Virgil begins the Aeneid with “Arma virumque cano,” I sing of arms and the man, but he had a better character in mind for his poem. Here, I must deal with persons of lesser moral and political worth, namely the tyrants who rise up from time to time with pretensions of leadership and ought to be weeded out lest they take root and suck out the resources of their nations.
The thing that I consider to be the great paradox of US gun culture is that the majority of gun rights proponents in this country, who cite having the means to resist tyranny as a primary reason for their position, simultaneously support the stripping of freedoms from those who are not part of their in-group, for example people wanting to access abortion services, LGBTQIA+ people, nonwhite immigrants, educators who might wish to discuss historical facts that contradict American mythology, or minority communities seeking political representation via the ballot box.
There is also the matter of the steadfast support that the majority of gun rights supporters have for law enforcement which, arguably, is becoming a paramilitary wing of the state and tends to, as a whole, sympathize with those who advocate for the stripping of freedoms from out-groups.
Many in the “2A community” also profess an unquestioning admiration for the founders, despite their exclusionist conception of who did and who did not constitute “the people,” and their structuring of American government that exempted state governments from the restrictions placed upon the federal government by the Bill of Rights. That, in my mind, brings into question what the guns are really for in the minds of most of these people.
Overall, I worry that this country is headed in a rather ominous direction, especially considering that what passes as mainstream conservatism in 2023 makes 2016-era Trump appear moderate in comparison. Looking at how the far right has successfully consolidated power in key states that would have been considered toss-ups not too long ago e.g. Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and gerrymandered voting districts in many states to grant themselves representation out of proportion to their actual popular support, we are facing a realistic prospect of a permanent far-right majority in Congress.
In my opinion, a cultural shift among the armed element of the American populace towards a position of “all rights for all people” and support for a system of laws that binds and protects everyone equally is desperately needed if American gun culture as a whole truly wants to walk the talk of resisting tyranny, and may even be necessary if we want to continue to resemble a free and open society in the coming years.
The thing that I consider to be the great paradox of US gun culture is that the majority of gun rights proponents in this country, who cite having the means to resist tyranny as a primary reason for their position, simultaneously support the stripping of freedoms from those who are not part of their in-group, for example people wanting to access abortion services, LGBTQIA+ people, nonwhite immigrants, educators who might wish to discuss historical facts that contradict American mythology, or minority communities seeking political representation via the ballot box.
There is also the matter of the steadfast support that the majority of gun rights supporters have for law enforcement which, arguably, is becoming a paramilitary wing of the state and tends to, as a whole, sympathize with those who advocate for the stripping of freedoms from out-groups.
Many in the “2A community” also profess an unquestioning admiration for the founders, despite their exclusionist conception of who did and who did not constitute “the people,” and their structuring of American government that exempted state governments from the restrictions placed upon the federal government by the Bill of Rights. That, in my mind, brings into question what the guns are really for in the minds of most of these people.
Overall, I worry that this country is headed in a rather ominous direction, especially considering that what passes as mainstream conservatism in 2023 makes 2016-era Trump appear moderate in comparison. Looking at how the far right has successfully consolidated power in key states that would have been considered toss-ups not too long ago e.g. Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and gerrymandered voting districts in many states to grant themselves representation out of proportion to their actual popular support, we are facing a realistic prospect of a permanent far-right majority in Congress.
In my opinion, a cultural shift among the armed element of the American populace towards a position of “all rights for all people” and support for a system of laws that binds and protects everyone equally is desperately needed if American gun culture as a whole truly wants to walk the talk of resisting tyranny, and may even be necessary if we want to continue to resemble a free and open society in the coming years.