Thursday, March 7, 2013

Anti-Government Militias


Demonstrators pray during a pro-gun rally at the main entrance to the Georgia State Capitol on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, in Atlanta. Groups have been staging similar rallies across the country to protest gun restrictions.
 
USA Today

Radical anti-government "patriot" groups and militias, galvanized against gun control, will continue to grow even as the number of groups operating in the USAreached an all-time high in 2012, a report Tuesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center finds.

The center tracked 1,360 radical militias and anti-government groups in 2012, an eightfold increase over 2008, when it recorded 149 such groups. The explosive growth began four years ago, sparked by the election of President Obama and anger about the poor economy, the center says. That growth is likely to continue as the groups recruit more members with a pro-gun message, the center's senior fellow Mark Potok said.

10 comments:

  1. The source article doesn't give any link between hate groups and the people peacefully protesting in the photograph. I realize that at the heart of gun control freaks, there is the belief that anyone with a gun is suspect, but evidence always goes a long way toward making a case.

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  2. What has the Southern Poverty Law Center done for poverty? Nothing.
    They do give it a good try to stir things up by misnaming pro-Constitution groups as something else.
    They are an embarrassment to truth and honesty.

    orlin sellers

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  3. I can offer this fairly simple insight.

    Suppose you have five children. One day a polite, nicely dressed man visits your home. He explains that some percentage of children commit violent crimes which has terrified the community. The man then announces that he is going to kill your youngest child in the hopes of reducing violent crime. Upon hearing your objections, the man tells you that you don't need five children, the community has a right to feel safe, and that he will never return in the future to kill any more of your children.

    Before you scoff and claim the previous scenario is absurd, substitute the word "rights" for "children" and understand that lots of people value rights just as much as they value their children.

    Gun rights advocates know that efforts to "control" guns is a series of steps to complete civilian disarmament. And gun rights advocates know that eliminating our right to own guns is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg -- many of our other rights such as free speech, privacy, and due process, are under attack and hang in the balance as well. And always the same song-and-dance: you don't need those rights and government is taking them away to make society safer.

    Hitler wasn't satisfied with Poland. He wouldn't be satisfied until he took over the whole world. Similarly, fascists and progressives will not be satisfied until they take over everything.

    And you wonder why people are demonstrating?!?!?!?

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    Replies
    1. Nothing absurd about that comparison and word substitution. You Hitler reference lent further credibility to your thinking.

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  4. I would gladly assign the SPLC greater credibility if:

    They would track both left and right wing extremists
    They didn't report "explosive growth" so frequently
    They would abandon the assumption that pro-constitutional or 2A organizations are, of necessity, hate groups

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    Replies
    1. Are you sure they don't include left-wing hate groups in their totals?

      Are you sure they assume 2A groups are necessarily hate groups.

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    2. The Nation of Islam is listed as one of the "hate groups" in Arkansas. It doesn't appear to be too difficult to get on the SPLC list.

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    3. Well, given that the SPLC "hatewatch" blog, wherein they regularly report on "hate groups", is subtitled "Keeping an Eye on the Radical Right" I'd be really hard-pressed to say they track left wing extremists.

      As for the 2A that is the impression I get from the web site.

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  5. Are war protesters "anti-government"? How about the occupiers?

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    Replies
    1. There's no hate worse than the hate that claims to be love.

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