Good news everybody! Three potential mass shootings foiled!
(CNN) Authorities this weekend announced they had foiled three potential mass shootings after arresting three men in different states who expressed interest in or threatened to carry them out.
All three cases were brought to authorities’ attention thanks to tips from the public.
In the story we learn about these men, how the public told the police about them, what they allegedly said on social media and in text messages and what they were arrested for.
They are:
James Patrick Reardon, Ohio.
Tristan Scott Wix, Florida.
Brandon Wagshol, Connecticut
This is a good thing. So, how will the guns everywhere crowd respond? By not reading the article and screaming about “Pre-crime! 2nd Amendment rights! 400 rounds is not a lot of ammunition!”
And there will also be people who understand both the need to protect the safety of the public and people’s rights and civil liberties.
Read the article, LINK there are some questions unanswered, and there will be challenges in these cases that is to be expected. It’s part of due process and that’s important.
What to note is the gun people will want to push a slippery slope idea when it comes to government and free speech. (What’s the opposite of a slippery slope? Grippy floor?)
What they won’t want to talk about is the flood of guns that we are soaking in. That the three suspect’s already possessed. The gun lobby wants us to dismiss arsenals as no-big deal.
The gun lobby will want to flip this story to make it a free speech issue. The lawyers for these men will want their case to turn on what they said in their threats and how they are being singled out just because they are white men. “They haven’t shot anyone yet!” There will be discussions about threats, true threats and the meaning of each word.
It was a joke! They didn’t really mean to scare anyone!” They will also rightly demand to know if these men had due process. “When will they get their seized property back?”
The NRA doesn’t care about protecting these people’s speech, but they will use that to set the suspects free without addressing the combination of what they said and the means they had to carry out those threats tomorrow.
If these guys were in another country and making these threats it would be different. They wouldn’t have the means, even if they had the motive and opportunity. It’s about the guns! They make the threats different.
