[Shoot a rightist, neutralize another terrorist. It's what the 2A is
for.]

.. Begin Report ,,,

Nearly twice as many Americans have been killed by right-wing extremists
since 9/11 as have died at the hands of radical Muslims on US soil, a new
report found. There have also been nearly three times as many deadly
right-wing attacks as jihadist ones.

In almost a decade-and-a-half, 48 Americans have died in the US in 19
attacks by white supremacists, so-called �sovereign citizens� and other
non-Muslim extremists, while 26 have died in seven jihadist attacks on US
soil during that same time period, research center New America found as it
compiled a new database on deadly attacks in the US since 9/11.

"Since 9/11, our country has been fixated on the threat of jihadi
terrorism," said Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law
Center, according to the Kansas City Star. "But the horrific tragedy at
the Emanuel AME reminds us that the threat of homegrown domestic terrorism
is very real."

Last Wednesday, nine African-Americans were shot and killed at Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann
Storm Roof, who later confessed to the massacre, made racist statements as
he killed his victims, survivors told police. A website believed to belong
to Roof contained a white supremacist manifesto, as well as photos of him
posing with a gun, carrying the Confederate flag and burning an American
flag. The Charleston shooting has not been officially labeled as
terrorism, however, and Roof has not been charged with any crimes more
heinous than murder.

The purpose of this database is to provide as much information as possible
about American citizens and permanent residents engaged in violent
extremist activity as well as individuals, regardless of their citizenship
status, living within the United States who have engaged in violent
extremist activity,� Sterman and Bergen wrote. "We examine both those
individuals motivated by Jihadist ideology, understood as those who worked
with or were inspired by al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, as well as
those motivated by other ideologies that are non-Jihadist in character,
for example right wing, left wing, or idiosyncratic beliefs.�

from http://securitydata.newamerica.net

There were killings that gripped the national conscience but were not
included. A North Carolina man who confessed to killing his three Muslim
neighbors and had posted angry critiques about religion online, for
instance, was omitted because the shooting may have been related to a
parking dispute. Likewise, New America did not include massacres that did
not appear to have ideological motives, such as the Aurora, Colorado movie
theater shooting or the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown,
Connecticut.

The report may even be understating the number of right-wing terrorist
attacks in the US because the media often reports other, non-political
motivations when the perpetrators are white, critics contend.

�With non-Muslims, the media bends over backward to identify some
psychological traits that may have pushed them over the edge,� Abdul Cader
Asmal, a longtime spokesman for Boston�s Muslim community, told the New
York Times. �Whereas if it�s a Muslim, the assumption is that they must
have done it because of their religion.�

New America noted that it focused on the acts themselves and remained
neutral on whether the perpetrators� motivations were considered to be
violently extreme.

�We recognize that extremism is a subjective term and that the First
Amendment protects the right to hold extreme political views,� Sterman and
Bergen wrote. �Our dataset takes no stance on whether particular
ideologies are extreme but focuses on violent extremism understood as the
use of violence in pursuit of any political ideology whether that ideology
is considered mainstream in the United States or not.�

Facts vs. public perceptions

The New America database runs counter to public perception, which says
that Muslim jihadists on US soil are a much larger threat to Americans.
The people tasked with rooting out violent extremists and preventing
attacks from occurring, however, see threats in line with what the dataset
found, according to a survey about to be published.

That study ? set to be published this week by the Triangle Center on
Terrorism and Homeland Security and the Police Executive Research Forum ?
asked 382 police and sheriff�s departments nationwide to rank the three
biggest threats from violent extremism in their jurisdiction.

from http://securitydata.newamerica.net

About 74 percent listed anti-government violence, while 39 percent listed
�Al Qaeda-inspired� violence, according to study authors Charles Kurzman
of the University of North Carolina and David Schanzer of Duke University.

�Law enforcement agencies around the country have told us the threat from
Muslim extremists is not as great as the threat from right-wing
extremists,� Kurzman told the NY Times.

The mismatch between public perceptions and actual cases of jihadism in
the US has become steadily more obvious in scholarly research, but that
realization hasn�t made its way into the mainstream American conscience
yet, John G. Horgan, who studies terrorism at the University of
Massachusetts Lowell, told the NY Times.

�There�s an acceptance now of the idea that the threat from jihadi
terrorism in the United States has been overblown,� Horgan said. �And
there�s a belief that the threat of right-wing, antigovernment violence
has been underestimated.�

The government ? or at least Republicans on the House Committee on
Homeland Security ? may be playing into the public misconception that
jihadi terrorism is the biggest threat Americans face. On Friday, the
committee introduced its new, monthly Terror Threat Snapshot that will
track �the escalating and grave threat environment facing the United
States.�

�Terror threats to the US homeland have reached unprecedented levels,�
committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a statement. �There
have been 116 homegrown jihadist plots in America since 9/11� more than
half of those have occurred in just the past three years.�

According to that tool, the number of homegrown terror plots since 9/11
has tripled in the past five years. The data was compiled by the
committee�s majority staff.

https://www.rt.com/usa/269506-american-terroist-attacks-study/