Rebuilding America's Atlantis, part three Jack-booted tyranny amid chaos - and ignorance In the last two Daily Doses, I've talked about things New Orleans residents should do to protect themselves from harm in the aftermath of Katrina. I've saved the most important thing for last, of course. And not to add to the political fallout from the storm, but that "most important thing" is this: Get a gun. Yep, that's right. I think the most important thing any law-abiding citizen should have in their possession in Armageddon-ish New Orleans is a firearm. The thugs and looters all have them - you should, too. Especially if you have anything valuable to protect, like a generator, food, water, a running vehicle or a young daughter. But hold the phone: Apparently, the city itself isn't the only thing to have washed down the river in Katrina's wrath. New Orleanians' Constitutional rights did, too. According to many sources in the alternative press (but precious few in the mainstream media - go figure), the right of lawful citizens to defend themselves and their property went swirling down the drain soon after the rains stopped! According to an Associated Press article - one of the few mainstream news pieces I could find cited on the subject - the New Orleans Chief of Police mandated that "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons." At least one TV news broadcast showed National Guard units going door to door (busting a few of them down, I might add) in search of even LAWFULLY OWNED weapons. One source I read quoted a Guardsman as saying: "It's surreal. You never expect to do this in your own country." This, while illegally armed thugs roamed the streets thieving and pillaging like Vikings! How backwards (yet typical) is this bull-hockey? First, the government heedlessly allows the city of New Orleans to dwell inadequately protected from the monster storm it knows is coming one day. Then, it utterly botches the relief effort, leaving citizens to fend for themselves amid death and anarchy. And once they're back on the scene, they take away the only means these poor souls have of defending themselves - while ignoring the real criminals who run amuck mere yards away! You know what this is called, don't you - besides a tragic bastardization of the Constitution? It's called disarmament under martial law, and it's the first step toward a tyrannical state. At least it has been in Russia, Nazi Germany, China, Iraq and other such beacons of freedom and "democracy." Keep reading… **************************************************** Despite the fact that many law-abiding citizens were doing exactly what the Constitution intended in times of crisis - banding together in armed, orderly, makeshift militias to protect their homes and families in the absence of government - they were treated as criminals and stripped of their rights once Big Brother got some semblance of his act together. Think about this for a minute: Agents of the state and local government (the National Guard is a federal force, but called upon by a state's Governor) actively usurped the U.S. Constitution - and not only did they get away with it without violent incident, but NO ONE in the mainstream media is even squawking about it. That's how deeply seated the irrational fear of armed citizens is in the modern U.S. of A. How short our memories are - if we're reporters, that is (or politicians, i.e. police chiefs). Don't they remember that lawful firearms played a crucial role in public safety in the L.A. riots? Don't they remember how patrols of armed citizens kept whole neighborhoods safe in the aftermath of 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which until Katrina was the costliest disaster in American history? They do remember, of course. But they don't care. Stories of defenseless victims of crime on lawless city streets make for better headlines than stories of living heroes and dead or apprehended criminals. I'm telling you, folks: Things are quickly changing out there, and not for the better. Katrina has simply brought some of these changes into sharper focus. For one thing, we as citizens have clearly forgotten what our rights are. Because of this, the government at all levels can more and more easily strip them away - especially when the media is their willing accomplice instead of the watchdog for your rights that it's supposed to be. Bottom line: If you don't start arming yourself with knowledge of what your true rights are under your Constitution - and start voting that way, too - you won't be able to arm yourself for real when disaster strikes YOUR neighborhood… Up in arms - and arming up, William Campbell Douglass II, MD
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