{"id":3692,"date":"2024-07-31T16:34:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T16:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=3692"},"modified":"2024-07-31T16:34:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T16:34:39","slug":"election-fraud-both-sides-claim-victory-in-venezuela-but-only-one-side-has-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=3692","title":{"rendered":"Election Fraud: Both Sides Claim Victory in Venezuela, But Only One Side Has Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy.jpeg\" data-caption=\"Venezuelan dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Shutterstock Photo&#10;\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-696x464.jpeg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-696x464.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-700x467.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-1068x712.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-630x420.jpeg 630w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shutterstock_Nicolas-Maduro_Venezuela-copy-560x373.jpeg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" alt=\"\" title=\"Caracas,,Venezuela;,April,20,2023:,Venezuelan,President,Nicol\u00b7s,Maduro,Participates\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Venezuelan dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Shutterstock Photo<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-next-post-navi\">\n<p>\nNext Post Coming Soon&#8230;\u25b6\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Every dictator knows that the first thing they must do to maintain their grip on power is ban civilian firearm ownership and then confiscate all the guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No one knows this better than Venezuelan dictator and mass-murderer Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. The corporate media refers to Maduro as a \u201cstrongman,\u201d but there\u2019s nothing\u00a0<em>strong<\/em>\u00a0about machinegunning disarmed citizens or imprisoning political opponents without a shred of due process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Maduro issued an executive order that banned his subjects from owning firearms or ammunition and shuttered every private gun shop. Of course, the Venezuelan Army, police and special paramilitary units were exempt from Maduro\u2019s decree and continued to obtain guns and ammo from government sources. There was a short grace period during which Venezuelans were allowed to turn in their guns, but thousands of firearms had to be confiscated by force. Today, Venezuelans face up to 20 years in a state prison for illegal firearm possession.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Maduro justified his national gun grab by claiming it would reduce crime.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Sound familiar?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The move paid off for Maduro. During yesterday\u2019s national elections, when it became clear that he was going to lose to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia, Maduro sent armed government thugs into polling places with orders to stop the voting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Maduro formally announced that he had won the election, garnering more than 51% of the vote. But Urrutia\u2019s Democratic Unitary Platform party claimed he won with more than 70% of the vote. The United States and several countries in the region \u201cvoiced skepticism\u201d about the election results,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/07\/29\/americas\/venezuela-election-maduro-winner-intl-hnk\/index.html\">according to news reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Making matters worse for the Venezuelan people, Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement supporting Maduro\u2019s claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today\u2019s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous and secure future for the people of Venezuela,\u201d Harris said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VP\/status\/1817687288056303648\">social media post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Harris said we should accept the election results and move on, despite the cheating.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Lessons Learned\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Recent events have shown that the right to keep and bear arms is not universal, unfortunately, and that those who depend upon the government to protect them do so at their own peril.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the October 7<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0terrorist attacks, Israelis had to serve two years in the Israeli Defense Forces before they could apply for a firearm permit. Today, they can apply after serving one year in the IDF or other national service. In addition, those who work or live in a \u201cqualified dangerous area\u201d can also apply for a firearm permit. Israeli civilians who have no firearms training can also apply. As a result, more than 300,000 Israelis have applied for firearm permits since the Hamas massacres.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the war started, we knew that we were right when we said that every person that has a weapon can save a life,\u201d Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel\u2019s National Security Minister, told the\u00a0<em>Times of Israel<\/em>. \u201cWe need to enable as many people as possible to carry a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israel was not the only country to regret restricting civilian access to firearms.<\/p>\n<p>As Russian motorized rifle brigades streamed across the Ukrainian border, the world watched with sadness as Ukrainian soldiers uncrated cases of AKs as quickly as possible and passed them out to mostly untrained recruits. Ukraine tried to mitigate the damage by opening government-owned ranges to the public, but for many it was too little, too late.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Many of their frontline forces had minimal firearm training, which led to thousands of needless battlefield deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Takeaways<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Venezuela should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is literally floating on a sea of oil. However, decades of government corruption have forced most of the population into poverty \u2013 corruption that was enabled by disarming the people.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Everyone except our Vice President seems to recognize that Maduro cheated \u2013 by force of arms \u2013 and will now serve another six-year term, his third. There is little the Venezuelan people can do to contest Monday\u2019s election results. They have nothing to fight back with. All of their guns were confiscated and destroyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Venezuela is the latest example of the need to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights. Rather than focusing solely on\u00a0<em>how<\/em>\u00a0they intend to disarm us, we should focus on\u00a0<em>why<\/em>\u00a0our politicians \u2013 including Harris \u2013 want a disarmed populace. It is certainly a question worthy of a response.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story is courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation\u2019s Investigative Journalism Project. Click\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.anedot.com\/saf\/donate\"><strong><em>here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><em>\u00a0to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-next-post-navi\">\n<p>\nNext Post Coming Soon&#8230;\u25b6\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/election-fraud-both-sides-claim-victory-in-venezuela-but-only-one-side-has-guns\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Venezuelan dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Shutterstock Photo Next Post Coming Soon&#8230;\u25b6 Every dictator knows that the first thing they must do to maintain their grip on power is ban civilian firearm ownership and then confiscate all the guns.\u00a0 No one knows this better than Venezuelan dictator and mass-murderer Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. The corporate media refers to Maduro [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}