Venezuela
Venezuela is floating on a sea of oil. But the socialist government’s corruption and mismanagement has forced most of the population into poverty. As a result, many of the people invading our southern border are fleeing from Venezuela.
Venezuelan dictator / president Nicolas Maduro ran against Edmundo Urrutia for President of Venezuela. Last Monday, Maduro formally announced that he had won the election with more than 51% of the vote. His opponent’s party claimed Urrutia won with more than 73% of the vote. (124% of the vote went to somebody! Even CNN would have difficulty explaining that one away.)
Ammoland reports that: “…when it became clear that he was going to lose to opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, Maduro sent armed government thugs into polling places with orders to stop the voting.”
How are Venezuelans protesting? In Caracas, hundreds of people marched through the streets, waving Venezuelan flags and chanting, “Liberty!” Across the country, videos show crowds banging pots.
Maduro responded that his government “knows how to confront this situation and defeat those who are violent.” CNN reports witnessing dozens of national guard soldiers in riot gear repressing the pot wielding protesters with tear gas and batons.
Pots are all Venezuelans have with which to protest.
In 2012, Venezuela banned private sales of firearms and ammunition and closed private gun shops. In 2013 Venezuela stopped issuing new firearm licenses and in 2017, the government banned the carrying of firearms in public places. (Inspiration for Kathy Hochul and the Concealed Carry Improvement Act.) The army, police, and certain groups trusted by the government are exempt from the ban and can buy firearms from state-owned manufacturers. The penalty for illegal firearm possession is twenty years imprisonment.
As Lee Williams said in Ammoland, “Every dictator knows that the first thing they must do to maintain their grip on power is ban civilian firearm ownership and then confiscate all the guns…Venezuela is the latest example of the need to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights. Rather than focusing solely on how they intend to disarm us, we should focus on why our politicians – including Harris – want a disarmed populace. It is certainly a question worthy of a response.”
Anti 2nd Amendment Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement supporting Maduro’s claims. “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.”
Apparently, Kamala Harris is following in Biden’s footsteps and is on the wrong side of every international issue. Move on. Nothing to see here.
But now, she may be on the wrong side of Biden Administration. Last Thursday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken finally acknowledged Gonzalez had won “the most votes” in the presidential election.
By the time you read this, who knows where Biden and Harris may be standing.
Other leaders were not so accommodating as Kamala Harris to Maduro. He has bowed to pressure from neighboring countries and called for an audit. (The audit will probably be as accurate as any audit of New York City voting.)
If faced with six more years of Maduro, we should see increased pressure on our southern border, to which “Border Czar” Kamala Harris will have to respond. (Or not…based on previous experience.)
Which leaves us with two reasons for the 2nd Amendment protections.
Socialist politicians fear an armed populace. Guns are like nuclear deterrence; you never want to use them but having them keeps the bad guys and gals at bay.
Those Venezuelans who will cross our border won’t all be law abiding people who just want to assimilate into the United States.
