quote:

Originally posted by 380Swift:
Ok then. I hope this is reality:

https://www.washingtonpost.com...gun-control-poverty/

Please post the text - the article is behind a paywall.

This thread is intended for riots and social unrest.
Please no discussions on abortion.

This post is simply pointing out inconsistencies with enforcement of the laws in regards to Liberal vs Conservative protest.

As we saw with Dr. Fauci in his testimony before the U.S. Congress there is inconsistency with application of the law, in regards to who or what businesses would be restricted to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Fauci would not state that protest should be limited.
However he has previously expressed his view for limiting other gatherings.

It is obvious with COVID-19 Dr. Fauci is willing to restrict the rights of those with conservative views while giving leeway to those of liberal views in-regards to protesting.

Protesting by Antifa and Black Lives Matter are given leeway while breaking laws.
Police can often be seen standing by to protect the law breakers from being run over.

Night after night these protesters are allowed to break laws such as impeding traffic flow.
Many law abiding citizens are restricted from travel to appease these groups.

Last night I watched a Live Stream from Chicago where Police stood by as protestors held up traffic.
Some cars could turn around but two busses could not.

The busses sat with their occupants for at least an hour.
Where were those peoples right to use the roads and be free to travel?

In Washington DC Police arrested two kids for protesting using chalk on a sidewalk to express their views.

I assume the arrest was based on some local law about distance from an abortion clinic, however the officer stated that they had to stop writing with chalk or they would be arrested.

This stands in stark contrast to protesters who impede traffic flow and commit acts of vandalism to express their views while police stand-by and watch.

I look at all the Antifa and BLM graffiti, spray painted on buildings, and then see these conservative protesters arrested with chalk in their hands.

This is our biggest problem, non-equal application of the law.
Police will stand by and watch traffic being blocked, but writing with chalk on a side walk crosses the line. Grrrr...

Not behind a paywall for me. Or maybe I haven't hit my X free articles per month. Here it is:


Biden’s gun control plan is terrible for working class firearm owners

It will put them at risk while doing little to curb gun violence.

By Kim Kelly

Kim Kelly is a freelance writer and labor organizer based in Brooklyn whose writing on labor, radical politics, and culture has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Republic, Teen Vogue, Pacific Standard and other publications.

July 16, 2020 at 3:01 p.m. EDT
Over the past few weeks, presumptive Democratic presidential
nominee Joe Biden has been rolling out task forces, policy platforms and all manner of other legislative bells and whistles as he ramps up his bid to unseat President Trump. Predictably, none of his proposals have hit with the same force as progressive blockbusters such as Medicare-for-all or the Green New Deal (neither of which he supports). But Biden did shake the table in a different way in 2019 when he debuted his gun control platform. Later that year, when he bumbled into a heated exchange with a Detroit factory worker, who accused him of trying to “take away our guns,” right-wingers and gun rights groups gloated over the spectacle. But even now, after the world has changed several times over, it’s still hard to shake the feeling that that worker was right. To the dismay of firearm enthusiasts on the left, Biden is still coming for some people’s guns. It’s now just a matter of who’s going to have them snatched — and who isn’t.

Former congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.) may have pulled the most attention with his brash anti-gun rhetoric during the primaries, but Biden’s less ambitious plan still offers plenty of cause for alarm for firearm owners. Alongside a raft of more common-sense measures (and a confusing aside about “smart gun technology”), its centerpiece is a ban on the manufacture and sale of what are known as “assault weapons,” with a proposal to bring their regulation under the National Firearms Act. This 1934 law currently applies to “machine guns” (i.e. fully automatic firearms), silencers and short-barreled rifles, but Biden’s plan would extend it to apply to what he characterizes as “assault weapons,” meaning semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns with interchangeable magazines that fire intermediate cartridges (the most notorious of which is the AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle) as well as “high capacity magazines” (generally understood under the 1994 bill to be those that can hold more than 10 bullets). Individuals who already own these items would be required to participate in a federal buyback program or register each of their qualifying firearms and magazines under the NFA — which comes with a $200 price tag (on top of extra fees incurred during the registration process). When it was first enacted in 1934, that $200 fee was intended to be prohibitively expensive; now, inflation aside, it still is for many people.

