Late last week FBI special agent Ed Reinhold gave an interview regarding Mohammed Abdulazeez, the Chattanoogan who killed five federal government employees July 16th, 2015.
Mr. Abdulazeez made an attack on military targets and so cannot be described as a terrorist. He shot up the Lee Highway recruiting center and the Navy Operational Support Center on Amnicola Highway. But his motives were like those of hundreds of other young men who target innocent people in markets, hotels, restaurants and malls around the world.
By David Tulis
Mr. Reinhold lamented that people who were aware of Mr. Abdulazeez’ growing Muslim radicalization did not tattle on him to the FBI.
“I think the most frustrating thing for me personally is the fact that individuals, their behavior will change. People will become aware that there’s something different that they may be becoming radicalized and they failed to report it. That’s the most frustrating thing for me and law enforcement.
Mr. Reinhold laments that even had Mr. Abdulazeez been reported he might possibly have been free to act unimpeded. “I don’t know it could have been prevented, but it might have been prevented if someone who had information to come forward.”
Mr. Reinhold declined to say whether people who knew the attacker would face any charges for not calling the toll-free snitch line.
Weakness of centralized systems
The point about local economy here is that Mr. Reinhold and the FBI represent national solutions to a local problem. The local problem is the lone Muslim activist who determines to kill Americans as an act of faithful Jihad serving his god, Allah. People like Mr. Abdulazeez are a “local economy” problem because the attack occurs in a particular locale, Chattanooga, whose people are the first to react and to try to stop the attack.
Chattanooga follows the national model in trusting in centralized systems. County and city government has centralized law enforcement and centralized peacekeeping operations. These start with military type organizations, the Chattanooga police department and the Hamilton County sheriff’s department. Backing up these groups, we could say, are state and federal authorities, who have enforcement organisms such as the Tennessee highway patrol, the TBI, FBI, the ATF and national guard. Supporting these crime-stopping groups is a vast and largely illegal data-mining telecom surveillance apparatus run by the NSA and other federal entities whose data are fed into the Hamilton County fusion center and other offices around the state.
Really local solution
The local solution is the armed citizen. The civic-minded armed citizen — whether licensed by the state or not — provides on-the-spot detection and protection when remote policing agencies are too slow to respond.
We see the value of the armed citizen protecting innocent women and children in reports of a shooting at a local gas station where a lawbreaker was slain by a well-aimed shot.
The private intervention occurred at an East Ridge Kangaroo convenience store. According to reports, the robber dashed into the store with a knife, stole cash and cigarettes and then took a woman clerk hostage
As he tried to get out, “they encountered a customer on the front sidewalk,” Capt. Tim Mullinax of the East Ridge police department says. “The customer ran back to his vehicle and retrieved a weapon. The suspect who was shot confronted him and he fired at least one round, striking him in the body.”
The armed citizen took a risk, shooting at the robber while he was still clasping the woman.
Neither armed citizen nor robber have been identified.
The solution to terrorism is the decentralization of armed force, not its centralization in police departments, FBI agencies and the like.
The armed citizen is the first responder to a terrorist attack, especially if in public places with civilian targets.
The armed citizen is the first responder to ordinary violent crime such as robberies or revenge killings overflowing their boundaries.
Local economy has solutions to national problems that no amount of illegal and unconstitutional phone-tapping and surveillance will stop. Local economy and local people will deal with murderous rampages while centralized state bureaus wait for the phone to ring.
Sources
Erik Avanier, “More details about the armed robber who was shot and killed by a store customer,” WDEF.com, July 1, 2016 http://www.wdef.com/2016/07/01/details-armed-robber-shot-killed-store-customer/
Alyssa Spirato, “FBI Agent Reinhold: July 16th might have been prevented if someone came forward,” TV9, June 30, 2016. http://newschannel9.com/news/local/reinhold-july-16-might-have-been-prevented-if-someone-came-forward