Police in Ferguson, Missouri (courtesy nydailynews.com)

“Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered the state National Guard to restore peace after a third straight night of violence in the St. Louis suburb rocked by protests over the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer,” businessweek.com reports. “Nixon’s decision came after organized groups attacked police officers with firearms and gasoline bombs last night, leading police to fire a barrage of tear gas into the streets. ‘Given these deliberate, coordinated and intensifying violent attacks on lives and property in Ferguson, I am directing the highly capable men and women of the Missouri National Guard to assist Colonel Ron Replogle and the Unified Command in restoring peace and order to this community,’ Nixon said in a statement.” Apparently . . .

“Molotov cocktails were thrown, there were shootings, looting, vandalism and other acts of violence that clearly appear not to have been spontaneous,” said Capt. Ron Johnson, of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. No police officers were injured, he said at a press conference early today.

So we’ve gone from militarized police response to a military response. Right answer?

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128 COMMENTS

  1. In my IRA, I just paced my order for 1,000 shares of TASR. Yes they make tasers, but they also make police body cameras. Whenever this ends, there will be a shift of federal $$ from militarizing po-po to equipping them digitially.

    • Does TASR have a controlling market share? Because there are at least half a dozen players currently in that space, and no barriers to market entry save for capital and connections.

      • think long-term. at least 12 months out. gotta give Congress time to dole out Homeland Security $$$ and then cities/towns to get grants. . . and orders to pick up. But yeah, this may be a sleeper.

        • Remember always that the market is pricing in today the results they’re expecting in two quarters.

          So if in two quarters, the market doesn’t see contracts and large orders coming into the pipeline, they’re going to take short-term profits and move on.

        • I get the play based on name recog, but even in the ‘electroshock weapons’ space there are other major players beyond TASER. There’s Cheetah, Stun Master, and Streetwise to name a few of the major competitors.

          A quick visit to Policeone or Galls will show some of the other players that are in the body-cam market. It’s not just TASER, and a properly connected darkhorse could arrive from nowhere, as the tech is completely rote.

          Just sayin’….

    • Yep. I wonder how they’ll feel about the police in a week after dealing with the guard. For all those here talking about militarization or police unprofessionalism this should be a useful datapoint.

      I think it’s a good thing. If “we” don’t want the police to be in armored vehicles with gas masks on, etc, we should not ask them to take on missions like this. Maybe the guard will be able to deal with the situation better. I hope it’s not another Kent State, though.

      • The Guard’s been deployed during several dangerous emergencies since Kent State and they haven’t, as far as I know, wrongfully killed a bunch of people since.

        I agree with this move and think it should’ve been done earlier. I’m against militarized police and believe widespread disorder should be taken care of by the troops. If they screw up, court martial them.

        No two weeks paid vacation.

        • Or maybe the guard should take police officer that shot him and turn him in for a trial by his peers.
          Because we all know, had any citizen do e this, they’d be arrested, held with no bail, fired from their job and name made public by the cops the very next day.

          Not get paid leave, a vacation and keep his job when it’s all blown over.

          I think that sounds like a better idea.

        • Sigh.

          I should probably give this up.

          “Unarmed” is mostly irrelevant. That’s NOT the critical parameter.

          The cop may have been wrong to shoot, but if that’s the case, it is NOT because the guy was unarmed.

          There are many reasons a cop, or any one of us, would be perfectly justified in shooting an “unarmed” man.

        • @jr

          Your right, being armed has little to do with it…when the guys on top of you beating you down or actively engaging in an attempt to harm you.

          It does matter when the other person is some distance from you.

    • Agreed. Play time is over kids.
      Although the protestors were given every chance to remain peaceful, it is now beyond the control of the police.
      They are about to get a dose of government.

    • So if the NG needs to be called out for this civil unrest, what’s the reason for militarizing the police?

      • Wearing camo and driving in an armored car doesn’t make you the military. The way you operate and work does.

