A man with an assault rifle
Peter Walker posted this yesterday evening. He later said in a comment that he’d love the photo to be on the front page of every newspaper in the country, so share it widely if you’re so inclined.
To all my Harney County friends, and friends of Harney County: I feel gut-punched, like you probably do. Here’s a photo I took at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 12. A USFWS vehicle is blocking the entrance and a man with an assault rifle is on guard. I had to ask for permission to enter. How can this not have impeded FWS employees from doing their job???? Here’s my promise to Harney County: regardless of the Bundys there will be a book that tells what happened. The agony these people inflicted on a wonderful community will NOT be lost to history. Love you guys.
Look at that guy with the gun. He looks like an official, like a cop or a military guard. He’s not: he’s a civilian with an assault rifle blocking entry to a federal, publicly owned wildlife refuge. But hey, no conspiracy to impede anyone here – it was all totally spontaneous moment to moment. And I’m Marie of Romania.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
This decision has changed the face of American governance.
Hard to admit, I’m a little afraid . I live in rural ‘Merica, where every sunny weekend sounds like the effing Forth of July with all the neighbors out “Target Practicin'”. Now all those lively neighbors will think intimidation with a gun is no big deal. No harm, no foul.
What are those crazy shopping days when everyone fights over merchandise? Can’t wait until the dudes with assault rifles square off over the best deals at the local WalMart..
As long as no one gets shot, it’s okay, right?
Please tell me there are more charges pending, and these guys won’t walk away with a pat on the back and a “nice meetin’ ya”.
I’m being alarmist, right? Right??
Or maybe it’s only Federal Property where it’s open season on sanity? Does that mean carrying a gun in with you for your IRS audit is okay?
cazz – I think there are still federal charges pending.
I agree with you. I also live in rural America, and this is definitely gun-happy country around here. My students were discussing guns the other night, and laughing about the fact that they had loaded weapons in their vehicles in violation of school rules. They also suggested that a search of the school would reveal everyone in violation of that rule (no, not everyone. I do not carry loaded weapons on a college campus, or anywhere else. But to even say that is to make myself a target, because that marks me as a “liberal who wants to take everyone’s guns away and make them bow to Satan”, so I kept quiet).
iknklast,
That’s just incredible.
The US is certainly an anomaly in the Anglosphere. All settler countries have violent pasts whether it was war against the indigenous people or the general lawlessness of developing societies. Only America has carried the gun fetish into the 21st century. I’ve always assumed that the constitutional right to firearms was a result of the 18th and 19th century White fear of a slave revolt, the successful Haitian revolution must have had a significant effect on the psyches of America’s slave-owning oligarchy. Are White Americans still frightened after 150 years?
Btw, I’m a former firearms owner, they were ‘tools of trade’ on the farm. I definitely don’t have any ideological commitment to guns, nor did I regard them as extensions of my dick.
My country has its share of gun fetishists, luckily they’re more or less under control.