Given how costly some firearms can be, that registration fee may not sound like too much of an added burden, but for a person who has already bought and paid for multiple qualifying firearms and magazines (or inherited them), that amount will add up quickly. Those who violate the NFA will also face up to 10 years in federal prison, and a potential $10,000 fine. Biden also wants to end the online sale of firearms and ammunition, including gun parts and parts kits that some people use to manufacture their own low-cost DIY firearms (known as ghost guns) further limiting accessibility.

Regardless of one’s opinion on guns and gun control, it is obvious that this proposal will disproportionately impact poor and working-class communities. Those within those communities who already own firearms would be robbed of their ability to protect themselves and their loved ones, while their wealthier counterparts would skate by on their ready piles of cash. Stephen Paddock perpetrated one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history and could afford dozens of high-powered weapons and a plush Las Vegas hotel suite; this plan would have no effect on someone like him. In effect, Biden’s plan sets in motion a “war on guns,” the same way his predecessors declared wars on “poverty,” “crime” and “terror” — wars in which it was inevitably black and brown people who were the real targets.

Though acknowledging the fact may be uncomfortable for Biden, millions of people in this country own firearms, and not all of them fit into the stereotype of the right-wing gun nut. Armed community defense is a timeworn activist tradition that has once again entered the spotlight as the Black Lives Matter movement has continued to build across the nation. Protesters in various cities have been met with violence from self-proclaimed white supremacists, militias and assorted right-wing malcontents with money to burn on the biggest guns they can find. In some cases, armed community members have stepped up to serve as a barrier between the people and those who seek to cause them harm. Whether anyone “needs” an AR-15 is besides the point; simply put, heavily armed right-wing militia members have threatened protesters, and others on the right have even shot at them. With that in mind, some folks don’t want to be left empty-handed when self-proclaimed white supremacists or other right-wing extremists come marching into their community. And it is those community defenders and other regular working people who will bear the brunt of this proposed legislative switch.

Biden’s plan falls into a long line of government efforts to disarm the working class while keeping the lanes clear for the privileged who can afford whatever legal curveballs are thrown their way. A crystallizing moment in the history of the U.S. gun control movement came in 1967, when the Black Panthers held an armed protest on the steps of the California Capitol; at the time, hoping to keep guns out of the hands of black people, the National Rifle Association pushed hard in favor of gun control, and strict legislation soon followed. The NRA’s stance on gun control has taken a hard right turn since then, but as was shown by the organization’s silence when Philando Castile, a black gun owner, was killed by police, some things haven’t changed much at all.

On the most generous reading, the goal of Biden’s plan is to ensure that there are fewer guns in the world and in the streets. But even in that spirit, we still have to think about who’s going to end up with the guns that remain in private hands. People like Mark McCloskey, the lawyer made infamous for brandishing his AR-15 at Black Lives Matter protesters as they walked past his sprawling St. Louis mansion, will be able to pay whatever fees Biden throws at them, and will thus be able to hold onto as many weapons as they like. But territorial weekend warriors who feel no accountability to the community, and show little regard for gun safety, are exactly the kind of people who shouldn’t have guns. By contrast, leftist community firearm clubs invest serious time into training and safety education, carefully vet their memberships and work arm-in-arm with the marginalized communities they are invited to protect.