        Let’s see, if this works maybe it’ll be a role that can be played more by the NG now that they’re not being deployed elsewhere.

        • …NG now that they’re not being deployed elsewhere.

          Say what? Africa. Iraq. Afghanistan. Syria. Ukraine.
          Pick one.
          Or more.

        • “Wearing camo and driving in an armored car doesn’t make you the military. The way you operate and work does.”

          I would agree with that. Which is why I posted the question… 3A issues aside.

    • The Missouri State National Guard are not LEO, rather they are military and under UCMJ. They can, however, perform LEO activities and it will not violate Posse Comitatus because they’re under the control, direction, and authority of the Governor so it’s State controlled, not Federal.

      Can any National Guard folks chime in?

    • It really was only a matter of time. Lets hope the situation in Ferguson gets resolved withought loss of life and in the most peaceful manner possible.

      • It is rather clear that someone, or a number of someones, are instigating the incidents of violence/looting/vandalism. They are not just spontaneously happening. A pattern that has been seen around the world throughout human history. Balkanization by region failed in America. Balkanization by race is percolating along quite nicely. And shearing off metro areas from the surrounding areas seems to be working well, too.

        The architects of the Soviet Union must be smiling in Hell.

  5. One neighborhood doesn’t comply with law and order, so the state government brings out the NG. This situation keeps punching more holes in the whole “the police will protect you” line I hear all the time from anti’s.

    • From Boston to Ferguson: Have We Reached a Tipping Point in the Police State?
      https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/from_boston_to_ferguson_have_we_reached_a_tipping_point_in_the_police_

      Excerpt:

      “Consider that it was just a little over a year ago that the city of Boston was locked down while police carried out a military-style manhunt for the suspects in the Boston Marathon explosion. At the time, Americans welcomed the city-wide lockdown, the routine invasion of their privacy, and the dismantling of every constitutional right intended to serve as a bulwark against government abuses.

      Fast forward 14 months, and Americans are shocked at the tactics being employed to quell citizen unrest in Ferguson, Missouri—a massive SWAT team, an armored personnel carrier, men in camouflage pointing heavy artillery at the crowd, smoke bombs and tear gas—where residents are outraged and in the streets in response to a recent police shooting of one of their own: a young, unarmed college-bound black teenager who had the misfortune of being in the wrong time at the wrong place.

      Here’s the problem, though, as I explain in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, in the American police state that now surrounds us, every time and every place is the wrong time and the wrong place, especially if you still believe you have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

      In the American police state, there is no longer such a thing as innocence. We are all potentially guilty, all potential criminals, all suspects waiting to be accused of a crime.”

      • in response to a recent police shooting of one of their own: a young, unarmed college-bound black teenager who had the misfortune of being in the wrong time at the wrong place.

        Given that politically correct spin could reading the whole article be worthwhile?

        • Who cares where he was supposedly going. He robbed a store, used his size to intimidate a smaller clerk…and then we are shocked that he made bad choices when confronted by an officer?

          The latest info and the autopsy suggest he was moving towards the officer when he was shot. But no one in Ferguson cares….let the looting continue! This is not about anything but taking back what they feel they were owed…Brown is an excuse for them (the looters).

        • BJ_Rex, I fear you’re right. And I have to wonder whether the looters are all “freelancers.”

  6. Right move? Probably. I’ve been pushing for this since night one of the riots. The Nat. Guard is much better trained for this kind of thing.

    • “Right move? Probably. I’ve been pushing for this since night one of the riots. The Nat. Guard is much better trained for this kind of thing.”/SARC

      FIFY

  7. I thought that’s what the guard was for? Technically the military can’t fire on civies so the guard is there to fill the gap. We have all seen the disaster cleanup commercials but you don’t need Blackhawks and guns to put up sand bags.

  8. I think it’s Nixons only move at this point, and probably should have been done sooner.
    I’m glad I live in a tiny bedroom town.

