Who Defines terrorism?

By: American Decency Staff

 

The New York Times editorial board, among many others, urges Americans to "…support reasonable efforts to close the so-called terror gap, which would make it harder for suspected terrorists to get their hands on a gun."

In the same editorial they go on to acknowledge the main argument against these measures, "Some critics say the government’s terror watch lists sweep up far too many innocent people. But the Feinstein bill allowed law enforcement officials to block a sale only after showing that a prospective gun buyer on the watch list was known or suspected to be involved in terrorism."

All of this is stated in an opinion piece entitled, "The NRA's Complicity in Terrorism." Then, a few scrolls of the mouse lower, one of the suggested articles at the bottom of the page is entitled, "Some Extremists Fire Guns and Other Extremists Promote Guns."

That opinion piece, by Nicholas Kristof, similarly calls for stricter legislation, but the kicker is where he compares American gun owners to radicalized Muslims.

"The lesson of history is that extremists on one side invariably empower extremists on the other.

"So by all means, Muslims around the world should stand up to their fanatics sowing hatred and intolerance — and we Americans should stand up to our own extremists doing just the same."

In the first article, the Times wonders why responsible American gun owners wouldn't want to keep guns out of the hands of those whom the government suspects of terrorism; the second accuses responsible American gun owners of being "just the same" as the terrorists whose hands they want to keep guns out of.

And of course, the Times is simply one of the more respected voices out of many saying the exact same thing.

Think I'm reading too much into this?

Here's an article from Newsweek, another widely respected news source, not-so-subtlely entitled "Right Wing Extremists are a Bigger Threat to America Than ISIS."

That article references an actual influential authority within the military explaining this great threat.

"According to Arie Perliger, director of terrorism studies at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the three ideologies within the violent American far-right are racist, anti-federalist and fundamentalist. Each has subgroups—the racists include white supremacy groups such as the KKK, neo-Nazis and skinheads, which can differ in subtle ways. The anti-federalists include militias, self-defined “patriot” groups and what are so-called “sovereign citizens,’’ who hold that they are legally bound only by their personal interpretation of common law and are otherwise not subject to federal, state or local laws. The fundamentalists are primarily Christian identity groups that believe the biblical war of good vs. evil is between descendants of Anglo-Saxon nations and all other ethnic groups. Tangential to the fundamentalists are the anti-abortion attackers, who also invoke religion as a foundational motive for their violence. These disparate groups of people—violent and nonviolent—pine for different versions of a highly idealized past.

(I'm going to take it for granted that none of our readers subscribe to the actual racist beliefs described in that paragraph. If you've opposed our president, supported local police, or spoken up for actually keeping track of who comes into our nation, you've probably been accused of being a bigot, and that's nonsense. But to avoid potential confusion from those unfamiliar with our work, let me make clear that all people are made in God's image and have equal value in His eyes and ours.)

To be fair, Newsweek's article does name some actual recent threats from a few of those groups. But, let's look again at what the NYT says Feinstein's bill would do:

"…[allow] law enforcement officials to block a sale… after showing that a prospective gun buyer… was known or suspected to be involved in terrorism."

How many conservatives do you think, by Perliger's definition in the Newsweek article, might be reasonably suspected of terrorism?

Are you part of a "patriot" group? Are you Christian? Are you pro-life? To an FBI or Homeland Security agent trained by Arie Perliger, you are looking very suspicious right about now.

Of course no one wants terrorists or national security threats to get their hands on tools which can cause such massive damage, but those same tools in the hands of a responsible gun owner can save lives, and in fact, they do every day.

The fact is, if we buy in to the New York Time's plea to let the government pick and choose who has the tools to defend themselves, simply by slapping a label of "suspicious" on them, we are advocating our own disarmament, particularly under today's liberal leadership.

Of course, we are increasingly realizing that there is, indeed, a developing narrative that systematically portrays conservative Christians as problematic – a people group (if you will), that necessitates being targeted – identified  in a similar way  as Islamic terrorists.

As we have witnessed over these last number of years, the liberal leadership in politics and media are masters at taking disastrous news stories and twisting them against their ideological enemies (conservatives, Christians).  Case in point:  the Orlando terrorist attack.   Though it was an Islamic terrorist that massacred 49 people, President Obama along with his ideologically driven counter parts (New York Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, etc.), turned the truth of the account on its head, finding traditional marriage proponents to be the real villains here.

What does this portend for Christians? Only God knows, but like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we know that if we face the fire, He will walk through it with us.

Still, we are the “salt and light” of the world.  God:  Please give us grace and wisdom to stand in these days of increasing opposition and deception.  Stand therefore brother and sister …. (Eph. 6:10-19)

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