Gun Control Inspiring New Methods of Terror, Not Containing It
With no confirmed suspects in custody, and details slowly emerging about the bomb blasts that turned Monday's traditionally festive marathon into a grim tragedy, local police and the FBI have vowed to intensify their probes into the attack, promising a "worldwide investigation." As was the case yesterday, authorities are continuing to ask the public for tips, photographs, or videos that could aid in the discovery of new clues. The White House also implored citizens to maintain increased vigilance and report any suspicious activities immediately.
The Patriot's Day bombings killed three and injured at least 176 people, shattering the celebratory mood of the storied race, which first began in 1897. Among the dead was an eight-year-old boy. All of the victims, the NRA pointed out, were woefully unarmed.
Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president for the NRA, choked back tears as he recalled recent massacres.
"This month marks the anniversary of Columbine and Virginia Tech," he said. "Over the past weeks, we have endured the slaughter of children at Sandy Hook Elementary and stabbings at a Texas college. Today, there were new shootings in Aurora and Newport News and Stockton and Vegas. All over our country, we are helplessly standing by while pointless and unnecessary murders occur. Why? The lack of guns."
LaPierre illustrated how the threat of newly imposed restrictions on firearms has not only failed to curb violent attacks but has forced a change in their methods.
On April 11, Lone Star College student Dylan Quick, 20, stabbed 14 people on campus. Then on Monday, an unknown assailant detonated two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding countless others.
"All of this because the socialists in Washington want to take away our constitutional rights to carry military grade assault rifles to markets, schools, and churches," LaPierre added. "Dangerous places where we are vulnerable."
Government to Blame
With scant leads to pursue and no claims of responsibility, conspiracy theories and presumptive accusations against immigrants and Muslims have arisen. Still, President Obama labeled the attacks terrorist in nature during his address to the nation on Tuesday: "Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror."
Thorn Havershabe, head of the San Narciso County NRA chapter, doesn't believe conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones, who posited on InfoWars.com that the blasts were set off by the U.S. government as part of a "false flag operation." Nor does he accept the hypothesis that the attacks were related to tax day.
"I'm pretty sure the terrorist is domestic, but it's ridiculous to suggest that some corporate types orchestrated the bombings to protest tax day. They don't pay any taxes," Havershabe opined.
But he does hold the United States accountable.
"Our values have led us down this dark path," he explained. "We've wandered so far astray of the Constitution that we've opened ourselves up as targets."
Havershabe said the NRA has spent the bulk of its efforts attempting to return America to the ideals of the Founding Fathers.
"Remember, this whole idea of gun control and open borders and immigration and religious extremism was never included in the principles of our founders," he noted. "All that melting pot s**t and 'bring me your poor, huddled masses' crap was engraved on the Statue of Liberty by a bunch of filthy Frenchmen, who brought it here over 100 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. If there's a conspiracy, it happened back in 1886 when we allowed these unwashed, adulterous snail-eaters to pervert our nation's values with their ugly sculpture."
In a pure America, as envisioned at the nation's inception, the only foreign attack on our soil would have come from the British during the Revolutionary War, Havershabe averred.
"The reason we fall prey to this kind of violence is because events like the Boston Marathon don't reflect the country our forebears created for us," he said. "Otherwise, Patriot's Day would be celebrated by people waving guns and bibles and 'God Hates Fags' banners along Commonwealth Avenue while their African American domestics fought to the death in a dog pit. No bombs, no al Qaeda, no killing sprees. Polite society, just like it was before the Civil War."
The Final Solution
The NRA sees lobbying for mandatory weapons ownership as the only solution. Havershabe describes changing the marathon to a biathlon as only a small part of the larger plan.
"A good old fashioned summer biathlon is cross-country running with shooting in between," he explained. "By simply turning marathons into biathlons, we instantly create a deterrent to would-be terrorists. Think about it. You have highly trained athletes armed to the hilt. It also makes an otherwise tedious race interesting for the participants and observers."
But it's all about the deterrent, according to the NRA.
"The largest period of modern day peace was the Cold War," Havershabe said. "It went from like the 1950s to the 1990s. Every country on the brink of nuclear war -- mutually assured destruction. And as a result, peace. Peace through the threat of certain, global annihilation. Peace enforced through fear. And that's our proposal to Congress."
In simulations constructed by the NRA for just these purposes, data show that just a handful of bomb owners visibly carrying their devices at the Boston Marathon would have caused the attacker to flee without incident.
"He's not going to risk hurting a hundred people or so when he realizes that everyone in the area -- including himself and anyone he knows -- will get blown to bits too," Havershabe told reporters.
But fear-mongering doesn't even begin to hint at the scope of this initiative, according to Havershabe.
"Cops make life and death judgments everyday on the streets. I think these are solemn decisions best left to the people involved, not government-paid nannies who show up in the middle of things. Our detractors are accusing us of spreading fear. We agree -- that's the whole point. If I've got a gun and you've got a gun and your druggie teen has a gun, we're all scared s**tless for our lives. Same scenario if we all have bombs. Will I get out this grocery store alive? Is that girl going to gut me for giving her a little whistle? Will the preacher pump a round of hollow-points into my skull if I don't put enough in the collection plate? Is racial profiling even a thing at this point? Who knows, but it keeps the nation on an even keel. It restores civility."
That's the key message in the concept of "nothing to fear but fear itself." A society perpetually frightened to provoke its citizens -- even mildly -- is a society that practices courtesy, self-governance, and good driving.
"In a culture of 'nothing to fear but fear itself,' that's all we have to be frightened of -- fear," Havershabe stated. "So passing a federal law requiring people to carry loaded, concealed weapons also reduces the ridiculous amount of things we need to be afraid of to just one."
2013. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See disclaimers.
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