  9. I’m glad they’re bringing in the national guard because of all the looting and violence. I was out there last night for a bit, but went home before the violence and looting really kicked off. Majority of people are peaceful and don’t want this. When people starting looting and shooting, several protesters including myself wanted to bash their heads in, but we had to calm down because that wasn’t going to solve anything. Hopefully the national guard calms everything down. And people that were shooting down there were young teenagers in between 15-16.

    I just don’t want it to make me look bad because I’m a young black male that has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, 2 jobs, went to the Marines, trying to reenlist into the Army and it’s just sad how racism is still alive. I’ve never personally received any racism towards me, but it seems like when events like this happens, the hate shows itself and the thing we’re all humans and there is good and bad within every race

    • There sure is some race based hatred going on, but that doesn’t sound like you have a firm grip on who’s hating whom.

      • Agreed.

        The key to understanding this situation is isolating the exact source and reason(s) for the hate, and working on only those to resolve them. And if they’re from outside the community, exposing them as the frauds and criminals that they are.

    • You may share the same skin color as the people doing the looting but it sounds to me like you don’t share the same lifestyle or culture.

      Keep working hard and never get dragged down by the dregs of society around you.

    • Racism isn’t an anglo-saxon disease—there’s plenty to go around all over the world. Just take a look at Iraq or Gaza. Ferguson is a small town with a problem that its average citizens, including numbers of white people, banded together to try to seek answers for. The kid’s family or their neighbors didn’t start blaming “whitey”, they simply wanted answers to questions the local police were reluctant to give. Then the professional race-hucksters started showing up and everything went into the crapper. Sadly, the average citizens of Ferguson, people who have quite legitimate questions to ask of their local police and local government, have gotten steam-rollered by Rev. Al, the New Panthers, and 16 year old gang-bangers from inner St. Louis. If I was there, I’d be as pissed about what’s happening as you are. The kid may have been a thug, but his parent’s are neighbors aren’t. This all started because nobody would talk to them. Ferguson is a little town that deserves better than what it’s getting.

      • This didn’t happen because the information was withheld. That’s a load of crap.

        This happened because everyone was saying he was murdered in the street for being black. Hello…whenever you have apolice involved shooting it takes TIME to sort everything out. The family wanted it on their terms and that just played into the hucksters and race-baiters hand.

      • “they simply wanted answers to questions the local police were reluctant to give.”

        Wrong. They rioters started off with chants of “kill the police” from day one. Let’s not spin the rioters crimes into a fairy tale of just wanting an honest inquiry.

        Agitating for murderous violence against innocent men and women, the vast majority of whom in that town are of a different race from those doing the agitating, is irresponsible and criminal, a hate crime at that. The questions the police were “reluctant” to give included facts which had not and still have not been fully gathered, since a professional investigation takes time. Other facts already in their hands, such as the shooting officer’s name, were prudently withheld, as even when the wrong officer was named, credible death threats against him resulted.

        But hey, if you say all they want is answers, then why don’t the rioters turn their fury on the family itself? After all, they’re the ones with their own autopsy report, whose complete text they refuse to provide to the pubic. The family is content to leak a few drips and drabs of inconclusive and inflamatory information and then spew misleading conclusions based on selective data.

    • What exactly are you still protesting? The investigation is underway and it’s not being conducted in-house by the Ferguson P.D. The family even has its own parallel investigation going. This isn’t going to be swept under the rug. The rioters have pretty much ensured that the officer will be sacrificed at the alter of political correctness, regardless of what facts may emerge. So other than feeling giddy about being part of “history”, (read: lot of rabble rousing that just further gives the black community a self-inflicted black eye), what exactly is the purpose of still taking to the streets at this late stage?

      And as for racism, well, what white America takes away from this sickening display is that the black community, led by their self-appointed leaders in the form of Sharpton et.al., will eagerly and lawlessly rampage and resort to violence in response to what they perceive as lawless violence which, interestingly enough, the black community refuses to allow the law to address. Granted, that’s a highly negative view of the black community, but how is it “racism”, as opposed to a simple observation of events? Really, the black community has been known to riot over the local team winning a sports championship. At some point, people start regarding the black community as a violent subculture lying in wait for any easy excuse to riot for its own sake.

