A Brief History
On November 2, 2004, the great grand nephew of artist Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh, age 47, was brutally murdered by an Islamic terrorist while cycling in Amsterdam. Van Gogh was a movie maker, screen writer and television producer, and had completed a short film called Submission, a movie about the subjugation of women in Islamic countries. Needless to say, the routine death threats followed against Van Gogh and his Somali collaborator, causing his partner, Aayan Hirsi Ali to blow off the threat, saying, “Nobody kills the village idiot” (meaning herself).
Digging Deeper
Moroccan-Dutch idiot, Mohammed Bouyeri, was the son of immigrants, and had quit college after 5 years of floundering and had become known to police as a “troubled youth.” A radical Islamist and a gang member, he turned to a life of strict Sharia law and to the terrorist group The Hofstad Network, which he may have helped found.
Intensely insulted by Van Gogh’s portrayal of Islam, Bouyeri cycled up next to the hapless film maker and opened fire with his HS2000 pistol, firing wildly, hitting Van Gogh and 2 bystanders. (The HS2000 is also known in the US as the Springfield Armory XD, XDM or XDS and is made in Croatia. It is semi-automatic and uses a large capacity magazine.) Van Gogh, seriously wounded, ran across the street and collapsed, begging Bouyeri “Don’t do it, don’t do it,” but of course Bouyeri shot him several more times for good measure, a total of 8 shots. Bouyeri then cut Van Gogh’s throat and tried to decapitate him, creating a ghastly wound, and then buried the large knife in Van Gogh’s chest. Bouyeri then pinned a note to Van Gogh’s body with another, smaller knife, and left both knives in the movie man. The note threatened Van Gogh’s partner (the village idiot) as well as western countries and Jews.
The 26 year old terrorist was chased by police who wounded him in the leg, taking him into custody and resulting in a guilty verdict for murder, earning a life sentence. The sentence includes no chance for parole. Of course, Bouyeri had the pistol illegally, and was charged with a gun control crime, as usual, too late to stop the criminal act!
Although witnessed by numerous people, none of them were legally armed as may have been the case in the US, and the murder took place with no chance of defense by Van Gogh or intervention by unarmed witnesses. (Note: In The Netherlands, private gun ownership is highly regulated, with any citizen wanting to own a gun required to belong to a gun club and use the gun for target shooting or hunting only, no short barreled pistols or automatics. It takes over a year to get a permit to buy a target gun. There is no open carry or concealed carry by citizens in The Netherlands except illegally by criminals, which of course leaves victims defenseless. There is no right to have a gun there, only a privilege, with no right to carry for self defense.)
Outrage over the murder, especially with the bloodline of the victim going back to a highly celebrated citizen, spilled over into backlash against Muslims, including arson and vandalism of mosques and attacks on people believed to be Muslims. Since this incident, Europe has been wracked with numerous incidents of Islamic terror, sometimes from immigrants, and sometimes as in this case, from a radicalized home grown terrorist.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Should Van Gogh and upstanding citizen witnesses have been allowed to carry a pistol for self defense? What are your opinions on this subject?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi. Infidel. Atria Books, 2008.