by Stephen Lendman

Conditions today in Western societies are deplorable. Peace is pure fantasy. US-led wars without end continue. New ones ahead are likely.

Police state laws erode fundamental freedoms. On the chopping block for elimination altogether.

On the pretext of protecting national security. Fighting nonexistent terrorist threats. The road to ruin isn't paved with good intentions.

Full-blown tyranny looms. In America. Israel. Across Europe. Guilt by accusation is official policy. Police states operate this way.

US-dominated NATO threatens humanity's survival. Most people are brainwashed to believe harmful government policies benefit them.

HL Mencken once said "(t)he whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

Perhaps Lincoln should have said "(y)ou can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time," but enough always on issues mattering most. People are their own worst enemies. Easily manipulated against their own self-interest. Duped to accept what demands rejection. Under conditions going from bad to worse.

Western societies aren't fit to live in. Dystopian futures await unsuspecting millions.

If a prominent European rabbi's idea takes hold, expect open season for gunslingers. High noon on city streets. Making them more unsafe than ever.

The European Jewish Association (EJA) calls itself "the biggest federation of Jewish organizations and communities working all over Europe."

The "most active. (S)trenghen(ing) Jewish identity. (D)efend(ing) Jewish interest(s) in Europe. (I)mpro(ing)" Israel's image in Europe.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin serves as EJA and Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) general director.

He wants Jews given special permission to carry guns. As many as possible. Urged Brussels lawmakers enact legislation OKing it.

Wrote European interior ministries to endorse it. Saying:

"We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed with immediate effect to allow designated people in the Jewish communities and institutions to own weapons for the essential protection of their communities, as well as receiving the necessary training to protect their members from potential terror attacks."

He wants "as many people within the Jewish community as possible" carrying weapons.

Ludicrously claiming Paris killings and other European attacks reflect growing anti-Semitism.

Saying they "revealed the urgent need to stop talking and start acting."

"We need to recognise the warning signs of anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance that once again threaten Europe and our European ideals," he said.

"Right now Jews don't feel safe. We are threatened on a daily basis."

"People are afraid to come to synagogue. People are afraid to go to Jewish schools."

Police "are not doing enough. We need more. The best solution is have at least two police officers at each Jewish institution, 24 hours a day."

"Until that happens, we need to be able to feel secure in other ways." Letting Jews carry guns will "allow our people to feel protected.

Any kind, he said. So "everyone would have something in their pocket." Claiming "positive comments from the Jewish community" already. Lunatic ideas have a way of spreading fast.

"(M)ost people saying being armed with a weapon would allow them to feel more secure," claimed Margolin.

Most people are subliming ignorant. Evidence contradicts their beliefs.

A January 2014 Annals of Internal Medicine analysis of 15 studies found people with access to guns are about three times more likely to commit suicide.

Twice as likely to be killed than others without guns. University of California at San Francisco epidemiologist Andrew Anglemyer and his two co-authors, Tara Horvath and George Rutherford, conducted the study.

Their analysis shows guns make people less safe. Too often they're used with tragic consequences. Fewer guns. Fewer gun-related deaths and injuries.

Easy access increases violence. The authors found women much more vulnerable to homicide in environments where gun ownership is high.

Per capita civilian gun ownership in America is higher than anywhere else. Gun related violence follows.

In Chicago alone where this writer lives, gun-related deaths exceed one a day. More Chicagoans are shot and killed than US forces in current war theaters.

Gun ownership lowers the threshold between anger and homicide. Easy access leaves everyone vulnerable.

Every US gun-relataed death leaves two others wounded. Each year, about 100,000 Americans are gun violence victims.

Countless others are irreparably harmed. Nothing whatever is done to change things. Unacceptable incidents happen with disturbing regularity.

Death or injury by gun violence in America exceeds vulnerability anywhere else. US communities are unsafe.

Gun-related violence touches every segment of society. On streets. In homes. At work. In schools. Virtually anywhere.

The Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) calls firearm deaths "an important public health concern."

Vulnerability to domestic gun-related death or injury exceeds some US war theaters.

US society is violent. Gun ownership bears much responsibility. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury. The second leading cause of death. Gun accessibility plays a leading role.

Europe needs fewer guns. Not more. Fewer people recommending wrongheaded policies. More people challenging issues mattering most.

Violence begets more of it. America, Israel, Britain, France, Germany and other EU nations proliferate state terrorism.

Wage wars without end. Target their own people repressively. Intend more of the same following Paris killings.

A pretext for instituting policies planned all along. Permitting easy citizen access to guns assures more violent incidents.

More reason for more hardline policies. Heading toward eliminating fundamental freedoms altogether. Creating societies more until to live in than already.

Fewer hawks are needed. More doves. Peace advocates like Gandhi. Bertrand Russell. Albert Schweitaer. Ramsey Clark. Jeff Halper.

Kathy Kelly. Rachel Corrie. Emma Goldman. Mairea Corrigan Maguire. Daniel and Philip Berrigan. Martin Luther King.

Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. Harold Pinter. AJ Muste. Pete Seeger. Desmond Tutu. Mordechai Vannunu. Howard Zinn.

Mikhail Gorbachev, Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin.

Guns don't make us safe. Easy access assures more violence, deaths and injuries than already.

If Rabbi Margolin's views take hold, Europe risks heading down the same slippery slope as America.

Already matching its police state practices. Intending harder than ever hardline policies ahead.

Risking full-blown tyranny. A hair's breadth away. Much like what's happening in America. Once free societies no longer fit to live in.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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