    • Look, don’t bash the “weekend warriors”. Many if not most have seen plenty of “action” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only that they are probably going in unarmed. Sure they will have rifles, but no ammo. The platoon leader will have his/her 9mm Beretta, probably one designated “sharpshooter” will have limited 5.56 ammo for their M-4, and probably one shotgun per platoon. They won’t have arrest authority. Very limited ROE.

      They are going for two reasons: #1 the Gov is doing something, and #2 at least the violent mob is required to go through people to loot. That takes a level of commitment by the looters that they usually don’t have which is the moral right thing. Plus those people you would have to go through are all in the same uniform, in an organized formation, and at least one officially has ammo. Not including several of the rednecks that brought their own unofficially to protect themselves.

      For the Guardsmen it is an unbelieveably difficult mission. During disaster relief, you are everyone’s hero and they want you there. In this situation, many don’t want you there, some may get hurt/shot/killed, you are called away from your job/family/life. If someone screws up and hurts a protester, you are lumed into the group so when you return, you are one of those loose cannons OFWGs who shot an “innocent black” exercising their constitutional right to gather/free speech, now you have to back to life/work probably with other African Americans.

      The Guardsmen need our prayers, and support. They deserve our respect.

    • What “FINALLY, SOME ACTION!”, are you referring to? The Missouri National Guard, or its antecedent, the Missouri Militia, has been active for the last TWO CENTURIES+, since at least August 21, 1808. Just because you hadn’t heard of Ferguson, MO before five minutes ago, nor thought of the Missouri National Guard, well, ever, before, doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy all along.

      The organization has fought valiantly in Indian campaigns, the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the Invasion of Panama, Desert Storm, and the Balkans.

      More recently, their military police units were activated immediately at the outset of the war on terrorism to secure Missouri’s commercial airports. Throughout the 2000s, the Missouri National Guard has seen repeated deployments to such hotspots as Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Egypt.

      Domestically, the MONG, the acronym it goes by, sent 2,000 soldiers to Louisiana to assist in the post-Hurricane Katrina aftermath. That activity included military police to help provide security, engineers to help clear debris and repair damaged areas, and transport units to bring in much needed supplies.

      Within Missouri, the MONG has been very busy on essentially an annual basis dealing with the effects of natural disasters, including flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, massive snowstorms, and deadly tornado responses. 2011 alone witnessed five MONG state emergency responses.

      For a group of citizen-soldiers that deploys so frequently, for such extended periods, away from their lives, careers, and families, to so many places, for such a wide array of missions, and sees so much “action”, I’d bet your typical MONG member has seen enough action to last him/her a lifetime. I’m sure they wish also that those whom they serve never had to endure all these “action” events in the first place.

  12. I love this quote from the New York Times coverage:

    On Sunday, civil rights organizations called on Gov. Jay Nixon to rescind the state of emergency and the curfew in Ferguson.

    The American Civil Liberties Union, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund said in a statement that the governor’s action “suspends the constitutional right to assemble by punishing the misdeeds of the few through the theft of constitutionally protected rights of the many.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/us/ferguson-missouri-protests.html?emc=edit_th_20140818&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=28348834&_r=0

    • “suspends the constitutional right to assemble by punishing the misdeeds of the few through the theft of constitutionally protected rights of the many.”

      That’s rich. Replace the word “assemble” with the words “keep and bear arms” and let’s get the official ACLU position on that.

    • You know, in all the riots and mayhem I’ve seen in urban areas of the US in my life, I cannot remember the ACLU ever contributing anything remotely useful in any of them, during or after the fact.

      There are legitimate and pressing legal issues to be litigated in most of these situations, but the ACLU always seems to miss these issues in pursuit of their agenda.

      • Ding. You nailed it. For each instance in which ACLU is part of a positive outcome there are 10 in which they are the ones creating and pushing a negative outcome, all agenda based.

