When I read about armed men brazenly displaying their assault rifles in the open streets of Portland, I thought, “It’s begun.”
At first I was “relieved” that these guys were just ass-holes and not agents of The State. Then I wondered if maybe they are agents of The State, posing as ass-holes, in order to instill the requisite fear. Brownshirts. Or Blackshirts, or whatever. Defending themselves against whom? Agents of The State, armed with a lot more fire-power, imposing Martial Law? Or the prototypical Bad Guy armed with a six-gun, looking for a duel at the local saloon? I refuse to support “gun control” because the people who’d be “controling” those guns are the ones we should be afraid of. They control nukes and drones as well as guns, great big guns. On the other hand, I would be in favor of a “law” allowing armed citizens to “open fire” on ass-holes walking the streets with automatic weapons. So long as they shoot from the windows and remain in the “privacy of their own homes.” These are deranged, puzzling times. Drones in the skies and ass-holes bearing automatic weapons in the streets. While we are still — tenuously — protected by “the law,” isn’t there something a bit illegal about carrying an M-16 to the local 7-Eleven?
In fact, fuck “the law.” Citizens — sane ones — should sign a resolution, and post it, stating that anyone bearing weapons in the street will be considered an immediate threat to the community and shot on sight. There’s a Johnny Cash song, “Don’t Bring Your Guns to Town,” about some farm-kid who carries his “six-guns” to a local saloon, looking for trouble, and is promptly dispatched by a more experienced, and murderous, “gun-slinger.”
Take Israel, for instance (please!). Israelis walk around with automatic assault weapons all the time, and as far as I know, seldom shoot up the town. Instead, they hunt down Palestinians and shoot them. Of course, Palestinians who bear weapons publicly are Terrorists and up to no good, obviously. Though, hypothetically of course, if one were a Palestinian who’s suffered grievously the loss of friends and family to armed Israelis, in uniform or not, it might be prudent to own a weapon just in case armed Israelis come back to finish the job. But if you were a Palestinian who was not a terrorist — rare, I know, but just for the sake of argument — and reasonably saw fit to arm yourself against the next attack, it would be wise not to display your weapons publicly, or for that matter let anyone know you have them. Let it be a surprise.
On the other hand, the U.S. has had a history of “Palestinians.” The first ones, the Natives, were put out of commission well over a hundred years ago. But the liberation movements of the 60s and 70s opened the Good Citizenry to wave upon wave of new Palestinians: blacks, Latinos, gays, “communists” (generic for Not-Particularly-Good-Citizens), women, and even rejuvenated Natives of the American Indian Movement (AIM). What’s a Good Citizen to do?
I think we Paranoids must face the fact that sooner or later, “Something” is going to happen. The recent request by Homeland Security, FEMA and other agencies for some 900,000,000 rounds of amunition (some of which, allegedly, is to be sent to Social Security offices around the country) was a not so subtle signal that they know that we know that they know that we know that sooner or later, something’s going to happen. And they’re going to be damned well ready for it.
Now, even a registered Paranoid, such as myself, wouldn’t be crazy enough to believe that an armed citizenry could possibly make even a dent in The Empire’s super-high-tech multi-trillion dollar military. Anyone who’s read even a little about the British, Roman or any other Empires knows what happens to citizens who take up arms in rebellion. On the other hand, I personally would rather die shooting, and perhaps take one of “them” with me, than suffer the long, tedious, excruciating death inevitable to those consigned to “detention camps.”
It’s a tough call.
But there’s also this: while The Empire will most certainly be victorious when Something Happens, giving it that long-awaited excuse to impose Martial Law, with the 200 Million some-odd guns floating around the country, and the groups and individuals of odd and various political affiliations and “belief systems” who own many of these guns, pacification and “return to Law and Order” might be inevitable, but it will also certainly be a royal pain in the ass.
I dunno. Just saying…