...from The LawDog Files...
I've got people who have seen this kind of thing before telling me that the U.S.-Mexico border has turned into a classic Low Intensity Conflict. There are folks down there - both local law enforcement and citizens - who are buying camoflage clothing and asking around for advice regarding weapons and training in the use of said weapons.
...We've got the local citizenry getting fed up, while very vocal, very influential, very loud special interest groups have taken notice of the border problem, yet at the same time our Government refuses to take notice of same...
...If Congress and the Executive Branch don't get a grip on this thing right now, we're going to have a full-blown blood war on our hands with the next five to ten years.And, speaking from extensive personal experience, when your local good citizens start militarizing, you're a hellua lot closer to the five year mark than you are the ten.
Something to think about the next time you see the President spouting off about family values not stopping at the border, or some Chamber of Commerce-type blowhard whining that his supply of cheap labor would dry up if we finally got serious about protecting our borders. Thomas Friedman writes regularly in his columns about what he perceives to be the need to raise our gas prices up to European levels to force Americans to get serious about conservation and energy independence. You could make the same argument about the industries in which high numbers of illegals are employed -- get rid of them, by way of toughening up border security, and deal with the ensuing rise in prices of the goods and services coming from said industries.
Of course, this seems to be another of those "third rails" of American politics, along with Social Security -- touch it and you die politically. Of course, we all know what's behind it -- the growing, highly coveted Hispanic vote and the activist groups. Just as the blacks have grievance-mongers like the NAACP, the Hispanics have LULAC, La Raza (that's espanol for the race -- and people would call me a racist for daring to breach this subject), and more extreme groups like Aztlan, which advocate the re-conquest of the southwestern United States from Texas to California.
Now, as readers of this blog know, issues of arms are frequently discussed here...and here we go.
No doubt more than a few people would be aghast at the prospect of citizens in possession of military-style arms. (Hell, even my Ruger P89 with its 15-round magazines is regarded as a fraggin' "assault weapon" in some places!) We've all seen the usual suspects gnashing their teeth and wailing about "machine guns" (never mind the fact that the possession of a fully automatic weapon in this country is highly regulated), the vaunted .50-caliber rifle (you know, the one with which some malcontent fresh out of jihad school could shoot down a 747 or a B-52 at cruising speed and altitude *snort*) and the list goes on.
Well, looking at the LawDog's observations, one is left to ask -- just WHAT in the bloody hell are we supposed to do here? The Border Patrol is undermanned, underfunded and increasingly outgunned, year after year after year. Vast swaths of the budget are eaten by entitlements and pork. Some have suggested sending in the military to police the border, but then, again, there's the Hispanic voters who would spontaneously combust at even the thought of that, never mind the fact that the borders are open to ANYONE who manages to make it into Mexico, not just the natives looking for work. (Can you say "Middle Eastern terrorist with a suitcase nuke"? I knew you could!)
My question is: What would be so wrong with allowing civilians to possess military-style arms and defend the borders with them? There are those who would decry such a proposal as unworkable, but really, what's unworkable -- and intolerable -- is the status quo. .50-caliber rifles? Full-auto weapons? Yes, and yes -- maybe even both in one, with a few Browning M2s (that's .50-cal ma-sheeeeeen guns, for you novices out there) thrown in for the rows with the drug traffickers, coyotes and such. Grenade launchers? "How many you need, sir? Delivered today before 12, gratis!"
Maybe that's a bit extreme to some...but what are we going to be saying, for example, the morning after downtown Chicago is leveled and rendered uninhabitable for the next 500 years? What if laymen with military-level arms patrolling the border could prevent such a ghastly occurrence? Our future as a nation is at stake here. And if the federales won't let us acquire the means to defend our borders ourselves, then they need to get off their derrieres and pony up the dough to do it themselves -- as they are compelled to do anyway by the Constitution of the United States. I fear for the future...
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