When the Occupy guys decided to try to break into a housing development and ran into the owner with a shotgun… a fire that could have spread might have been prevented then.

Even when the police try a “let the tire themselves out” approach, I suspect the risk of an armed citizenry is a deterrent to real rioting & violence… you need a lot of confidence that your neighbor will support you enough to let you burn down his house without shooting you before you start spreading that gasoline.

“The government can only enforce order with the consent of the governed”

would be more correct if stated,
“The government can only enforce order with the consent, or voluntary or coerced submission, of the governed.”
I say this in view of, among other things, 5 decades of communist rule of much of Eastern Europe.

The 11B infantry MOS doesn’t translate well to the civilian world but I wouldn’t have traded that experience for anything.

troyriser_gopftw on February 21, 2012 at 11:38 AM

Been there, done that.

~(Ä)~

Thanks for your service, Troy. I hope that all you learned during your career will never have to be used by you or like minded men who have a duty to defend their family.

BigAlSouth on February 21, 2012 at 11:05 AM

The 11B infantry MOS doesn’t translate well to the civilian world but I wouldn’t have traded that experience for anything. My son enlisted 11B a month ago. I’m very proud of him.

troyriser_gopftw on February 21, 2012 at 9:44 AM

Thanks for your service, Troy. I hope that all you learned during your career will never have to be used by you or like minded men who have a duty to defend their family.

Spoken like a true urban elítist.
You have no idea the: who, what, wheres, hows here either.
Good Luck
Semper Paratus!

~(Ä)~

Karl Magnus on February 21, 2012 at 9:49 AM

I spent a good chunk of my childhood on a farm in rural Indiana. I live in a small town, the county seat, not far from there. That we are considered urban elitists would come as news to us.

So yeah, without healthy urban centers, ‘a country boy can survive,’ all right, at about the same subsistence level as his Somalian counterpart.

(snip)

troyriser_gopftw on February 21, 2012 at 9:44 AM

Spoken like a true urban elítist.
You have no idea the: who, what, wheres, hows here either.
Good Luck
Semper Paratus!

~(Ä)~

So …
Mormons are good for “stockpiling”, while we “in the sticks” who are prepared to be self-sufficient are bad? Phew I hope you don’t have a family to feed and defend.
(actually, i hope for the kids, the ‘rents? meh, not so much)

~(Ä)~

Karl Magnus on February 21, 2012 at 9:22 AM

I don’t know what Mormons have to do with anything in this discussion. I’m talking about logistical and societal interdependence between urban and agrarian sectors of a given economy, forget about the cultural aspects. So yeah, without healthy urban centers, ‘a country boy can survive,’ all right, at about the same subsistence level as his Somalian counterpart.

And that business about defending my family? You have no idea who I am, what I’ve done, where I’ve been, or what I’m about. I use my real name. You can look me up if you like. I link to my site via username. Go down to the part reading ‘Honorably Discharged Airborne Infantry veteran’. As a piece of friendly advice, insulting someone whose background you don’t know might be a bad idea in the Mad Max wasteland world you seem to be dreaming about.

This backlash, I feel, will be based upon our national history of being a Republic, the antithesis of the mob rule that these riots are exemplars of. At least I hope so…

~(Ä)~

Americans do riot. Maybe not as often as elsewhere, but it happens.

Just watch what happens the day after The Black Narcissus is defeated.

Karl Magnus on February 21, 2012 at 8:35 AM

The odds of President Obama being defeated by any one of the GOP primary candidates are growing less by the day. The odds of President Obama being beaten by a shrill, self-righteous, abrasive former senator spouting off about social issues in the worst economic downturn since the Depression are exactly zero.

The odds of survivalist types living out end-of-the-world fantasies in the sticks suddenly realizing why cities exist in the first place after the flow of most goods, services, fuel, and food supplies stops are approximately 100%.

Like I said, America has a lot of wackos. It just take a match to light the fire.

keep the change on February 20, 2012 at 9:00 PM

But not many ‘fires’: maybe fewer wackos than you think?

Just watch what happens the day after The Black Narcissus is defeated. Urban areas all across America will burn. Of course Detroit doesn’t have much left to burn (and we in the hinterlands are well-protected *grin*),but other cities haven’t been as lucky.
I can see it now:
FOX News 24/7 coverage as America burns and the National Guard gets to do what they do best – think: Kent State. I’ll even listen to “Alice’s Restaurant” and reminisce.
Pass the popcorn!

~(Ä)~

Perhaps the saying “An armed society, is a polite society” isn’t so far fetched as some would have you believe.

Look, when the flow of government cash to the poor and middle class in California gets shut off, there will be riots like we have never seen before. Hell, talk about being well-armed, it will be the rioters who will be packing.

The failed progressive experiment that once was beautiful California will make Greece look like a boy scout campfire.

During the riots over the Rodney King verdict, Korean shopkeepers defended their stores from the root-tops shooting looters. Community Crime Watch members armed themselves and established check points going in and out of their residential areas.

In any future riots where there is an armed populace, Rioters and looters know they will take causalities and it gives them pause.

In the Paris riots, police finally got permission to talk sternly to the Muslim rioters only after several nights of burning and looting.
These rioters were living in Ghettos, partly by choice to keep themselves in Muslim communities.