Patterico's Pontifications

8/6/2019

After Mass Shootings, Foreign Countries Urge Citizens To Use Caution When Traveling To U.S.

Filed under: General — Dana @ 8:00 am



[guest post by Dana]

As warnings about travel to the U.S. are being issued, it’s not hard to see that there is a consensus out there that “indiscriminate gun ownership” is running rampant in the United States:

Foreign nations are warning their citizens that traveling in the United States could put them at risk of becoming a victim of a mass shooting.

A statement Monday from Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry warned about “growing indiscriminate violence” in the U.S.

It urged Uruguayans traveling there to avoid “theme parks, shopping centers, festivals, religious events, gastronomic fairs and any kind of cultural or sporting events.” U.S. authorities are unable to prevent mass shootings because of “indiscriminate” gun ownership, the statement said.

Venezuela’s foreign minister released a similar statement, also warning its citizens to avoid large gatherings where mass shootings might occur.

The Japanese Consul in Detroit on Sunday published an alert that said Japanese nationals “should be aware of the potential for gunfire incidents everywhere in the United States,” which it described as “a gun society.”

These countries join France, New Zealand and Germany, who in past years have issued similar warnings.

Given the tensions between the U.S. and Caracas, it’s a bit rich to read this from Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially when referring to “the elite who hold political power” and “acts of violence”:

The ministry specifically called out a number of U.S. cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis, Oakland and Memphis.

“These growing acts of violence have found echo and sustenance in the speeches and actions impregnated with racial discrimination and hatred against migrant populations,” which have been issued by the “elite who hold political power in Washington,” according to a translated version of the Venezuelan release.

“A fundamental factor to consider lies in the inexcusable, indiscriminate possession of firearms by the population,” the release added.

Also, Uruguay’s travel warning comes several days after the U.S. issued its own travel warning for the country. A country which remains allies with Venezuela.

–Dana

46 Responses to “After Mass Shootings, Foreign Countries Urge Citizens To Use Caution When Traveling To U.S.”

  1. Ha, ha, ha! Venezuela and Uruguay. Didn’t Trump just make a deal with Mexico to stop “visitors” from those countries before they reached our border?

    nk (dbc370)

  2. I must have missed the part that said “”The remittances to us aren’t worth it, so stay here.”

    Harcourt Fenton Mudd (6b1442)

  3. This reminds me of a scene on The Big Bang Theory where one of the character’s parents, who live in India, are Skyping with their son who is in Los Angeles, and they are frantic about a tornado in Kansas, and asking him if that is near him and hysterically imploring him to call the police in America.

    In spite of it being Venezuela and Uruguay making noise, it’s clear to see they’ve adopted the message, with regard to guns. And it doesn’t matter how incoherent it might be.

    The Japanese consul’s warning seems to come out of left field though.

    Dana (fdf131)

  4. Uruguay is an even whiter northern suburb of Argentina; most who could travel have more to fear from the Chicago-Baltimore crowd.vs. the anti Hispanic crowd

    urbanleftbehind (24ebe3)

  5. Oh Venezuela thinks my guns are inexcusable? Such a persuasive argument.

    Dustin (6d7686)

  6. The responses and especially Mexico’s threat to sue are curious. It could be they are using bullying tactics because they see Trump do it, and they think it will get them something of value. Or maybe Mexico is just being hypocritical again.

    DRJ (15874d)

  7. We clearly aren’t a safe nation and it is good of these nations to realize that. They should take all those piled up at the border and bring them into their safe nations.

    Then we have those like the NY Times that accidentally admitted the truth, but had to retract when their fellow leftists were engaged in their 2 minutes of hate.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2019/08/06/nyt-keeps-couldnt-decide-on-todays-el-paso-headline-n2551243

    NJRob (4d595c)

  8. Tip for all visitors-
    Stay away from gun free zones.

    mg (8cbc69)

  9. There’s that bit where Mexico is suing the US in international court for the safety of its citizens or something.

    Clearly we should just concede and as a consequence, return all Mexican illegal aliens immediately to safety in Mexico. We don’t have a choice, it’s international law!

    Ingot9455 (d9d16a)

  10. I hope this news is distributed as widely as possible. I think it would be a good thing for average Americans to know that Mexico and Venezuela don’t want Americans in America to have guns.

    frosty (f27e97)

  11. But Baltimore and Chicago are OK.

    Kevin M (21ca15)

  12. a) Refugees pile up in Mexico demanding entry to the USA for their safety.
    b) Mexico attacks USA as unsafe.

