We are teetering closer to domestic conflict. Two shootings at protests yesterday.
The first was in Louisville, KY. A African American armed militia had planned a protest march through the city. The Three Percent (Neo-Nazi) armed militia then came to the city to “defend property.” Both groups said their words and protested, while heavily armed. The shooting occurred after an accidental weapon discharge amongst the African American militia ranks. Thankfully, I doesn’t sound like anyone was killed, but three people were shot (all members of that militia). If that accidentally discharge had hit a three percenter; we would probably be talking about casualties in the double digits right now, so thank the powers that be that it didn’t.
The second was in Austin, TX. There was a protest march going through the city streets. While they were crossing an intersection, a car approached at speed and attempted to get through the protest. One of the protesters was armed with an AK-47 and apparently fired shots at the driver. The driver then fired back (using a pistol maybe, I’m not sure about the weapon), and killed the protestor. Of course everyone else in the area scrambled and it turned into a chaotic mess, but thankfully no one else sustained series injuries it seems. I should note that Texas is both an “open carry” (meaning you can openly carry your weapon in public) and “stand your ground” (meaning that if reasonably threatened, you can legally use a gun to defend yourself or property (with lethal force if necessary I believe)) state.
Of course everyone is blaming everyone for the violence now. It’s just a sad, needless loss of life. I think everyone just needs to take a step back, breathe a little, find their minds, and come together to engage in civic discourse about the events of the past 3 months. I hope that calmer heads will save us from further conflict, but I fear what happens if we continue down this path.