John Sigler: Lawbreaker? Probably…Creep? Certainly
What if we told you that one of Delaware’s (and the nation’s) most prominent advocates for ‘law abiding citizens’ and ‘2nd Amendment Rights’ may well be both a lawbreaker and an inhumane killer? And what if I told you that this upstanding citizen is the former Executive Director of the National Rifle Association and current head of the Delaware Republican Party? Ladies and gentlemen, Delaware’s Mr. NRA #1, John Sigler:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h28NbX5s-GQ[/youtube]
Based on the animal cruelty documented in the video, a group called S.H.A.R.K (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) is calling for Sigler’s immediate removal as DE GOP Chairman. While the video (and the fact that he is being targeted by an animal rights group) probably RAISES Sigler’s street cred among DE wingnuts – SHARK makes a strong point. Is crossing state lines to take part in illegal activity something that the DEGOP condones? For that matter, is slaughtering hundreds of emaciated birds just for the thrill of it something that the GOP–or anybody–condones
We’re not ‘pigeon enablers’ , but the type of “hunting” favored by the likes of John Sigler and Dick Cheney, in which pretend macho men use live animals as targets ,is pretty disgusting – and apparently illegal here in Delaware, especially when you leave the animals to die agonizingly over the course of hours and days. They’re not killed for food, rather for the hunting equivalent of dog-fighting. The video above shows Sigler engaging in this illegal and repulsive animal cruelty at the infamous Philadelphia Gun Club in Bensalem, PA.
If indeed Sigler is engaging in this activity, then Sigler is breaking the law in Pennsylvania. And he knows it.
Now, so too does the Delaware Rethuglican Party.
And so do the lily-livered legislators cowering in fear of the big bully NRA and refusing to do what’s right on common sense weapons legislation. Yo…they kill defenseless pigeons. You just gonna lie there like birds in a barrel?
If this video is accurate, then we call on both the Delaware Republican Party and the Delaware General Assembly to do the right thing. Cut your ties to this man. Use your respective consciences, if indeed any of you still have them. And, if you don’t, then watch that video again. Perhaps that will help you find both your conscience and your courage. Neither of which John Sigler possesses.
[This post was co-writen by Jason330 and EL SOMNAMBULO]
Tags: Delaware NRA, John Sigler, pigeon-shooting
Its a pigeon that no one consumes and poops everywhere. Who cares?
Uh, people with a conscience?
People who care about following the law, I suppose. I don’t have any fondness for pigeons either, but the law is pretty clear on this type of abuse.
It just occurred to me that when Sigler says, “you can’t keep guns out of the hands of criminals” he is speaking from personal experience.
Yes but we saw a 2 minute video. Who says or how can we be assured these pigeons were not picked up, breasted, wrapped in bacon and consumed? Or its feathers used in a feather boa? This video was obviously taken to make ole Sig look bad. What did you expect?
It doesn’t have to work very hard to make Sigler look bad. The canned “hunt” alone is pretty creepy. The fact that they leave these the injured targets to die over the course of hours and days is the illegal part.
Yea how dumb of me. They leave them to die because the 2 minute video from the animal rights whacko group says they do.
Am I the only one who finds it more than a little ironic when an NRA shill calls an animal rights organization ‘whacko’?
Especially when said shill lays out this credo for killing?:
“…no one consumes and poops everywhere. Who cares?”
That covers a lot of territory in addition to pigeons, now doesn’t it?
If laws appear to be broken, an investigation would be in order. I’m sure even NRA shills would agree if this post was about Michael Vick and not John Sigler.
BTW, is Sigler gonna make a statement about this, or is he gonna hide behind his shills and his Rethug Party enablers?
If he has been unjustly depicted in that video, I will be the first one to extend my apologies.
why are they any more wacko than a person who throws a real pigeon in the air for target shooting instead of a clay one?
This isn’t hunting.
Excellent post. The most troubling aspect is not that “humans” can do these kinds of things, but that they call it “sport.”
Any violence against any animal simply to entertain so-called humans, has got to be one of lowest forms of humanity, if indeed it could be called humanity. People like Sigler obviously have a different concept of what it means to be human.