  13. Sorry, who now thinks its a good idea for only the police unions to have guns?

    Some protestors sailed Molotov cocktails to agitate the police. The correct response is to just let the protestors provide their own protection.

  14. Here’s the elephant in the room: Now that the Natty Guard is in play, will there be attempts to confiscate legally owned and lawfully used firearms from the residents?

    • Yep, who they gonna visit first? Irrational, violence prone citizens? Or citizens openly defending their property and lives? Its a conundrathingy, indeed.

      • Sooo, this is why you check with your contacts when you hear a story brewin’. Before you post…

        I’ve since spoken with some friends who have told me the Natty Guard “force” is going to be just this side of token at this point. Just a few dozen to “defend” the command center. Depending on tonight’s ‘results’ there may be no more deployment, or a metric-fton of them who could actually control the city. The latter was what I assumed initially. My bad.

        • Well, after last night’s run I would say they are going to up that contingent of Guardsmen. As I have posited already, there are concealed instigators pushing this for reasons which have nothing to do with an 18 year old and a cop. Finding and killing them, quickly and quietly without taking credit for it would douse this faux revolution sh*t right quick like.

        • One would think that, but it hasn’t played out that way.

          Still basically coppers on the street, and after today’s confirmation that the ‘leaked’ story from the cop is not only the one he told, but supported by a bunch of witnesses, perhaps they have lost some momentum.

          If the Grand Jury fails to indict, things may change yet again. Based on what seems to be the most supported story, I can’t see how they would logically. Politically OTOH….

          • By leaving local cops in charge of this the political “leaders” are throwing gasoline on the fire. Got to wonder what, exactly, they think they are going to gain from this?

  15. I started a drinking game where I have to take a drink whenever TTAG complains about the militarization of police. But I had to quit because I would be drunk all day every day. I remember the old days when this blog talked about guns. Now it’s like MTV, no music and all drama.

    • It’s part of the politics of guns.

      We’re endlessly hearing from antis that only the police should have guns.

      When police stop gunning down unarmed citizens, then TTAG won’t have anything to report.

      • When did that happen? Got proof? And 6’4″ and 290 lbs is never going to be “unarmed”.

        • What would happen to you or me if we had shot someone 6 times including a head shot? Here in Kaliforniastan a head shot by us dumb “civilians” is a murder charge if the victim was unarmed. And probably a murder charge even if they were armed.

        • If you were white and the dead guy was a black ‘teenager’ then I’m sure there would have been plenty of problems, cop or not.

        • People seem to forget that there were two of them, and only one officer. Failure to obey a lawful order has consequences.

          If Brown had complied, if Brown had not gotten in a physical altercation with an officer, if Brown was not running towards the officer….(as evidenced in recent video released on CNN)

          …if.

          Unarmed does not mean harmless. The officer has a duty to retain control of his weapon, any threat to that is a direct threat to his life and has to treated as such.

        • Unarmed does not mean harmless.

          Yup. The deceased is reportedly in the “6-4, 290lbs” range. I happen to be in that size class myself, and one of the things you learn when you’re that size is that the bigger you are, the quicker cops are to get to ‘not ####ing around’.

    • If you try watching some actual news, you’ll discover it is not just TTAG. A lot of the money spent on militarization should have been spent on body cameras and audio recorders.

  16. Hopefully the National Guard handles this objectively without any racial/local bias unlike the cops whose “authoritay” was disrespected.

  17. The protests are over and it’s just a riot now. It’s finally time to clean this mess up and work things out going forward.

  18. So, exactly when will some governor deploy the National Guard against a police force for their part in intigating or perpetuating a riot and at the very least for their incompetence in failing to preserve the peace?

    The citizens at the bottom of the ladder are only legally able to respond by peaceful protests, which are IGNORED, and their occasional votes, which are either STOLEN or DISCARDED, while the police are permitted to destroy lives with near immunity from prosecution.