And yet under Biden’s plan, the former are who will be able to afford to hold onto as much firepower as they so desire, while the people they want to hurt will be left high and dry. Simply depriving poorer people access to firearms will not rectify the structural issues such as poverty, inequality and lack of economic mobility that are correlated with gun violence. The plan says nothing about handguns, which are responsible for far more deaths than other kinds of guns, or about expanding mental health services, or disarming the police who are responsible for an unconscionable amount of gun deaths. Nor does it do anything about the networks of right-wing radicalism that have inspired the overwhelming majority of domestic terrorist attacks or the media pundits and politicians (including Trump himself) whose rhetoric exacerbates the problem. It just focuses on the big, scary guns. If cutting down on gun violence is the end goal here, what good could it possibly do to disarm the working class and ensure that only the well-heeled (and the agents of the state who defend them) will be able to hoard stockpiles of highly efficient weaponry? Gun sales have already skyrocketed during the ongoing coronavirus crisis, and political tensions throughout the country are incredibly high. This divisive plan will do little to curb gun violence, and will instead hammer home the vast inequalities still dividing this nation.

quote:

I look at all the Antifa and BLM graffiti, spray painted on buildings, and then see these conservative protesters arrested with chalk in their hands.


Police will stand by and watch traffic being blocked, but writing with chalk on a side walk crosses the line. Grrrr...

Yep, it pisses me of to seem them allowed to paint entire roadways and damage buildings but heaven forbid a couple of white kids put chalk on a sidewalk that will wash away come the first rain.
Damn all these liberal politicians and leftist
groups and even though I'm retired LEO, and know how they can be put in a no win situation from higher-ups... to charge these kids was stupid and idiotic on the part of the officers.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:
I’ve been a cop for 16 years. 3 years as a uniformed local police officer and the last 13 as a fed. I’ve either worked in or done longer term details to some of the worst cities that I’ve seen or could imagine. I do JTTF stuff part of the time, I work as a bomb technician, and I still do work as a generalist as is necessary in a smaller office.

Question for you, CPD SIG, and Klusk2: Based on your experience and what you have observed, is the increasing sophistication of the rioters home-grown, or are they being coached by professionals? One of the aspects of an insurgency that I do not have insight to is foreign or outside involvement. I have already seen the photos of the founder of BLM with Maduro, so I wonder if there is any assistance coming form Venezuela, or other places. Thoughts?

Things appear to be calming down across the nation this week.

Protest are still going on but numbers seem to be dwindling.

Not much happened in Portland last night except for some flag burning with chants of F* Trump.
Earlier in the night, while mainstream news channels may have been around the flags were used to show patriotism in the protesting.

My observations.

1. Carry a defensive firearm, with an extra magazine, even when in your home. In addition, carry an easy opening knife with at least a 3" blade. Doing so will make carrying both a habit.

2. When out and about carry an additional defensive firearm, one with higher capacity, that you can use with one hand while the other will be steering your car. I decided to make my secondary defensive firearm a Glock 17, with three higher capacity magazines, for example, the 33-round magazines for the 17).

3. Assemble two good first aid kits, keeping one in the house and the other your vehicle, that is at least an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) with at least two modern tourniquets. It should also have an escape tool (i.e., glass breaker, restraint cutting tool).

4. Don't go to dangerous places at times that are foolish. For example, I'm not going for a drive on Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. in southeast DC on a Saturday night. You could be offering free oral sex and I still wouldn't go.

5. Patronize businesses that welcome your carrying a concealed defensive firearm. At a minimum, patronize businesses that are silent on the issue. Ignore those that don't permit your carrying a firearm.

6. At home, keep at least one long arm (i.e., pistol caliber carbine, rifle, shotgun) loaded and ready to use. Keep a supply of ammunition ready for use (i.e., load the magazines).

Why?

Democratic officials in major cities are slashing police force budgets and manpower. We know these violent protestors are stopping cars and trucks and threatening the occupants and/or stealing the cargo. There are also reported cases of these violent protestors coming to suburban areas.

It is NO LONGER a narrowly focused use of violence and intimidation; the organizers are overtly seeking to spread this insanity.

Be ready for it.

quote:

Originally posted by 380Swift:

Ok then. I hope this is reality:

https://www.washingtonpost.com...gun-control-poverty/

Yeah, I know his/their intentions, which are on you tube and his/their website.