Just for the record, I think pigeons (in fact all birds that poop on my car are nasty) but I could not conceive of actually shooting them to entertain myself. If he is an example of an evolved human, I probably don’t qualify as human.
What’s ironic is that you whackos get all bent out of shape over killing pigeons but not innocent lives in clinics. The other thing you’re upset with is that these gun control measures have been a fiasco from the time they were rolled out. As soon as you realize that the NRA is running the show you will be better off. Wouldn’t you agree that Biden, Marshalls handling of these bills have been a joke?
Here come the false choices and the false analogies. Always one of the first refuges of someone who brings nothing to the table: Change the subject.
Which, in case you didn’t notice, is the head of the Delaware Republican Party and NRA bigwig apparently engaging in an illegal killing of defenseless animals.
oh man. OK Melbourne’s disqualified from talking with the grownups.
Do NOT feed the troll, guys. Do not feed him.
Why did that lady at the end bite that live pigeon? Yuck!
Get off your lazy asses quit complaining and call Pennslyvania authorities and do something about it. They will take your call and then laugh their asses off and call you a bunch of sissys when they hang up. Most of Americans would agree.
“Get off your lazy asses …”
Sez the asshole on the internet. Lazy fuckwad, heal thyself. If you’re not too big a sissy, that is.
Excellent post, guys. This is pretty despicable — there are plenty of *genuine* opportunities to hunt birds in PA and DE and I don’t get just shooting birds that are thrown in front of you.
But then, we are talking about the head of the local GOP who seems to think that basic and ill-informed grandstanding is supposed to win them elections. Perhaps Sigler doesn’t know that real hunting takes both skill and real work.
“What’s ironic is that you whackos get all bent out of shape over killing pigeons but not innocent lives in clinics.”
Pigeons can feel pain. Blastocysts cannot.
BUT MOST AMERICANS WOULD AGREE
Didn’t need to get off my ‘lazy ass’ to contact the Pennsylvania AG’s office.
Which I just did.
About time we hear from Sigler, don’tchathink?
This video would be laughed out of any courtroom. I’ve watched it 3 times. No where did I see Sigler kill or shoot a pigeon. There’s no proof it was even taken at the named gun club? It shows pigeons being shot and falling from the sky, sigler loading a gun and firing it? This is propaganda by a anti gun animal rights group. Show me the evidence he shot a stinking pigeon?
Hey Geezer, kiss the fuckwads ass! Now go have yourself a great day.
Well, that’s what law enforcement is for. Which is why I contacted the AG’s office. I’m pretty sure that those familiar with the gun club can determine that it was the gun club. Pretty sure that the camera person did not want to stand right behind a guy with a gun to get both him and the pigeon in the same shot.
Also pretty sure that Sigler would issue a strong denial once he becomes aware of this if it indeed is a phony set-up.
I stand prepared to take him at his word until the evidence shows otherwise. And not some namby-pamby denial like “I did not engage in anything illegal”.
I want to know, did he engage in the action depicted in the video?
We see Sigler shooting. It defies logic to think that this group stalked this guy and set up a phony video shoot. While stranger things have happened, people tend to believe their own eyes.
Oh, and MB? Stay on topic.
‘Kiss the fuckwad’s ass’ is not on topic.
You have been warned.
http://img.pandawhale.com/19508-Popcorn02StephenColbertgif-nAiw.gif
Melbourne tell us what Sigler is tracking with his gun, and it’s not clay pigeons, they don’t move horizontally.
I know many hunters, and none of them would leave any bird or animal wounded and suffering on the ground.
I think it’s telling that Sigler crosses the state line to engage in this activity, the GOP, certainly the Sussex GOP, will embrace him for it, but if he was crossing the state line to go to a strip club, they’d vote to oust him.
V – Thanks for the giggle. I love how the NRA shill goes from very cool and collected to a not very cool at all spaz in the space of 5 comments.
“…but if he was crossing the state line to go to a strip club, they’d vote to oust him.”
I only follow laws that I like – is a foundational premise of wingnutia.
Anon, if you have ever shot clay pigeons once in your life you would know they do throw them horizontally. Please educate yourself before you type. You sound silly.
What if they were shooting rats?
I don’t think you could get McConnell and Cantor into those little boxes.