    We never seem to hear about any officers standing down and saying , “You know what, these people have a right to be pissed.” Obviously, the looting of stores is no solution since the people SHOULD be confining themselves to engaging with the police, who are the strong-arm representation of the “system”, but as the disenfranchisement by politicians continues unabated, the percentage of those at the bottom will continue to grow as well as a force necessary to keep all that riff-raff in line with the abuse they are designed to take.

    Contrast that scenario with over 100 years ago, where there were only a couple hundred murders occurring each year across the whole country and the citizens, themselves, were a compulsory part of the enforcement process.

    • Bit premature for some of those sentiments. Let’s wait to see what actually happened, lest we become Al Sharptons.

    • No governor would have to deploy the national guard against the police. All they have to do is tell the police to stay home (or in their building, whatever). That’s what happened here for awhile. Instead of having the local police trying to keep order they brought in the ‘Highway Patrol’ and had the regular cops stand down while the Captain in charge of the HP went around hugging thugs.

      In a move that should have surprised absolutely no one, this managed to allow the violence and looting to escalate further to the point where now they have to call in the freakin’ national guard.

      • In scenarios like this, historically The President has activated the Natty Guard in opposition to not only the police, but the Governor of the state.

    • Can someone please explain to me what “peaceful protests” have to do with figuring out if this was a good shoot or a bad shoot?

      From over here, it looks like the “peaceful protests” are just a cover for the looters who want to make war on civilization. Which makes the “peaceful protestors” just the nonviolent side of a very violent coin.

      Pour la canaille, la mitraille.

    • Only a few hundred murders 100 years ago? That was 1914 and I believe by then that murder rate exceeded what it is today but don’t let facts get in the way of your opinion. You are right about one thing. If this happened in the St Louis region in 1914 the citizen militia would have moved in to take control. Do you know who the St Louis area’s citizens’ militia was back then? Here is a hint: they wore white bed sheets and hoods. Judging by the virtual mob I have observed in these pages since the rioting began I see no reason to believe that the 2014 edition of a citizen militia would have behaved differently even if it was a nice PC rainbow coalition. Another name for a such an organization is a lynch mob.

  19. Think they should send the bill for any damages, as well as salary for all the police and National Guard, to Al Sharpton and msnbc.

  20. Come on, if you’re going to shoot at the cops, at least HIT your target! I have absolutely no respect for the looters, but this kind of Unconstitutional assault should be met with direct resistance from We the People. This is why we have the Second Amendment, folks.

    • ^^ this guy gets it.

      The militia should be there backing the people up.

      I don’t want to hear why aren’t I there then, I’m active duty.

      • … direct resistance from We the People.

        But his English literacy skilz aren’t too great. That stuff makes us sound like automatons, repeating Far Right rants. Bloomberg gonna love him some “We the People.”

  21. Boo-hoo, the police are too violent and look too scary!!

    Boo-hoo, the National Guard is sent in!!

    Nothing like really thoughtful armchair quarterbacking that is now simply willfully distorting facts to push an anti-cop agenda.

    We have a few hundred people destroying property and engaging in violent attacks on police. They must be stopped, period.

    So kit up and come to Ferguson to volunteer your expert services or at this point shut up with the whining.

    • The fact that the cop who shot the 18 year old was probably justified doesn’t change my opinion that these operator cops are too militarized. You can’t just manhandle reporters because you don’t want to be filmed, you don’t tear gas all the protesters (I know many had it coming). This situation was handled poorly (overagressivly) and escalated this situation to where it is now.

      • Don’t count on hearing the real story about those “manhandled” reporters from the media.

        If you’re in a business that wants you to leave, you don’t get to stay and trespass just because you have reporter’s credentials.

        • There are additional reports of reporters being targeted besides just those two from the McDonalds.

          Not sure how those stories fit in or if they are truthful, etc. But, it’s not just the McDonald’s bit.

  22. Yep right answer. Glad I don’t live in Ferguson. This could easily happen where I live south of Chicago. The thug mentality is strong around here. From an OFWG married to a beautiful black woman with 2 large caramel colored sons…who DON’T steal, rob or belong to gangs.

