"Nonviolence isn't sitting back with your arms folded. It is recognizing that the very person who is your oppressor is also your brother or your sister. One day she or he may stop being your oppressor, but they'll never stop being your brother or sister."
I recently learned we are twenty times more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident than a violent assault. Thank you for addressing the fear factor in gun sales. Unfortunately, arms merchants are making huge profits from the conflict between Israelis and Hamas. Peace, I believe, begins within and radiates slowly from one individual to another. May we focus on the tools of nonviolence rather than war.
Very well-reasoned case. I've long hated the NRA, but I've never thought of them as a terrorist organization. While they aren't by the conventional definition, you have persuaded me that they should be regarded as one. Drive-by Truckers have a fantastic song called "Ramon Casiano" about the man who turned the NRA into the powerful political organization we know today way back in the 1960s. He shot and killed an unarmed Mexican teenager (Ramon Casiano) in 1931, which is to say, he murdered him, and got away with it. The lyrics to the song are brilliant.
I agree, but I suggest that the NRA and gun culture are components of white supremacy; white supremacy is the primary motivation for domestic terrorism.
I agree that the gun culture is rooted in white supremacy and the NRA is certainly a beneficiary of these policies but their specific aim is race-blind in the sense that they just want to make as much money, gather as much power as possible.
I think we largely agree. I don’t dispute that the NRA, like any trade organization, seeks to influence government to maximize its industry profits. That said, the NRA’s political influence seems to go much deeper than most such trade organizations.
In support, I cite the NRA’s close association with Putin and the decades-long development of the “fraudulent" interpretation of the Second Amendment to allow for individual possession of firearms. The “fraud” characterization, BTW, is not mine but rather that of former SCOTUS Chief Justice Warren Burger.
The right to self defense is universal. I'm sorry you think me a terrorist because I want to have the tools to be able to at least stand a chance of protecting my family in the way the disarmed Israelis whos houses were broken into, killed, and their corpses dragged through the streets in the past 48 hours were unable to.
If you chose to give up the ability to defend yourself and allow you and your family to be marched to death without a fight for some ideology that's fine, but I'm not a terrorist for wanting to avoid the boxcars.
Gun culture and gun violence is unique to America. It's not universal. It's not a right anywhere else. (Even the American right was intended for a specific purpose, not the glib distortion it became in the modern era.)
Is it? We are watching the news were armed men are torturing, raping, and killing innocent civilians who's governments are unable to help and you are advocating against the tools that might give them and us if we are ever in that situation a fighting chance.
Yes, and here's why: nowhere in the essay did I advocate for gun control or confiscation. While I believe in gun control. this essay does not address that subject. Instead, I talk about the terroristic tactics used by the NRA to create conditions in which American violence becomes inevitable. America is in a very different geographic and political situation from Israel. The two are simply not comparable. To use what's going on in Israel and Gaza as justification for the continuous empty American violence is disingenuous. Their situation is much more akin to living in a civil war. We are not living like that as much as the NRA would like us to believe we are. The situation here is that you or your loved ones are MUCH more likely to be killed or injured by a firearm you possess than by somebody else attempting to "torture, rape, or kill" you. While your intent (protection) is noble, the reality is the opposite. Again, your desire to PROTECT your loved ones actually makes them LESS SAFE due to the presence of a firearm in your home. Until that situation changes, I see no reason to change my opinion about the NRA.
I'm sorry but I don't understand your argument. Isn't he LESS likely to be tortured raped and killed BECAUSE he's got a gun in the house? Certainly if someone is known to be unprotected they're more likely to be a target of criminals?
I guess I'll have to take your word for it, but the link you provided doesn't say that gun owners are more likely to be robbed. At least I couldn't find it.
And without the NRA the Second Amendment would be gone, so it's complicated. And where are the eight million people of unknown origin that President Biden just invited in?
FEAR. Fear. fear...
At least the manmade pandemic fear is quieting down.
You know.. substack needs notes like Twitter to let people know when someone is spreading misinformation. *****Richard Doyle.. you clearly don't understand how our constitution and government work. And science to boot!!
Fear has leap-frogged religion as the opiate of the masses.
"Nonviolence isn't sitting back with your arms folded. It is recognizing that the very person who is your oppressor is also your brother or your sister. One day she or he may stop being your oppressor, but they'll never stop being your brother or sister."
-Mev Puleo, The Struggle is One
I recently learned we are twenty times more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident than a violent assault. Thank you for addressing the fear factor in gun sales. Unfortunately, arms merchants are making huge profits from the conflict between Israelis and Hamas. Peace, I believe, begins within and radiates slowly from one individual to another. May we focus on the tools of nonviolence rather than war.
YEP. I’m ashamed there aren’t 10,000 people there, burning down their office.
Bahhh sheep, baaaaah.
