According to the Seattle Times, the suspect in the slaying of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton has been labeled as a “domestic terrorist” by Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel.
Nobody in an official capacity appears to have slapped that label on Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, although there has been plenty of banter about that involving people like Dick Morris and even Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who is now asking for a probe into Hasan’s background. (Indeed, one has to work hard to find anyone using that label in relation to Naveed Haq, the man on trial – for the second time – in the shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle office in July 2006.) I touched on this in a previous column.
Mr. Lieberman said that if news reports were true that Mr. Hasan had turned to Islamic extremism, "the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most-destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11."—Wall Street Journal
The suspect in Brenton’s murder, 41-year-old Christopher John Monfort of Tukwila, does not have a criminal background. There is nothing to suggest he would do something like this, or torch four Seattle police vehicles, as is now being suggested. It was reported that at one time, he professed an interest in a law enforcement career. The fact that he apparently owned, or at least had in his possession, a couple of rifles – one of them a semi-auto – is not extraordinary in and of itself. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of American citizens own such rifles. Lots of Americans own lots of guns, a lot more than Monfort apparently owned, and they are not criminals and have harmed nobody.
On Saturday, Seattle Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel called Monfort a "domestic terrorist."
We are learning more about Monfort than perhaps anybody wanted to know.
Is he a “domestic terrorist” or just a common criminal?
Reports say police have recovered bomb-making materials and some “improvised explosive devices” in their search of Monfort’s apartment and storage locker. He allegedly drew a handgun on a trio of police detectives and unsuccessfully tried to shoot at them.
And what about Hasan? We are learning a great deal about him as well, not the least of which details is that he was apparently on the FBI’s radar screen, and he allegedly tried to make contact with Al Qaeda. He walked into a large room, allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire with two handguns, a semi-auto and a revolver, and now 13 people are dead and another 30 are recovering from their wounds. Hasan, like Monfort, is in a hospital recovering from wounds as well.
The dividing line, of course, between a terrorist and a psychopathic killer is political motivation. His statements right before opening fire would indicate that Hasan was motivated by fanaticism and a commitment to Islamic fascism, even though President Obama bends over backwards to avoid saying so. – Dick Morris
While Seattle’s Assistant Chief Pugel clearly has the fortitude to use the term “domestic terrorist,” no official so closely involved with the Fort Hood case has likewise shown that kind of candor.
Hasan used ‘cop killer’ pistol? What is that?
Meanwhile, ABC News is now breathlessly reporting that one of the pistols Hasan allegedly used in the Fort Hood attack was the FN Herstal “Five-seveN,” which has been branded the “cop killer pistol.”
Gun rights advocates and ballistics experts would argue there is no good reason for such a label. As noted by the Confederate Yankee website, there is no known record of a single American police officer having been killed with this pistol or the cartridge it uses.
The pistol fires a 5.7x28mm necked cartridge that is roughly the same size as a .22 Magnum, with a lighter bullet but faster velocity and more energy. The bullet shape and its .224-inch diameter, combined with the velocity, could allow it to penetrate soft body armor, but some 9mm and .357 Magnum bullets will do that, also.
The term “cop killer” was invented by the gun control lobby first to describe bullets that will penetrate a ballistic vest, but literally any bullet fired from a centerfire hunting rifle will do that. This is why the National Rifle Association and other groups energetically fought legislation to ban so-called “cop killer” bullets. The statute would have literally outlawed every centerfire rifle cartridge used by American big game hunters.
The term is now being used to demonize a lightweight, smallbore pistol that has no history of use against police officers.
Watch for a concerted effort to blame the FN Herstal “Five-seveN” pistol and its cartridge for the carnage at Fort Hood.
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
Comments
- Good article Dave, and TY.
- I would personally label Mr.Hasan as a terrorist if he was using religion or politics as a motive, same for Monfort. However, I have often wondered why Gangs are not labeled as terrorists too. Thier motivation is admitedly more hate / territory related, but the same actions in desert conditions and little cities over seas are worth going to war over... but in the USA we are afraid to label them because of political correctness? - REALLY ? - how they reason this eludes me and makes me feel the whole P.C. philosophy is a scam. Maybe they want it to be a mess here so they have something worth controlling? I hate to think that's true, but fail to see many other reasons they would allow our own streets to flood with domestic terrorists wearing uniforms (gangs), yet work to disarm the citizens at the same time... it is a very uneasy combination of events, i dare say suspicious.
