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ATF: Alabamians plotted to machine-gun Mexicans
Were these boys serious? Oh yes...
"Authorities said agents during the raids last week recovered 130 homemade hand grenades, a grenade launcher, about 70 hand grenades rigged to be fired from a rifle, a machine gun, a short-barrel shotgun and 2,500 rounds of ammunition in the raids."
Since the plot didn't come off, and since it exemplifies just about every single backward-redneck-southern-racist-cooter stereotype, I decided I can include it in my SYCMU series. It's certainly good news that authorities caught on to these guys -- the thing to remember is that it is exceedingly rare for such yahoos to be as well-organized and disciplined as Timothy McVeigh.
But here's a pretty profound question, I think: Did you think about this as a terrorism story? Because we usually don't think of a cell of whacked white racists as terrorists, precisely. But that's exactly what they are: The goal seemed to be to terrify Mexican immigrants and keep them away. If they had carried out the plan and killed even a handful of victims, it surely would have been effective.
3 comments:
If you're talking about this story in the context of a gun control debate, I think it's worth pointing out that grenades, grenade launchers, and machine guns are illegal and always have been. Your typical Alabama redneck can't just go down to Gander Mountain and buy any of these things.
That said, some military surplus rifles (AK-47, SKS, etc) have been converted to semi-auto (as opposed to full-auto "machine guns") and sold through normal legal channels. It is known in some circles how to convert these rifles back to their original full-auto configuration. It is also known that some of these rifles slip through the system without actually being converted to semi-auto. My dad had a FFL and sold a number of cheap converted Chinese SKS rifles to friends. One or two of them surprised their new owners by going full-auto when they expected semi-auto.
I suppose my point was more that this story is connected to America's gun culture, and not so much a commentary about any particular gun laws.
Chip (can't call him old since we are the same age ) sent me scrambling to figure our what SYCMU meant ( stuff you can't make up ), God I hate acronyms --does anyone else ??
But I digress ( stolen from the great humorist Max Shulmann ) doesn't anyone remember the Alamo???
This was a loyal American project, to get even with those blasted Mexican intruders, right after those loyal Americans finished pelting Jeff Gordon with beer cans for passing Dale Earnhardt in victories in NASCAR.
Gotta have priorities, right?
You're either for us or against us !!!!!! Where have we heard that before ????????????
4 years since the declaration of "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED " in Iraq.
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