This tweet went up yesterday afternoon. The account has since been suspended and some claim that it’s a fake. Whatever its authenticity, some rioters attempted to move out of urban centers to more suburban, residential areas last night.
In one of the greatest tweets of all time, Jack Posobiec juxtaposed a couple of tweets from former NBA player and current TV analyst Chris Palmer.
Oops pic.twitter.com/cUAYD5BIYj
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 31, 2020
It was fine to cheer on the rioters when they were torching a low income housing complex that was under construction in Minneapolis in someone else’s neighborhood. But life comes at you fast and Palmer soon found out that having the people he had celebrated come to where he lives isn’t nearly as much fun.
Scott Barry Kaufman, whose Twitter account says he lives in New York City found out that everyone really is their own first responder.
Just called the police because there was just a dangerous standoff between my neighbor and some protestors and got the response: “Sir, the city is under attack. Do what you have to do.” And they hung up. Did that really just happen?
— Scott Barry Kaufman (SBK) (@sbkaufman) June 1, 2020
We’d like to point out that living in a city that makes it as difficult as possible for its citizens to arm and defend themselves is a conscious choice. They choose to rely on law enforcement to keep them safe. But in a time of emergency or civil unrest, there simply aren’t enough cops to respond in a timely way — if at all — when you and your family are threatened.
One of the cities hardest hit by the rioting has been Seattle. In the suburb of Bellevue, not far from where some of the violence was taking place, citizens decided that protecting their own neighborhood was in their collective best interest.
Citizens in Bellevue (Seattle suburb) are protecting their neighborhoods from rioters & looters. pic.twitter.com/s6UpMtdXfM
— Digital Forests (@DigitalForests) June 1, 2020
It’s good to know your neighbors. And as at least one Los Angeles woman has just now discovered, knowing people with guns comes in awfully handy when the veneer of society cracks.
My favorite moment from a neighborhood whatsapp group here in West LA: a very liberal woman who a couple years ago organized a school walkout to protest guns is now begging people to help fund armed security for the neighborhood to protect against rioters. Can’t make it up.
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) June 1, 2020
America can and will recover from this. But when it does, a lot of people will have had their eyes opened as to the value — the necessity — of being able to provide for their own protection through armed self-defense.
The gun debate is over. https://t.co/Znk5KcAyUB
— Andy Swan (@AndySwan) June 1, 2020
That may be overly optimistic, but if there’s one small silver lining in all of this, it’s that the jobs of people like Shannon Watts, Kris Brown, Peter Ambler and John Feinblatt will be a lot harder going forward.