If he says anything, Sigler might try a modified version of the “Fluharty defense.” To wit: “Any shooting practice in which I participate in another state is not done in my capacity as Delaware state chairman of the Republican Party and is strictly a personal matter.”
I am no Sigler fan but this really appears like a canned hit piece on him. The video does not show him in the act of anything but firing a shotgun at….what? But I guess it allows everybody here to exude their disdain of anything republican so it makes for good sport. Facts be damned!!
Well whatever he was shooting at wasn’t moving very fast.
Sussex 09:
That group would be liable for a lawsuit if, as you suggest, this was some phony hit piece. Really, they cobbled together different pieces of footage to make it look like Sigler took part in this? That’s legally-actionable stuff.
Maybe he’s drawing up the papers, or maybe he’s not.
But that tape sure raises questions, and, one way or another, I want some fact-based answers. That video, at the very least, calls for them.
Sussex09, So he should say that he has been set up. That he wasn’t taking part in a canned shoot that would have been illegal in Delaware. Easy.
I think the points made about the angles are the tape are good ones. However you’d think that a simple investigation into the matter would result in the group handing over the raw footage they used. That should probably clear up any misunderstanding.
Seen from another angle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk47saogI8o
“But I guess it allows everybody here to exude their disdain of anything republican so it makes for good sport.”
Well for me, I could care less whether he is a Republican, Buddhist monk, or a porn star, or even a dirty stinking liberal. My comment made no mention of his political persuasion. It discussed only his humanity, or lack thereof. I question whether someone who engages in killing as sport could be a member of the human party and that is as close as I came to being political.
Gee, it would be the first time ever someone has been set up or a video made to appear they are doing something different than they were. If you want an answer, call Sigler but otherwise why are you or anyone else entitled to an answer?
As disgusting as this type of activity is to me and you, it is legal in Pennsylvania apparently. Further, if this was in fact filmed where the author says it was filmed and if in fact he was doing it, it is Pennsylvania, not Delaware. The last state in the union to allow it.
I’m at least glad that we agree on the fact that this type of canned “hunting” is disgusting.
No, it’s not legal in Pennsylvania. The appropriate animal cruelty statutes were quoted in the video. Which is one of the reasons I forwarded it to the Pa. AG’s office.
We are entitled to an answer b/c he is a public figure who portrays himself as a ‘law-abiding’ citizen apparently breaking the law in the video.
Related:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/pets/Activist-groups-drone-shot-while-filming-PA-pigeon-shoot.html
Fun facts:
1. apparently PA is the ONLY state in which this activity is still legal (but this is an old article -) [edit: whoops sussex beat me to this]
2. the organization that made the tape is funded by Bob Barker. THE PRICE IS WRONG,BITCH.
The animal cruelty statutes make it illegal. The elected county DA’s are refusing to prosecute. That’s why I sent it to the Pa AG’s office.
hmm El Som – maybe they are arguing it is illegal under the animal cruelty statutes but there isn’t a clear decision on it? What did they say when you called?
They said nothing. I forwarded the video, the article, and my request that they look at the animal cruelty statutes. I asked them to determine whether such activity is illegal under state statute and, if so, to take the requisite action.
I must point out that county DA’s are elected in Pa., not appointed by State AG. I am hopeful that the recently-elected State AG Kathleen Kane will proceed to investigate and take the proper action.
The article makes clear that the NRA has opposed an end to this barbaric practice in Pa. and elsewhere. Well, there are other ways to stop pigeon killings, and the animal cruelty statutes appear to be a great avenue.
here’s hopin.
Let’s apply some common sense here: Breaking the law (as Sigler is wantonly doing), makes one a criminal. A criminal should not be heading up a political party. What kind of example is this setting?
Sigler should be immediately removed from the Delaware Republican Party!
If Pennsylvania officials weren’t so corrupt, they would be prosecuting all the pigeon shooters for this illegal activity!
As far as I know, live pigeon shoots are still legal in PA.
This 2012 Article backs that up. Has PA outlawed live pigeon shoots in the last 6 months? I couldn’t find anything in a brief google search.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t support shooting live pigeons for sport, nor do I support Sigler & his merry band of wingnuts. I just want to know what illegal activity he engaged in.