  23. This kind of police hostility have been visited on minority community for generations. “Police brutality” was a hot topic in the 50’s and 60’s, although if you were a middle-class white professional you never saw it and, in all probability, sort of thanked the po-po for keeping “those” people off your turff. It took awhile, but now the head bashing and kicked-in doors has made it to the middle classes. Now we have a new generation of cops who see everyone as potential criminal. The video of the 20-something Ferguson cop all kitted out in cammo ordering the news-media out of a McDonald’s is a good example of just how things have changed. It’s one thing to be abusive to people who are marginalized and lack political influence, it’s quite another to act like you’re in Fallujah and start pushing around people who have the phone numbers of politicians who can make you look like a fool in front of millions of people. Is that fair? Nope. It is real? Yep. Will their be consequences because of it? Watch this space.

    • You obviously weren’t in Chicago in 1968 when CPD manhandled and through in jail a British reporter by the name of Winston Churchill — the grandson of that Winston Churchill.

  24. “…that clearly appear not to have been spontaneous…”

    so…. no amateurish inflammatory YouTube video caused these actions?…..

    • The lazy thinkers are all for polarizing the issue into “Eff the Police” and “They’re All Animals,” but they’re about as helpful as tits on a bull.

  26. Time for a history lesson you should have had and you won’t like. Get it out your head that the Second Amendment was designed to protect the country from the Federal Government. The reason they didn’t want a standing Army was the fear of what would come to be called Bonapartism or the fear of the man on horseback, say an Aaron Burr. They would never have conceived of the modern administrative state. However, even the Founding Fathers figured out that the country needed a standing army if for nothing else to train a competent citizen’s army after abject failure of the militia based armies that fought in the Napoleonic Wars aka the War of 1812. I have no idea how they would have designed the system had they considered the possibility of the government becoming so complex that it would require a massive unelected bureaucracy to run it.

    Ok, you faux Libertarians let’s take away all the patrol rifles and Glocks from the “militarized” police leaving them with 870 and S&W 686s. You know what you have just done? Semiautomatic rifles and pistols would be no longer be in common use and therefore subject to restriction. Every idea proposed by faux Libertarians always ends up enhancing the power of the government and restricting the true rights of Americans. Faux Libertarians are just the Progressive’s useful idiots.

    • “Ok, you faux Libertarians let’s take away all the patrol rifles and Glocks from the “militarized” police leaving them with 870 and S&W 686s.”

      Who exactly has said that on this board?

      • No one has said it but if you understand the mean of “in common use” in Heller than you would realize that taking away the so-called military weapons from the police would removes rifles like AR-15s from common use.

  27. Well I’m about to get sick
    From watchin’ my TV
    Been checkin’ out the news
    Till my eyeballs fail to see
    I mean to say that every day
    Is just another rotten mess
    (Sure ’nuff!)
    And when it’s gonna change, my friend
    Is anybody’s guess (Well!) (Woa!)
    So I’m
    Watchin’ and I’m a-waitin’
    I’m hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’
    There’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    There’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    Wednesday I watched the riot
    I seen the cops out on the street
    I watched ’em throwin’ rocks & stuff & chokin’
    In the heat
    I listen to reports
    ‘Bout the whisky passin’ around
    I seen the smoke & fire
    And the market burnin’ down
    I watched while everybody
    On his street would take a turn
    To stomp & smash & bash & crash & slash & bust & burn
    I’m a-watchin’ and I’m a-waitin’
    But I’m hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’
    There’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day
    There’s no way to delay
    That trouble comin’ every day

    Watchin’ and I’m a-waitin’
    I’m hopin’ for the best
    Even think I’ll go to prayin’
    Every time I hear ’em sayin’, oh, yeah . . .

