Al Qaeda -vs- the NRA (Pittsburgh Sequel)
22-year-old Richard Poplawski is the trigger-man this time. He opened fire with a high-powered rifle and an AK-47.
Poplawski was anti-semitic, anti-government, anti-police and convinced there is a plot afoot to take away the arsenal of guns he had amassed. Poplawski's posts are here, authored under the handle, "Braced For Fate." (Oops! They have been taken down.)Edward Perkovic, who described himself as Mr. Poplawski's lifelong best friend, said
He was really into politics and really into the First and Second amendment. One thing he feared was he feared the gun ban because he thought that was going to take away peoples' right to defend themselves. He never spoke of going out to murder or to kill.More of this is to come. Perhaps to your previously 'quiet neighborhood'. And mine.
posted by Vigilante at 4/08/2009 07:26:00 AM
11 Moderated Comments:
I missed this earlier: Gun Permits. What The Latest Mass Killings Have In Common.
Our apparent fascination with guns and organizations such as the NRA, [made possible by the dull, the ignorant, and Republican lawmakers, not mutually exclusive], makes us an embarrassment in the eyes of the civilized world.
I thank you for this post Vigil. Cops everywhere thank you for this post.
I have a friends who are cops. I used to have more, but a lot of them transferred and moved away.
But if you ever want to get them angry enough to go rough up somebody, get into a conversation with them about the proliferation of guns, and the pulic's easy assault weapons: about how crack pots and guy like Poplawski can buy assault rifles at gun shows.
Why do I feel the real terrorists are not dark-skinned and Muslim but white-skinned, anti-semitc and afraid that Obama himself is going to bust down their door with Michelle wearing a stylish military suit and cartridges around her shoulders to take all his guns?
Why do you feel that way, Daddy? Because you are a reality-based observer.
Vigilante - An excellent series of thought provoking essays. I certainly agree that more and better gun control and registration is necessary.
We could quibble about the al qaeda comparison, but that has to do with intent and motivation and not about the results. Murder, especially firearm aided murder, is a gigantic epidemic in the USA and it's virtually never reported in the media and rarely discussed elsewhere.
In addition to the abundance of guns, I don't think our hate-talk right-wing radio has helped the situation. I think I read somewhere that this guy who shot the Pittsburgh police was a Glenn Beck fan. These last several years, the strongest radio signals have spewed a 24-7 mix of fear, hate, greed, (false) pride and (blind) loyalty. Combine that with blowback from the militarized culture created to support wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, did I mention PTSD? Timothy McVeigh, the DC sniper and one other mass killer were all products of Gulf War 1, you know. The abundance of guns is a factor but there are other causes.
Good points, Coleen!
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Al Qaeda, the religious right, and the NRA are all different faces on the same coin: ignorant, intolerant, paranoid, fanatical, and irresponsible ideologues!
I agree with everything said here. That is a first I think.
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