Co-written with TTAG reader One_if_by_land1776
Reuters reports that Missouri authorities are meeting two to three times a week to draw-up plans for riots if and when a grand jury no-bills Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the August 9 shooting death of Michael Brown. If Officer Darren Wilson is not charged, the Ferguson community’s previous response to the shooting indicates that the state is right to get its ducks in a row. They can expect a violent disruption of society locally, if not a full-scale riot spread far and wide, something akin to the 1992 LA (and beyond) riots. In those disturbances . . .
fifty-three people were killed and over 2,000 people were injured. Looters started more than 3,600 fires, setting 1,100 buildings ablaze, causing nearly $1 billion in damages. The violence didn’t end until the military was called in to stop the law-breakers using the ruling as an excuse to loot, kill, maim and set fires in their own backyard.
Regardless of the threat, most Americans hope justice will be served based upon a fair and factual hearing of the evidence. Members of the Ferguson community, all Americans, have the fundamental and inalienable right to peaceably petition their government if they disagree with the grand jury’s decision. But there is no legitimate, legal or moral excuse for “protesters” to harm innocent people, destroy property or steal a 52″ flat screen TV.
By the same token, Ferguson residents have every right (moral, legal and otherwise) to protect their lives and that of their family and neighbors from the violence that could erupt, to avoid becoming another Reginald Denny. If the officials of Ferguson are taking steps to plan for the (senseless) disruption of the peace, isn’t it prudent for the citizens of Ferguson to be doing the same?
Ferguson isn’t Los Angeles. Missouri isn’t California. Residents of the Show Me State don’t chafe under the yoke of a tyrannical government bent on civilian disarmament. If there is a riot, they will defend themselves and their property by force of arms. Should justifiable injury or death result, there will be an outcry. Except from Americans blessed with common sense, who understand both the intent and the value of the Second Amendment.