This reminds me of the 2008 case of the Maxatawny Township Amish dog kennels who shot 80 dogs to death rather than comply with a dog warden’s order to seek medical treatment for some of the animals (http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/14363/#ixzz2Q4y6qYoJ)
In PA you have to take care of animals, or face animal cruelty charges, but if you don’t want to take care of them you can just shoot them. Perhaps this incident will have similar result (except they already used them in the killing sport enterprise).
By the way, kinda off topic, but the Amish running the pupply mills look at the puppies as livestock. They are just animals and deserving of no religious or human consideration.
I wonder if it’s just a Pennslyvania thing.
Dave: Pa. animal cruelty law says you can’t leave a wounded animal to suffer, as is the case with these wounded, but not yet dead, pigeons. The elected local DA’s refuse to prosecute, which is why I’ve contacted the Attorney General.
A few years back, we were working on spay/neuter legislation in Delaware, and we found out that some of those puppy mills were finding their way into Kent County. Don’t know if they’re out of business yet. I DO know, though, that (I think) Sen. Blevins passed legislation requiring certain standards for puppy breeders in response to the puppy mills.
“I wonder if it’s just a Pennsylvania thing.”
No, I think it’s a Christian thing.
Let’s shoot all convicted death row murderers and put the pigeons on death row and house them?
*There’s* the wingnut Christianity that we all know and love.
false. let’s not kill the people on death row and stop getting our jollies by bringing painful death to things for no reason. we arent cats. cats are vicious killers.
Cats are carnivores. It’s not a sport. Cats don’t have tournaments or mount trophies on their wall.
Professing one’s beliefs does not a Christian make.
I’m not going to pretend I behave in a Christian manner, but then I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve. Still, I find it odd that “Christians” (or Jews, or Muslims to be even handed) would find sport in killing. Food, clothing, shelter, I get it. But sport? entertainment? If that’s what it means to be a Christian, maybe I should be an atheist.
Dave, that is not what it means to be a Christian.
No, Dave, being a Christian means finding fault with others, especially others with a different view of what it means to be a Christian, and assuming — loudly — that God put the Earth, and all that’s on it and in it, here just for you.
Unlike Catholics or Methodists or other identifiable sects, “Christian” is what you are when your sect is unidentifiable, usually because its clergy has no credentials but the voices in their heads.
How did this get to become defining what is a Christian and listening to Geezers adulterated opinion of such?
Did you notice your post @2:17 providing Dave with an unadulterated judgement on what Dave noted was Christian? That’s when we got to the defining part. Sheesh.
Step off if you don’t like it, you know?
What am i in a street fight. “Step off?” Impressive rebuttal.
Read again genius, Dave did not note what “was” Christian, he noted, “If that is what it means…”
Pull your head out. you know?
If you are working at deflecting the conversation, you can go away. Voluntarily or otherwise — just to be clear.
You can’t make judgments about someone else’s commentary on Christianity and then complain that other people are doing the same thing. That kind of thing probably makes you a genius over at DP, but here it makes you a pest.
Actually, I’m the one who first used the word “Christian” in this thread, so I kinda opened the door, but I wasn’t using it with the intention of shifting the topic to Christianity. It was more of an observation that those who appear to be God fearing folks, yadda, yadda, seem also to be ones that exhibit certain proclivities, such as in this case where treating God’s creatures in a manner that the God I’ve learned about would abhor. So the connection went from Sigler –> Pigeons –> Pennsylvania –> Amish puppy mills –> Religous beliefs –> Humanity (or lack thereof).
Must be time for a margarita. No agave plants were abused in it’s production!
Oh, guess i didnt check your rules cassandra before i posted that say you are a perfect and all knowing being. I ask how this post became such?
Is it possible you are not as smart as you think you are?
What is DP?
I agree with the margarita for sure….
I’m smart enough to recognize that this is just more deflection from the conversation at hand. No more warnings to be on topic.
I care. Many caring people, not only progressives, but people of all political and philosophical persuasions care. It’s called ethics, or perhaps compassion, or perhaps just common decency.
