The Tiller murder, and the fragility of liberty

June 3, 8:49 AMSt. Louis Gun Rights ExaminerKurt Hofmann

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   DHS official Seal

The Department of Homeland Security's "right-wing extremist" report has been extensively discussed (here, for example).  The outpouring of public outrage at the blatant political bias inherent to subjecting citizens to heightened scrutiny as possible "terrorists," simply because their political views make some people nervous, eventually forced a badly needed--if rather hollow--apology from DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The murder Sunday of abortion doctor George Tiller has prompted some to suggest that there was nothing out of line about the DHS report.

You may recall the enormous controversy that erupted in April over a Department of Homeland Security report that assessed the threat of “right wing extremists.” The story provoked days of nonstop cable chatter, and DHS chief Janet Napolitano ultimately apologized.

Fast forward to the huge and horrible news yesterday that late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was shot dead by a man who reportedly posted on the blog of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. Maybe we should take another look at all that criticism?

Got that?  One murder, committed by one nut who, apparently, was acting alone, is being cited as justification to subject literally millions of Americans to heightened scrutiny as potential "terrorists." 

I have no interest in entering the abortion debate, and I have no objection to portraying Dr. Tiller's murder as being as heinous as any other murder.  That's not what this is about.  What it is about is the attempt to exploit the evil act of one man as justification to chill the freedoms of people who have committed no crimes.

If, by the way, we are to consider anti-abortion groups as "terrorist" organizations, it would probably be safe to  count them rather low on the Most Dangerous list.

Tiller was killed because of his work, he would be the fourth U.S. physician killed over abortion since 1993. See all abortion-related attacks since 1993.

Four in 16 years, in other words.  Does anyone think most Americans would even have heard of Al Qaeda, if that group had killed, on average, one American every 4 years?

If the foregoing has too little to do with gun rights, consider this, Congressman Peter King's (R-NY) H.R. 2159, the "Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009."  If that atrociy becomes law, the Attorney General would have unilateral power to cancel the Second Amendment for anyone he designated as a "suspected terrorist"--no due process necessary.

Speaking of Congressman King, by the way,  he's an equal opportunity (aspiring) tyrant--he doesn't restrict himself to going after "right wing extremists"--he also thinks anti-terrorsim efforts in the U.S. are hampered by the presence of "too many mosques."

In the Politico interview, King said: “Unfortunately we have too many mosques in this country, there's too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully, we should be finding out how we can infiltrate, we should be much more aggressive in law enforcement.”

In other words, even if you approve of treating anti-abortion protest groups as terrorist organizations, don't be so smugly sure that any political activism in which you engage won't make you the next target.

Depending on who is pulling the strings at any given time, anyone can be the next "extremist."