    Seems an easy solution here.

    Kevin M (21ca15)

  13. There are plenty of places in the USA that need “Traveler Warnings”. You can start with most of Baltimore, detroit, and a good hunk of DC.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  14. All Americans should apply for asylum in Mexico. The USA is unsafe.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  15. … and Putin smiled.

    No surprise.

    A reaffirmation that America is not the leader to follow as the world shrugs and marches on int the 21st century.

    A reminder: back in the day, many moons ago, after moving to the UK at a meet-and-greet w/Brits, literally the first question we were asked was, ‘where do you Americans keep your guns?’ When told we didn’t have any [as is with most Americans] the response was: ‘all Americans have guns.’ Never forgot that. This is how the world sees the U.S.A., thanks to the culture it exports and the news it generates.

    It’s more than sad; it’s embarrassing.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  16. 11 and 13, Venezuela singled out the traditional U.S. “ghettos” in their release, though curiously not North/NW Miami or SW Houston (near 2 big receivers of Venezuelan ex-pats); Uruguay did not, relying on a general “too many guns bad” posture.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  17. Bring your bullet proof vest to the walmart store.

    lany (f421ff)

  18. it takes rather extraordinary chutzpah, specially in the country where they flambe’s 47 students, some years back, like Neshoba on Benzedrine, or caracas, where the morgues could be a setting for the next George romero films

    narciso (d1f714)

  19. 15.…DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/6/2019 @ 12:14 pm

    and Putin smiled.

    From the killer’s manifesto:

    My motives for this attack are not at all personal. Actually the Hispanic community was not my target before I read The Great Replacement.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_genocide_conspiracy_theory White genocide is a myth…There is no evidence that white people are dying out or that they will die out, or that anyone is trying to exterminate them as a race.[16][17] The purpose of the conspiracy theory is to scare white people,[16] and justify a commitment to a white nationalist agenda[18] in support of increasingly successful calls to violence.[19]

    The theory has been leveraged as propaganda in Europe, North America, South Africa, Russia, and Australia. It was popularized in the US by white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and convicted felon David Lane around 1995….

    …The conspiracy theory has also been commonly used both interchangeably with,[22] and as a broader and more extreme version of, Renaud Camus’s 2012 The Great Replacement, which focuses on the white Christian population of France.[23][24] Since the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, of which the shooter’s manifesto decried a “white replacement” and has named The Great Replacement; author Bat Ye’or’s 2002 Eurabia concept,[25] Camus’s 2012 Great Replacement fallacy (often called replacement theory or population replacement),[26] and Gerd Honsik’s resurgent 1970s myth of a Kalergi plan,[27] have all been used synonymously with “white genocide” and are increasingly referred to as variations of the conspiracy theory. I can’t quite tie it all to Russia or Vladimir Putin, but Russia has been pushing this kind of thinking.

    From the Wikipedia article above:

    Much of the theory that South African whites are faced with the threat of “genocide” originates with internet rumors started by the Government of Russia. Russia-24, a television channel owned by the Russian government, aired a segment in the summer of 2018 about Afrikaner farmers wanting to immigrate to Russia as “brothers in faith”. The present government in Russia led by Vladimir Putin often attacks the ideology of liberalism for putting the individual before the collective, and promotes “white genocide” stories both as a way of showing the failure of liberalism and to promote the thesis that group identities matter far more than individual identities. The ideology of the Russian state is that the interests of the collective take precedence over the individual, and evidence of alleged failures of liberalism abroad are extensively covered by the Russian media.[8] The Australian historian Mark Edele stated: “There is definitely an attempt [by Russia] to support alt-right views and extreme right organisations outside of Russia … Russia supports groups that will undermine liberal views. That’s the logic of sponsorship of alt-right groups by Russia … There is a longstanding anxiety among Russia’s nationalists that Russians are dying out because of falling birth rates compared to non-Slavic peoples. It reverberates with white genocide fears.”

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)

  20. it’s like when Chavez, made sport of the sad events surrounding katrina, when the 2000 no named storm likely claimed tens of thousands of lives while he was partying on margarita island,

    then on the island of misfit toys, it looks like rivera schatz, found a hawaian judge to prevent the installation of pierluigi as governor,

    narciso (d1f714)

  21. I wonder if the El Paso killer was in contact with any Russian trolls.

    I botched up te formatting above, because the first quotations fro the Wikipedia articlwe didn;t get blockquoted, and then a line I added “I can’t quite tie it all to Russia or Vladimir Putin, but Russia has been pushing this kind of thinking.: wasn’t distinctly separated from the quote..

