Reports of shots fired at downtown Dallas rally

You got it. In the sense of a violent response decreasing the sympathy (for some) and distracting from the original issue. Not in the sense of being a superpower, since the power dynamic is the reverse here.

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The link is to an article where someone in Portland, Oregon pulled a gun on a person attending the Black Lives Matters peaceful protest. I really think the horrible event in Texas is giving a green light to mentally unhinged people to target others.

Iā€™m not saying thereā€™s a correlation between the two events. However, I do believe the coals have been getting stoked for quite sometime to turn people against those who identify with the Black Lives Matter Organization; and that the violence in Texas is going to trigger anti-BLM / racist people to target those who do not look like themselves.

As a white male who recognizes the injustice and innequality suffered by minority groups of people, I feel lost on how to help push back against the violent, racist, and xenophobic actions they/you continuously get burdened with.
I need to start better applying what I learned when reading about William Lloyd Garrison.

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WTF?! I donā€™t think I want to live in ā€œReal Americaā€ if people like that are in it.

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All joking aside, the 2nd Amendment was written so that states could do what the Swiss do, that is keep reserve militias, and the federal government was not supposed to interfere with that right. They recalled how a couple of decades earlier the divorce from England was kicked off by the Crown confiscating stores of guns, so it was a personal memory and not just some abstract thing. The idea of the time was to emulate the Roman Republic, where citizens were expected to be militiamen.

Nowadays this lives on in the way each state has a reserve force in the national guard network. The national guards fulfil the role the old militia system was supposed to fill, and realistically the second amendment should be amended again to account for the needs of the state national guards.

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Well said.

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Dallas is not been a site for on of the recent killings. As for the police department itself, according to Radley Balko:

ā€œJust awful. And FWIW, the Dallas PD leadership is among the most transparent and forward-thinking in the country.ā€

Balkoā€™s beat is criminal justice and civil liberties and heā€™s very good on it. If he says theyā€™re transparent and forward-thinking theyā€™re transparent and forward thinking.

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Mark Evanier (on his blog) wrote:

Right now in the news, we have a couple of recent reports of black guys being killed by police officers. And we have reports of at least five police officers being killed last night by snipers. I am against all of that. That may seem like an obvious stance but as I prowl the 'net, I see a lot of people who are horrified by one or the other so I thought Iā€™d point out that you donā€™t have to take sides on this. You can be horrified by both. You donā€™t even have to decide which is worse.

Pretty much sums up my feelings right now.

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You might be in danger of being considered ā€œtoo whiteā€; like you are trying too hard and have something to hide.

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Exactly what I thought: I have had so many disputes with Americans who claim that you need the right to bear arms to ensure that state oppression can be resisted. This then, is your second amendment right, as it is now viewed in law rather than as it was written.

As it happens they are completely wrong anyway: just ask say an Afghan. Taking on state forces with small arms is painting a massive target on your back. And on your friends, your family, your childrenā€™s, your mourners backs. You need improvised explosive devices. Itā€™s all that states listen to. Constant harassment and fear of death, difficulties in resupplying.

Political disputes have no room for guns in a civilised world. Police should not carry weapons as a rule, they are a civilian force, not a paramilitary one, paramilitary police are always a disaster.

Taking guns out of politics doesnā€™t fix everything. Up north there are still places I feel very unwelcome, and there is racially charged graffiti all round. But while murals suggesting support for armed struggle still exist, and words can be vile, the walls arenā€™t painted at the corners to give the snipers a better shot.

Your second amendment is a disgrace which a civilised society cannot bear.

Too soon?

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People who donā€™t deserve the death penalty.

Someone who is stopped for a routine traffic violation.

A person not connected with that incident.

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Where will it stop, America? Iā€™m so sorry for you.

It can only get worse from here.

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These were my thoughts as well. Is it really that surprising that this might be some sort of retribution? They are literally, constantly, getting away with murder. Fringe elements will eventually take action. Congratulations Ā“murica, you did it again.

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I hope ā€œrealā€ America wears its brown pants, because it didnā€™t do too well the LAST two times they came after folks. #Revolution #CivilWar

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If only a good guy with a gun had been thereā€¦

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The correct count is 12 police shot, 5 police dead, 2 civilians shot.

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Iā€™m totally up to no good and have lots to hide, so thatā€™s probably fair.

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As of yesterday, they get away with murder <a href=ā€œhttp://killedbypolice.net/ā€œtarget=ā€_blankā€> three times a day.

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And you say that as though each and every police officer out there is a murder machine.

The black guy who got shot in his car? He had a family. You know what? Those cops that got shot had families, too. And theyā€™re not one whit less important than any other random person, black, white, brown, or otherwise.

Horror is an appropriate response to both.

Iā€™ve personally moved beyond horror. Iā€™m angry. Iā€™m angry at both. I want to do something about both.

And the public officials in Texas are a part of the reason that we as a nation canā€™t DO anything about this.

Horror is not enough anymore, for me.

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ka-ching :money_with_wings: :money_with_wings: :money_with_wings:

JACKPOT :moneybag: :moneybag: :moneybag:

the solution here will be more enforcement :money_mouth::money_mouth::money_mouth:

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