  28. Does anyone have links to photographs, videos, or even first hand eyewitness accounts of Molotovs being deployed? I watched multiple live streams last night and saw nothing like that. Some of the people who were involved in the earliest conflicts said that there were no Molotovs and that they could hear a few gunshots in the distance. A few officers let slip that it wasn’t believed that the shots were against officers, but non-cop against non-cop. I didn’t get to review the video yet but I believe a man who was in the thick of the early action said that there were no Molotovs and the police began clearing protesters hours before the curfew. This is supposedly what riled people up. He also showed a Live Stream broadcaster some of his own video from the earlier action.

    I don’t doubt that Molotovs could have been thrown in the earlier action. I don’t doubt that shots could have been fired by non-cops. However, I haven’t seen any real evidence that these things occurred. What was being said at the news conference last night didn’t seem to match some of the things that I had been watching for hours before.

    I would really appreciate seeing or hearing real evidence that Molotov Cocktails where thrown at police and/or police were fired upon. Absent such, it’s my opinion that these claims are hype and pretext. There were rumors but no evidence. There were a whole lot of people in Ferguson last night shooting video and some streaming live. I find it difficult to believe that nobody captured evidence of Molotovs or shooting at police. Now, if some decent proof comes to light then good. But, until then I call BS.

    • You are full of crap, John in Ohio. Photos and videos prove it.

      Tell you what, you talk a big game, come on over here and head to Ferguson around 11:30 p.m. and please help the police with your expert advice.

      • I am inviting anyone to post links to videos, photographs, and/or eyewitness accounts. I cannot post things that I don’t have. I was clear that I don’t doubt it could have happened but I haven’t seen evidence of it. The videos I have seen are on LiveStream. AFAIK, they are archived from last night and you are free to spend the time looking through them. I already watched multiple feeds live last night.

        I won’t continue to engage you as you have proven yourself to be an instigator, hypocrite, and blow-hard. You know very well that I can’t post videos to prove anything because I am asserting a negative; I haven’t yet seen evidence of these actions and am curious enough to see some.

        We have the same Creator and one day you and I will stand before him to account for our choices. I remind myself of that each time that I interact with you. I wish for you joy, wisdom, and good health, Paul T. McCain.

        • Additional: I sincerely offer to walk with you, side by side, to witness the activities in Ferguson. I’m impoverished in Ohio so if you want to pay expenses for me, my sea bag, and a sidearm to travel there and I bunk at your place, I will stand right beside you to observe and report what is actually going on. If I had the funds, I would pay all expenses myself. I am serious.

        • John, there is this thing called “google” you can use. But I doubt some armchair ninja in Ohio who harbors all sorts of tin-foil hat delusions will believe anything anyone shows him.

          And if you are actually concerned about standing before your maker, then stop bearing false witness and calling people liars who are here and know what is going on.

        • I have used google and startpage but came up with nothing definitive from last night. I didn’t sift through many videos because this netbook is slow. Please post a link or two for evidence from last night if you have them.

        • “John, there is this thing called “google””

          Be careful of relying on Google or any major search engine, as it will bias results towards your previous searches. This means two people can Google something and get different results depending on what Google thinks you like to see.

    • To be clear for all, I have seen a photo with Molotovs from previous nights and I don’t dispute that they were used at least then. What bothers me is about last night (Sunday night). It is being reported that Molotovs were thrown and police were fired upon (?) last night and I just haven’t yet seen evidence of it. I would prefer that there was evidence somewhere that the main pretext for calling in the National Guard was documented and not just based upon rumors going around last night. Again, I don’t dispute that it could have happened last night but I didn’t see evidence of it yet.

  30. Is a military response the right answer? Absolutely.

    The rioters are not protesting anymore. They’re looting and pillaging as if there were no laws. They are stealing whatever they want from wherever they want, and no one is stopping them. They are anarchists. The military needs to come into Ferguson, and shoot on sight any looter or rioter.

    Believe me (because I have seen it in other riots around the country), the violence will stop when the word gets out that one or two looters have been shot and killed. Things will return to normal (peaceful) within a couple days.

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