Reuters reports: Islamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.

The video, which appeared on a site used by Islamic State to post its messages, begins with news footage of the aftermath of Friday’s Paris shootings in which at least 129 people were killed.

The message to countries involved in what it called the “crusader campaign” was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.

“We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” the man said. [Continue reading…]

After the Paris attacks, American gun lovers took to Twitter claiming that armed civilians could have prevented the attacks. Presumably they now believe that the prevalence of gun ownership in the U.S. makes Washington DC less vulnerable to a similar attack.

What is beyond dispute is that there is no other country that makes it easier for a group of individuals to gather the weapons and ammunition required for launching such an attack.

Are Newt Gingrich and his cohorts now going to start patrolling the streets of the capital? Or might it dawn on them that in reality, incapable as they are of living in a permanent state of armed vigilance, in the face of ruthless and heavily armed attackers such as those who struck Paris, unarmed and armed civilians pursuing their daily lives make equally soft targets.