'Vigilantes' with 'illegal guns' do to Boko Haram what government cannot

http://www.examiner.com/article/vigilantes-with-illegal-guns-do-to-boko-hara
m-what-government-cannot

A citizen's militia responds to threats to their community. As is typical in
these countries, the government only responds to threats to its authority,
not to threats to public safety, leaving the people to defend themselves
against criminals and terrorists as best they can.

"Residents of three villages in northeastern Nigeria took security intotheir own hands this week, repelling attacks by Boko Haram insurgents andkilling more than 200 of them, residents and officials said," CNN reportedlast Thursday. "When news of the attack filtered out, people trooped outfrom nearby villages carrying arms."

Where did they get the arms from? As documented in this correspondent'srecent Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership report, not only isthere no "legal" right to private gun ownership, but "civilians are notallowed to possess machine-guns, military rifles and handguns . privatepossession of semi-automatic assault weapons [and] private possession ofhandguns (pistols and revolvers) is prohibited."

Add to that licensing, background checks and registration for what they areallowed to own, a prohibition on concealed carry and stiff criminalpenalties for gun law violations, and Nigeria is one of those places wherethe "law-abiding" are at extreme disadvantage.

In spite of that, GunPolicy.org, a project of the Sydney School of PublicHealth, which, while decidedly anti-gun, nonetheless provides instructiveand useful compilations of gun laws from around the globe, estimates overone million "unlawfully held" guns.

That means the villagers who defended themselves from the terrorists werenot just "gun criminals" using "illegal guns," they also qualified for oneof the Big Lie pejoratives "progressive" anti-gunners use to disparage armedself-defense: They were also "vigilantes."

Meanwhile, where were those authorized by the government as the "Only Ones"trained and disciplined and moral enough to be trusted with guns?

First of all, in Nigeria, when seconds count, the authorities are only hoursor days away.

"The military cannot be in every village at the same time," governmentapologist Mike Omeri offered as an excuse, right after calling the villagersthat other V-word.

And what are they doing where they can be? Trying to kill each other, it
would appear.

"Nigerian soldiers upset over the deaths of their colleagues opened fire ona convoy carrying a military commander," the report relates.

"Soldiers have been angry with the poor treatment they receive from theirsuperiors in terms of inadequate arms and poor allowances in their combatagainst Boko Haram," the story quoted from a military source. "The death oftheir colleagues was too much for them to bear."

Once more, government, which has the power to deny human rights and enforce
disarmament edicts with "legal" guns, is at the root of the problem. And
moms (like the ones in the above photo) demanding an end to violence and
terror notwithstanding, only determined people with guns actually have a
chance to make that happen.

By Epictetus