The goal of the media is ratings. From far right to far left-oriented media outlets, it is the same. One way to improve ratings is to use sensational language in reporting, whether or not the facts on the ground support the sensationalism. When the story is terrorism, this kind of reporting is worse than irritating. It is misleading, and its messages play into the hands of the terrorists.

What we hear today in our media is that because of the latest terrorist incidents, Americans are buying guns because they are “fearful,” “frightened,” “panicked,” or otherwise suffering debilitating emotional fears. Even Noah Rothman in his excellent December 11 article in Commentary Online, “Dems Turn to Mocking Terror Fears,” states,

“Americans now rate terrorism as their number one concern. They feel unsafe and insecure. They are justifiably afraid of the threat that might be just around the next corner.”

The “fear” hyperbole being disseminated by our media today discounts the attitude, innovation, practicality, and determination of the American people. It encourages terrorists and their leaders. If Americans are that fearful, then terrorism is succeeding, for that is the terrorists’ first goal: to terrorize us, to weaken us, to make us afraid and incapable of defending ourselves.

Americans have listened carefully to President Obama, Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. They have concluded that the top administration of their federal government has failed in its primary Constitutional duty to protect them and their families, in this case from Islamic Jihadist terrorists. This is the result of the administration’s refusal to create and implement a strategy which would protect the American public, and its intentional obstructionism that has blocked others, many of whom are dedicated federal government servants, from doing so. 

On December 10 on Fox News Network, government intelligence analyst Philip Haney reported that a program he had been working on, which probably could have gotten us early information about the San Bernardino terrorist cell and prevented this massacre, was shut down three years ago at the behest of our State Department. Why? Because, Haney states, the program was profiling Islamists, and that was forbidden. We know Phil Haney. We had extensive discussions with him in 2009 at the World Counterterrorism Summit in Herzliya, Israel, and we respect his knowledge and his analytical skills.

What is worse, the administration has clearly indicated that except for making it more difficult for Americans to obtain guns, it has no intention of changing its counterterrorism tactics which up until now have failed to protect Americans from Islamic Jihadist terrorists. Nothing will change. This is the administration’s promise:  our future will be worse than our immediate past.

FBI Director James Comey and others in federal law enforcement have testified that they are unable to vet effectively the legal alleged refugees who are entering the United States. There are also gaping holes in our multiple visa programs which allow additional enemies into our country. Americans understand all this.

We also understand that our state and local law enforcement agencies and their dedicated personnel cannot stop terrorist attacks that have not been discovered in advance. Even with a short response time by local law enforcement, those attacked will usually be dead before the police can arrive to help them. 

Americans are concerned, possibly even a bit worried. They are not frightened, however. They are not scared to death. They are not quaking in their boots. They are not frozen into inaction. They continue to do what they have been doing since the beginning of the Obama administration. They are preparing to protect their families and themselves, by themselves.

Again Noah Rothman in Commentary Online: “Americans are lunging for the shotgun and barricading the door.” No, they are not. “Lunging” connotes panic, and that is not what is happening here. Americans are, however, preparing to defend themselves and their families by buying guns in record numbers, taking instruction on how to use them properly, and are being issued their concealed carry permits. They are not barring the door, but are getting ready to carry and use their weapons to defend their homes and the people in them, and themselves and others when they are out. And they are going about their regular business. They are not hiding. They are not locking themselves in.

There were four shooters at the concert hall in Paris where well over 100 innocents were murdered. The shooters emptied their magazines into their victims, reloaded, and then continued to repeat the process. Citizens are not permitted to carry sidearms in France. Had there been 10, five, or maybe only two armed and trained patrons and/or employees with handguns at the venue, the four killers would have been taken out, probably at their first reload attempt, and there would have been many fewer victims.

The same concept is applicable to the San Bernardino attack. Two shooters that time. A few armed citizens would have cut them down quickly, and the body count of the victims would have been much lower.

I recall watching a news clip from London a year or two ago. An Islamist demonstration march had taken place, and the marchers had vandalized a synagogue along their route, taunting neighborhood Jewish residents. The synagogue’s rabbi was speaking to the media, saying he had been to the police, but that the authorities informed him that they could not protect his synagogue. He was afraid, and he sounded hopeless. My American-informed first thought was, “Where are your guns? You are going to need them.” But in Britain as in France, ordinary citizens are not allowed to carry guns. They have no defense against individual terrorists or against a mob of them. They, and all ordinary British citizens, are helpless.

President Obama and his minions want to disarm Americans. They want all our guns, and they are trying their best to strangle the Second Amendment. Now there is news that President Obama plans to issue yet another executive order to worsen that strangulation. Our conclusion is that the goal of the President of the United States is to render helpless the citizens he was elected to protect.

Americans recognize the dedication of professional intelligence officers in our counterterrorism centers and equivalent installations, and the dedication of the whole of the American Intelligence Community, and the best efforts of our first responders. At the end of the day, however, when all else fails, we all are the tip of the spear. Like everything else in life, it is up to every individual to do the protecting. Americans understand, and the government will not have their guns.