http://www.captainsjournal.com/2014/09/18/australia-isis-and-the-role-of-guns/9/18/14
Australia, ISIS And The Role Of GunsFox News:
Australian counterterrorism forces detained 15 people Thursday in a series of suburban raids after receiving intelligence that the Islamic State militant group was planning public beheadings in two Australian cities to demonstrate its reach.
About 800 federal and state police officers raided more than a dozen properties across 12 Sydney suburbs as part of the operation — the largest in Australian history, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin told the Associated Press. A sword was removed as part of evidence at one of the homes.
Separate raids in the eastern cities of Brisbane and Logan were also conducted.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the plan involved kidnapping randomly selected members of the public off the streets in Sydney and Brisbane, beheading them on camera, and releasing the recordings through Islamic State’s propaganda arm in the Middle East.
[ ... ]
A second man was charged Thursday night in connection with the raids. The 24-year-old, who police didn’t name, was charged with possessing ammunition without license and unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court next week.
Most readers probably pondered how ISIS was able to infiltrate a country and the awful acts they were prepared to perpetrate. I didn’t.
My thoughts ran immediately to the fact that at least one of the individuals had a “prohibited” weapon and ammunition. As with all gun control, law abiding citizens are unarmed and unprotected, while the criminals have their weapons.Australia has some of the most restrictive gun control laws on earth. We’ve discussed this before. An Australian farmer lost his fight to obtain a handgun to shoot feral hogs because he couldn’t satisfy the woman heading the “administrative tribunal” that he really needed the gun.
The response to the ISIS members in Australia points out several important things.
First of all, gun control doesn’t apply to those in charge. Law enforcement will always have their weapons. Second, when law enforcement acts, they do so in order to secure the hive, or the collective. Their concern isn’t and wasn’t for any particular individual who may have been (or will be) targeted by ISIS, because if it was, they would allow people to be armed for purposes of self defense. But actions directed against the collective is a threat to their command and control, and will not be allowed.So do the ordinary people feel threatened?
Never before have I felt so naked.
Now more than ever, I wish I was armed.
And I’m not alone.
Any and all home-grown Islamic terrorism should be able, if need be, to be met by a well-armed civilian militia.
The United Kingdom has had two beheadings of members of the public in the last two years, with neither police nor civilians able to prevent it. It has prohibitive gun laws. With news of the ISIS plot to randomly abduct members of the Australian public and behead them, Australian sentiment on guns is dramatically shifting.
It appears Australians are finally understanding the importance of gun ownership and craving it at a time when the world is increasingly unsafe.
“I’ll tell you this point blank: I’d feel safer in a country where I was legally allowed to carry around a firearm,” says J. Coughran, 30, a businessman.
According to Coughran, media coverage of Islamic State is fueling the change in heart. “This ISIS stuff is seeing quite a few people changing their opinions.. one of my mates told me today- he’s coming around on the gun issue. He’s 68 years old, been against guns his whole life- now he’s turning around because of these savages,” he said.
We’ll see what comes of this. But time is short. For Australia it may be ISIS or criminal gangs which have become more prominent in Australia lately. With America the problems run deeper, with a porous Southern border and criminal cartel gangs ravaging country from the border and on up to large cities like Chicago.
Self defense is a luxury when times are safe. When times become hard, the giggling and jokes go away, and people begin to think grown up thoughts. Those who want to continue to think as children pretend that the police will take care of them. Adults know better.