Avian experts know that pigeons are very intelligent, and in any case are sentient beings capable of feeling pain, with the same desire to live free from pain as the rest of us. That is more than enough reason not to abuse them.
When younger, Sigler was not so bad, just a normal republican…. I guess like Cheney, being Republican, getting old, and having guns, makes one a bad apple. I wonder if he has made an appointment to look at his heart?
The video does indeed depict John C. Sigler shooting live pigeons tossed out of boxes. I know that because I shot the video. SHARK has documented Mr. Sigler’s involvement in a number of these pigeon shoots, all at the same location. Mr. Sigler knows that, and he will not deny it.
Live pigeon shoots are illegal in Pennsylvania, claims to the contrary by pigeon shooters notwithstanding, and they are most certainly illegal in Delaware. The only difference is that Delaware law enforcement will take action, while corrupt PA law enforcement will not, thanks to the money and political connections of Mr. Sigler and his ilk.
The only real question is, will the Delaware GOP Committee do anything about Mr. Sigler? The committee’s response, or lack thereof, will speak volumes about the values of the party.
Mr Hindi I watched multiple videos of SHARK on Youtube today. I noticed its a lot of the same footage with only the pigeon shooters face and names changed?
Yo, MB, tell big bad John to stop hiding behind your skirts. Mr. Hindi said that Sigler knows that they’ve got video of him, and that he will not deny that he took part.
Let’s hear from the brave man with a gun.
It’s not as if he’s ever been publicity-shy in the past.
Yo El, I don’t know Sig personally and could care less how many pigeons he shoots in Pa. I was simply asking Mr. Hindi a question.
There was a news story on pigeon shoots in PA on WHYY this evening. Apparently they are legal and there are people trying to get rid of them. But sheesh, Sig. There are still a few days on the snow goose conservation effort right here.
And that guy who compares this to hunting wild game needs to spend some time in Mel Brooks’ peasant trap.
I’m kinda tickled that like a Republican, MB is insisting on completely airtight documented evidence before the arrest gets made. When in fact, for an arrest, all we need is probable cause. Before us, is probable cause. To determine whether Sigler shot those birds is up for a court to decide, with 12 jury members and an alternate all there to hear him whine……
In fact, if any republican wishes to still be seated in the General Assembly after 2014, they had better vote yes for mandatory background checks…. because if they don’t support the 92%, come election time, this video is doggin’ them.
Thanks for posting the link to that story, Cassandra.
I guess no one here reads the Philly papers. There has been at least one story per year in the Inquirer and the Daily News about these pigeon shoots since the early 1990s.
Cass: While the legislature has not outlawed the shoots, they have made it a crime to abandon a wounded animal when they’ve done the wounding. See dogs: Vick, Michael.
I submit, and many others have, that those ‘hunts’ violate the cruelty statutes. It’s just that the DA’s in the counties where these shoots take place have chosen not to prosecute.
I hope that the new AG will.
I hear you on the cruelty thing. Steve Hindi above said that these shoots were illegal. But they are cruel to these birds that are just left to die, and that is a reflection on the type of person who finds entertainment in something this dismal.
Right, that’s what gets me. What kind of even nominal human being would revel in such non-sport ‘sport’?
You know, maybe we should dress up in pigeon costumes and show up at Leg Hall for the ongoing gun debates. After all, you just KNOW that Delaware’s most famous pigeon killer will be there…
It’s not so much about the pigeons. When I see a kid pulling the wings off flies, believe me it’s not compassion for the flies that makes it so disturbing. I guess pigeons are the next step for those kids.
Regarding Melbourne Born’s question, we do indeed show a limited number of clips from a particular pigeon slaughter from December of 2009. It was the first time SHARK was at that particular location. Mr. Sigler was at the shoot, and numerous other shoots thereafter at that club.
Because of the violent nature of the people involved in these slaughters, I was assaulted during the shoot, by the club’s lawyer no less. The video of the assault is up on YouTube.
Following that particular date, the club sued the neighbor who had allowed us to be there. It is a SLAP suit mean to intimidate – nothing more. It had the desired effect. The neighbor was unwilling to allow us to film the club’s cruelty from that vantage point. The club subsequently erected a 30 foot tall screen to try to keep people from seeing or filming the abuse.
