Here’s an example of the power of the New Media of bloggers.
We may not be successful at dislodging corruption and incompetence from the White House and Congress, but in case after case, the volunteer army of citizen bloggers are successful in countering small petty tyrants.
A recent example is the mayor and city council of Guntersville, a city in Marshall County, Alabama. Located at the southernmost point of the Tennessee River on Lake Guntersville, the population of Guntersville was 8,197, according to the 2010 census.
On February 26, 2013, Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars sounded the alert that Guntersville’s mayor Leigh Dollar was working with city officials to pass an ordinance that would give police the power to “disarm individuals” during a disaster.
The new rule would allow authorities to confiscate guns of “unruly” people during an extreme weather event such as the April 2011 tornadoes or any other emergency. “The ordinance states officers could disarm individuals, if necessary, reports ABC 31. “Dollar says the proposal is just way to give officers more authority to protect themselves.”
Dollar denied that the ordinance would be used to take away constitutional rights, but residents questioned why authorities would need to pass a new ordinance given that police already have the power to arrest citizens who are being “unruly,” whether armed or not.
Watson called the proposed ordinance “a chilling example of how the second amendment is being assaulted via the back door” and reminds us of what happened in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when the New Orleans Police, National Guard troops, and U.S. Marshals confiscated firearms and only law enforcement was allowed to have guns. The National Guard conducted warrantless house-to-house searches, targeting not just Hurricane-hit areas under the pretext of stopping violent looters, but also high and dry homes that were not even affected by the storm.
The Guntersville gun grab ordinance would be on the city council agenda at their meeting on March 4th.
After the story went viral, relayed by citizen blogger after blogger, Guntersville’s mayor Leigh Dollar backed down!
On February 28, 2013, four days before the city council’s meeting to consider the gun-confiscation ordinance, the City of Guntersville issued this statement on its website:
CITY OF GUNTERSVILLE
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS ORDINANCE STATEMENT
2-28-13
It was never the intent of the City of Guntersville Mayor or City Council to disarm individuals during a disaster.
As of February 27, 2013, the Emergency Preparedness Ordinance was officially withdrawn from consideration.
POW!!!
We won this one against little tyrants!
~Eowyn
