Interpol Chief: Arm Citizens to Prevent Terrorist Attacks

ABC News did an exclusive interview with Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Nobel. Josh Margolin reports, “Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said today the U.S. and the rest of the democratic world is at a security crossroads in the wake of last month’s deadly al-Shabab attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya – and suggested an answer could be in arming civilians.”

“Societies have to think about how they’re going to approach the problem,” Noble said. “One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves are so secure that in order to get into the soft target you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.”

Citing a recent call for al Qaeda “brothers to strike soft targets, to do it in small groups,” Noble said law enforcement is now facing a daunting task.

“How do you protect soft targets? That’s really the challenge. You can’t have armed police forces everywhere,” he told reporters. “It’s Interpol’s view that one way you protect soft targets is you make it more difficult for terrorist to move internationally. So what we’re trying to do is to establish a way for countries … to screen passports, which are a terrorist’s best friend, try to limit terrorists moving from country to country. And also, that we’re able to share more info about suspected terrorists.”

Noble’s comments came only moments after the official opening of the 82nd annual gathering of the Interpol’s governing body, the General Assembly.

What makes this important is that Nobel served as a Clinton political appointee from 1994-1996. Nobel was the Under Secretary of Enforcement for the Treasury Department. In that role Noble oversaw the operations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which was frequently used by the Clinton administration to advance a gun control agenda.

The NRA notes, “No one can reasonably accuse Noble of being in the pocket of the gun rights movement.”

As NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre likes to say, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” It appears that the Secretary General of Interpol agrees.