No, I kinda was calling for them to get killed in cold blood. But I'll agree, that was perhaps a bit extreme.
I say show up in force and arrest and remove them (peaceably but firmly). They open fire? Napalm the sonsofbitches.
EDIT: And have plenty of cameras rolling during the arrest so it's clear who started what.
My feelings too. Announce very clearly that you're coming in and you expect them to go quietly. The rest is on them.
If these guys hadn't brought guns into it, I wouldn't even be posting about this today. But by bringing guns they are intentionally threatening anyone who tries to stop them. This is where it's crossed the line for me. You wanna protest, take over a government building? Go for it. My parents did that shit all the time in the 70s. They smoked some weed, broke in and sat in a drum circle until they were carried off to jail. You get on TV, the nation pays attention for a couple days, you say you did your duty as a free citizen to speak your mind, and everyone goes home.
Guns changes the equation entirely.
This is really unrelated to the "police misconduct" issue, jeez.
Is it really though? How can you not compare people actively waiving guns around and threatening violence, and the police reaction to that, versus all the unarmed shootings in the last few years? How can you not put those two things side by side and ask "what is the difference?"
Sure. The refuge isn't a dark street at night. It's not a inner city beat cop being asked to make a split second decision. But if the presence of a weapon has been an instigating factor for the police to overreact in the past, where is that overreaction right now? Why are there still no police on the scene to make sure those 20 guys with guns and stated willingness to use them don't endanger anyone? Because they're white and we take their word on it as good, upstanding "folksy" ranchers of the west?
I don't see how you can look at this situation and not draw comparisons to other, way less inflammatory situations where there was a body count before reporters even showed up. Why are white militias members allowed to act like this and there's
not a single law enforcement officer on the scene after two fucking days.