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RE: Terrorism Cannot be Stopped by Banning Hardware
The only way to stop terrorism is to cut its funding. Radical groups cannot maintain their operations without a continuous supply of money and weapons.
Cutting funding would disrupt larger groups, but my take is that it would simply cause them to shift to a different operating model. They'll focus on low-tech, low-cost means of pushing their propaganda, radicalising people and striking targets.
It doesn't cost a lot of money to record a sermon and post it on the Net. It doesn't cost a lot of money to run a website on the Dark Web. In Singapore, it only takes $2.50 and change to conduct a terrorist operation.
Cutting funds and weapons will make it much harder for large, organised groups to carry out more lethal attacks. But they are going to adapt by becoming propaganda and ideological centres, inspiring others to launch constant waves of small-scale terror attacks to keep up the pressure. This is the Islamic State's current overseas strategy in the West, and so far it seems to be rather effective.