I have just watched the news on Virginia gun march and...

[Soph0571]

...I am so thankful that I live in a place where if that many heavily armed, camouflage wearing white men rocked up in one place, they would be considered a terroristic threat, kettled and arrested as they would almost definitely be carrying the gun in a way that would be in breach of their gun licence. Police would be identifying the people involved and following up to see if they were a threat to the wider community, and it is very likely they would referred to the Prevent programme, at a minimum, which works with radicalised individuals to stop them going to the point of no return in whatever their extremist agenda is.

The only purpose I can see from the whole debacle today is a wish to intimidate anyone who is not exactly like them, I mean you can protest what you fear is an erosion of your rights, without carrying an AK 47 to do it. Seems to me they like to say guns do not kill people, well at a glance millions of people buying and carrying weapons of human destruction without proper regulation very definitely kills people. But hey I am a Brit, we might have a problem with knife crime, but death by guns last year... 155. The USA... 40175. Of course the USA has a bigger population, but per 100,000 you guys sit at 12.21 and Britain sits at 0.23, with a homicide rate of 4.46 and 0.06 respectively. Looking at the 'march' today, those statistics make sense...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Well said, my dear Soph!

Your posts have a way of getting right to the heart of the matter!

Thank you!

[Soph0571]

2. Thanks Peggy :-)

[Skidmore]

3. Much going

around Twitter about how peaceful it was and how it wasn't racist because so many different peoples attended, and there was no ANTIFA, BLM, etc. there. It was meant to intimidate.

[Soph0571]

5. It was all about intimidation

Dangerous wankers to a one

[Popcorn Samurai]

12. Looks the same to me....

[Pepsidog]

18. Great post.

[MarcA]

27. Agreed. n/t

[saidsimplesimon]

14. Yes, they are very pathetic.

[gratuitous]

4. If they had an argument to make, they could bring it to the legislature

Instead, they go stomping around with their firearms. That's all ye need to know.

[Beartracks]

7. This. Yep, a gun tantrum. n/t

[Beartracks]

6. Relying on guns for "persuasion" means you've already lost the argument.

But then rightwingers don't care about being "right," they just care about what they call "winning" even if they have to be wrong to do it.

============

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. the solution to the gun problem is mandatory missiles

If everyone carried around their own personal arsenal of MIRVs (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle), no bad guy would dare attack! AR-15s are for shooting bottles and cans. Give me a backpack full of thermonuclear warheads and I'll save the children!

(We need to hurry and profit from this idea before we finish all the mass extinctions for profit. The world is burning up too fast for us to wait).

[gademocrat7]

9. Spot on,Spoh

[Warpy]

10. I understand it ias cosplay

and sort of a Ren Faire for violent white men with no brains. My sympathies are with the people of VA, who have to put up with this bullshit because Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy and because of the proximity to DC, where the cops would arrest them.

The outlook on guns is very different out here in the Wild West, where people outside the cities use them to scare away the occasional bears who wander in for an easy snack. Donning camo and prancing around with their bangbangs is a pretty foreign concept, most guys out here had to put up with enough of that when they were in the military.

I wish I had a magic wand to wave and turn these old boys into something a little less threatening, maybe Furries. Magic wands are fictional, alas, and self appointed armies of overarmed dimwits are not.

[Hstch05]

21. As a Richmonder

thanks for the sympathy. But today wasn't about RVA being the capital of the Confederacy or our proximity to DC. It was because it is also the state capital where the General Assembly is located, and last week our newly Democratic state senate passed three gun control bills which are now on their way to the house. This was intimidation, pure and simple, to terrify to house members not to pass the bills.
And if it wasn't in Virginia, it would have happened in any conservative state that tried to pass gun control legislation. We had people from all over here today, not just Virginians.

[cwydro]

32. This.

But people love to parade their south hate here.

You’ll see it fairly frequently unfortunately.

[Warpy]

34. Yes, they consiidered VA to be 100% theirs

and were trying to assert that fact against all recent evidence to the contrary.

I grew up next door and know the breed all too well

[Dukkha]

11. We know what the outcome would be

if it was the Black Panthers wanting to have a rally on MLK Day. Permits denied and protestors pepper sprayed, beaten with batons, and rounded up and detained by the national guard with armored vehicles. That's the most peaceful optimistic scenario of course.

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. This x 1000

[wnylib]

29. So true. Spot on.

[Skittles]

13. so, so sick of gun humpers

they are an embarrassment to America - lots of cowards in the "home of the brave"

[Evolve Dammit]

15. I wish we had those kind of numbers. We have a very paranoid right wing here, and as you see, they

are well-armed. Mostly after the "black man" became President, and the right wingers thought "he was comin' for our gunz." So the panic buying began. Certain models and ammunition in some calibers were hard to get, but eventually manufacturers supplied all their needs. They are very well-armed now, thanks to no restrictions.

What the future holds may be in part, whether enough of them want to fall behind the Orange One, to keep him and his grifter family in power. Of course, that would mean our country as the world knows it, would fall into a fascist dictatorship, and that is only assuming they would win. Most Yanks are armed, so that is not a foregone conclusion by any means. All that said, I think I'd rather be were you are, Brexit and all, at least for now. Our gun problem is uniquely American I'm afraid and we have to deal with it. Or will we? Cheers!

[Fla_Democrat]

16. I just got in from work...

I just got in from work, and haven't seen the news yet... How many shootings were there? Maybe it would be easier tyo just list the number of people dead, guessing high 3 digits, maybe 4?
Thousands of racists walking around with guns, surely it was a war zone.

Maybe I should check liveleak, brb....

[OldManTarHeel]

17. No Skirmishes or Incidents in Richmond Today Other than

a few misdemeanor arrests.

Virginia was very well prepared and took steps to isolate the majority of gun holding protestors.

[Ferrets are Cool]

19. I wish I lived in a place where this did not happen. But, I do.

[gab13by13]

22. I blame their moms for taking away their binkies too soon.

[Odoreida]

23. Hmm ...

[IronLionZion]

24. Military recruiters should have gotten each of them to sign up

and immediately ship them off to the Middle East.

[rickyhall]

25. College kids carrying signs signs and singing songs warrant the National Guard.

White Supremacist Thugs with guns, not so much.

[matt819]

26. It goes without saying

Has anyone else said this today?

If a large group of African American or Middle Eastern looking men did the exact same thing as these white supremacists did today, there would have been multiple deaths and claims of a terrorist attack on the US.

We are so fucked it's defies belief.

[Ken Newton]

28. Background anthems

What the gathering lacked was loud speakers playing hurdy-gurdy carnival music or a TV laugh-track.

[Initech]

30. If anything today, these morons proved why they should have their guns taken away.

They clearly can't be trusted with them.

[SQUEE]

33. Yes, the immense body count, and stacks of dead show how irresponsible they are.

I am amazed at the death toll.

[aikoaiko]

31. That no one died from gun violence at the march is a great disappointment to many gun controllers.

Of course, they could have protested without guns, but opening possessing firearms at the rally was itself of statement that law-abiding people can remain law-abiding even when carrying firearms.

You say their actions were to intimidate, but who did they intimidate?

[hunter]

35. If I had a gun fetish I'd go all out...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zardoz

The guys in this parade were pathetic.