Reality is, they are not in a position to carry it out.
Reality is, people will not roll over and comply.

Just because they have a wet dream doesn't mean they have the power to carry it out.

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:

Question for you, CPD SIG, and Klusk2: Based on your experience and what you have observed, is the increasing sophistication of the rioters home-grown, or are they being coached by professionals? One of the aspects of an insurgency that I do not have insight to is foreign or outside involvement. I have already seen the photos of the founder of BLM with Maduro, so I wonder if there is any assistance coming form Venezuela, or other places. Thoughts?

I can't say as to if there is foreign influence, but I can tell you that many of those arrested during the original onslaught were from out of town. There are teachers, lawyers and ex-military members of Antifa/BLM. They are not necessarily the violent offenders, but they are coaching others who do the real damage. They are studying our tactics and applying them for themselves. This is highly organized and we need to act quickly and decisively. The times for games is over, the battle lines are being drawn. I often pray that I'm wrong, and that's I'm just a cynical old bastard and need to chill out, but I know what I'm seeing and and that little voice in my head is telling me that shit ain't right. CPD SIG and BULLDOG probably agree with me, but we've been on the front lines for a while now and we could be just tired and overworked.

IntrepidTraveler,

Thanks for posting.

Yeah, the far left and inner city poor need guns to protect themselves from all of the far right white supremacist militias and violent cops that are invading the inner cities and shooting protesters.

The WaPo can't even write an article about how NFA registry would be a burden on the poor without blaming the right for violence. The inner city poor need guns to protect themselves from each other.

As far as domestic terrorism goes, Timothy McVeigh's body count will skew all statistics to far-right militias for a long time, but not if you include all the radical far-left groups from the late 60's and their bomb attacks. And I fail to see how BLM and Antifa as well as the armed drug gangs that do most of the killing don't qualify as terrorists. Drug gangs kill to intimidate people into remaining silent and not reporting or testifying against the gangs thus depriving them of many rights. This is similar to how drug related multiple victim shootings and murders do not qualify as "mass shootings" or "mass killings".

However, I can see legislation restricting magazine capacity and other "evil" features being passed if Biden is elected and the Senate falls to the commies. Then it will be up to SCOTUS to determine if such restrictions are "reasonable".

I like to remind myself now and then that even under the AWB of '94, an M1 Garand and 1911 were still perfectly legal, and now they fall under C&R as antique firearms. So let's all get our CMP M1's and 1911's and form a line opposing the commies and keep the US free, while giving respect to all the WWII vets that used these weapons to free the world.

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:

Question for you, CPD SIG, and Klusk2: Based on your experience and what you have observed, is the increasing sophistication of the rioters home-grown, or are they being coached by professionals? One of the aspects of an insurgency that I do not have insight to is foreign or outside involvement. I have already seen the photos of the founder of BLM with Maduro, so I wonder if there is any assistance coming form Venezuela, or other places. Thoughts?

I can’t comment on specifics due to ongoing investigations that I’m involved with. However, in my area at least I don’t think that there is a ton of “professionals” contributing to the problem. There are definitely some trouble makers that go to multiple events, but I don’t think that my area really warrants the cream of the crop in terms of anti establishment protestors. I will say that there is a lot of stuff online about supporting BLM, Antifa and similar groups and there does seem to be some energizing of people that are receptive to their cause. So in that sense, again at least in my area, I don’t know that it has made a ton of difference.

I find it very interesting that unionized teachers are playing a significant role in all of this. In the first 15 years of my professional career, a lot of the time I was managing unionized labor in factories (UAW, IUE, and Steelworkers), and in high school I was forced to join a union to bag groceries in suburban Chicago. I read their propaganda newsletters and they were filled with 1930's New Deal references, acting like it was still the "old days" in the labor movement, and marxist idealism.

Teachers are the single largest unionized group in the country. Not only are they using their position to teach marxist and anti-American ideas to our children, they are actively participating in social unrest to undermine our country and Constitution.

Who exactly is in charge of the teacher's unions and who is influencing them?

