Monday, October 3, 2016

Riots, race, law and order


Fred Reed has laid it on the line about the inevitable consequences if riots such as those in Charlotte a few days ago are allowed to continue.  Here's an excerpt.

When government will not or cannot enforce the laws, people prepare to go it alone. This merits attention. It won’t get it. Instead we will hear from the media about gun nuts and white racism, about slavery and discrimination and how we need to confiscate guns leaving black criminals as the only ones that have them. (It will not be expressed so candidly.) When part of the population arms to defend against attack by another part, it is time to think.

It is coming. One day rioting blacks will try to loot the wrong store, burn the wrong house, beat the wrong white man, and hell will cut loose. Talking about law-abiding blacks, law-abiding whites, will make no difference at all. There were law-abiding Protestants, law-abiding Catholics in Ireland. Did that stop the violence?

Three solutions, or ameliorations, offer themselves: Repression of rioting and enforcement of the law. Segregation. And having it go on forever or blow up hugely. Choose. Refusal to choose selects option three.

The problem is not racist police. It is racist blacks. Whites are not burning the businesses of blacks. White people are not sacking the stores of blacks. White people are not calling for the burning of black suburbs. White people do not play the Knockout game.
We are blaming the victims.

And we are encouraging disaster.

There's more at the link.  You really, really need to read the whole thing.  He lays it out logically, rationally . . . and mercilessly.  It really is that bad, right now.

Fred's right.  It is coming.  I know this.  I've worked with law enforcement for years, and I'm still in touch with many former colleagues.  I can assure you that right now, there are high-level meetings going on at federal, state and regional level, all over the country.  Law enforcement officers and administrators know that anger is growing, discontent is rising.  Ordinary, law-abiding citizens like you and I are asking, louder and louder, why rioters and extremists are permitted to get away with their actions while receiving nothing more than a legal slap on the wrist.  Business owners who are losing thousands, even millions of dollars to disruptions and destruction caused by rioters are asking - quite legitimately - why they should be forced to cover such costs when the state is allowing such destruction and such disruption to happen, instead of stopping it dead in its tracks.

People in neighborhoods all over the country are talking to one another, making plans about what to do if such disruptions come to their area, and discussing what they can do about it . . . legally or otherwise.  I know that for a fact, too.  I may be medically retired, but I'm still a chaplain and pastor, as well as a former military man, and I talk to people from those perspectives.  Some tell me what's on their minds and hearts, what's weighing on their souls.  I'm neither deaf nor blind to the realities of the situation.

The authorities know this is coming.  They also know they can't control it and they can't stop it.  Some to whom I've spoken have said bluntly that they have no intention of trying to control it.  In fact, I suspect those who actively resist the rioters will have an awful lot of sympathizers in the 'thin blue line' when the time comes.  Some may even have let their superiors know, informally, that any order to stop such organized resistance will be met with, if not outright mutiny, at best a very slow, lethargic response.  "By the time we got there, the trouble was over.  All we could do was clean up the mess.  We weren't able to locate any reliable witnesses - only a few radicals who were obviously making up everything they said.  The street cameras were 'shut down for maintenance' just before it happened, so there's no recording either.  Bottom line is, we've no idea who did it.  Pity about that."

I predict that one day in the not too distant future, one of the BLM-inspired riots is going to run headlong into an armed citizenry that's had enough of their s*** and won't take any more.  What happens then is going to make all the riots so far look like Sunday School picnics.

I hope and pray it doesn't get that far . . . but unless the authorities crack down on the rioters and their illegal behavior, it will, because people are going to crack down for themselves.  They've had enough.

Peter

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why aren't authorities in Europe afraid of their citizenry to the same extent? I have to say it's because handguns are almost impossible for ordinary citizens to obtain, a carry permit is impossible, and even being allowed to keep a hunting rifle locked in a gun safe takes years.

They know they can keep on making us knuckle under forever.

Signed,

Angry in Europe

Elizabeth said...

I hope it doesn't come to this. As a mother of 3 under 8 I'll be frank, I'm not comfortable going out as much in LA because of riot potential. We will also lay low during the elections for this reason.

Anonymous said...


It will be messy and it will vary greatly across the US. Some areas will be consumed and some will survive without incident. The quality of the individuals, regardless of race, will determine the outcome. I dare say that once it begins, we'll seen racially-mixed groups stand together to oppose the mayhem. Nothing more than "decent is & decent does, and let's get on with our lives"; everything equal, most folks want to be left alone to pursue their own goals.

Urban areas in cities of ~1.5m or more will most likely have some burnout. As research has shown (can't recall the details other than it was a study done on Memphis, TN), there is a significant correlation between EBT/SNAP recipients and police calls.

