Americans Assuming Responsibility For Their Own Protection

If one is paying any attention at all to the media, including the conservative media, then at this particular juncture in the history of Western civilization and of the United States, those of us who do not sympathize with the left have little reason to be anything other than thoroughly demoralized. 

In response to the coercive and outright violent campaign to fundamentally transform America in line with the wicked vision of its enemies, our spirits are brought low by depression, anxiety, exasperation, and even rage over the fact that no one seems willing to stand up to it.

Leftist media is a house of lies — toxic, insidious lies. Conservative media, though, spends most of its resources fueling the blood pressure, heart rate, and nightmares of its constituents by calling attention to the outrages of the left—but supplying them with no accounts of encouragement, much less direction, as to how, together, and along with conservative media celebrities, they can meaningfully and truly fight back.

It should now be painfully clear to all with eyes to see that being told for the trillionth time to vote Republican is insufficient.

The average American is inundated with bad news, which includes a lot of fake news.

On June 15, Rush Limbaugh lamented at the outset of his show the lack of “pushback” against the leftist mob. In response to writers and commenters who have noted for years that, for all of the left’s street theater, it is traditional, conservative, patriotic Americans who own the lion’s share of guns in this country, Rush asked rhetorically: “Where are they?” He was implying that they are full of bluster, for armed American patriots have not been out and about to push back against the left’s outrages.

For now, we can set aside the role that Rush and his friends in conservative media could’ve played over the years in organizing the kind of “pushback” he envisions, the absence of which frustrates him. The point of this essay is not to be critical.

Quite the contrary: There is cause for encouragement.

Napoleon said, “Ten people who speak make more noise than 10,000 who are silent.”

The media treats Americans to scene after scene of thousands of “anti-racist” demonstrations, most of which are accompanied by violence of various forms. A couple of weeks ago, to rely only upon the images that were being splattered across our television screens and on social media, one would have had to conclude that there was nowhere that a decent, civilized person could go to protect himself from these destructive thugs.

The reality, however, is something else. Let’s break it down:

First of all—and this is no small thing—while there are thousands of people wreaking havoc and mayhem in the streets, they are doing so largely in select cities, i.e. cities that have been mired in liberal Democratic politics for generations. The rioters have not entered suburbia or rural America. Why not?

The author of an open letter to “rioters and Antifa members” published at RedState on June 1 provides an answer. Brandon Morse responded to a social media post allegedly made by Antifa which claimed that the thugs were going to extend their reign of terror from the cities to the suburbs.

After clarifying that his message was not meant to be taken as a dare and that he was not interested in displaying any kind of machismo or bravado, Morse wrote the following in which he delineated the dramatic differences between the logic of city rioting and that of suburban home invasion:

“Rioting in a city is, for all intents and purposes, safe for the rioter. Even if you do have a confrontation with police, you’re more than likely going to get a few bumps and bruises. At worst, some blood might be drawn from superficial wounds. The worst that may befall you is if your fellow rioters turn on you for any reason. Then you’ll really face serious injury, though more than likely, you’re just going to riot, loot, destroy, and go home.

“The rules change in the suburbs. You’re not robbing a private store and destroying public property anymore. Now you’re in home territory. The house is full of valuable possessions and luxuries, yes, but more than that, this location has family members in it. Wives, children, and even beloved pets.

“You’re in a different playing field now. Here the stakes are a lot higher for the victims of rioters, and as such, the stakes will rise for you. You’re no longer just facing an arrest charge or a few bumps and bruises. You’re now playing with your life.”

He concludes:

“Suburbanites have a lot more to lose and are going to be a lot more apt to go to the extremes to make sure no harm befalls what they’re protecting. Too much rides on it. In the city, you were the pack of lions seeking whom you may devour. In the burbs, you’re the gazelle.”

Most of America does not consist of liberal cities in blue states. This, of course, is most definitely not meant to suggest that we shouldn’t be concerned about the decimation of these cities and the larger national significance of it all. It’s simply to remind decent, lawful Americans in the ‘burbs and elsewhere that there is indeed a damn good reason why the doers of evil in city streets have not ventured beyond them: they know that there most definitely will be a price, an irrevocable price, if they did so.

Second, about those guns: gun sales have been surging. The surge began in March after the COVID-19 Internment was underway. In May, it hit a record high. And June seems poised to top May.

Thousands, even tens of thousands, have taken to the streets, many leaving destruction in their wake. But, on average, millions, at least as many as 15 million, have had background checks conducted on them this year. 

Many of them are first-time gun owners, people who are just now, in light of the internment, the riots, and the talk of “defunding” and/or “abolishing” the police, making the choice to arm themselves. As one gun shop owner put it: “I think it really has people concerned [that] the honest law-abiding citizen, whoever you are, unfortunately, may have to take things into their own hands.”

Another gun shop owner in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania remarked that while Barack Obama was “the best gun salesman that we’ve had in a long time,” he pales in comparison to the COVID-19 internment and especially the riots.  “This outdoes anything Obama did, this has been the tops. I have a hard time keeping in stock.” He too verifies that many of his customers are first-time gun purchasers.

Again, millions and millions of Americans, many of whom would not have purchased firearms otherwise, are assuming responsibility for their own protection upon witnessing mass lawlessness in city streets. 

Gun stocks have soared exponentially. No politicians, no Black Lives Matter, no Antifa—nobody is going to stop Americans from defending what’s theirs from predators. No one.

It should be obvious, but proof of this thesis is evident in the success with which armed citizens throughout the country, from sea to shining sea, defended their businesses, homes, and communities from much larger numbers of looters in the midst of those riots.

In my next essay, I will share my compilation of these accounts.