Before Hugo Chavez took a dirt nap, he enacted the Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law. It banned everyday Venezuelans from owning guns or ammunition, and confiscated those that were privately owned.
More recently, as the inevitable effects of Bolivarian socialism have wrecked their once-prosperous country, Venezuelans have wished they had those firearms back to resist government tyranny. In the past few days during nation-wide power outages, residents no doubt wish they had the means to protect from looters and other street criminals.
WATCH: Looting begins in #Venezuela as the people struggle amid no food, no medicine and NO ELECTRICITY. The crisis is growing very acute. pic.twitter.com/4MoprTio6W
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) March 11, 2019
Dozens have died as the blackout has entered its fifth day. Looters have ransacked stores and businesses. Hospitals and medical clinics (like the one pictured at the top) use candles for light. Which brings back the old joke, "What did socialists use for lighting before candles? Electricity."
The UK Daily Mail reports on some of the mayhem. And it appears their people must get paid by the word for their headlines:
Looters take to Venezuela's streets as blackout enters its FIFTH day killing 15 kidney patients as under-pressure president Maduro claims the power cut was caused by an 'imperialist' electromagnetic attack from the US
- Venezuelans started looting supermarkets in Caracas on Sunday, as power outages reached their fourth day
- Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a nation-wide march on the capital to pressurise regime
- The country will enter fifth day of power outages after blackouts crippled infrastructure, shops and hospitals
- At least 15 patients with kidney disease died after dialysis machines stopped working during power outage
- President Nicolas Maduro has blamed the blackout on sabotage and cyber attacks from within Venezuela
Some Venezuelans have taken to looting supermarkets in Caracas during the fourth day of blackouts, which have paralysed the country.
Pictures reveal that some supermarkets in the capital have been left ransacked by desperate residents as they struggle to find food.
Security forces detained a number of people who were caught looting on Sunday, with some pictures showing looters being piled onto waiting trucks.
Armed men were seen forcefully escorting young men and women to the trucks.
Follow the link for lots of photos documenting the mess, along with the rest of the story.
It stands to reason that the first shops looted were pharmacies, liquor stores, and given how the average Venezuelan has lost 24 pounds on the socialism diet, grocery stores.
When looters have picked the stores clean, then they will target residences. Especially those with food, gas or generators.
The veneer of civilization is not as thick as a lot of people would like to think. That's when the benefit of gun ownership proves its priceless worth. Because, once again, the only thing that stops bad people with evil in their heart is a good guy with a gun. You can't put a price on your wife or teenage daughter's personal safety when pillagers come a-calling.
It's a shame Venezuelans surrendered their guns not so long ago. Because now, only two groups have guns: the lawless and the government. In Venezuela it's increasingly difficult to tell the difference. Especially in the dark.
That's what you get when you make bad decisions and admire the philosophy of Marx over Montesquieu or Friedman. Millions of individual horror stories. They are all "equal" now in their poverty and suffering.
Socialism is failure after failure. Even Communist China and Vietnam had to turn to Capitalism to survive and finally "Leap Forward", as Mao once erroneously declared his misguided five-year plan.
Below is a tinyurl of more wreckage due to Socialism detailed by way of Legal Insurrection and the good people of Finland.
"Finland: Government Collapses Over Universal Health Care Costs, #Bernie2020 Hardest Hit"
https://tinyurl.com/y5yoew23
Why is it assumed that they all gave up their guns? We know that in a similar situation here, a huge number of gun owners would not give them up. Just because they are not being used doesn't mean they don't have them.