The subtle culture of fear.
onsider the following new story from the Fox News Website on 4/21. Emphasis added for clarity:
A Turkish ship headed for New York - and stuffed with thousands of AK-47s and other Kalashnikov assault rifles - was seized en route in Italy, authorities said Tuesday.
The ship's deadly hoard of more than 7,500 terrorist-grade rifles and machine guns worth more than $6 million was discovered illegally hidden under piles of properly labeled arms in several massive cargo containers, Italian officials said.
The ship MS Adnan Bayraktar, which bears a Turkish flag, had come from the Romanian port of Constanta was on its way to a stopover in New York when the bust was made, the authorities said.
Documents showed the cargo containers were ultimately headed to a large U.S. company based in Georgia.
Officials refused to identify the business, citing security concerns and the ongoing investigation.
"We know that the [ship's] destination was North America, but we don't effectively know if that's where the [suspect] arms were going," one customs official told Italian state television.
The ship's cache of combat-style weapons was uncovered several days ago during a routine customs inspection at the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro in southern Italy, officials said. They said they didn't reveal the bust at the time because of the continuing probe.
The weapons were confiscated by the Italian authorities because of problems with the ship's customs forms. For example, the arms had been described on some of the forms as "common guns" instead of assault-style.
The smuggled firearms included the lightweight combat Kalashnikov rifles, AK-47 assault rifles and SKA and Mauser rifles, authorities said.
The weapons' bayonets were still affixed to them, as were cartridges that can hold up to 30 rounds, they said.
The AK-47s had been tampered with so they couldn't be rapidly fired, but the modification was one that could easily have been reversed, authorities said.
The assault weapons are a favorite with terrorists: Usama bin Laden sported one in the now-infamous footage of him taken after 9/11.
AK-47s also have been the weapon of choice for some infamous military-minded wackos, such as the teens who shot up Columbine HS in Littleton, Colo., in 1999.
The United States has banned such military-style semiautomatic weapons since 1994. The law preventing them from being manufactured, imported or sold here expires in September.
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Now, lets take a closer look at the terms used, and examine just a bit closer some of the perjorative references.
1. "deadly hoard" -- all guns are inanimate objects, not bioweapons. Presumedly, the packers of the cargo containers unloaded the guns before packing, therefore they cannot be a "deadly horde".
2. "terrorist grade" -- while it WOULD be nice to have things neatly labeled in this world, there really isn't a terrorist gradding system. On the other hand, maybe there *is* a group of government employees running around with rubber stamps, making determinations for the appropriateness of weapons by trade. I wonder if boxcutters are included in that classification. Don't boxcutters run afoul of OSHA regs too? I have some knitting needles at home, do I get to label them Terrorist Grade? When I make my next walking stick, will that be terrorist grade as well?
3. "Documents showed...Georgia...we don't effectively know..." Uh...they don't know, but they are guessing? My guess, they are headed for Baker Oregon. A lot of malcontents in Baker. Mean buggers. But are they licenced to buy terrorist grade weapons, or do they have to make due with the less-deadly .22-caliber hunting rifles that are only hooligan grade?
4. "..Assault weapons are a favorite with terrorists." Terrorists??? while that statement *might* be true, its somewhat myopic. Lets look at some of the major terrorist incidents here in the US, the land of gun ownership:
Oklahoma City: fertilizer bomb in a moving van.
Altanta Olympics: pipe bomb in a backpack
WTC attack #1: big bomb in a van
WTC attack #2: Airplanes. Oh, and boxcutters, mace, and handcuffs.
Oh, there have been nutjobs that went off, but in terms of terrorist incidents, we don't see much use of automatic weapons. HERE. Overseas it's a different issue.
5. "...military minded wackos....Columbine..." First off, does the term wacko belong in a serious news piece NOT involving Michael Jackson (with Jacko, wacko is the only adjective that makes sense)?
Now, for a bit of facts: the guns used at Columbine were not AK-47's. They used sawed off shotguns, a Tec-DC-9 (automatic handgun), and a Hi-tec 9mm rifle, and a LOT of bombs. At no point at the killing spree did the AK-47 come into play. However, the civilian version of the M-16 (Colt AR-15) was in use by the police who responded. While the AR-15 is in the correct hands, it would also be considered "terrorist grade"--just a bit of food for thought.
First, let me say that I am glad the guns didn't make it here. I am glad that the Italians were smart, clever, and observant. I don't want the guns here, not because of terrorists, but rather, we don't need a whole bunch of guns going to non-law abiding citizens who might abuse their ability to own and carry. One can reasonably assume that those guns were going in that direction. Having said that: guilt by association is the mark of incompetence. Lazy journalist is even worse.
Find the facts, inform the people, and they WILL make the right decision. Fox news would rather you not.
Your nation demands otherwise.
Love,
JJ (lynn's DH)