PART II

"Baby, it's violence, violence."

- Grimes

FREEDOM ALERT

Originally broadcast May 29th, 2027.

TOM: For weeks, we've heard nothing but denials from this administration. They denied that the raids were happening. They denied that they were censoring posts on the web. They even denied that these machines are real.

We've all seen the thing with that Kobek fellow on TV. So the question now is, what else are they hiding?

At this point, you've gotta be real suspicious of the government's intentions. I think this whole thing is just an excuse. These raids have been a cover for their real plan, which is the eventual seizure of any and all guns. The time has come. They are coming for our second amendment rights, and nobody is willing to admit it.

BATES: Now hold on now Tom. What are you basing this on?

TOM: Well it's–

BATES: Because now, listen, Tom. We at FREEDOM ALERT are interested in the facts. And so far we've only heard rumors of a few federal raids, isolated to certain rural parts of the country—Utah in particular.

Believe me, I share your concern, Tom, but this simply doesn't look like a nation-wide gun grab to me.

TOM: It's just the start, Jordan. They're not going to just do these all at once. When they come for our guns, they're going to start off with trial runs. They wanna see how we'll react. And they wanna practice their methodology, you see? Don't tell me you don't think they're capable of it.

BATES: Oh, of course they're capable of it, Tom. We all know that, and anybody who has listened to this program over the years knows just how alarmed I am about the threat of tyranny. Tom, we're almost out of time here. Thanks for your call.

TOM: Have a good one.

BATES: Well, folks! This is shaping up to be quite the story, isn't it?

Now, we can't know the real purpose of these raids, of course. It may be something perfectly legitimate that federal law enforcement is doing. The rumors about guns being seized are worrying, absolutely, but we don't want to jump to conclusions.

Of course, ol' Tom there made a compelling point about test runs, didn't he? Sometimes the government floats these little trial balloons out there, just to see what they can get away with. Something to be concerned about, indeed.

What do you think? Let's open up the lines for more callers. I want to know if more of you listeners think Tom might be onto something.

Let's see, looks like we've got a real Utahn on the line! Chuck from outside of Salt Lake City.

What say you, Chuck? Is Tom right about these raids?

CHUCK: Hey... Jordan...

Chuck breathes heavily into the phone.

BATES: Hi there, Chuck. What are you hearing about these raids?

CHUCK: Uh... yeah... they tried to raid me.

BATES: Whoa! You're not pulling my leg, are you Chuck?

CHUCK: No sir... they uh... they sent three men to my house. They came a-knocking... said they had a warrant to search...

BATES: Good lord almighty. Well what'd you do, Chuck?

CHUCK: Shot 'em.

BATES: ...I'm sorry Chuck, what was that? Did you say you "shot" 'em?

CHUCK: Yep. (Heavy breathing.)

BATES: Uh...

CHUCK: Blew their goddamned heads off with a semi-automatic shotty.

BATES: Wha–

CHUCK: They ain't even know I was here until they was all three of 'em dead.

BATES: Chuck, listen, we've had prank callers on this show before and we don't appreciate it too much. Take care of yourself and have a good one.

Bates cuts the call.

BATES: Folks, that's live radio for you. You get all kinds of strange people calling in. I'm sure our friend Chuck was just having some fun with us, but I want to stress anyway that FREEDOM ALERT absolutely does not endorse violence of the sort he was talking about. We don't mind talking about the need to resist tyranny, but we don't support any Unabomber type crazies going around trying to cause harm to their fellow man.

Alright... well... let's try us another caller.

If these raids are happening, how concerned should we be?

We've got Susanne from Little Rock, Arkansas on the line. Susanne, what are your thoughts?

SUSANNE: Hello Jordan. I just want to say– I think that Chuck fellow has the right idea.

BATES: Now, Susanne, hold on there just a minute. We don't even know that there really are any raids for guns—or for these so-called super advanced 3D printers. How could you possibly say it's right to shoot federal officers who walk up to your door with a warrant?

SUSANNE: I don't care if they're coming for guns or whatever else. I think these machines might be real, Jordan. I know it sounds crazy, but I've started to hear about 'em more and more, to the point that I'm starting to think they might actually be out there.

BATES: What have you been hearing, Susanne?

SUSANNE: Well just rumors... but I saw a YouTube the other day. This man was showing one of these machines in action. Making apples. Just zapping 'em out, one after the other.

BATES: I saw that one too, Susanne. You know how it is, though. These guys have Photoshop and who knows what else. It's all fake news. They can make it look like anything is real now.

You don't really believe a machine can make apples out of thin air, do you?

SUSANNE (sighing): I know how it sounds, Jordan. Craziness.

But I'll tell you this. If I did have one of them machines, and the government came to my door trying to take it?

You best believe I'd do 'em the same way Chuck did.

BATES: Susanne I'm very sorry but I just can't have you calling for violence against federal officers on the show like that. You know talk like that can be dangerous.

SUSANNE: Well I'm sorry... but I just have to say how I feel, Jordan.

BATES: I understand that Susanne, and I know it's easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment when we talk about the government violating our rights. But you know, even assuming that these machines are real, they probably wouldn't be as protected under the constitution as our guns are. The second amendment puts guns into a different class, right? So even if there were concerns about property rights, I think it really would be a whole different issue for the government to look into machines like we're discussing.

SUSANNE: Look, these machines could be much more important than guns. If a machine can print food... we'd need to get it protected just as well as we protect our guns.

BATES: We uh... we're deep into hypotheticals here Susanne, but I'm curious as to what you mean.

SUSANNE: Well. Why do we care so much about guns in the first place? It ain't because we love hunting—even though we do love to go hunt. It ain't because guns are so important on their own. Guns are a tool. Guns are power. And if the government were to ever take our guns, they'd be taking away our power. You get what I'm sayin'?

BATES: Sure, I follow.

SUSANNE: Okay, so think about what you could do with one of these machines. A replicator, they're calling it, right?. You could print out all kinds of things that the government taxes and regulates right now. Food. Stuff you'd normally buy for around the house. Even guns.

If replicators can do what people are sayin', then they're a hundred times more powerful than any gun.

BATES: Well that's supposing–

SUSANNE: For years, us rural Americans have been the laughing stock of the rest of the country... every time we talk about the importance of the second amendment for protecting ourselves from tyranny, people laugh. They say "you couldn't fight off the military with a puny little gun! They've got drones!"

And you know what? They're right.

Now that the army has all these flying, rocket-launching robots, guns ain't what they used to be.

If, and I do say "if," these machines are real, this is big. Bigger than the second amendment.