It's also worth thinking about the left has been doing this kind of stuff for decades. If bored, look up the Spartacus Youth League as well as ELF and ALF. There may actually be a reservoir of experience at work here.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
I find it very interesting that unionized teachers are playing a significant role in all of this. In the first 15 years of my professional career, a lot of the time I was managing unionized labor in factories (UAW, IUE, and Steelworkers), and in high school I was forced to join a union to bag groceries in suburban Chicago. I read their propaganda newsletters and they were filled with 1930's New Deal references, acting like it was still the "old days" in the labor movement, and marxist idealism.

Teachers are the single largest unionized group in the country. Not only are they using their position to teach marxist and anti-American ideas to our children, they are actively participating in social unrest to undermine our country and Constitution.

Who exactly is in charge of the teacher's unions and who is influencing them?

As you know the members select their leaders. The teachers unions currently have an outsized influence in America. Long term I expect two things to happen with respect to public sector unions and in particular teacher unions:

1. The Janus decision will eventually erode union numbers. I think it fair to note what has happened in terms of the percentage of doctors in the AMA today as compared to the mid 1950’s. Though, of course, membership was voluntary in the AMA.

2. It might be hard to believe but I think that, at least on the national level, the teacher’s unions will become even more radical.

As an educator for the past 25 years I find public education to be, at best, a second choice for many kids. In particular for the early, skill-building years. This is a tragedy as I see a free and public education a necessary ingredient in a free society.

If public education was forced to compete on an equal basis with pvt and home-school options a lot of the dross in public education would disappear; much of which is pushed by our political leaders.

Silent

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:
Based on your experience and what you have observed, is the increasing sophistication of the rioters home-grown, or are they being coached by professionals?

Project Veritas has recently gone undercover at ANIFA to expose their training. Here is one little intro video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fDkZXFN3sg

Here is a personal anecdote; at the beginning when the riots were taking off, local high school students in my small town that hardly anybody knows of in Texas, decided to stage a small protest at our town square. They got permission from local police (who tried to convince them to have it at a park). The morning of the small protest, a group of saavy citizens (including a friend of my wife) saw a huge flatbed truck trying to drop off a pallet of bricks at the protest location, with LE eventually chasing off the truck. There was no construction site at the location. Outsiders ended up showing up at the "protest", but with an increased police presence from neighboring towns. But even our small town was targeted by an organization hoping to create chaos at a high school protest.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by 380Swift:
Ok then. I hope this is reality:

https://www.washingtonpost.com...gun-control-poverty/

Please post the text - the article is behind a paywall.

LOL! The richest man in the universe owns this piece of offal and since it's losing money, demands people to pay to read its tripe. No, thanks.

mod29 wrote:

"I suspect most of these punks are not even paying their own bills yet, and we’re supposed to be afraid of them?"

I thought of that when I read this story:

https://hotair.com/archives/jo...-got-busted-grandma/

ATF investigators reviewed social media posts from the night of the explosion and located videos of the incendiary object being thrown. The individual depicted throwing the object, later identified to be Agard-Berryhill, was a young, Caucasian male wearing a green colored vest, camouflage pants, and a mask. Investigators observed the person in other protest-related videos posted online wearing the same vest and attempting to hold a shield in front of a naked woman.

Investigators also found a post on Twitter depicting a product review for the vest. The review included a photo of a person wearing the vest who matched the description of the person seen throwing the explosive device. The review states “I got this [vest] for my grandson who’s a protestor [sic] downtown, he uses it every night and says its [sic] does the job.” Investigators later found the same photo on a Facebook page and, using law enforcement databases, were able to positively identify Agard-Berryhill.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

I also agree w the "no pushback" comment. If we start arresting these punks and give them some jail time, the rioters will significantly decrease in numbers. That needs police action, authority for police to do their job, prosecutors willing to hammer rioters, juries ready to convict, and judges ready to sentence.

We should be pursuing funding too. Who is paying for the stacks of bricks ?

