While vigilante justice—from Robin Hood to V for Vendetta—can stir the cockles of apathetic hearts, spurning revolution against corruption and oppression, the recent bloodshed in Las Vegas, Nevada is a twisted bastardization of the kind of uprising America arguably needs.
This past Sunday, five Las Vegans were left dead in the wake of an antigovernment shooting; Jerad and Amanda Miller stormed CiCi's pizza in a Las Vegas neighborhood just before noon, leaving behind a path of carnage in a kind of neo-Natural Born Killers protest.
Jerad Miller—eerily similar to Elliot Rodger's public confession of pending psychopathy—wrote a lengthy, not-so-cryptic message Facebook page prior to his rampage the following afternoon:
We can hope for peace. We must, however, prepare for war. We face an enemy that is not only well funded, but who believe they fight for freedom and justice. Those of us who know the truth and dare speak it, know that the enemy we face are indeed our brothers. Even though they share the same masters as we all do. They fail to recognize the chains that bind them. To stop this oppression, I fear, can only be accomplished with bloodshed.
May the best men of our beloved nation stand and fight tyranny, without fear and without regret. May we stand proud as free men instead of kneeling as slaves. May we offer our children a free and just world with our blood, sweat and tears as payment. Let our wives and lovers take vengeance upon our enemies in our absence. We cannot fail in this endeavor of Liberty, if we do we risk leaving our orphaned children to the will of tyrants. We, cannot with good conscience leave this fight to our children, because the longer we wait, our enemies become better equipped and recruit more mercenaries of death, willing to do a tyrants bidding without question.
I know you are fearful, as am I. We certainly stand before a great and powerful enemy. I, however would rather die fighting for freedom, than live on my knees as a slave. Let it be known to our children’s children that free men stood fast before a tyrants wrath and were found victorious because we stood together. That we all cast aside our petty differences and united under the banner of Liberty and Truth. May future generations look back upon this time in history with awe and gratitude, for our courage to face tyranny, so that they could live happy and free.
The story goes that the ill-fated couple left their apartment on foot toting a handgun, a shotgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition; once they entered CiCi's pizza, Jerad Miller immediately shot a police officer in the head before opening fire on his partner, both of whom were simply getting lunch. Draping one body with a swastika and a "Don't Tread on Me" flag (a symbol re-appropriated by the Tea Party in recent years) they also pinned a note warning that this was "the beginning of the revolution."
The Millers then entered the Walmart across the street, where they then opened fire, screaming about the revolution and generally terrorizing the store; much to the inevitable joy of the NRA, a man at the checkout area was carrying a handgun and tried to shoot Jerad Miller, but Amanda quickly rendered him dead. The police soon descended upon them, trapping the couple in the back of the store before Amanda shot her husband and herself.
Stranger still but not so surprising? The Millers were also believed to be affiliated with rapid Republican, racist darling Cliven Bundy, who rose to notoriety for refusing to pay taxes on his cattle ranch in Nevada. Mr. Bundy has gone on record explaining that the Millers had made "radical comments" (that's right, even more appalling than insisting that black people are better off as slaves) and were subsequently kicked off the ranch.
Disturbing documents were also discovered within a neighbor's apartment where the Millers had been staying for the past two weeks, indicating plans to "take over a courthouse and execute public officials."
In the wake of the shooting, officials are of course investigating the couple's potential ties to other antigovernment groups. The question lingering in our minds? How many more people have to die before the United States institutes gun reform?
Image: ThinkStock