“What’s that funny guy up to these days? Ah shit never mind...”
It’s as if someone’s got hot takes from ‘02 they’ve been sitting on.
Go be funny and don’t be a slave to politics.
Very well-reasoned case. I've long hated the NRA, but I've never thought of them as a terrorist organization. While they aren't by the conventional definition, you have persuaded me that they should be regarded as one. Drive-by Truckers have a fantastic song called "Ramon Casiano" about the man who turned the NRA into the powerful political organization we know today way back in the 1960s. He shot and killed an unarmed Mexican teenager (Ramon Casiano) in 1931, which is to say, he murdered him, and got away with it. The lyrics to the song are brilliant.
Will listen!
I agree, but I suggest that the NRA and gun culture are components of white supremacy; white supremacy is the primary motivation for domestic terrorism.
https://jsri.msu.edu/publications/nexo/vol-xxiii/no-2-spring-2020/beyond-the-right-to-bear-arms-white-supremacy-in-the-age-of-gun-violence
I agree that the gun culture is rooted in white supremacy and the NRA is certainly a beneficiary of these policies but their specific aim is race-blind in the sense that they just want to make as much money, gather as much power as possible.
I think we largely agree. I don’t dispute that the NRA, like any trade organization, seeks to influence government to maximize its industry profits. That said, the NRA’s political influence seems to go much deeper than most such trade organizations.
In support, I cite the NRA’s close association with Putin and the decades-long development of the “fraudulent" interpretation of the Second Amendment to allow for individual possession of firearms. The “fraud” characterization, BTW, is not mine but rather that of former SCOTUS Chief Justice Warren Burger.
https://youtu.be/LNn_AfSagSg?feature=shared
The right to self defense is universal. I'm sorry you think me a terrorist because I want to have the tools to be able to at least stand a chance of protecting my family in the way the disarmed Israelis whos houses were broken into, killed, and their corpses dragged through the streets in the past 48 hours were unable to.
If you chose to give up the ability to defend yourself and allow you and your family to be marched to death without a fight for some ideology that's fine, but I'm not a terrorist for wanting to avoid the boxcars.
Gun culture and gun violence is unique to America. It's not universal. It's not a right anywhere else. (Even the American right was intended for a specific purpose, not the glib distortion it became in the modern era.)
This is a beautifully reductive. Thank you.
Is it? We are watching the news were armed men are torturing, raping, and killing innocent civilians who's governments are unable to help and you are advocating against the tools that might give them and us if we are ever in that situation a fighting chance.
Yes, and here's why: nowhere in the essay did I advocate for gun control or confiscation. While I believe in gun control. this essay does not address that subject. Instead, I talk about the terroristic tactics used by the NRA to create conditions in which American violence becomes inevitable. America is in a very different geographic and political situation from Israel. The two are simply not comparable. To use what's going on in Israel and Gaza as justification for the continuous empty American violence is disingenuous. Their situation is much more akin to living in a civil war. We are not living like that as much as the NRA would like us to believe we are. The situation here is that you or your loved ones are MUCH more likely to be killed or injured by a firearm you possess than by somebody else attempting to "torture, rape, or kill" you. While your intent (protection) is noble, the reality is the opposite. Again, your desire to PROTECT your loved ones actually makes them LESS SAFE due to the presence of a firearm in your home. Until that situation changes, I see no reason to change my opinion about the NRA.
I'm sorry but I don't understand your argument. Isn't he LESS likely to be tortured raped and killed BECAUSE he's got a gun in the house? Certainly if someone is known to be unprotected they're more likely to be a target of criminals?
Gun owners are actually more likely to be targeted for home invasion because guns are often the most valuable (in terms of being able to sell) item in the home. The literature on this is pretty unequivocal (with the exception of Richard Lott); guns in the home make you MORE likely to be a victim of violence. https://www.safewise.com/resources/guns-at-home/#:~:text=Today%2C%20however%2C%20there%20is%20a,do%20not%20make%20us%20safer.
I guess I'll have to take your word for it, but the link you provided doesn't say that gun owners are more likely to be robbed. At least I couldn't find it.
And without the NRA the Second Amendment would be gone, so it's complicated. And where are the eight million people of unknown origin that President Biden just invited in?
FEAR. Fear. fear...
At least the manmade pandemic fear is quieting down.
Cheers!
You know.. substack needs notes like Twitter to let people know when someone is spreading misinformation. *****Richard Doyle.. you clearly don't understand how our constitution and government work. And science to boot!!
What that I wrote was misinformation?
And science is in a bad place right now.
*Sigh*another who is lost to the exact fear those groups perpetuate. I'm with Michael on this.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
2002. James Bond Die Another Day. Emilio Echeverria as Raoul/Raul:
James Bond : I'm looking for a North Korean.
Raul : Tourist?
James Bond : Terrorist.
Raul : One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.