Several Acts Of Domestic Terrorism In The US - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... These attacks bear a striking resemblance to those elsewhere in the world where if the disgruntled are unable to effectively vent their anger on the source of their hatred they will do so against loathed symbols and kill as many people as possible whether innocent or not to intimidate society at large hoping to hasten the change they desire. To me, such violence is simply the extreme manifestation of a deep distrust of authority. The Constitution was written on the basis citizens had to be protected from government abuse and each other and hence the 4th Amendment was written giving the right to bear arms which ironically encourages violence to take place. “Alleged LAX shooter referenced antigovernment manifesto”. A second SPLC news item discusses the recent LAX Airport shooting by Paul Ciancia. He focused his anti-government sentiment on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Although not known to be an actual member of the “Patriot” movement the manifest Ciancia was carrying seems to indicate that his views paralleled theirs, namely that the DHS with its’ intelligence-gathering capability is a collaborator in a global elite plot to set up a New World Order, a socialist world government which would crush American freedoms including the right to bear arms. This is obviously an extreme manifestation of a deep-seated fear that, for example, proposed Democratic firearm limitation legislation represents government overreaching against 4th Amendment right to bear arms freedom....
Although Ciancia’s anti government motivation seems similar to other US domestic terrorism attacks, his execution differs in at least one respect. He appeared bent on randomly shooting as many TSA officers as possible, but he tried to avoid targeting the traveling public. 3) Finally in the third news item, “SPLC victorious against Alabama Anti Immigrant Law” the SPLC boasts that along with other civil rights groups, by agreement with the state under threat of a federal lawsuit, it has successfully blocked key provisions of the Alabama law it considers anti immigrant, draconian and unconstitutional. The provisions blocked include police holding people during a traffic stop solely to check immigration status, requiring schools to verify the immigration status of newly enrolled K-12 students, criminalizing the solicitation of work bu unauthorized immigrants, a provision that makes it a crime to provide a ride to undocumented immigrants or to rent to them, a provision that infringed on the ability of individuals to contract with someone who was undocumented and a provision that criminalized failing to register one’s immigration status. The SPLC also seeks to ensure police do not engage in racial profiling, immigrants have equal access to services in the state and Congress passes meaningful immigration reform. I believe legislators in Alabama and other states were responding to public pressure to pass such anti immigrant laws because of the belief that immigrants’ acceptance of menial low paying jobs restricted peoples’ access to employment opportunities and that immigrants, especially Mexican I near the border, were involved in drug trafficking and other criminal ...Download file to see next pagesRead More