Earlier this year, self defense enabled a village in the war torn Congo to save itself against brutal rebels.
The Congo (an African county that borders Sudan), is in the midst of a long and bloody civil war. A powerful Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, is especially known for brutality and torture. That rebel group goes from town to town, and often sends torture victims from a town they have already sacked to the next town as a grim warning. The town of Bangadi received such a warning, including a man whose back had been sliced up with a machete, and warned that the rebels would soon arrive. Upon hearing the news, the small police force fled the town, and neither the Congo military or the UN responded to the villagers pleas for help. After two weeks of begging for help that was not forthcoming, the villagers realized they had to defend themselves:
Their community leader called a town meeting, and told everyone to bring whatever weapons they owned. People showed up with rifles made before World War II, homemade shotguns, bows and poison arrows, knives, and even the wooden pestles that are used to pound yams into flour. Using these weapons, the villagers drove off two attacks by the rebels, saving themselves from torture and death. Perhaps best of all, not a single civilian was killed in the first repulsed attack. Compare that with the hundreds of people who the rebels had killed in the previous weeks when they attacked other villages. Hearing the news, hundreds of other villages have reportedly formed self defense groups.
This is why I support gun rights, for both Americans and for the world’s population as a whole. Violent rebel groups, genocidal manics, and others who inflict unspeakable wrongs rely upon having defenseless victims. Gun control laws ensure that such victims are easy targets, and certainly don’t stop the violent oppressors from being armed. Hopefully this lesson will not be lost upon the politicians whose goals include global arms control.
Comments
Eric, unfortunately the tyrants KNOW all too well exactly what "gun control" does to create endless helpless victims. That is exactly their goal. They want us helpless... all of us.
I'm so glad these villagers, and the hundreds of others, decided not to go along with that goal anymore.
Death to tyrants!
Eric, unfortunately the tyrants KNOW all too well exactly what "gun control" does to create endless helpless victims. That is exactly their goal. They want us helpless... all of us.
I'm so glad these villagers, and the hundreds of others, decided not to go along with that goal anymore.
Death to tyrants!
This lesson is not lost upon our would-be tyrants. However, they don't care because their ultimate goal is to reduce us to serfdom and they will not relent.
A poorly motivated agressor will always turn to easier targets.
A MOTIVATED agressor will seek to destroy the means of resistance. This is why the village's response, an organized militia, is only the first step. The best deterrence is a fully armed populace, IN CONCERT WITH a well regulated militia. This creates the least desirable target for an agressor.
The Tribes along the Kenya- Uganda border learned to arm themselves after Amin's depradations:
Now the UN sponsors the Ugandan and Kenyan armies to Beat, Castrate, burn and murder villagers into revealing who has guns, so that they can be confiscated. A colleague visited the area a year or so ago, and reports that the locals are still armed and very hospitable, the Ugandan army weren't when he stumbled accross their camp!
Over the other side of Africa, I don't know what happened to Rawlins' plan for an armed citizenry in Ghana. Anyone with info, I'd be pleased to know?
good for them. Self defense is an individual responsibility.
Since the local police force ran, that is just more proof that the police won't be there when you need them. Not their fault. They will come in later and try to find your killer. I would rather explain why I had to kill the bad guy. I am sure my wife and family would agree with me on that.
This article is offensively bad. How can you write about such tragedies when you don't even know what you are talking about. And btw, the DR Congo is much more than a random country "near Sudan".
Poe: I stand by each conclusion in my article. You disagree, yet you seem to offer only conclusory statements and no facts to back them. I would encourage you to prove up your statements if you are going to make them.
I criticize three things
First, it looks like you know absolutely nothing about the story you report. "The Congo" (I guess you mean the DR Congo and not Congo Brazzaville)is a huge country, and you don't even say where this "community" is located.
From a journalistic point of view, what is the source of your story? When did it happen? (u say "earlier this year, great.)Where exactly? (the DR Congo is nearly as big as Europe and all you say is " a community").
Third, how can you support "gun rights" in a place that is flooded with AK47, the confilct in the DR Congo has caused the highest death toll since world war II. The LRA, which you correctly mention as a brutal rebel group, has become a major terrorist organization thanks to the high availability of weapons in the area. This is widely known. In 2 decades, it has abducted 30.000 children and sex slaves.
And your smart solution is to provide even more guns in such a territory?
Im looking forward to your reply
I criticize three things
First, it looks like you know absolutely nothing about the story you report. "The Congo" (I guess you mean the DR Congo and not Congo Brazzaville)is a huge country, and you don't even say where this "community" is located.
From a journalistic point of view, what is the source of your story? When did it happen? (u say "earlier this year, great.)Where exactly? (the DR Congo is nearly as big as Europe and all you say is " a community").
Third, how can you support "gun rights" in a place that is flooded with AK47, the confilct in the DR Congo has caused the highest death toll since world war II. The LRA, which you correctly mention as a brutal rebel group, has become a major terrorist organization thanks to the high availability of weapons in the area. This is widely known. In 2 decades, it has abducted 30.000 children and sex slaves.
And your smart solution is to provide even more guns in such a territory?
Im looking forward to your reply
Poe:
You're free to disagree with my use of the term "The Congo," but that seems to be an accepted term. I've heard it used everywhere from university classrooms to the 6 o'clock news. I find it rather amusing that you're so riled up about that...
Regarding the specifics of the events in question, I linked to an MSNBC report at the beginning of the article. Feel free to read it if you want the specifics. The exact location, date, time, etc. are not relevant for the point I'm trying to make. Remember, I concern myself with self defense; not in-depth reports on the goings on in Africa.
Finally, I disagree with your idea that guns are to blame for the violence in Africa, and stand by my conclusions. This comment block is too small to fully lay out my facts, but consider this: Violent groups are more than capable of committing genocide and other atrocities without guns (e.g. the killing of the Tutsis was conducted primarily with knives.)
You certianly never see this kind of story on the front pages of the NEW YORK SLIMES,WASHINGTON COMPOST,ATLANTA URINAL CONSTIPATION becuase its to progun and proself defense to suit them and their antigun proeganda
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