Sometimes one incident can put multiple things in perspective. Like yesterday. In West Memphis, Arkansas, two police officers were doing spot checks for drug runners on I-40. The two officers stopped a white van with Ohio plates, at which point two men jumped from the van and opened fire on the officers with AK-47s, killing both policemen. Later, the two guys from the van were killed in a separate shootout with police in what was described as a busy Wal-Mart parking lot.
Step back from this incident for a minute, and consider this: IF the ridiculous “war on drugs,” which has been a monumental failure by anyone’s measure, was a thing of the past; and/or IF an effective ban on assault weapons in the U.S. was in operation, those two police officers, as well as the two drug runners, would be alive right now. Moreover, shoppers in an American store’s parking lot would not have been caught in the middle of a northern Mexico style scene of mayhem. Policies have real-life consequences, which is why some of us “damn libbuls” support reasonable regulation of firearms, and an end to the drug wars.
This article appears in May 18-24, 2010.
Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of incompetence, corruption and human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless.
Prohibition has decimated generations and criminalized millions for a behavior which is entwined in human existence, and for what other purpose than to uphold the defunct and corrupt thinking of a minority of misguided, self-righteous Neo-Puritans and degenerate demagogues who wish nothing but unadulterated destruction on the rest of us.
Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.
By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model – the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous, ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved.
Many of us have now, finally, wised up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco, clearly two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those of you whose ignorant and irrational minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to the absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.
There is an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. If you are not capable of understanding this connection then maybe you’re using something far stronger than the rest of us. Anybody ‘halfway bright’, and who’s not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem, it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand.
No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, diminution of rights and liberties, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer, only an end to prohibition can do that. How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?
If you still support the kool aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, unemployment, foreclosed homes, and the complete loss of the rule of law and the Bill of Rights.
“A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.”
Abraham Lincoln
The only thing prohibition successfully does is prohibit regulation & taxation while turning even our schools and prisons into black markets for drugs. Regulation would mean the opposite!
At this time the PD is reporting the the suspects were armed with a pistol and a “long rifle”… Perhaps one should wait for all the facts before jumping on the ban Assault Weapons band wagon.
Any time you year a politician utter the phrase “Zero tolerance”, or “War on…” no matter what follows, it means that all common sense is going out the window and you are about to lose more of your civil rights.
Great posts guys.
I would object to the drug laws based mainly on human rights. It is not the government biz what I put into my body unless I begin to hurt other people.
The gun thing is a bit more tricky but banning guns only takes guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens. The criminals that Grooms speaks of are CRIMINALS so they will ignore the gun ban just like the other laws they were about to break. Grooms argument just has too many holes to be taken seriously by grown adults.
I am a bit up in the air about how powerful a weapon a citizen should be able to have. I am not keen seeing machinguns all over the place but every law abiding citizen over 18 should be able to have an assault rifle if they wanted one.
Do you truly think that if firearms were more regulated that these two criminals would not have guns? The ownership of firearms is what keeps these type people in check. If all the firearms were destroyed tomorrow, would you then support regulations for ball bats and pitchforks? Get a grip on the real world please.
No gun laws + no prohibition laws = safer world.