The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Firearms United and the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of all4shooters.com.
Islamic terrorism strikes and sheds blood once again through the streets of Paris, causing 129 casualties and 325 wounded, 99 of which in critical conditions, in a quick string of coordinated attacks that reached their peak at the Bataclan concert hall, where those gathered there for a heavy metal music concert were hit with hand grenades and then executed one by one with full-automatic rifles.
As usual after a such a tragic attack, many questions arise. And yet, only a few manage to ask the most unpopular of them all: why, once again, the victims of those barbaric acts were unable to defend themselves?
The question comes once again from Firearms United, a worldwide confederation that fights to bring all the local and national-level organizations of shooters and gun owners together and strenghten their fight to see gun ownership and defensive carry recognized as a right, no matter how non-PC that may sound in many Countries.
Back in January, when Paris was again struck by islamic terrorism with the shooting at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly newspaper and with the siege at the Hyper Cacher supermarket, Firearms United publshed a picture that pointed out how Parisian citizens were only able to film with their mobiles, rather than reacting with guns, as the Kouachi brothers savagely executed the already wounded police officer Ahmed Merabet after shooting 12 dead and injuring 11 more at the Charlie Hebdo offices.
Back then, the picture cauised an uproar in the social networks world, and far beyond: particularly, the Italian chapter of the organization was stygmatized by several pacifist journalists and opinion-leaders on the Cyberspace, as well as on at least two national newspapers, and accused of "fueling fear" and of being a front for the "gun lobby attempting to sell some more handguns and shotguns".
Firearms United isn't easily scared by attacks and accusations, though, and in the wake of the new terror attack the organization rehearsed its proposals in multiple languages, also reminding the words of Ronald Kenneth Noble − the Secretary-General of INTERPOL from 2000 to 2014.
NOTE: on November 16th, early in the morning, said post was removed by Facebook from the pages of the Italian chapter of Firearms United for "violating the community standards". It is a clear case of censorship against free thought and free speech, hereby commented by the members of Firearms United - Italia:
« The anti-gun crowd immediately flocked our page to insult and threaten our followers and our administrators. After all it takes common sense to own firearms; they do not, and the reason why is clear. They didn't like our post concerning the Paris attacks, so they got it flagged for removal. Once again, they were bothered by the fact that a common sense post got over 250.000 individual views and was shared thousands of times. Too bad for them: we soldier on.»
Following the terror attacks of September 21st, 2013 − when a fire team from the Somali islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab stormed the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 63 and wounding 175 − Ronald Noble gave an extensive interview to the US-based ABC network, and declared the following:
« Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Col., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly? What I'm saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. It makes citizens question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, 'Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?' This is something that has to be discussed. For me it's a profound question. People are quick to say 'gun control, people shouldn't be armed,' etc., etc. I think they have to ask themselves: 'Where would you have wanted to be? In a city where there was gun control and no citizens armed if you're in a Westgate mall, or in a place like Denver or Texas?'»
It is our opinion that, despite how "extreme" or "radical" Firearms United itself and their ideas may sound to politically-correct European thinkers − who often boast their Weltanschauung as "morally and ethically superior" to all others − they're hardly wrong at all.
Despite the lessons learned (or supposedly learned) from the 2011 Utøya island shooting in Norway and the 2013 Westgate Mall attack, despite the declarations of the former Secretary-General of INTERPOL, all European governments and and the European Union itself didn't back away one little bit from attempts at even stricter gun control − despite the fact that laws afflicting the capabilities of honest citizens to own, carry and use firearms have shown not to affect the operational capabilities of terrorist groups and criminal organizations one little bit.
An attack like the one suffered by Paris just a couple of days ago is extremely hard, if not outright impossible, to contain if citizens are unable to offer at least some degree of armed resistance. It doesn't take a genius of military strategy to understand how hitting six or seven different spots over a wide metropolitan area is meant to stretch the capabilities of emergency services and law enforcement to the maximum, thus slowing down and hampering the effectiveness of their reaction when the attack itself reaches its peak − in this case, as it did with the slaughter of the Bataclan concert hall hostages.
With even more high-risk events coming up in the next months in Europe − the first and most important of them all being the Jubilee called by Pope Francis and scheduled to begin next December 8th in Rome − the Ministers of Interior and chiefs of Police all around Europe have a pretty good reason to be scared. The danger is real − and no Europe-wide ban on semi-automatic firearms, which is rumored to have been proposed by the French Minister of Internal Affairs and backed by many other politicians Europe-wide − will prevent it.
I thus join Firearms United in asking the national governments of Europe and the European Union to dramatically ease the laws that currently hamper the right of the European citizens to purchase, own and use guns − more specifically certain types of firearms and accessories such as handguns, semi-automatic centerfire rifles, military-style rifles, and high-capacity magazines. The failure of those laws in preventing the illegal use of firearms for criminal and terrorist purposes is now evident above and beyond any reasonable doubt.
At the same time, Europe and all individual European Countries should start working to a universal platform that would once and for all grant to their citizens the right to keep and bear arms for all purposes − not just hunting and sport shooting, but most important of all, self-defense! − all throughout the territory of the European Union. That's what we need to ensure our own safety and prevent further bloodshed.
For further information:
Firearms United
