Riots breaking out in Massachusetts!!

[M2MG]

BOSTON, April 19

- National Guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned assault
weapons were ambushed on April 19th by elements
of a para-military extremist faction. Military
and law enforcement sources estimated that 72
were killed and more than 20 injured before
government forces were compelled to withdraw.

Speaking after the clash, Massachusetts Governor
Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction,
which was made up of local citizens, has links to
the radical right-wing tax protest movement. Gage
blamed the extremists for recent incidents of
vandalism directed against internal revenue
offices.

The governor, who described the group's
organizers as "criminals," issued an executive
order authorizing the summary arrest of any
individual who has interfered with the
government's efforts to secure law and order.

The military raid on the extremist arsenal
followed wide-spread refusal by the local
citizenry to turn over recently outlawed assault
weapons. Gage issued a ban on military-style
assault weapons and ammunition earlier in the
week. This decision followed a meeting in early
April between government and military leaders at
which the governor authorized the forcible
confiscation of illegal arms. One government
official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
pointed out that "none of these people would have
been killed had the extremists obeyed the law and
turned their weapons over voluntarily."

"Government troops initially succeeded in
confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons
and ammunition. However, troops attempting to
seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with
resistance from heavily-armed extremists who had
been tipped off regarding the government's plans.


During a tense standoff in Lexington's town park,
National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander
of the government operation, ordered the armed
group to surrender and return to their homes. The
impasse was broken by a single shot, which was
reportedly fired by one of the right-wing
extremists. Eight civilians were killed in the
ensuing exchange.

Ironically, the local citizenry blamed government
forces rather than the extremists for the
civilian deaths. Before order could be restored,
armed citizens from surrounding areas had
descended upon the guard units. Colonel Smith,
finding his forces overmatched by the armed mob,
ordered a retreat.

Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support
the state/national joint task force in its effort
to restore law and order. The governor has also
demanded the surrender of those responsible for
planning and leading the attack against the
government troops. Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and
John Hancock, who have been identified as
"ringleaders" of the extremist faction, remain at
large.

[cowboykjohnson]

Thats some entertaining, yet eerily close to home history.

[MichiganMilitia]

Where did you get this? (or did you write it yourself?) thanks.

[funkfool]

This was 1775 and has been used many times - I saw it here:
http://www.strike-the-root.com/conte...ary-war-heroes
And:
http://northeastshooters.com/vbullet...highlight=gage

Here is a companion piece...
http://www.comeandtakeit.com/2aother.html
A VISITOR FROM THE PAST
(Thelen Paulk)

I had a dream the other night, I didn't understand.
A figure walking through the mist, with flintlock in his hand.
His clothes were torn and dirty, as he stood there by my bed.
He took off his three-cornered hat, and speaking low, he said:
"We fought a revolution, to secure our liberty.
We wrote the Constitution, as a shield from tyranny.
For future generations, this legacy we gave.
In this, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
"The freedom we secured for you, we hoped you'd always keep.
But tyrants labored endlessly while your parents were asleep.
Your freedom gone, your courage lost, you're no more than a slave.
In this, the land of the free and home of the brave.
"You buy permits to travel, and permits to own a gun,
Permits to start a business, or to build a place for one.
On land that you believe you own, you pay a yearly rent.
Although you have no voice in choosing, how the money's spent.
"Your children must attend a school that doesn't educate.
Your Christian values can't be taught, according to the state.
You read about the current news, in a regulated press.
You pay a tax you do not owe, to please the I.R.S.
"Your money is no longer made of Silver or of Gold.
You trade your wealth for paper, so your life can be controlled.
You pay for crimes that make our Nation, turn from God in shame.
You've taken Satan's number, as you've traded in your name.
"You've given government control, to those who do you harm,
So they can padlock churches, and steal the family farm,
And keep our country deep in debt, put men of God in jail,
Harass your fellow countrymen, while corrupted courts prevail.
"Your public servants don't uphold the solemn oath they've sworn.
Your daughters visit doctors, so their children won't be born.
Your leaders ship artillery, and guns to foreign shores,
And send your sons to slaughter, fighting other people's wars.
"Can you regain the freedom for which we fought and died?
Or don't you have the courage, or the faith to stand with pride?
Are there no more values for which you'll fight to save?
Or do you wish your children, to live in fear and be a slave?
"People of the Republic, arise and take a stand!
Defend the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land!
Preserve our Great Republic, and GOD-Given Right!
And pray to GOD, to keep the torch of Freedom burning bright!"
As I awoke he vanished, in the mist from whence he came.
His words were true, we are not Free, we have ourselves to blame.
For even now as tyrants, trample each GOD-Given Right,
We only watch and tremble, too afraid to stand and fight.
If he stood by your bedside, in a dream, while you're asleep,
And wonders what remains of our Rights he fought to keep,
What would be your answer, if he called out from the grave:
"IS THIS STILL THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE???"

[funkfool]

And from what I read and have heard at the Appleseed event..... Appleseeders chime in here if incorrect please:

News Flash:

-Gen'l Gage was not out to register and then confiscate anybody's muskets.

He was only after cannon, munitions, and supplies on April 19, 1775. He didn't have the manpower to go around rounding up everybody's guns, since there were so damned many of them in MA it would have been suicide to do so, since the local militias were all against him.

-The British troops weren't out to start a war, indeed, they were ordered to prevent a war from happening by seizing and destroying the above-named items so that the colonists could not use them against their own govt's troops, namely, the Redcoats.

-British soldiers were ordered not to fire on anybody nor to destroy private property, only military property.

-At Lexington, Capt. John Parker did NOT say, "Stand your ground; if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." That would have been utterly irresponsible- he had 77 men, the British advance force (detached from thge rest of the 700 man expedition) had 250. He really said, "Let the soldiers pass, don't molest them. Prepare to disperse. " We do not know who fired the first shot at Lexington. British soldiers however, thought they were being fired upon, and disobeyed orders by firing and bayonetting.

-At the North Bridge in Concord, several hours later, panicking, exhausted, outnumbered British troops, 94 from the 700, detached to guard the bridge, fired unallowed warning shots at the colonists advancing towards them. Other soldiers in the confusion thought the order to fire had been given and fired, killing two colonists and wounding a dozen others. At this point, Major John Buttrick, given command of the combined town militias present, ordered his men to fire back.

-This marks the beginning of the Battle Road, in which colonists fired at and attacked government troops all the way back to Boston (which the British were heading to anyway, but they wouldn't leave Concord for another three hours until they destroyed what they could find, and get lunch!)

This decision to fire back at British troops was the first deliberate resistance to British rule, and was known later in a song and poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson as the "Shot Heard Round the World".

General Gage was not, repeat, not, out to destroy or confiscate anybody's small arms that day.
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbu...l=1#post246341

[Marlin]

So, you're saying it was all just a big misunderstanding?

[SA Friday]

So, you're saying it was all just a big misunderstanding?

Nope, just a temper tantrum by some roudy teen agers...

[TFOGGER]

Things have gone down hill in this country since we decided to stop shooting the British...

[BigBear]

Things have gone down hill in this country since we decided to stop shooting the British...

[theGinsue]

Things have gone down hill in this country since we decided to stop shooting the British...

I say we resume this practice.

Can we start with late night tv host Craig Ferguson? Please!