"Second Amendment" Vigilantes Protecting Their Own

By Josh Horwitz:

This morning, I posted a blog at the Huffington Post that looks at a horrifying incident in Georgia that somehow has escaped national attention.

On April 19, 2012, Jean and Angelica Kalonji were attempting to change the locks on a home their son had just purchased for them when they found themselves staring down the barrels of AR-15 assault rifles wielded by their neighbors, Robert and Brandon Canoles.

The Canoles suspected the Kalonjis of burglary and would not listen to them, instead holding them forcibly at gunpoint until sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene. When asked why he did this after the fact, Robert Canoles said, "This is my Second Amendment right. Look, this is the country out here, and we protect our own."

Apparently the Kalonjis—an interracial couple—weren't "his own."

It would be comforting to think this was an isolated incident. But as we know from the slaying of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, armed vigilantism is a phenomenon in contemporary America that is both real and incredibly dangerous.

Why are vigilantes who claim "Second Amendment" protections so corrosive to our democracy? Read my new blog, " 'Second Amendment' Vigilantes Systematically Dismantling Our Rights," to find out.