Enemies Foreign and Domestic
Review by Lawrence Keeney
EDITOR'S NOTE: I read Enemies Foreign and Domestic
with growing horror, and reread it shortly after it became apparent
that the gun-hating Democrat party had seized control of Congress after
the 2006 elections. This is not a fun book. It is not a
happy book. It is, however, a necessary book -- and a gripping account that will hold the interest of any member of the "gun culture." Less ambitious than Unintended Consquences
(and thus more realistic), the book will give any gun owner pause as he
or she contemplates the coming dark times. There are edits that
I, were I to proof the book, would be happy to make, but these do not
detract from what is a powerful and compelling story. I
congratulate Matthew Bracken and applaud his courage in bringing this
book to print. I also look forward to his future offerings. -- Phil Elmore
Have you ever watched
television reports of mass shootings in Middle America and wondered
whether they were really random acts, or something slightly more
sinister? I admit I have over the years. These massacres happened just
days or weeks before a major vote in Congress regarding gun control
legislation. Why did these crimes happen just when it would benefit
anti Second Amendment activists? ]
I just finished a new book that made me think a great deal about this question and others. Enemies Foreign and Domestic is a novel that tells the tale of a government that plays upon the fears of Americans to make an end run around the Constitution. The novel, penned by former U.S. Navy Seal Matthew Bracken begins on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Maryland. Tens of thousands of fans are enjoying a college football game when a sniper opens fire.
In the ensuing chaos, ten people are shot and killed while hundreds are trampled escaping from the gunfire. Rather conveniently, law enforcement officials blame the shooting on a disgruntled former soldier and mental patient wielding a modified SKS rifle. It seems on the face of it to be an open and shut case, but many pro-Second Amendment activists begin to question the findings.
An opportunistic U.S. President uses the crime to ramrod a package of gun bans through Congress and give owners of semi-automatic rifle owners a matter of days to surrender their weapons. In the run-up to the deadline, a series of rogue federal agents begin to trample on the civil liberties of law-abiding citizens in an effort to build public support for the bans.
Suddenly, people who have never committed a crime in their lives begin to die in shoot-outs with police, and reports seem to indicate that minorities are being attacked by right wing elements for unknown reasons. After a series of suspicious deaths, and a bloody episode on a Virginia highway involving an illegal gun search, people begin to fight back. Anti-gun politicians begin to be assassinated and those who would trample on the rights of innocent civilians soon fear for their lives. A virtual second American Civil War seems to be at hand.
Who or what caused these events to be set in motion? It is soon discovered to be the actions of the ATF director, seeking to ensure the survival of his agency for the near future. What happens if you are a bureaucrat without anything to do? You simply run the risk of losing your comfortable job.
A group of citizens who have seen enough take up arms against the director and his team of unofficially sanctioned death squads. Hidden “assault rifles” are unearthed and they take the fight to a government that has become corrupt.
This novel made me think hard about our civil liberties and how quickly they can be trampled because of hysteria and corruption. The Patriot Act seems on the face of it to be a sensible piece of legislation to fight crime. However, what happens if an administration uses this law to trample on the rights of those who don’t fit into their politically correct ideology? It also shows in stark fashion what the founding fathers intended when they crafted the Second Amendment (hint, it has nothing to do with duck hunting).
While the novel is 568 pages long, it seems to go by very quickly, and the reader begins to sympathize with a populace trampled by a government gone horribly wrong. This novel is very popular, but don’t expect to find it on the shelves at your local bookstore. The subject matter will keep it from being touted by mainstream book reviewers; thus many would be unlikely to even know about it.
I urge you to buy the book this book at
www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com and, after you read it, tell your
friends about the novel. It is a fitting piece to get discussion going
about the fragile nature of civil liberties.
If it succeeds in that respect, then it is worth it.
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