Lone wolves: myth or reality?

Lone wolves: myth or reality?
Introduction (continued)
of terrorism against federal targets,
the Jewish community, the black
community and so on.
Another nazi killer whom the
media generally described as a
lone wolf gunman was James W
von Brunn, who killed a security
guard at the Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Washington DC in
June 2009. Von Brunn, 88, was an
admitted white supremacist and
antisemite who wanted to send a
message that the Holocaust was a
hoax, a thesis propounded by
nazis worldwide. Although he
acted alone, he was heavily
influenced by nazi ideology and
created his own antisemitic
website called The Holy Western
Empire. For most of his life he
had been associated with or
active in dozens of far-right
groups, including having some
links to this country. He died in
January 2010, while awaiting trial,
from the wounds he received
when two security guards
returned fire.
It seems that it is less troublesome
for the media and some MPs to
view these terrorists as lone wolves
than to face the fact of an organised
terrorist threat from the domestic
extreme right and the need to
devote resources to investigating
and combating it.
14 | Lone wolves: myth or reality?
This report is intended to promote
discussion of the nature of farright
terrorism and serve as a
weapon against it. At Appendix A is
a list of some of the many
hundreds of far-right crimes
committed in the UK. Only a small
proportion of them are terrorist, a
far larger proportion are violent,
racist or both. The list indicates a
propensity towards crime among
those active on the political far
right. Chapter 3 contains a
selection of profiles of the more
serious cases of politically
motivated criminal acts. The
report concludes with some
recommendations for improved
methods of tackling far-right
terroristic extremism. ●
NOTES
1 A transcript of David Veness’s comments
is included in chapter 4