Depending on where you are, you might even expect utility outages. Since winter is coming (in more ways than one...), a thoughtful plan of calories and caliber is probably in order... And FWIW, Halloween falls on a weekend this year without a moon; cover of darkness & all that...

Best wishes to us all. Eyes Open

D in Alabama

Zeke OF Confettii said...

It was a beautiful idea, a noble experiment; total flat line equality. It has, to all appearances, failed.

Unknown said...

remember the pictures from LA during the Rodney King riots of the Koren shopkeepers standing guard on the roofs of their stores with rifles (and shooting the rioters who didn't stay away)??

Sven said...

The question I thought was the most insightful was, "Why are we paying the cops if they can't or won't defend life and property?"

JWM said...

This scares the crap out of me. And the BLM terrorists have promised a huge insurrection if Trump wins the presidency. I have no doubt they will make good on their threats. I live here in So Cal. Our neighborhoods are not neighborhoods. They are collections of strangers in proximity. No one even knows the names of the people across the street. Despite the talk I hear about the number of gun owners everywhere there is nothing remotely resembling organization or planning in the event of serious civil unrest. What makes it worse is that the only firearm I have is an ancient .22 bolt action rifle that hasn't been fired in over 50 years. I've just never been interested in guns and now I feel quite the fool for it. And here in CA it's a thirty day wait after you buy one. That leaves no time. Even if I could get a gun tomorrow I have no training, and I'd be as much of a danger to myself as I would be to an invader. And there are zillions of householders just like me. This is some grim stuff.

JWM

JWM

Punzdeleon said...

Jwm
Your 'ancient .22 bolt action rifle' might not be worthless. This weekend my friends and I "killed' many soda cans with a Win. 1890, made in 1917, a Win. 1906 made in 1909, and a Rem. 514 made 'God knows when'. Your rifle, after proper cleaning, might function just fine. 22LF is easy to fire rapidly accurately from a rifle. Rapidly repeated HP rounds from a 22LR can be effective. If your rifle is single shot...
Go to a nearby state. Find a gun shop and range. A 9 mm carbine with a red dot sight might be what you need. You can practice with it at most indoors ranges and the ammo is not very expensive. Good HP ammo is readily available. Red dot sights work in light and dark. Recoil is minimal. When you can afford it, buy and train with a 9 mm Glock. Beyond this there is a vast variety of firearms suitable for self defense but now you have a good base of experience to know what is right for your situation.

Anonymous said...

@JWM - ever heard of "battlefield pickups"? I doubt you'll be able to obtain a Daniel Defense DD5 with a 4-16X scope and offset Aimpoint T-2 that way, but your .22 boltie can enable an upgrade.

Next question is, will you have any ammo on hand for whatever "turns up"?

Anonymous said...

It's been pretty obvious for many years now that regular everyday Americans are quietly arming for war. Some likely don't even realise it consciously. They're buying weapons and ammo with this or that rationalization but deep down there's something else. Deep down many Americans know on some primal self preservation instinct level that something is very wrong. They're not sure what, but they feel something is coming. They know a storm is building and even the most unlikely are quietly preparing for it.

A while back I discovered that a young family that one would've never ever expected to be gun owners or "preppers" were very much both. Their arsenal, and indeed it was an arsenal, was impressive even by my standards. Their food storage and other preparations were even more thorough. I also learned that their occasional trips weren't to Vegas or B&B getaways as they'd told everyone but were to to training courses out west. I was utterly shocked.

I can't help but think this must've been what it felt like is the 1850s.

Phssthpok said...

It has been said:

"The Police are not here so much to protect the citizenry from the criminal, as to protect the criminal from the citizenry."

Anonymous said...

God help us.

I think that because Christians have 'disengaged' from our culture, this evil has grown. Our influence has diminished in our society. Schisms have formed in the church over different views of eschatology that directly effect Christian's engagement with our culture.

As far as the immediate future goes, I will not allow my family, friends, or church to be hurt or destroyed. Simple choices from here on out.

Mad Jack said...

I don't expect to encounter any BLM (or similar) rioters, but I suppose you never know. So I'm prepared, and have been for years.

Rolf said...

The sad part is that in a lot of places, even recognizing this fact publicly, let alone discussing why it's here or what to do about it, is grounds for being called racists and shunned or disemployed.... Unless you are a minority and decrying white racism.

SQT said...

@JWM I live in NorCal and have picked up a couple of guns this year- 10 day wait for handguns. Go to a shooting range and rent a few guns and familiarize yourself enough to get comfortable. I'd get at least one gun before election time just for peace of mind.