This is the reason the 2nd Amendment exists.
It acts as a deterrent for would be dictators and for when the government fails the people so egregiously that it needs to be overthrown.
If Egyptians were armed things would be a lot different.
This is the reason the 2nd Amendment exists.
It acts as a deterrent for would be dictators and for when the government fails the people so egregiously that it needs to be overthrown.
If Egyptians were armed things would be a lot different.
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Gotta disagree with guns being helpful in this case. First off, I own a cabinet full of guns, hate the ATF, have two CCWs and am all about repealing the 1934, 1968 and 1986 gun laws.
However, in this situation escalation by protestors would make the situation worse. Guns would not help in this kind of anti-gov protest. That’s not to say we shouldn’t have them and it’s not to say it’s not helpful in some situations.
But you’ve got a massvie Egyptian military and police force who could cut down protestors with ease. The government cannot resort to that first without loosing legitimacy and really plungnig the country into chaos. It would also undermine the protestors cause if they started killing people.
Using guns in this situation would give the gov the excuse they need to crackdown on what would become terrorists/insurgents/criminals etc.
While I understand and agree with your comments. I do not trust this AP video. The shooting scene is “off” it feels staged, the location and volume of the sound the direction of the people in the scene, the direction of the fall, the pick him up and move him instead of triage on site. It feels like a classic AP stringer staging much like we saw in Iraq, and Lebanon.
I would suggest that the burned vehicles and furniture, and the burning building footage might be out of context as well.
Wrong. First, the video above shows that the Egyptian govt has already resorted to shooting people. How much further could it be escalated? It all comes down to the question of whether you would rather live on your knees or die on your feet?
According to reporting available at this time, how many people have been shot? It’s less than 10 so far. Given the thousands, probably tens of thousands of protestors all over the country, that’s nothing. The police are still using clubs, riot shields, rubber bullets and tear gas.
If protestors started taking shots at police, the police would switch to live rounds and mow down the crowd. In the situation as it stands now, violence will only hurt the protestors.
However, if the gov in desparation resorted to shooting civilians, then it would be both justifiable and necessary. Until then, it will only undermine their cause and lead to a massive escalation that will likely end in the failure of protestors, which we dont want to see.
That was aimed-fire. Three feet to the right and the cameraman gets it. Anyhow it figures the Moslem Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah are armed, and will take their traditional proxy-role in the fighting once the determine how to carve up the prize.
Another story on it here. Looks like he was throwing rocks at the police. In the video you can see him stop and pick up another rock, then just before he’s shot he turns toward the police like he’s getting ready to throw it.
Throwing a rock = assault with a deadly weapon. While here in the US that probably wouldn’t result in the police shooting in that situation, I can’t call it unjustified, either – not without more information. Especially if there was a concern that he would get the rest of the mob to start throwing rocks.
The population should wait to escalate? Have to disagree with Chirol there.
If I were to see in my hometown what I see in this video, the old tried and true ‘levels of appropriate force’ words would no longer be in my vocabulary.
I will be SEVERELY disappointed in my fellow Americans if they resort to words in a situation like the one we see in Egypt.
So chirol, why do you have guns at all? Agents/representatives of the Egyptian government are shooting their own people, FFS! And your response is that they only shot a couple, so it’s no harm, no foul?
Peter: Your question is irrelevant to my comment and your comment clearly misrepresents what I said.
From all appearances, these are average citizens in the Egyptian culture – if you were to stop ten average Americans, would even one of them know what “triage” means, much less what it entails? I can likewise guarantee you that the response of those average Americans to someone being shot would be to grab him and get him out of there… assuming they were not already headed for the hills themselves.
Actually, I dare say it is a perfect representation of what you said – after all, if 10 people shot are not worth getting up-in-arms over, then it is obviously no harm, no foul.
Chirol,
How many people is it okay for the Government to murder before it is OK to resist?
“First they came for…”
As in Tunisia, today’s events in Egypt have supported my argument.