this was a conversation on Facebook. It was associated with an article "Hundreds of Protesters, Some Carrying Guns in the State Capitol, Demonstrate Against Michigan's Emergency Measures". I thought it made some interesting points.
--Kim
I am increasingly seeing guns as nothing more than totems of white male supremacy. The Second Amendment was written to give white men a last-ditch defense against rebellious enslaved and indigenous people, the ultimate tool for putting down insurrections. Likewise, domestic violence (not usually involving guns, but they were there if needed) was a way of keeping women in their subservient place.
To this day, if all else fails, a white man can resort to violence to get control of his world -- and the entire legal system is set up to allow this to happen with a bare show of consequence.
But if a man of color, or a woman, uses force to defend themselves -- or, worse, initiates violence against a man who has taken too many liberties with their lives -- that same law will come down on them like a ton of bricks. Because the authority of white men must never, ever be challenged.
America will cease to be America if this ever changes. And that's why these guys are dragging their guns into statehouses. Those are THEIR statehouses, established to protect THEIR rights. And they are defending them in the way that law and custom have always allowed.
2626
10 Comments
- It occurred to me that there is a serious issue that I'm not sure anyone has ever discussed on the gun nut topic. SLA Marshal, in his WWII study on the US Army, found that one of the issues that reduced effectiveness (e.g. how many people in a unit shot at the enemy) was that the Army used circular targets to train soldiers. After his study, the Army switched to human silhouette targets; this helped soldiers learn to shoot at humans on the battlefield. So, take the modern gun fanatic. He/(and in lesser numbers, she as well) has a military style rifle based on (or direct copies) of military weapons designed to shoot other people (no Army in the world buys rifles 'so the soldiers can hunt with them'). Based on my own experience, and numerous videos and other media, the gun folks use human silhouettes routinely (or pictures of their political 'enemies') to practice. Effectively, they have trained themselves, and are ready, to shoot humans with little remorse. That, I think, is why they are praying for a breakdown of society, so they can go on purge-like killing sprees with no repercussions. Protests against COVID lockdowns do not require firearms; these are people looking for the opportunity to do murders under the guise of 'protecting my rights.'3
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- I don't own any firearms and I have no intention of doing so. But I have a couple of mental lines in the sand where, if they're crossed, I will go through some training with common firearms of all varieties so that, if the need arises, I will know what I'm doing well enough to not hurt anyone I'm not trying to hurt, especially myself, even if that just means safing it, ejecting any ammunition, and clearing the chamber.
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- · Edited
- I own several firearms. My principal firearm is a pistol that's been a standard military sidearm for 110 years, known for its simplicity and reliability. I can use it well enough to defend myself, update my training once a year or so, and am not much interested in learning to use it much beyond that. As a woman, I like having the option for some riskier corners of my life (flying solo to remote rural airports, for example -- many of the female pilots I know carry when they fly alone.) And yes: I shoot at human-shaped targets.But I'll ratify Bob's point that civilian gun culture has always tracked closely with military gun culture. Men learned to shoot as kids, or when they served. When they got out, they tended to carry forward with both the guns and the attitudes they learned from Old Sarge. My dad's generation -- veterans of WWII and Korea -- valued a peacetime homefront where they never had to carry. They might go out and hunt, or plink cans at the town dump, but guns weren't a totem of manhood for them. They were a burden they were glad to put down when they came home.Being good men meant supporting a family, keeping commitments to a wife, holding down a job, serving the community. The gun was just a thing you did once when you were young, and men who were too attached to them were viewed as having a screw loose.Americans civilians still prefer military guns; but since Vietnam ended, gun culture has slowly moved from the hands of Sarge to those of the NRA, which made them a symbol of conservative political power and toxic masculinity. Military discipline and caution went right out the window. As Bob notes, they're now binkies for men who want to prove they're men without having to actually do the real work -- serve their country, commit to a family, support their community, discipline themselves to a profession. It's a cheap, fake shortcut to respect they haven't earned, and don't deserve.11
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- · Edited
- I was raised with guns. Im a good shot. I was taught gun manners and i have deep muscle memory. But using a firearm for this bullshit? This is so concerning to me. These people have no respect or tradition for what it means to be politely armed in civil society. They are looking for a firefight. These are the thugs that show up in old westerns itching for a fight, all glorious in their showy violence.3
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- "Binkies". You're being way too polite. They're penile prostheses. Or substitutes.1
- i just want one goddamned cop to think that these buttmuches are little black kids and wail the tarnation out of them. i mean, we all know they put on the badge and gun because they really like the idea of beating the bejesus out of folks. usually it's black or brown teenagers. but, just for variety, how's about we find some cops to fuck these motherfuckers up a little.2
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- Does Central Casting provide the people for these pictures? They accuse the Left of being "crisis actors" but these people keep looking to me like extras from "Deliverance".3
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- The second amendment includes the words "well-regulated". This is not that.1
- Like
- · Reply
- · 2d
- American Freikorps.2
- Like
- · Reply
- · 1d
- They refuse to go in public without being heavily armed against imaginary threats but refuse to wear a mask because "they're not cowards"
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment