Edie Steinberg had first tried to call emergency services on another telephone, but Neil Steinberg hit that phone out of her hand, causing minor injuries, Keady said.

She was able to call 911 on another phone, he said.

Steinberg was charged with one count of domestic battery and one count of interfering with the reporting of domestic battery. Both are misdemeanors and carry sentences of up to a year in jail, Keady said.

He promptly went into rehab and in a town where you are who you know, charges effectively went away.

But then he writes a book entitled “Drunkard” about his hard-drinking life.

And,  more recently he’s taken to writing about his vociferous opposition to America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15, and guns like it.  He doesn’t think highly of gun owners like you and me either.

In fact, earlier this week he wrote:

Guns are a kind of masturbatory aid in the elaborate heroic fantasies of millions of Americans, who imagine themselves supermen.

Project much there Neil?

Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.

And he follows that magnificent piece of sophomoric writing with another a few days later, lamenting how Maxon Shooting Supplies declined to sell a man with a history of spousal abuse and alcoholism a gun.  Seems like dealer prerogative worked well to keep everyone safe – yet Steinberg spends 1564 words complaining that they didn’t complete the sale because of his opinions.

STEINBERG: Would-be terrorists can buy guns, but a reporter? No.

At 5:13 Sarah from Maxon called. They were canceling my sale and refunding my money. No gun for you. I called back. Why? “I don’t have to tell you,” she said. I knew that, but was curious. I wasn’t rejected by the government? No. So what is it? “I’m not at liberty,” she said.

She doesn’t have to tell you Jack.

A few hours later, Maxon sent the newspaper a lengthy statement, the key part being: “it was uncovered that Mr. Steinberg has an admitted history of alcohol abuse, and a charge for domestic battery involving his wife.”

Seems like a reasonable reason to deny selling a gun to someone who probably shouldn’t have a gun, would it not?

Not to Neil Steinberg.

Now I’ll state what I believe the real reason is: Gun manufacturers and the stores that sell them make their money in the dark. Congress, which has so much trouble passing the most basic gun laws, passed a law making it illegal for the federal government to fund research into gun violence. Except for the week or two after massacres, the public covers its eyes. Would-be terrorists can buy guns. Insane people can buy guns. But reporters . . . that’s a different story. Gun makers avoid publicity because the truth is this: they sell tools of death to frightened people and make a fortune doing so. They shun attention because they know, if we saw clearly what is happening in our country, we’d demand change.

Did those voices talk to Neil before he (allegedly) smacked his wife around?  Did they talk with him while he was drinking, too?

Hey Neil:  Serious question…  Have you stopped hitting your wife and getting drunk all the time?  Or just when were you drunk?

By the way, were you half-drunk when you wrote these pieces?