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In reply to the discussion: A terrible precedent is being set with guns in public places... [View all]DirkGently
(12,151 posts)I saw T-shirt once, in a TSA security line no less, that said something like "An armed man is a CITIZEN. An unarmed man is a SUBJECT."
What a profound fantasy that is. That someone having a pistol or a rifle is the difference between an empowered "citizen" and a subservient "subject." Not the vote. Not equal rights. Not public activism. FIREPOWER.
It's utter bullshit, of course. But it's a powerful fantasy for the disempowered. Don't have money? Don't have influence? Don't have options? Well, at least you can imagine that you can, as an individual, hold off government overreach with a bullet.
It's a marketing ploy. Even if you're a hunter, even if you want to defend against home invasions, you only need so many guns and so many "gun rights."
But if you're defending the homeland from tyranny -- my gosh -- how can you ever have enough? Enough magazines, enough bullets, enough dickish T-shirts?
And it's worked. There are now people who fervently believe that not just the right to own weapons, but the right to be prepared to kill anyone, anywhere, any time, is intrinsic to their core philosophy of personal freedom. If you can't walk around a school or a park holding a weapon capable of killing 10 or 20 people in a few seconds, you might as well live in North Nazi Russia, amirite?
So the true believers now want to "normalize" the idea they're going to walk around with long guns on their backs, prepared to unleash their idea of freedom on a moment's notice. They make sure to be clear, too, that they have some special ideas about what "self-defense" means while they're at it. Their discomfort might mean your death. Better not get too testy if they want to stop you and demand to know why you're walking around their neighborhood at night -- "Get used to it, buddy!"
No one's going to get used to AR-15s in the shopping mall, guys. Not going to happen. Maybe we'll need another tragedy to underline the point. A misunderstanding over an undercooked S'barro pizza that leaves the food court drenched in blood. Bad timing between two estranged Milita Groups both trying to enjoy an art festival and the Second Amendment at the same time.
Or maybe a quick re-think when the Muslim Gun Rights Initiative or the Armed Latinos for Immigration Reform start strolling around equally strapped under the same premise?
We may find the "guns for everyone, all the time, because freedom." isn't really an honest sentiment after all.
Nobody thinks that.