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If there was a MAGA violent insurrection would you personally take up arms to defend democracy? [1]

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Date: 2022-09-08

The author at home overlooking our cranberry bogs and in police cruiser in Mason, Michigan.

I was never in the military but I was a voluntary reserve police officer for 20 years in the two towns where I lived so I have been trained in the use of firearms. I put in over 2000 hours riding with a regular officer generally working late night shifts. As a psychotherapist who counseled many police officers, in the early 2000’s I published the most popular website on police stress, now offline, but I just came across this 2003 review of it.

I’ve owned three handguns which I kept until I moved from Massachusetts where I had a permit to carry a concealed weapon to when I moved to Oregon and sold them 10 years ago.

I am 78 years old and in excellent health. My eyesight is good and my hands are steady. I live in a retirement community where about 95% of the 450 residents are liberal Democrats. Portland, Oregon because of its liberal reputation has become a magnet for far right militia like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Violent protests here have made the national and international news. This is from The Guardian:

I’ve wondered what would happen if these groups declared war on our most liberal cities and decided Portland was small enough to make an example of. While by and large Portland and its suburbs are proudly liberal every once in awhile I’ll pull up behind a car like this (which happens to have California plates):

This was in Canby which is about 50/50 Democratic and Republican:

Venturing a ways from downtown Portland you encounter more and more Trump flags. For example I wrote about this here:

There was also a US Marine Corp. flag in front of the Trump house, a sobering thought when you wonder how many guns the owner has and how well trained he is in their use.

I have no idea whether the man who lives here is a member of a right-wing militia. I shudder at the notion that he does. Consider these additional photos of his house:

I can envision a group of far right militia members taking the light rail from downtown Portland into my suburb, walked the two blocks up the hill from the last stop, and ended up deciding to raid the first continuing care retirement community they came to. Mine is just across the street they’d have walked up. They’d see a brand new building with a welcoming sign.

I live in one of the facility’s duplex houses but most mornings I go to my girlfriend’s fourth floor apartment for coffee on her balcony. It looks down on the street with the 20 duplexes where I live. In the hot summer we enjoy the cool morning weather and the lovely view of the river which runs next to our retirement community. Through binoculars we watch kayakers and local college skulling teams who practice on the river. The other day we saw a rare sight of about 100 ospreys in formation migrating south for the winter. We often see Canada Ducks doing this but never saw ospreys. We didn’t know how unusual this was until we looked it up: “Ospreys usually migrate on their own, although they have been known to travel in small groups of two to four individuals. In some places like islands where migrating birds naturally converge, as many as 92 ospreys have been seen together.” Reference

This would be an idyllic experience but when it comes to politics and the state of our country today I have a tendency to think about morbid and, I admit it, probably overly dramatic things happening.

Like you, I’ve read articles and heard commentators on stations like MSNBC talking about worst case scenarios of about what would happen if Trump was indicted or if he became president again. Last night on MSNBC there was an interview with an official with the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism about far right militias. He noted that the Oath Keepers, with over 30,000 members, were recruiting members of law enforcement, the military, and first responders. (see HuffPost article) This and this Salon article (below) inspired me to write this diary.

Back to sitting on my girlfriend’s balcony: it occurs to me that if it came to it this would make a good position to create a decent sniper spot where I could fill some burlap bags with dirt from the pile we have for our resident gardeners to use to protect myself from return fire as I took out those who appeared to be the leaders of any armed group who attacked our facility.

Oregon is a hunting state and has very permissive firearms laws. It would be easy enough to go down the street where there are two stores that sell guns less than a mile from my place.

This store is just around the corner:

I wouldn’t consider getting an assault rifle like an AR-15. A deer rifle or similar scoped rifle would be my choice for a sniper weapon.

My diary of Sept. 3 (image below) is related to this because it would take a truly committed group even if they are armed to the teeth to keep marching up my street when their leaders were taken out by some resident geezer.

Take the poll and please comment.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/8/2121529/-If-there-was-a-MAGA-violent-insurrection-would-you-personally-take-up-arms-to-defend-democracy

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