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None of the people killed were by armed protestors though, they used blunt force. Also one of those two cops committed suicide. I'm more fearful of a McVeigh st
by partiallypro 6y ago
None of the people killed were by armed protestors though, they used blunt force. Also one of those two cops committed suicide. I'm more fearful of a McVeigh style attack down the line than I am an immediate response. Outside of the literal neo-Nazis (which I believe came up with the term 'ACAB' and I've always found ironic for the other side using it) most radicals don't want to directly engage cops. They probably will want to target Big Tech and Federal buildings.
- dragontamer 6y agoNot for lack of trying. With two pipe-bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters, as well as a truck full of Syrofoam+Gasoline bombs, there were clearly people who were trying to do major damage at the event. EDIT: Given the timing of the DNC + RNC pipe bombs, it has been proposed that the pipe-bombs were purposefully placed away from the Capitol to further confuse capitol police before the riot. Capitol Police were too busy checking out the pipe-bombs to notice the crowd encroaching upon the Capitol building itself.
- partiallypro 6y agoI don't disagree, but those weren't through direct engagement, and afaik no one fired a shot outside of police. I've edited my post to clarify my point that these real threats are people that are smart enough to not directly engage (such as bombers.)
- dragontamer 6y agoI believe most people (and that includes the mob that attacked) don't want to murder people. But herein lies the problem: the mob itself is a perfect opportunity to cause real mayhem. Even if the mob is composed of "relatively peaceful" people who aren't trying to kill people, all it takes is one or two bombs to go off at the right time (or one or two actual right-wing terrorists to take advantage of it), to turn a bad situation into a worse one. Yeah, Timothy McVeigh style attack would be terrible. You know what would be worse? Timothy McVeigh hiding inside of an angry crowd of supporters. Or hell, TWO Timothy McVeighs. How many angry right-wing extreme nuts are coming to this thing next week?
- partiallypro 6y agoI really doubt a Timothy McVeigh style attacker would want to kill people that support his cause. A suicide bomber would be more apt to target people he hates than people that support his world view.
- dragontamer 6y agoI'm not saying a hypothetical terrorist would kill people that support his cause. I'm saying a hypothetical Timothy McVeigh would kill people (ie: target Mike Pence or Joe Biden), then hide in the mob to prevent police from chasing him. EDIT: Or any number of "more intelligent" schemes that takes advantage of a rioting mob. I had a bunch of specific examples, but I feel its not moral for me to discuss specifics and help any would-be attackers plan their stuff. But ultimately, its not very hard to think of ways to take advantage of a mob. ------ The main good news is that the National Guard is deploying in major force: riot shields for protests, and even are equipping themselves with lethal weaponry if things get out of hand.
- cjohnson318 6y agoI don't think it's an important distinction that Officer Sicknick died from the blunt force trauma of a fire extinguisher versus the accute force trauma of a bullet. At the end of it all, he died from his injury.
- partiallypro 6y agoThe post is about "armed" protests (ie people with firearms.) I do feel there is a distinction.
- cjohnson318 6y agoFirearms were confiscated by police at the protest. That's what makes it an "armed" protest (ie people with firearms.)