    The El PAso killer was in contact with somebody, but hides it.

    He talks knowledeably – and this can’t be personal knowledge – about what weapon to use. On the one hand, he says, the civilian versin of the AK-47 overheats after about 100 shots, and it’s maybe only acceptable if he uses 8m3 bullet, which will fragment like a hollow point when shot out of an AK-47. The Ar-15 he says, (which he indicates he doesn’t have at the time when he wrote that) doesn’t heat up, and its bullet doesn’t fagment but tumbles. It’s probably better for miitary applications, he writes, but this (what he wants to do) isn’t a military application.

    Then he says: “This will be a test of which is more lethal, either it’s fragmentation or tumbling. ”

    Who’s going to know the results of the test? Who’s keeping score? Does he mean it’ll be a est if he if he uses both weapons or has there been some other mass shooting incident with an AR-15?

    And from where did he get all this information about the AK-47 versus the AR-15?

    If his source can’t be found, it virtually proof he was using some other (probably encrypted) means of communication other than 8chan. Very very much, actually like Islamic terrorists, where you have different levels of involvement.

    Another thing: He’s probably deliberately lying when he said he spent less than a month planning this. That’s probably to protect anybody who gave him money or advice, including maybe advice how to get money. He was not working for five months and on food stamps. He didn’t go to college fter the spring semester and who knows if he didn’t effectively drop out earlier.?

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)

  22. The Senate president in Puerto Rico wants to be governor himself, and is maybe the only person n politics trying to prevent the new Governor from being governor. He’s trying to get he courts to stop it. He woudn’t let the senate vote on confirmation as Secretary of State.

    If the new governor was not Scretary of state before being promoted, Wanda Vazquez would be governor but she could avoid it. The next cabinet member in line is too young but it opasses through the cabinet.

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)

  23. 2. What!? Did he really go to Hawaii for an injunction, or is this a figure of speech?

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)

  24. What I read about Mexico suing was that Mexico was going to demand the extradition of the killer (so as to save him from the death penalty??) and sue in civil court whoever sold the weapon to he killer. Both non-starters.

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)

  25. @19. Don’t dignify the doofus by reading his crap, Sammy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  26. Yeah, don’t read his crap. Agree completely. He killed those moms shielding their kids, hoping that people would pay attention to his nonsense. We do not want that to work.

    Dustin (6d7686)

  27. Manifestos have been all the rage since the unabomber, but maybe the entirety of his box of chocolates

    Narciso (72d34b)

  28. Like the Alexandria shooter that sought to murder the freedom caucus, he just wasnt a good shot.

    Narciso (72d34b)

  29. Sammy Finkelman: If his source can’t be found, it virtually proof he was using some other (probably encrypted) means of communication other than 8chan.

    8chan’s owner says the manifesto was originally uploaded to Instagram, and that someone other than the shooter transcribed the Instagram post and then posted the text on 8chan. He also says the police are aware of these alleged facts. I haven’t seen any reporting that confirms or disconfirms this.

    https://lionoftheblogosphere.wordpress.com/2019/08/06/shooter-did-not-post-his-manifesto-to-8chan/

    270 degree crank (33796b)

  30. A few years ago, there was some sort of public safety threat in the tunnel between times square and PATH. this got reported in national and local california media as a public safety threat in new york city. it was seriously difficult for me to figure out where it had happened — this was often buried at the bottom of reports — and therefore to figure out how concerned i needed to be for my friends’ safety.

    reporting on events in distant lands is often vague and shorn of details.

    so, in foreign countries, how are these events being reported on? there’s been a raft of unrelated shootings in different cities and different states over the span of about a week and a half. i bet from a distant, detail-reduced perspective, these get easily conflated and it looks like nowhere in the country is safe.

    is a public safety warning telling citizens of some other country to be careful here an overreaction? probably. but i think it’s a reasonable overreaction given how these stories are almost certainly being perceived due to the distance from the events and the nonspecificness of the reporting — a nonspecificness which is *generally* true when reporting on non-local events.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  31. Globalist privilege

    mg (8cbc69)

  32. 15. There was a reason for Brexit 1776.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. This is how the world sees the U.S.A., thanks to the culture it exports and the news it generates.