There is a lot going on that should be making us rethink our big city / densely populated concentrations.

It is amazing how much social media makes people stupid. Or, how it relentlessly exposes stupidity.

People commit criminal acts, and post video of it on social media. They have conspicuous tattoos or distinctive clothes that make them easy to identify. Then there are the records of the purchases of the clothes from online vendors, the credit cards or accounts use, and as mentioned above a product review from a family member.

Cellphone cameras, security cameras in businesses, traffic cameras, dash and body cams on police - we aren't nearly as surveilled as UK or China but often the criminal is caught on video, if it occurs in an urban area.

They just don't seem to realize they are leaving a huge trail that is relatively easy to follow. The arsonist who set fire to the police cars is going to spend the rest of her life in federal prison. This bomb throwing kid will be charged with attempted murder of federal officers, using a destructive device, terrorism and a bunch of other stuff. He is in deep trouble and his family will be ruined by the cost of his defense.

I agree that giving a few of these punks a taste of being arrested, booked, put in containment cells, and then charged with a crime, getting a lawyer, paying a retainer, and having to tell their parents they are in trouble, will scare a lot of the rest of them away. They act out because there are no consequences (probable no discipline at home) and they think they can get away with it be blending into the crowd.

quote:

The review states “I got this [vest] for my grandson who’s a protestor

Grandpa needs to be charged and arrested as well for conspiracy and accessory to the crime.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
It is amazing how much social media makes people stupid. Or, how it relentlessly exposes stupidity.

People commit criminal acts, and post video of it on social media. They have conspicuous tattoos or distinctive clothes that make them easy to identify. Then there are the records of the purchases of the clothes from online vendors, the credit cards or accounts use, and as mentioned above a product review from a family member.

Cellphone cameras, security cameras in businesses, traffic cameras, dash and body cams on police - we aren't nearly as surveilled as UK or China but often the criminal is caught on video, if it occurs in an urban area.

They just don't seem to realize they are leaving a huge trail that is relatively easy to follow. The arsonist who set fire to the police cars is going to spend the rest of her life in federal prison. This bomb throwing kid will be charged with attempted murder of federal officers, using a destructive device, terrorism and a bunch of other stuff. He is in deep trouble and his family will be ruined by the cost of his defense.

I agree that giving a few of these punks a taste of being arrested, booked, put in containment cells, and then charged with a crime, getting a lawyer, paying a retainer, and having to tell their parents they are in trouble, will scare a lot of the rest of them away. They act out because there are no consequences (probable no discipline at home) and they think they can get away with it be blending into the crowd.

ACLU is fighting to turn off the cameras.


ACLU sues Portland police for live streaming protests. The livestream zooms in on protesters, making them vulnerable to face surveillance technology, the ACLU contends

Jul 30, 2020

By Maxine Bernstein
The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Portland Police Bureau, challenging its live streaming of protests.

The ACLU of Oregon contends the bureau’s practice of filming and broadcasting protesters violates state law that prohibits police from collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious or social views, associations or activities of people who are not suspected of criminal activity.

The police livestream zooms in on individual faces, making protesters vulnerable to face surveillance technology, the civil rights agency contends.

The police bureau’s live stream has been one of dozens of live streams of nightly demonstrations in Portland.

“Unlawful police surveillance threatens our First Amendment rights,” said Jann Carson, interim executive director of the ACLU of Oregon. “The Portland Police Bureau has no constitutional reason to train its video cameras on demonstrators — or to broadcast those images publicly on the internet, where federal agents and others can analyze them.”

City Attorney Tracy Reeve said she couldn’t comment on the pending litigation.

Federal officers who have been stationed in an incident command center in the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse have been monitoring live stream footage shared on social media of the demonstrations, and Portland police and federal officers have made arrests after reviewing video footage to identify people accused of committing violence or property damage.

The ACLU of Oregon filed its lawsuit Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, becoming the latest legal action stemming from the nightly demonstrations and officers’ use of force.

Link