A groundswell of people, myself included were collectively holding our breath in Katrina’s aftermath. Failure to prepare and respond at the federal, state, local, and personal level precipitated a disaster with few peers that unfolded in a steady stream before my eyes, on the TV news, online news and blogs, and mms:// feeds from the broadcast stations in the affected area. I was mesmerized over the shear magnitude of the disaster, as it gave way to the looting, the plight of the Superdome refugees, and then something else entirely.
A line in the sand.
“Individuals are at risk of dying,” said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of the New Orleans police. “There’s nothing more important than the preservation of human life.”
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” -William Pitt the Elder
No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. “Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons,” he said.
There was a mandatory evacuation order in place. People were being forcefully evacuated. People were having their arms confiscated to encourage them to leave. This was surreal and left me wondering if someone was loading people in boxcars.
Then there was the video of Patricia Konie getting body slammed by a jackbooted thug imported from California (with curiously edited footage) [mirror][mirror]…
…and then there was reports that some reporters were having their firearms stolen[PDF], and reports that Blackwater security was exempt (because, you know, some are more equal than others)…..
…and then there was this video of Ashton O’Dwyer, a lawyer from New Orleans, and I’ll always remember his quote, “Treat me with benign neglect!”. What was even more memorable, was what he did as he walked back to his never flooded, armed, presumably sufficiently stockpiled home. He traced a line with his finger, and showed the world his line in the sand…
..and Tam asked Claire if it was time yet , and Claire says “The only question now is how to be effective.” …
…and Countertop gets in his thousand words in, while Say Uncle has his own words. Geek with a .45 talks about the extent of the emergency powers and how they don’t trump the constitution of LA and the USA, while in his comments, someone says “Molan Labe!”…
… and Paw Paw, a good guy LEO from Louisiana, who is probably uncomfortable with having a target painted on his forehead by some zealot with an overly broad brush, urges people to stay calm, surrender, take names and sue later, while his comments remind him of a LEO named Lon Horiuchi that walked after murdering an unarmed, nursing mother, who was holding an “assault baby”. Gotta love that Sovereign immunity.
Meanwhile, in a whole different ‘vers, the front line police, the ones that didn’t go AWOL or resign, apparently protested being forced to carry out an illegal order, remembering their oaths. This is rumor, but it needs to be said, and it needs to be said now. When you are knee deep in flood waters with floating bodies and debris, blogsphere is a million miles away, and I doubt the outrage by bloggers ever hit their ears. Apparently some LEOs remembered their oaths, and protested. There is news that the federal troops would not be forcing people to evacuate, though there is no word yet from the chief executive officer, or his minions, about the gun sweeps.
This is what we have won. This is the story that needs to be told.
This is not a paper victory. A paper victory is like a paper profit, there might be something there, but it’s not really real until you cash it in. The striking down of the first “Gun-Free School Zones Act” by the Supreme Court is a paper victory, especially since Congress turned right around and passed the second, nearly identical “Gun-Free School Zones Act” that’s currently hanging over our heads, despite us electing a “pro-RKBA” Congress and a “pro-RKBA” President.
People really stood up and said “you will not seize my guns” and the police really backed down. The “mop-up” that needs to occur now is for bloggers to keep this story from becoming a footnote to Katrina. As much as the Mainstream Media like to tell us we stink, they keep an ear to our world and a hand in the public eye. Police are going to rotate out for some rest and eventually they will read blogs. We can’t trust the MSM to tell their story, so we have to take on that burden ourselves. The police and the citizens who stood up need to tell their story. People need to be removed from office, and people need to go to jail.
Oh, and people need to sue. Perhaps the NRA might actually be useful at that. When the emergency officials said that they were going to prevent coverage of the end stage body recovery by the press, CNN filed suit Friday, and got a restraining order Saturday (last paragraph). In contrast, when the seize orders came down, and enough members called the NRA, they finally issued a wishy-washy press statement. Shame on you, LaPierre. Oh, how I wish we still had Neal Knox with us.
This, more than anything is the lesson to be learned from Katrina. The Second Amendment isn’t about hunting, it isn’t about self-defense, and it isn’t about protecting your family and property from looters. Although those are all existing inalienable rights, the Second is about killing tyrants. The Second is about telling would be tyrants to stand down. The Second is about reminding people that no emergency on this earth allows them to become tyrants, even for -a moment, even if it is in someone’s ?best interest?. When you have accepted that, take a moment to consider how close we came to not having that right enumerated at all. That right is as valid today as when it was drafted.
OK, so we’ve gotta push and really win this one. It comes at a time when many of us have nearly given up hope.
Let’s get to work, we’ve got a Republic to save.
Update 2005-09-23 bonus thuggery, Patricia Konie, now with even more footage (but still missing that critical cut, what’s up with that, Ken Wayne?)
