The U.S. military’s job is to serve and protect our nation, making this an irregular situation and especially scary for most people.

As tensions rise in the middle east due to terrorist groups rising to power, many Americans turn a blind eye to the fact that terrorism still happens in America, by American citizens. Last week a white nationalist, who also served on the Coast Guard, 49 year old lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson was arrested for “planning to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country” in Silver Spring, MD.

The eighth district of Maryland, where Silver Spring is located, is primarily blue and it is pretty uncommon for a person who resides there to want a “white homeland.”

Not only was this man a racist but he also wanted to rid the earth of all Democrats. Along with the attacks on civilians he planned, he wanted to assasinate nine House reps and senators, including Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. He even went to the extent of targeting CNN and MSNBC hosts such as Joe Scarborough and Don Lemon.

“I am dreaming of a way to kill every last person on earth. He also stated his plan to poison food supplies and execute a massive biological attack on the public to “cause complete destruction,” He stated in an email.

Hasson took large influence from a manifesto made by a Norwegian nationalist, Anders Breivik who had a strong hatred for Muslims. Breivik was involved in two terrorist attacks that killed 77 people in total. Breivik also prescribed many medications in his manifesto to “increase the ability to conduct attacks”. Hasson obviously listened, because the police seized at least 4,200 tramadol 100mg pills in addition to 100 synthetic opioid pills and 30 bottles of growth hormones.

This scenario brings up a broader question about gun safety in America. If Hasson was able to purchase around 15 firearms and around 1000 rounds of ammunition, who else has these types of weapons and what do they plan to do with them? “It’s pretty crazy that something like this happened, especially because how close it was to us, and I hope that nothing like this happens again.” said sophomore Aidan Carr.