Terror attacks in Europe are “the new normal” and they are almost certainly coming to the United States, according to Bill Bratton, former New York Police commissioner, the New York Post reported.
So, perhaps militia groups like the one profiled in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday morning aren’t so foolish after all? According to the story, the Georgia Security Force militia group thinks it would be a mistake to become complacent simply because Donald Trump is in the White House.
And maybe the national concealed carry reciprocity legislation now being considered by Congress isn’t such a dumb idea after all. Just because someone crosses a state line doesn’t mean they are immune to terrorism. The National Rifle Association and other groups think concealed carry reciprocity is an idea whose time is long overdue.
According to the New York Post story, Bratton thinks such terror attacks are “going to be the new normal in our world.”
This mirrors what a BBC host said late last month. Katherine “Katty” Kay suggested that Britain and mainland Europe will have to “get used to” terror attacks following the Manchester bombing.
But in the United States, with more than 15 million legally-licensed armed citizens added to the equation, it might change the playing field? Bratton is used to a rather “gun-free” environment he helped maintain in the Big Apple. But outside of anti-gun conclaves, the odds increase that some citizen or citizens may not care to be terror victims and fight back. Unlike Europe or the United Kingdom, citizens here have the means to do so.
Which brings the focus back to the Georgia militia group; while their numbers may be small, their concerns may not be without merit.
Look at Orlando, where Monday’s one-year anniversary observance of the Pulse nightclub massacre is unfolding. Remember San Bernardino, where a husband-and-wife team unleashed terror in a state with some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. The Ohio State car-and-knife attack and the Crossroads Mall knife attack in St. Paul, Minnesota last year were both stopped by men with guns.
Bratton, the story said, “blamed porous European borders for exacerbating the problem.” Under the previous administration, America’s borders seemed just as porous. President Donald Trump’s attempts to restrict travel from certain countries is being road blocked in the courts, so would opponents of tougher immigration controls be part of the problem if more attacks happen here, as Bratton predicted?
There may be no good outcome if Bratton is correct; except for the likelihood that increasing numbers of American citizens might follow a well-established pattern. After Paris and San Bernardino, people flocked to gun stores to apply for carry permits or licenses.
When people become fearful that government can’t protect them after all, it is almost a reflex action that they suddenly exercise their Second Amendment right, discovering in the process that “easy access to guns” isn’t always so easy for law-abiding citizens.
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