Who knows what Lloyd Woodson planned to do with his room full of weapons; some legal, some very illegal? It's not hard to guess from the little evidence the media gives us, hidden in the boiler-plate harem-scarum hoplophobic verbiage. Newspaper reports seem too involved with making the description of his collection as lurid as possible and not involved enough with evidence about his plans. Indeed, much of What the 43 year old, apparently African-American US Navy veteran had in his motel room was illegal and scary enough: a grenade launcher, for instance and a .50 caliber semi-automatic weapon with the serial numbers filed off. He was wearing body armor. I think we can dismiss the argument that he was not up to no good.
As usual we get the "cache of hundreds of rounds of ammunition" statement, although a recreational shooter intending to spend a few hours at a shooting range might easily go through much more than that. We get "hollow point" as though that's not what one uses for hunting anything from rats at the dump, to rabbits to elk. But, no, Woodson had just come to town, had a map of a military installation and another map of "an out-of-state civilian community." Perhaps you have a road map in your car too.
So was he planning to shoot up a Navy base? Sure sounds like it and I'm sure glad a suspicious bystander reported him and the New Jersey Police arrested him, but what surprises me is that I haven't heard the usual Fox-based outrage that this isn't being sold as a Terrorist Attack and that Fox isn't already shrieking about how Obama isn't running down the street yelling "Terrorist attack run for your lives" as they did when the underwear bomber tried to blow up a Detroit bound airliner.
That just proves that boy in the White House just isn't up to keeping us all safe, after all. The very idea that the New Jersey police would be able to stop an armed assault is part of Obama's plot to sell us on the idea that there's any other way to deal with terrorism than to be terrified into bombing some godforsaken piece of desert. It's a war on Terror, you know, not a game of cops and robbers.
This is somewhat apart from your main point, Capt., but I have to admit that I find the American attitude toward weapons somewhat schizophrenic.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, guns are legal and one can arm oneself to the teeth, if one so desired; but, on the other, when one does it -- arm oneself to the teeth -- one is looked upon with suspicion. (Which is emotionally justified, IMO, but illogical.)
One of the many confusing things about America -- maybe I will finally get it, in another 20 years or so. (Or maybe not.)
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ReplyDeleteWe definitely are a nation of contradictions -- in almost every sense. We hate ourselves for our neighbor's freedoms, for one thing. We'll tell you we're the richest nation in history, yet we tell ourselves we can't afford the basics. We're the home of the brave, but every year we're more afraid of tinier and tinier dangers.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I ever thought we would endure.
Captain, a bit off topic but you might get a thrill over this.
ReplyDeleteTalked to my secret John Birch Society member brother in law last night...
ReplyDeleteHe will admit that Bush only satisfied him on 1 of the 3 things that he expects government to take care of and that was on keeping us safe.
He said Obama was 0 for 3 on the same points.
When I said that it took Bush 8 years to only achieve one thing he is already criticizing Obama after only a year and calling him a failure.
When I reminded him that Obama has not done anything different than Bush has done and that while Bush only ordered 48 drone attacks in his 8 years in office Obama has ordered 61 in his first year he should actually feel SAFER under Obama than Bush...
He did not change the score...
Factually and logically I am correct but he still decided to believe otherwise.
Thats not a contradiction and that has nothing to do with stupidity.
By laying out the facts one can cure stupidity and correct a contradiction....
We are a delusional country......
TAO, there are several fundamental truisms about human behavior:
ReplyDelete1. People will read and accept only those viewpoints that validate and reinforce their core beliefs. Especially rigid, self-righteous, authoritarian types - they resent any viewpoint that challenges their sense of order and hierarchy.
2. People accept change only after they are suffering excruciating pain. Loosing one's job, house, savings, and retirement accounts may not be painful enough for some folks. Maybe they clamor for even more pain.
Thanks Octy...
ReplyDeleteI went out looking for a 60's love peace and love rally and find myself in the middle of an S&M orgy! :)
We're safer than ever, live longer than ever and yet - Fearful people become conservatives and at this point, being afraid is almost the only good definition of the condition we call Conservative.
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