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Reply | Another US school shooting
at 07:40 28 May 2022
I agree that it is not politically feasible to ban all guns in America. The revocation of the 2nd amendment and the prohibition of all firearms is complete fantasy at present. It is off the table after the Uvalde tragedy and will be off the table following the next inevitable tragedy, sadly.
I disagree with you however when you suggest that even if a total gun ban was possible it wouldn't be effective. To my mind the main positive outcome of making all guns illegal in the U.S would be that it would make guns less prominent and less visible, this in turn would alter the toxic gun culture in America.
The 2nd amendment was primarily conceived because the founding fathers thought that an armed citizenry was the best bulwark against a tyrannical government. If we look at gun enthusiasts today however that is not what we see, we do not see responsible adults quietly going about their lives with firearms locked safely away in their homes just in case one fateful day they have to defend their nation against an enemy foreign or domestic.
What we see is an endless stream of vulgar and frankly juvenile displays of gun toting exhibitionism. Political ads with candidates firing rifles, protesters at rallies armed to the teeth, politicians sending Christmas cards depicting their entire family holding assault weapons, celebrities posing with guns on their social media platforms and right-wing grifters like Stephen Crowder who does his entire Youtube show with a pistol holstered under his arm.
These people are not carrying guns because they think a dictatorship is imminent. They're doing it because in the American psyche guns have become ideological signifiers, associated with ideas of masculinity, freedom, the frontier spirit, defending the American way of life and patriotism. Chris Hedges says that the most damaging thing for a society is when it loses touch with reality, on the gun issue America has done just that. Too many Americans have delusional hero fantasies where they act like action heroes and save the day with their guns, where as in reality they'd be just like the cops in Texas and freeze when confronted with an active shooter.
Until regular Americans stop fetishizing the idea of being a "good guy with a gun" we can't hope for sick Americans to stop fetishizing the idea of being a "bad guy with a gun". |
| Forum
Reply | Cummings
at 20:42 25 May 2020
Even if his explanation is true I don't understand why he and his wife both had to make the journey. If he was concerned that he and his wife would both become too ill to care for their child and the only way he believed he could have childcare is to drive to Durham that still doesn't explain why his wife made the journey too. She could have self isolated whilst he took his son to Durham. I don't get why anyone believes a word of this. |
| | LeJacobin
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