- we absolutely need to realise that we have uniformed terrorists in our midst's.
Killing a person, cop or no cop, does not make anyone a terrorist. Just a common murderer. The motivation behind their act can be terroist related if it is to enhance the chances of bring down the current political system by force and not though the ballot box peacefully. A gun is an instrument and nothing more. It is the person who uses a gun who kills and no gun instills that characteristic in a person. The domestic terrorists in our midsts are called politicians because they would disarm you, prevent you from protecting yourself when the cops won't come, and then lay the blame on everything else and demand even more restrictions. Five Kids being killed in a California three deacdes ago started the biggest assault on second amendment rights seen in American history. Will One gun in Texas start the same assault down there? I would pray not.
Seriously? You LEAVE OUT the FACT that he left a note threatening to kill police officers at the bombing site where he blew up four police vehicles - so we know what he did was was try to use violence to promote an extremist ideology - and that is what defines terrorism - motive. We do NOT yet know what made Hasan kill - so no motive, no terrorism. See the FBI site for their post on 9/7/09 (links not allowed in comments) "Domestic Terrorism In the Post 9/11 Era")
How does the attack upon a military target make a man a terrorist? Call him a spy or a saboteur but not a terrorist. Put him before a military tribunal and shoot him.
There’s enough info already available to conclude without any doubt the killing and wounding of these unarmed American soldiers was a premeditated act of terrorism by a Muslim turned Jihadist.
Many people who decide there’s no reason to continue living or won't face certain situations in their life commit simple suicide but kill only themselves.
Those indoctrinated to the Islamic ideology are brainwashed into believing that killing persons opposed to Islam and other non-believers results in blessings granted in the afterlife.
While the non-indoctrinated might simply kill themselves, this ideology gives purpose and reason to suicidal acts involving the premeditated murder of other people.
In many circumstances Muslims also become victims.
This makes no sense at all to the non-indoctrinated without the knowledge that, as part of the belief system, other Muslims who die as a result of a Jihadist‘s acts become instant martyrs for the cause and are blessed accordingly.
I’d say Repost has a pretty good handle on Hasan.
From what I’ve read and heard, the guy was on the radar of at least a few of America’s alphabet agencies. I’d bet good money those making the decisions were monitoring Hasan, hoping his contacts would lead them to finding other terrorists, same way local drug dealers are watched while agents hope to nail major suppliers.
On the part of the alphabet agents, they either weren’t monitoring this guy close enough or haven’t figured out when it’s time to throw the cuffs on before the killing starts.
On the part of the U.S. Army, ’political correctness’ was no doubt a factor.
If those wearing the bars and stars don’t get squared away on how to eval others in the ranks who are practitioners of an ideology that’s in direct contradiction with that of the American Constitutional Republic, it’s a given than more of the same will occur, if not worse.
Sincere Condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
The only currently viable defense against an ideology that calls for submission, conversion, enslavement or killing of non-believers is with a system that’s strong enough to stand against it. The principles and values based on the Judeo-Christian philosophy and embodied as that of the America Constitutional Republic is just such a system.
Unfortunately, the system has now been so thoroughly corrupted as to be all but completely destroyed.
IMHO, until a fair-tax system is implemented based on the original intent of taxation only on commerce and the 16th Amendment is repealed, the moneylenders will continue to suck what little is left out of the American economy with the collusion of the players and aid from the patsies in the Federal government.
Increased dependency on government will increase the number of disenfranchised people in America, leaving them vulnerable to assimilation into a belief system that’s brought nothing but death and destruction for over a thousand years.
We can count on MSM and people-controllers to spin this thing out of control, much as they did in 1996, and we can count as many RINOs like Bob Dole to fall all over themselves in their haste to appear "reasonable" so the moderates who elected them will do so in 2010. The beat goes on. The game is still afoot. Vigilance is our only effective weapon.
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