There are plenty of jurisdictions in this country that are just about, if not more gun free than Paris. Jim Geraghty notes:
We watch chilling scenes like that and wonder whether a small group of Islamist terrorists could do the same here. One might figure that the much higher rate of gun ownership among Americans makes it likely that any attempted attack would face armed response from ordinary citizens much quicker. (Two policemen were among those killed in the Paris attack.)
But this was an attack on a satirical magazine, in the country’s biggest city and capital. How many people in media offices in New York City or Washington, D.C. own guns and carry them with them to work?
I have little doubt the Islamists are noting the non-reaction to brunch interruption in polite society in the blue model cities. A similar attack in New York City would be just as effective.
Je’ Suis Charlie.
The nose of the camel is under the tent….. :(
The situation in Paris between the city and its inner-ring suburbs is much more tense than anything we see here in the States. We do have our fair share of ethnic conflict, but they have ETHNIC CONFLICT.
As a former resident of the City of Lights, I can attest to asdf’s statement. Paris developed as a circle divided by La Seine river. It then grew outwards in each successive growing phase. In its current geographic state, Paris is pretty much safe at any hour of the day (if you are a man), except maybe the 19eme arrondissement (if you don’t know the language well). However, given that Paris is THE French hub of business, it means that everyone who is anyone in France wants to live there. That makes it extremely costly. Unlike other cities (i.e. NYC), there are no ghettoes inside Paris’s boundaries. Those were reserved for the outskirts of the city.
The banlieues were built much in the same way, and with the same idealism, as the housing project of NYC were. You have Paris, a city where one can hardly ever demolish the facade of a building, and every building looks like a historic building. Then the second you step out of the city limits, you have these huge skyscrapers of housing projects, where essentially all the minorities and poorer folks live. That is also where the majority of Muslim immigrants live. Think favelas in Rio. The cops will often retreat and treat those areas as no-man’s-lands. The PC french have got themselves quite the powder keg they are sitting on.
“The cops will often retreat and treat those areas as no-man’s-lands. ”
I say partially in jest, that’s nothing judicious use of napalm can’t fix…
Interesting points made by Oleg Volk on his blog:
An increasing number of massacres of unarmed civilians are now recorded. Most people who are able to hold a cell phone steadily enough to get a recognizable video would have no trouble holding a pistol or a carbine well enough to return fire on terrorists. And, with sound suppressors being essentially over the counter items in France, the attackers wouldn’t be able to see or hear the source all that well with the noise of their own guns masking it.
http://nblo.gs/12waBK
Interesting that the White House is calling this a terrorist attack. It seems if you yell “Allah Ackbar” in killing people you don’t work with, it’s Islamist terrorism. But if you do the same at Fort Hood with people you do work with, it’s workplace violence.
What’s next, Mad magazine? Cracked? As a cartoonist I’m deeply offended, but also armed. Also as a cartoonist I’m ashamed of the equivocating MSM that encourages such barbaric behavior because blood-dancing sells newspapers and media air-time…
Some say it’s just a matter of time, and maybe that is true. But I don’t think we are goig to face the kind of onslaught the French have faced over the past few decades.
The fact we don’t see terrorists attacking the US is – I think – less about “our guns” or opportunity and more about the rabidity of the believers. The fact is, there is plenty of opportunity to harm US people while in the USA. We’re an open society, and we tend to congregate in places together (malls, farmer’s markets, etc.).
So why is this not happening in great quantity here?
Motivation.
I suspect the openness of our society inoculates us to some extent. Potentially violent extremists of all ilk are probably here, but life for them in the USA is not that bad, even if their neighbors eat bacon.
There was a Simpson’s episode where one of the great Alt bands of the nineties guest-starred in a revival concert of some sort. Homer asked why they sucked after their first album, and the lead answered, “it’s hard to feel angst when you have a walk-in humidor in your mansion.”
The rest of the world calls us bland. But our so-called schisms are nothing compared to Europe or God-help-them the medieval barbarity of the Middle East.
I guess it’s hard to be too angry when poor is defined as only having a single 42″ flat-screen TV.
Anyway, I hope I’m right. I hope we’re still too mundane, and too comfortable, to grow our own seriously organized terror cells.
“I guess it’s hard to be too angry when poor is defined as only having a single 42″ flat-screen TV.”
And having to choose between having a Playbox 720 or an X-Station 5.
“But this was an attack on a satirical magazine, in the country’s biggest city and capital. How many people in media offices in New York City or Washington, D.C. own guns and carry them with them to work?”
Well, In DC, they’d have to work for Media Matters.
In NYC, I imagine some of the very few people who actually can get the “NYC” Toter’s Permission Slip are journalists.
So, in other words, very few people at all in either place.
Well, In DC, they’d have to work for Media Matters.
Zing!
Still wondering when the first Mumbai type attack hits the U.S. I think it is a question of when and not if.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks
Judging by the reactions to the Beltway sniper, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the Christopher Dorner rampage, American law enforcement are still not ready to deal with a Mumbai type attack.
Forget “law enforcement” — are you ready for such an event in your neighborhood?
It brings us back to similar discussions we had not long after 9/11 regarding the protection of “soft targets”. While terrorists may love to strike at symbols of American government and military might, they know they stand a much better chance of success if they go after unprotected gathering places for civilians.
Which leads me to believe that if we do see something like Mumbai here in the US, it’s going to be very similar to it. Perhaps a hotel, mall, plaza, etc. in a more urban area. There are just too many unarmed targets of opportunity and avenues of exfiltration to pass up.
While an attack in the suburbs isn’t impossible I only really see it happening as a means of evasion (similar to Boston), since I don’t see what they get out of roving through communities of single family homes to kill civilians. The hassle in raiding houses that can either be empty of occupants or filled with ones who are armed and know the terrain just can’t seem that appealing to them.
Can’t happen in the US. Two words: John McClane.
Yippie Kaiyay!
Just had exactly that conversation with co-workers at lunch. We agreed that it could possibly go down that way in NY, DC, San Francisco, etc…
In a residential area of Dallas, Indianapolis, etc… they would probably get in and do their dirty work – but would never make it back to their vehicle before the locals shot them to pieces.
The idiot in Austin shooting buildings got taken by one shot from a man holding two horses. This happened at 230 am .The man was a cop but a hell of a good shot. The cell phone video link to oleg was taken from a roof and the shooters were moving fast. It is a lot harder to shoot a fast moving target. The hunters know that. Most hunters that shoot moving targets are shotgun shooter used to leading.
Are we more protected? DC has lots of cops around and they react fast to public threats. Malls have the barricades to prevent vehicles getting inside. Once inside, yes a shooter can kill. We have several instances by lone shooters . Several times others either cops or citizens have used their own weapons and shot back at the shooter.
The shooting in the church in Colorado was taken down by a church member . Ms Aslam.
The worst body counts have been at schools where there are no others that are armed.
We may not have that many moslem fanatics shooters but we have enough of others so we are used to it.
NB……if there are going to be more planned assaults with REAL AK47s…watch out for BODY Armor. Perhaps a little more range time practicing those head shots..hey?