Nigerian Massacre Enabled by Same ‘Laws’ Being Demanded for U.S.

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Gunmen murdered dozens of congregants during Mass at a Catholic Church in Ondo state, Nigeria on Sunday,” Fox News reports. “The attackers used explosives and firearms in their assault on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, killing more than 50, according to reports. The gunmen also reportedly took the church’s priest hostage and he remains unaccounted for.”

The slaughtered were defenseless as a matter of law.

“In Nigeria, the right to private gun ownership is not guaranteed by law,” the GunPolicy.org entry for Nigeria documents. For those not familiar with that resource, it’s a project of the Sydney School of Public Health, and while of a decidedly anti-gun bent, nonetheless provides instructive and useful compilations of gun laws from around the globe.

“[C]ivilians are not allowed to possess machine-guns, military rifles and handguns … private possession of semi-automatic assault weapons [and] private possession of handguns (pistols and revolvers) is prohibited,” the site advises. Add to that licensing, background checks and registration for what they are allowed to own, a prohibition on concealed carry, and stiff criminal penalties for gun law violations, and Nigeria is one of those places where not only are the “law-abiding” at an extreme disadvantage but also a place that has enacted many of the same “commonsense gun safety laws” the Democrats are now furiously trying to impose on Americans.

Unsurprisingly, the murderers who carried out the slaughter weren’t slowed down for an instant by the citizen disarmament edicts. So who were they?

“Adeyemi Olayemi, a lawmaker in Ondo, said the attack was believed to have been carried out by ethnic Fulani terrorists, sometimes referred to as bandits, who have staged relentless attacks predominantly in northern Nigeria but also in other parts of the country,” the U.K.’s The Guardian speculates. Fulani?

“The Plateau Peace Conference held in 2004 officially recognized 54 different ‘ethnic nationalities [indigenous to] the State,’ plus a number of ‘other major Nigerian ethnic nationalities resident in the State”, i.e. ‘settlers’ there, namely Fulanis …” a Nigeria Research Network/University of Oxford study documents.

So, nomadic “immigrants”?  And 99% Muslims? Ethnic “tensions” notwithstanding, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, from whose name the authoritarian military regime term “Buharism” was derived after he took power in a coup d’état, “was born to a Fulani family.” Apparently, last time out, he won the election fair and square, ousting incumbent violence monopolist Goodluck Jonathan.

For its part, The Hill mentions a different group.

“Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country with 206 million people, has grappled for over a decade with an insurgency in the northeast by Islamic extremist rebels of Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province. The extremists, who have killed more than 35,000 people by a U.N. count, are fighting to establish Shariah law and to stop Western education.”

Perhaps it’s six of one, half-a-dozen of the other as far as the victims are concerned. From the Hudson Institute, in an article by Michael Nwankpa Director, Centre for African Conflict and Development:

“Many Nigerians no longer distinguish between Fulani herders and Boko Haram, seeing both as a singular terrorist front whose sole aim is to Islamize Nigeria.”

As an aside, it’s curious that supposedly “right-wing” Fox News neglected to mention any of these connections. Perhaps they fear if they do, they’ll be accused of intolerance or some such as if they aren’t tarred with the “hater” brush regardless of whatever kowtowing to the left they do. As is, the cultural Marxists are pressuring advertisers to “stop funding Fox’s lies, deadly disinformation, and extremist right-wing violence.”

It’s also curious that warnings from years ago continue to be ignored and suppressed. From The Christian Post in 2013:

“Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has told U.S. lawmakers that Christians in Nigeria are an endangered species, and that it has now become ‘open season’ on Christians in the African nation. CAN’s president told lawmakers that the most troubling development is that Islamists have begun targeting not only churches, but also schools – firing into classrooms when children are in attendance.”

Not addressing the slaughter at the Catholic church in Nigeria on either its Twitter or Facebook feeds at this writing is the Council on Islamic American Relations. Instead, CAIR has put out an Action Alert to have its members lobby the House and Senate for Nigerian-style “gun control” laws, including:

• Raise the purchasing age for semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21
• Ban the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines, although existing magazines are ‘grandfathered’ in
• Require existing bump stocks be registered under the National Firearms Act and bar the manufacture, sale, or possession of new bump stocks for civilian use
• Amend the definition of ‘ghost guns’ to require background checks on all sales, as the ATF is trying to do through rulemaking
• Beef up federal criminal penalties for gun trafficking and ‘straw purchases’; and,
• Establish new requirements for storing guns at home – especially with minors present – while providing tax credits for storage devices.

“In a 2018 survey of over 1,250 Muslim voter households, CAIR found overwhelming support (93%) for requiring background checks for all gun sales and for other increased safety reforms to gun laws,” we are assured.

And standing shoulder-to-shoulder with CAIR is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is telling Congress:

“We support a total ban on assault weapons and limitations on civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines … We also support measures that control the sale and use of firearms, such as universal background checks for all gun purchases. We ask that Congress pass a federal law to criminalize gun trafficking. This is of particular importance since the United States not only suffers from domestic gun violence but is a major international exporter of weapons. Finally, the USCCB also supports recent proposals to set a more appropriate minimum age for gun ownership, and to ban ‘bump stocks.’”

A passage from Mark comes to mind.

There’s no word yet if the Vatican will be melting down the Swiss Guards’ arsenal, or if any of the Islamist factions vying for dominance will be leading by example.

Also, see (note Internet Archive links may load slowly):

• Nigeria embraces Arms Trade Treaty as murder, chaos and terror reign
• ‘Vigilantes’ with ‘illegal guns’ do to Boko Haram what government cannot
• ‘Deadliest massacre’ in Boko Haram history facilitated by restrictive gun laws
• Nigerian people caught in perfect storm of tyranny and terrorism

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.