Although we are now unable to film the shoot directly, we have many clips of birds wounded and abandoned up to as recently as last March. Some of the wounded drown in the freezing Delaware River. Recovered victims have been described as “emaciated and starving” by rehabilitators and veterinarians.
One of the other more recent people exposed includes a New Jersey eye doctor who was filmed threatening people with his vehicle, and covering his license plates because like Mr. Sigler, he doesn’t want the world to know what he really is. The doctor is also quite a tax cheat. There are others, and I can assure you that Mr. Sigler keeps very interesting company.
It should also be noted that, as the video shows, the club and Mr. Sigler shoot right over and into the Delaware River. Since people started using boats on the river to rescue wounded birds, they have regularly been hit by shotgun fire. This matters not to Mr. Sigler and his friends, and they have enough clout to keep the local police from doing anything.
I add my voice to others challenging Mr. Sigler to come out from behind his rock. Time to answer the tough questions.
Nothing….I repeat…..nothing, makes injuring ANY animal and leaving it to suffer, right.
End of debate. And if you think differently you do not belong.
It’s what is wrong with our world today. The fact there is a discussion around this is testimony to the mess our world is in due to the no longer present ‘human condition’.
The law in PA allows it. The unique interpretation of the law by this group so obviously does not apply that they could be liable for a false light accusation.
If you don’t like live pigeons being used instead of clay targets, I understand it. My faith tradition forbids killing animals for sport so I would agree. However the law allows choice. I do not think this video which merely showed Mr. Sigler shooting at something then clips of a pigeon shoot loses him many votes. Even if he did it, he would be participating in a legal activity. Change the law, don’t focus on him.
Hmmm… perhaps you could apply that sentiment to abortion, David – another legal activity.
So, if Sig crosses to Maryland to get gay married (legal in Maryland) David is cool with that.
Apologists for the cowardly shooting of starved birds launched out of boxes correctly state that there is no law specifically prohibiting shooting pigeon tossed out of boxes. There is also no law specifically prohibiting tossing a puppy out of a third story window, or putting a kitten through a meat grinder.
Humane laws, as well as laws for humans are purposely written broadly, because it is impossible to predict what every sick mind can conjure up. PA humane laws absolutely prohibit the neglect, cruelty and abandonment of an animal. Pigeon shooters are guilty of all three over and over at every shoot.
PA humane laws do not apply in activities related to hunting, agricultural, pest control or self defense. Since pigeon shoots are connected to none of those, humane statutes absolutely apply. The problem is that pigeon shooters are supported by the NRA, and pigeon shooters like Mr. Sigler have lots of money and political clout.
PA law enforcement is corrupt enough to bow to the rich and well-connected shooters. District attorneys in pigeon shoot areas enjoy campaign money from the very parties they should be prosecuting. Since Mr. Sigler cannot rely on Delaware law enforcement to turn a blind eye to such abuse, he skulks off to PA. This does not change the fact that the shoots are every bit as illegal in PA as in DE. Numerous PA humane society police officers have publicly stated that. Unfortunately, corruption and the NRA (one and the same) rule in Pennsylvania.
The unique interpretation of the law by this group so obviously does not apply that they could be liable for a false light accusation.
First the “dpmoderator” comes here to threaten outing commenters to the state so they can be fired, and now Republican David comes here to threaten people with a lawsuit.
David, your blog has become nothing more than a den of thugs and bullies. You should be ashamed of yourself.
“Since Mr. Sigler cannot rely on Delaware law enforcement to turn a blind eye to such abuse, he skulks off to PA.”
For me a big part of this is that he crosses state lines to take part in this illegal activity.
Whereas Mr. Sigler’s behavior might work well on Game of Thrones, it does not play well in today’s society.
Societies evolve. Something Delaware’s obsolete Republican party needs to come to grips with.
And is, over at Delaware Right.
Wow . . . the Chairman of the Delaware GOP gets a kick out of killing live birds set up as targets in a shooting gallery. That pretty much says it all. Can you imagine listening to Mr. Sigler lecturing on maintaining core principles? The interesting thing is going to be how the GOPers in Dover elected office react to this. Do they really want to be part of this kind of creeped out world.