Violence begets violence
Via NRO:
Early this afternoon, Ann Coulter canceled her planned Thursday speech at the University of California, Berkeley. There can now be no doubt: A violent Left-wing mob dictates the rules at one of the nation’s (and the world’s) most prominent academic institutions.
Let’s be crystal clear about the government’s obligation here: It is to protect liberty. That’s why government exists in our constitutional republic, to guarantee the exercise of our unalienable rights, especially when it is threatened. Berkeley instead has chosen to systematically strip those rights from its students and hand ultimate power to the mob, justifying its cowardice through a disingenuous appeal to public safety.
The deprivation of individual rights is comprehensive, ominous, and intolerable.
First, Berkeley strips students of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms so it can maintain and enforcing an allegedly gun-free campus. As a result, students are forced to depend entirely on campus and city police to secure their safety and liberty.
Second, campus law enforcement has shamefully abdicated its role. According to a lawsuit filed against the university by the Young America’s Foundation and the Berkeley College Republicans, the campus police operate under what is essentially a “stand down” order, intervening only if they believe human life is in immediate danger. The mayor of Berkeley himself has justified lackluster police responses by claiming that if police had been more aggressive then “more people could’ve gotten hurt.” Let’s be clear about what this means: The police are failing to protect liberty in part out of a desire to protect the rioters from physical harm. That’s why entire city streets have seemed to be empty of police presence. That’s why rioters have been able to beat innocent citizens with impunity. That’s why so few arrests have been made.