North Carolinians more dangerous than Syrian refugees?

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Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Robert Lewis Dear
Robert Lewis Dear
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RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Could North Carolinians be more dangerous than the potential threat of Syrian refugees? In a provocative article published Monday, Slate.com writer William Saletan tallies up violent attacks by extremists linked to the Tar Heel state in recent years and draws that conclusion.

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Governors across the nation - including North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory - have told the Obama administration that Syrian refugees aren't welcome because of terrorism concerns following attacks in Paris.

But after last week's shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic by Robert Dear - who lived in North Carolina until about a year ago - Saletan makes the argument that domestic terrorists pose a greater threat.

In addition to Dear, he tallies:

  • 1996 - Atlanta Olympics bomber and NC native Eric Rudolph
  • 2001 - White supremacist Steve Anderson who killed a North Carolina police officer and was found to have weapons and explosives in his home
  • 2010 -Concord, NC extremist Justin Moose who was charged with plotting to blow up a Planned Parenthood clinic
  • 2014 - Former Johnston County KKK grand dragon Frazier Glenn Miller who killed three people at a Jewish center in Kansas and was recently sentenced to death.
  • Saletan's list goes on. In all, he links eight deaths to North Carolinians.

    "That doesn't make the Christian states of North and South Carolina anywhere near as dangerous as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. But it does make you wonder why, as we close our doors to refugees who have done us no harm, we pay so little attention to our enemies within," Saletan writes.

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