Mark Wohlers, has become an outspoken advocate for gun rights via his Twitter page (be sure to follow him here) and quickly became the target of activist-writer Jeff Pearlman.

Jonathan Papelbon was right to speak up about the threat of the Obama administration coming for your guns, for if he played for the Rockies in Denver, or the Mets or Yankees in New York, the Democrat-controlled state government there would have already done much to erode his rights.

Since Rocker raised the matter of “Eastern Establishment credentials”, let it be noted that Jeff Pearlman is a graduate of the University Of Delaware. Or as they like to call it in Newark, DE, “EXACTLY LIKE HARVARD, ONLY WITH CHEAPER TUITION (AND MORE FLACCO JERSEYS)”.