Power cults on the attack
I yield to no one in the fervor of my support for the right to private gun ownership. However, alongside tens of millions of responsible gun owners, we have some small but dangerous groups of cultists whose interest in guns is wrapped up in fantasies of power and domination. When they act on those fantasies, the results border on terrorism.
In Nevada, some of the militia members in the vicinity of the Bundy ranch have set up checkpoints (link via Green Eagle) "where residents must prove they live in the area before they are allowed to pass". Who the hell do these people think they are, an amateur military occupation? This is way beyond a mere land dispute. If the authorities don't put a stop to this immediately, they're failing in their duty to protect the public.
In Texas, a gun cult is threatening to publicize the personal information of anyone who calls 911 on them for waving their dong substitutes around in public, and has already done this with one person, in an open attempt to intimidate anyone who would report their behavior. This, too is outrageous. If the authorities determine that a 911 call was made inappropriately, they have procedures for dealing with it -- and in this case the police have explicitly encouraged the public to continue to report the group's activities.
These are not the acts of isolated individuals (like this) who might simply be mentally disturbed. These are organized groups of power-crazed thugs openly terrorizing the public. If the government is not going to stop such flagrant violations of people's rights, why is it the government?
Update: Squatlo reports that, in the absence of anything else to confront, the militias around the Bundy ranch are increasingly turning on each other. Given that these are among the stupidest, most paranoid, and most heavily-armed people in the country, anything could happen. Let's hope they sort themselves out with no further danger to locals or BLM employees. See Rachel Maddow's report found via Squatlo.
In Nevada, some of the militia members in the vicinity of the Bundy ranch have set up checkpoints (link via Green Eagle) "where residents must prove they live in the area before they are allowed to pass". Who the hell do these people think they are, an amateur military occupation? This is way beyond a mere land dispute. If the authorities don't put a stop to this immediately, they're failing in their duty to protect the public.
In Texas, a gun cult is threatening to publicize the personal information of anyone who calls 911 on them for waving their dong substitutes around in public, and has already done this with one person, in an open attempt to intimidate anyone who would report their behavior. This, too is outrageous. If the authorities determine that a 911 call was made inappropriately, they have procedures for dealing with it -- and in this case the police have explicitly encouraged the public to continue to report the group's activities.
These are not the acts of isolated individuals (like this) who might simply be mentally disturbed. These are organized groups of power-crazed thugs openly terrorizing the public. If the government is not going to stop such flagrant violations of people's rights, why is it the government?
Update: Squatlo reports that, in the absence of anything else to confront, the militias around the Bundy ranch are increasingly turning on each other. Given that these are among the stupidest, most paranoid, and most heavily-armed people in the country, anything could happen. Let's hope they sort themselves out with no further danger to locals or BLM employees. See Rachel Maddow's report found via Squatlo.
posted by Infidel753 at 7:41 AM
6 Comments:
Unfortunately, where I live, the gun crazies are about the only American gun owners we ever hear about, although I understand that the great majority of gun owners in your country are responsible. As you might be aware, gun control laws here are very strict, although I do know of one person who owns quite a few firearms: an old friend of my father's (someone he'd been friends with since their school days), who's apparently quite a skilled sports shooter, and who edits a shooting magazine. As far as I know, he's always been a responsible gun owner.
Those people in Nevada remind me of stories I've heard from Africa, where, in many parts of the continent, one can't drive more than a few miles without having to pay a bribe at a "police checkpoint". As for the bit about the mob in Texas, I spent a few weeks in that state (in San Antonio for the most part) just over a decade ago (a friend of mine was working at the University of Texas then), and remember being on the bus one morning, and hearing a couple of guys discussing guns. One seemed to be practically praying that some punk would be dumb enough to try breaking into his house, simply, I presume, so he could shoot someone with a clean conscience. It was definitely one of the more interesting conversations I've eavesdropped on while taking public transport! One of the stranger things about the gun nuts, I've found, is that while they're adamantly opposed to any kind of gun control, they have no problems with the government banning anything they don't like (which is usually a very long list!).
Zosimus, that conversation you overheard reminds me of the story I read about the couple (in Montana, I think) who purposely left their garage open to bait people to enter the house and then shoot them.
Zosimus: If even 1% of the gun owners in the US were like these nutcases, the country would have been a cemetery a long time ago.
The Nevada situation does resemble some lawless country -- Rachel Maddow compared it to Ukraine (see the link in the update). Imagine these same guys with foreign backing, that's the situation the Ukrainians are facing.
It's curious that the far-right element demands the very narrow freedoms it's interested in while having no respect for anyone else's freedom. I think their minds are not sophisticated enough to grasp the contradiction.
Tommykey: If those are the people who shot that student from Germany, they had suffered two burglaries already -- so their behavior is somewhat understandable.
This relatively small number of yahoos (out of a country of 300+ millon) are no more interested in responsible gun ownership, hunting or the 2nd Amendment. They are interested in starting violent "I dare you to" confrontations with the gummint. They are lawless and vigilantes who should be stopped. That the government hasn't stepped in and sent these idiots home shows that they are aware of how dangerous and volatile the situation is. One wrong move and it will be a bloody mess.
This is the N.R.A.'s wet dream, and it has nothing to do with hunting and responsible gun ownership.
Shaw: If anything, they're discrediting the rest of us.
I won't even ask what you mean by "sort themselves out." Out of the gene pool, I presume.
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