I was somewhat shocked to see this picture at the end of May. It has extra significance after the death of Doctor Tiller and the death of the security guard at the holocaust museum.
If this isn't an example of right wing terrorism on the rise - what is?
A little bit of google image searching reveals that the image comes from a gun and knife show at the Tallahassee Fairground. While there is certainly a place for free speech and expression, this goes far beyond that. It's an incitement to violence, a claim that somehow "hunting liberals" is not only an acceptable thing to do, it's somehow a good thing to do, a thing that people would line up to buy permits to legally do.
Particularly in early April and May, several of the right wing blogs that I read regularly had contributors who were only very thinly veiling their threats of violence. the uprising is coming, and when it does, my weapons are ready they would say, or when it's time to march on Washington and overthrow Obama, I'll be there with my guns.
Lately, with these two horrific murders breaking news (on all networks, it would seem, except Fox) many of the right wingers are taking swift steps back from their threats - but that doesn't mean the seething hatred has gone away. Many of them still believe that the country was mislead into voting for Obama, that they are right all along and that Obama either won by misleading the population or by ACORN cheating. Those that do are convinced that when people "wake up" there WILL be an uprising, most likely armed.
After the last eight years, it's come as a major shock to them to be thrown out of power. Many of them can't deal with it by acceptance, they can only deal with it by explaining away the defeat how they've always done: by blaming the opposition. Spurred on by the O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh crowd they continue to deny reality - that America is sick and tired of conservatism and actually voted for change.
What can be done about it? In truth, very little - actively. We cannot go down Bush's path, preemptively arresting those who might become the next right wing terrorist murderer. This does me we have to be reactive rather than proactive, but it does NOT mean that we can't remain vigilant. Warning signs - such as this picture - are there, and where they are, there is a duty for law enforcement to at the very least open a file on the people putting such images or views out there. Even if they're not caught until they commit murder, as has happened with the two recent murders, at least the police and the FBI should be aware of those who continue to spread the message that violence is acceptable.