Mumbai in the United States?

For the last few days the world has watched a massive terrorist attack going on in India. Once again Islamic extremists attacked innocent and unarmed people. From the initial reports, the goal of the murdering thugs was to kill 5000 people. As of this writing, it looks like they murdered 300.

Now the question we need to ask, Could it happen here?

The answer is that it already has.

“Excuse me? When did this happen?” you ask?

On March 16^th, 1916 Pancho Villa along with some 450 men crossed the border from Mexico and attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico.^[1] The raid killed 9 civilians, men and women, along with 8 US Army soldiers. The casualty rate probably would have been higher if it hadn’t been for the presence of Camp Furlong and the troops. This was the last time the United States suffered a ground style attack similar to what happened in Mumbai, India.

What would happen today if such an attack took place? For arguments sake, we will put the timing of the attack sometime in 2009 after Barack Hussein Obama takes office. Then there is the location of such an attack.

If the terrorists were to try hitting someplace in the South or Western United States, they would probably be shot to pieces by armed citizens within minutes. However, if they hit cities in the Northeast or West coast, they will do a lot of damage before the local swat teams can deal with them.

Why is this?

To answer this, let’s take New York City. NYC has very strict controls on the private ownership and carrying of guns. Basically, unless you are one of the “special people” you can’t have one in the city. The Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is militantly opposed to the private ownership of guns and has tried to shut down gun stores in other parts of the country^[2]. Of course this didn’t start with mayor Bloomberg. The Sullivan act has been on the books for almost 100 years.^[3]

There are about 35000 police in the NYC area. Not all are on duty at the same time and they are spread throughout the city on assorted duties. They are generally armed with a pistol and may have a shotgun, automatic rifle or submachine gun in their patrol cars. The officers also are issued body armor however not all wear it while on duty. The armor won’t stop a rifle bullet in any case.

Now the terrorists will be as well armed, trained and prepared as the ones that went wild in Mumbai. Rather then try to come ashore in a beach landing, they will probably sneak across the border. Their weapons and explosives will also be smuggled in the same way drugs are brought in. ^[4]

Unlike the Mumbai terrorists, these terrorists will have time to scope out their target areas personally. Once they are ready they will move into position and attack. One of their first targets will be any uniformed police officer they can see. The police will be their biggest threat. Then they will begin shooting anyone they can find.

The terrorists will have pretty much of a free hand for at least 15 minutes before police can arrive in any numbers. The carnage they will cause will probably be even greater then what happened in Mumbai. NYC is a very crowded city.

Now unlike the initial police response in Mumbai, Police in NYC will open fire as soon as they see a clear target. There is also the chance, however slim, that there will be armed citizens in the assaulted areas. Eventually the SWAT teams will come on site and deal with the terrorists, or at least try to.

One of the problems will be our own legal system. For years “Civil Rights” lawyers have been working to gut the security systems designed to protect people. Police SWAT teams might hesitate to kill terrorists as they appear. Unlike the military, police just are not psychologically prepared to just mow down the enemy. They’ll get over it very quickly, but in the back of each responding officer’s mind will be shooting review boards and the ACLU.

Now the attack is over and we are left dealing with the aftermath. Several things will probably happen. First, gun and ammunition sales will skyrocket. People will start carrying guns no matter what the local laws may say. This will drive certain political types absolutely bonkers. How DARE the peons think they have any rights to arm themselves?

Those politicians will soon find themselves out of office, possibly even forced to resign by their constituents. You will see a call to roll back gun control laws, and that will be fought tooth and nail by the pro-gun control lobbies nation wide. The gun control lobbies will probably be ignored and there is a better then even chance that police will not attempt to enforce gun control ordinances already on the books. Not wanting to face down hundreds of armed and angry citizens does tend to make LEO’s rethink a few things.

Consider this:

The attack in Mumbai could have been a dry run of sorts. A test to see what might happen if a small group of well armed and trained terrorists got loose in a city. We could see such an attack happen here. Such an attack probably would not be limited to one city, but perhaps several cities. Are we prepared for a full scale assault like what happened in India?

No, we aren’t. Oh the military has plans on dealing with this and Law Enforcement agencies also are trying to come up with contingency plans. The problem is the American people. We are not ready. If/when this type of attack happens, it will shock people beyond what they felt on 9/11. The death toll could be far worse then when the Towers collapsed.

Think about it. A group of terrorists get into a large office building, seal the exits and then go floor by floor slaughtering everyone they can find. This is just what they did at the Taj Mahal hotel. Hundreds of people could be murdered and the police simply couldn’t do anything to stop it short of a full dress military attack. If the terrorists have an RPG, that will slow the police response even further. (RPG’s will destroy any armored vehicles used to give the police cover in a counter attack)

Are you frightened yet? Good. You should be.

The new administration coming in, spent the last year talking about running away from Iraq, (Now no longer an issue since the present administration decided to go and win there), gutting the military, (25% cut in the middle of a war?), and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. The people about to take office refuse to consider that there are tens of millions of hostile Muslim who want to destroy the United States.

If the new administration guts our security systems the way they have said they would, and we get hit, it will spell the end of the Democratic party. Oh they will try to rule for the next 2 years, but the midterm elections will tear them apart. Do you think the new president will actually do anything like hunt down and destroy the people who send terrorist teams into the United States? If you do, I have a bridge and some swamp land you might be interested in.

Just some food for thought. Do NOT expect the governments, city, state or federal, to be there to protect you. They can’t and the courts have ruled that the police are not required to protect individuals. Police officer do try, but they can’t be everywhere, nor would we want them to be.

Basically we are on our own and our own government is determined to thwart us.

That is all.

Citations:
1) Pancho Villa Raids Columbus,
Pancho Villa’s Raid

2) Bloomberg signs 4 gun-control bills,
Bloomberg Cast as Enemy No. 1 of Gun Rights
Mayor’s Gun Talk Begets a Warning from Rifle Group

3) The Sullivan Act

4) Automatic weapons, AKA machineguns have been tightly regulated for decades and are not commonly available. The Webmaster