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Friday, September 13, 2002

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Firearms and freedom will protect homeland

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Posted: September 13, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jon Dougherty

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? 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

As if liberty-minded Americans needed more of an impetus to oppose restrictive and unconstitutional gun laws, WorldNetDaily editor-in-chief Joseph Farah’s shocking story last week regarding the contents of an al-Qaida training tape provided the coup de grace in terms of motivation. Trouble is, I doubt many in Congress or the White House are paying attention.

The tape, which was captured in Afghanistan, “shows Osama bin Laden’s terrorists are not only planning attacks with weapons of mass destruction, but are preparing to kill Americans with drive-by shootings and home break-ins, through ambushes of law-enforcement officers and targeted assassinations on golf courses,” WND reported.

Pretty daunting stuff, no question about it. Most Americans, unlike the majority of Israelis, have no idea the kind of horror and chaos that would be created in this country were such attacks to begin in earnest. Yet, that seems to be exactly what our terrorist enemies have in mind. The tape should serve as a warning, but will it?

Despite 9-11 ? which took place on our own soil ? Americans are still unprepared to protect themselves against such direct threats. But in our defense, most of the reason for that is because of the absurd and unconstitutional authoritarianism of the federal government. National leaders have done everything they could to disarm our nation and, when that failed, to wean our survival instinct out of us.

Through arrogance, it’s possible our leaders think this training tape isn’t legitimate. Maybe they didn’t pay attention to the warning bells it should have sounded because its contents were reported by “one of those Internet newssites” ? despite WND’s excellent record of breaking such stories accurately.

I would also remind our leaders that last month CNN managed to buy an entire 64-tape series in Afghanistan that showed al-Qaida operatives training recruits for a number of similar tasks, including ambushes, bomb-making and related terrorist activity. Those tapes even showed operatives experimenting with poison gas, using barnyard animals and dogs. Nevertheless, many of those tapes reportedly did not concern some terrorist experts as much as what was portrayed on the single tape detailed by this “Internet newssite.”

So when, exactly, does our leadership figure out that maybe ? just maybe ? Americans face a larger threat from bin Laden’s minions than they are willing to admit? When, exactly, will Americans seeking real protection get more than sermonizing platitudes from congressional windbags and White House lackeys ? all of whom have their own armed security?

When such force is being arrayed against you, it makes no sense to ignore it, hide from it or refuse to meet it with overwhelming counterforce. The evidence on this tape is proof positive that bin Laden’s minions have Americans in their crosshairs.

Yet as long as Congress, federal courts and the Bush administration allow federal, state and local governments to defy the Second Amendment and restrict ? or worse, ban ? the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, the number of victims in our country will continue to grow.

If civilians are being targeted by terrorist operatives, isn’t it criminal ? in a supposedly “free society” ? to arrest and prosecute people who would simply find the means to defend themselves? Yet that’s what will happen if Jack and Jane Smith shove a clip into the family AR-15 and tote it with them when they and the kids go shopping in just about any city in America.

Despite this threat, Congress, the federal courts and the White House are doing nothing to forbid federal, state and local authorities from arresting and jailing Americans whose only “crime” is attempting to exercise their God-given right to protect themselves in the face of an obvious enemy.

Our government has yet to realize that the ever-present threat of terrorism overrides dangerous gun-control claptrap. How many more deaths will it take before they understand that regardless of how large the state’s security apparatus, law enforcement and military personnel cannot be everywhere to protect everyone all the time?

More importantly, when will ordinary Americans with a desire to live and the fortitude to protect their own families and property realize their worst enemies may be in Washington, D.C., preparing to arrest those who dare raise a gun in their own defense?

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Jon E. Dougherty is a staff reporter and columnist for WorldNetDaily, and author of the special report, “Election 2000: How the Military Vote Was Suppressed.”