    I highly doubt that this is how ALL “the world” sees us. But even if you were right, count me as unconcerned.

    It’s more than sad; it’s embarrassing.

    This is a gentle reminder that you don’t speak for all Americans, and that you are the arbiter neither of “sad” nor of “embarrassing.”

    This is also a gentle reminder that Larry Correia has long since disposed of your arguments against gun control — http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/06/23/an-opinion-on-gun-control-repost/

    Demosthenes (7fae81)

  34. Just anecdotally, on our visits to Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon the last two days, I would estimate the foreign visitors to be at least 50%.

    Colonel Haiku (c49ed8)

  35. 12… there you go, Kevin!

    USA: Unsafe for citizens of Mexico and nations of Central America.

    Colonel Haiku (c49ed8)

  36. @22 What you’ve described sounds a lot like the guns and ammo version of the wise college freshmen’s deep thoughts on philosophy after midnight and a few rounds at the keg.

    Knowing the difference between an AK-47 and an AR-15 doesn’t make you part of a domestic terror cell or conspiracy. If it does large parts of the southeast, deep south, southwest, midwest, upper midwest, central plains states, parts of the northeast and western states are in on it.

    frosty (f27e97)

  37. consider just recent event in santo domingo, where there were a rash of mysterious deaths obviously involving tourists,

    narciso (d1f714)

  38. The US should publish travel warnings for “unfree countries” that refuse residents the means of self-defense.

    Kevin M (21ca15)

  39. Knowing the difference between an AK-47 and an AR-15 doesn’t make you part of a domestic terror cell or conspiracy.

    But knowing the difference between Marxism, Stalinism and Maoism might.

    Kevin M (21ca15)

  40. @33. Red Coats! Cotton-pickin’ slaves to fashion.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  41. > The US should publish travel warnings for “unfree countries” that refuse residents the means of self-defense.

    as a tourist who wants these warnings to tell me what the risk is i’m going to get shot, mugged, or kidnapped, i’d find those travel warnings to be annoying irrelevant noise.

    aphrael (3f0569)

  42. On Venezuela’s warning, I’ll buy that for a bolivar.

    Paul Montagu (35419a)

  43. 38 – you know, that might be the very first time that the Dominican tourist deaths have ever been mentioned on this blog…maybe if the base of the participants was NYC and New England rather than California and Texas, but I digress

    urbanleftbehind (41024a)

  44. 31.

    8chan’s owner says the manifesto was originally uploaded to Instagram, and that someone other than the shooter transcribed the Instagram post and then posted the text on 8chan. He also says the police are aware of these alleged facts. I haven’t seen any reporting that confirms or disconfirms this

    Jim Watkins definitely made that claim in a YouTube video.

    https://www.cnet.com/news/8chan-owner-says-el-paso-shooter-didnt-post-manifesto/

    “First of all, the El Paso shooter posted on Instagram, not 8chan,” Watkins said in the video. “Later, someone uploaded the manifesto. However, that manifesto was not uploaded by the Walmart shooter. I don’t know if he wrote it or not, but it was not uploaded by the murderer. That is clear.”

    Watkins also said they they had made law enforcement aware of when it appeared. Very peculiar, unless they were tipped off as soon as it was posted.

    Your link says

    That explains why there was a screenshot which showed a mostly error-free manifesto and a text file that was riddled with errors. Some bozo with bad typing skills transcribed the original manifesto which was four screenshots posted to Instagram.

    I did see the nicely formatted document on CBS, but if CBS I assumed that’s the way it was on 8chan and Drudge had a secnd or third generation copy. It’s not retyped, jost wordwraped badly. This happens sometimes when ct and paste is used.

    Instagram denied it had been uploaded to Instagram first, but what they actually denied was that the killer had an active Instagram account:

    A spokeswoman for Facebook said it disabled an Instagram account tied to the suspected gunman on Saturday. The account hadn’t been active for more than a year, she said.

    He could have had more than one account/ He had two Twitter accounts. Or, of course, he had at least one collaborator.

    I have wondered whether the 2015 San Bernardino shooter uploaded his writings himself. It came, like this one, very very close to the timing of the attack.

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)

  45. Both Uruguary and Venezuela did this in retaliation. It might be fair in the case of Uruguay, but not Venezuela.

    Sammy Finkelman (d542b2)


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