Penning Thoughts

You’ve seen the pictures - the Taliban, the extremist group that has taken over Afghanistan, maintains its grip on that country by posting young men on almost every street corner, riding in trucks, holding/brandishing assault rifles, wearing atypical clothes that stand out, letting the public know who’s in power, and will stay in power, by the power of openly brandished guns and fear.

How can we think our future under a government backed by the hate-filled, gun-carrying white supremacists could be any different?

What would an America with a Second Amendment “rights”, extremist-controlled government look like? Remember how the militia types - Proud Boys, the ones an ex-president told to “Stand Back and Stand By,” and others of like mind - appeared at the Capitol January 6th in Washington? Similar shows of gun-force were on display at state capitols:

Richmond,
Lansing,
Helena,
Indianapolis,
Harrisburg,
Austin,
Olympia (Washington),
Salem (Oregon),
Salt Lake City

And recall how Al Quaeda stormed our skies, tore into the Pentagon and slaughtered our citizens with anti U.S. furor on 9/11.

Now, think of the rage of the mob who attempted to conquer our Capitol and stop our republic from functioning. Their actions were as vile and filled with every bit of rage against our country, their own country, as the foreign suicide terrorists had for us on 9/11.

Do we really believe the behavior of our rifle-bearers - should they achieve power - would be any different than that of the Afghan Taliban? Who would be on our street corners? Who would be standing outside our state capitol buildings? Our local government buildings? Outside our U.S. Capitol in Washington? And would we still live free, enjoying our lives? Or would we live in fear?

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— For a look at the militia movement and the entities most prone to violence, see this report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), “a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project, [which] collects information on the dates, actors, locations, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events around the world.”)

Now see how a previous militia behaved: The District of Columbia militia Protecting the Capitol on May 13, 1861.