When Order Breaks Down by Robert A. Waters
Here’s my latest editorial. Robert
**************************
When Order Breaks Down by Robert A. Waters
After September 11, many Americans rushed into gun shops to arm
themselves. According to a recent Associated Press article, for example,
the state of Florida Division of Licensing saw “a three-fold increase in
gun permit applications in September.” Other state licensing boards
reported similar buying patterns.
Why?
Are citizens arming themselves for an invasion? Or is it something more
basic, like being prepared in case the social order disintegrates?
A real-life scenario of a breakdown in the fabric of society occurred
nearly ten years ago.
The Los Angeles riots began on April 29, 1992, almost immediately after
four police officers were acquitted of numerous charges in the Rodney
King beating. When National Guard troops finally moved in three days
later, fifty-three people had died, thousands had been injured, and one
billion dollars in damages had been reported.
But one of the under-reported stories was of a group of citizens who
were not injured or killed.
As the city burned, movie stars fled and politicians buried their heads
in the sand, hoping the crisis would go away. Many middle-class
citizens, watching the carnage on their television sets, rushed to gun
shops to purchase firearms. (They quicky learned that because of a
15-day waiting period, their own government had made it impossible for
them to protect themselves.) The law-abiding poor had little hope–as
the riots became more widespread and violent, Chief Daryl Gates ordered
the cops to retreat.
Calls for help came in to 911 by the hundreds. But citizens were
informed that no assistance was available. Order had broken down. People
were on their own.
On the streets, law-abiding citizens were being beaten, robbed, and
murdered in an orgy of rage. Much of the violence was racially
motivated, as exemplified by the brutal attack on Reginald Denny. While
cameras rolled, the white truck driver was dragged from the cab of his
big-rig and beaten senseless. He was saved only after a small group of
courageous blacks defied the mob and rushed him to a hospital.
Meanwhile, the fury of the black rioters turned on Korean business
owners. Only a few days before, a Korean shopkeeper had shot and killed
a black woman whom he claimed was shoplifting. The anger of the black
community was still smoldering when the officers were acquitted.
The Koreans, known to be hard-working entrepreneurs, were caught in the
middle. Now that the cops were no longer around, their businesses were
being systematically looted. Anyone who dared stand up to the mob was
killed.
During the second day of the riots, many Koreans armed themselves and
stood guard over their stores. They quickly formed teams to patrol
“Korea-town” and used semi-automatic weapons (now banned) to protect
themselves and their businesses.
On March 31, 1995, David Joo, owner of a gun shop in LA, testified
before the House Commttee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. He’d
been on the front lines of the war against order. “That night,” he said,
“I stood on the roof of the Lucky Electronics [store] across the street
from our gun shop, along with several other neighbors. I had a 12-guage
riot shotgun and a Beretta 92F pistol. Another employee had a Colt AR-15
Sporter rifle. We called the police for help, but they never came. Some
looters tried to break down the door of the gun store, but we fired
warning shots that drove them away. This happened many times, and before
it was over, we fired 200 rounds of ammunition.”
After stark testimony about the terrors of the two nights he stood guard
over his shop, Joo summed it up. “The police couldn’t protect us,” he
said. “For whatever reason, they weren’t there when we needed them the
most. The gun control laws couldn’t protect us either. All the gun
control laws did was keep other law-abiding citizens from protecting
themselves…[But] when law and order breaks down, citizens have a right
to protect themselves.”
In the end, there were sections of Los Angeles where only Korean
buinesses survived the looting and burning. And many Koreans were still
alive because they had the fire-power needed to stop the mob.
Back to September 11, 2001.
Americans quickly sensed that something had changed. They understood
that the security they thought they’d bought with outrageous taxes was
only a mirage. Even those who had never thought of owning a gun began to
rethink their positions. As the owner of a Florida gun shop said,
“People who were against guns or were against keeping guns in their
homes, those are the people coming in…”
Like those who used firearms to guard the tent cities after Hurricane
Andrew, many liberals now saw a need for the guns they would have banned
a few days before.
Like the Korean business owners in Los Angeles, they looked toward a
primitive instinct, self-protection, and found the shallow, jingoistic
phrases of political correctness wanting.
All of a sudden, after seeing America on fire and helpless politicians
running for cover, liberals took a hit from a dose of reality.
Their need for self-protection just became up close and personal.
