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guns
The Power of the Gun Vs. the Power of the People
The history of this country has shown not once but many times that people together resisting and fighting for justice (without guns) can win.
Mar 06, 2026
Power is felt, attributed, invisible, all-important, descriptive, without shape, and so much more. There is personal power, governmental power, and the collective power of the people. Power can be bought, sold, traded, bestowed, even rescinded. It can be good or bad, positive or corrupt. However you might wish to describe power, one thing is clear: How it’s used depends on the society in which we live.
At present, of course, our society is one in which President Donald J. Trump is the quintessential seeker of power, a man who needs power the way most of us need food. And as it happens, he has at his beck and call not just the entire military establishment, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (and so much more). With him in the White House, power is distinctly in fashion.
Personal Power
Married and with children, my brother, who was a veteran, kept guns in his basement. “To hunt,” he told me when I objected. But he didn’t hunt, not in Nassau County where he lived, not by taking part in a sport that cost money he didn’t have to travel somewhere, get licenses, and who knows what else. Did he keep guns because he felt afraid? Absolutely not, he insisted. Was his neighborhood one with many break-ins? No, he assured me. So, why did he need weapons in his basement? He couldn’t say, except that it was important to him to own them.
Why? I kept asking him. As a soldier, he reminded me, he had been taught that without his gun he was in danger of being killed.
Under the Trump administration, when more is taken away from so many people than given to them, guns offer those who carry them a reprieve from a sense of powerlessness over their daily lives and futures.
Had he been a man of means, that inculcation wouldn’t, I suspect, have been as powerful, but he wasn’t and never did feel empowered. He’s gone now, but his world isn’t. Guns remain as much a staple in the United States as potatoes.
Well-off families keep guns, too, hopefully in locked places and have the money to buy hunting rifles, licenses, and whatever other paraphernalia they need. But in the United States today, all too many guns—sometimes even untraceable “ghost guns”—aren’t locked in boxes, but carried by young people on the streets and even sometimes into schools. The guns on the streets of inner cities, in rural areas, and even in some suburbs are all too often unlicensed stolen ones. And a desire or need to be seen, known, or heard all too often leads to someone shooting others with one of those weapons in a mall, movie theater, or school. Nearly 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries in this country in 2023. Such shootings occur more often in the United States than in any other nation. Why?
Under the Trump administration, when more is taken away from so many people than given to them, guns offer those who carry them a reprieve from a sense of powerlessness over their daily lives and futures. Many of them are young people alienated by a society that cares little about their well-being. With gun in hand, they experience steadiness, security, and yes, hope (however false it may prove to be).
With a weak social safety net, a gun offers a false sense of personal power and security. Should anyone come too close and aggravate the anger that may be boiling inside, however, that gun could go off. And who wouldn’t be angry? Too many young people in working-class families today are unsure where they might be headed and fear the dead-end jobs that they know lie in their future. The Trump administration, of course, offers such young people little or nothing—and if they weren’t born in the United States, they face the everyday menace of fear, degradation, and deportation. In America today, immigrants have become the scapegoats for such unvarnished racism that it takes one’s breath away. And don’t imagine that this is about so-called borders. Not a chance! Rather, it’s part of Donald Trump’s and his adviser Stephen Miller’s plan to rid the country of as many people of color as they can, with the end result, they hope, being white supremacy.
Though guns should be difficult (if not impossible) to obtain, like drugs, they are, in fact, available around more or less any corner in the most impoverished areas of any state. To stop the acquisition of guns, we would need more than enacted laws. We would also need to strengthen hope and offer a deeper belief in the daily safety of those who don’t for a moment feel taken care of in the most powerful country in the world.
And there’s no hiding from those in need how power is used to procure more and more money for the already wealthy, the Trumpian billionaires of our world.
Why should some, but not most of us, have an equal chance to do more than survive? For too many, their present and future safety becomes their personal problem, while Trump and crew are busily engaged in pursuing military and imperial power to gain yet more wealth for themselves and other billionaires, none of which enhances the power of the American people. And don’t forget that Donald Trump’s blatant racism is a vile infection that spreads daily from the Oval Office.
From Toy Guns to Machine Guns to Tanks
From toy guns to actual machine guns, the United States offers a constant example of how to express power through weaponry. There are the guns of war, the guns of intimidation, and the guns used against countries whose governments we choose to assault. Take Venezuela, where a recent US military sneak attack killed untold numbers of civilians and snatched its president to imprison him in the United States. That, I say, is one hell of a lot of nerve. The Trump administration certainly didn’t do that to make life better for the Venezuelan people, but to steal that country’s oil riches, which Trump plans to use for the benefit of US oil companies.
And with that in mind, let me head into the past for a moment. In 1968, when riots erupted in many communities to protest the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., tanks first appeared on the streets of American inner cities—big, bulging, heavy vehicles, much like the ones being used in the Vietnam War that was then still raging.
That moment could, in fact, be seen as the public start of the militarization of this country’s police—the start but far from the end of it, which we see today, 77 years later, in many states like Minnesota. There, masked, gun-carrying (as in the old West) Border Patrol and federalized ICE agents have invaded, terrorizing and killing innocent civilians and pulling people out of their cars to deposit them in deportation camps. Such scenes not only increase the frustration and fear of so many Americans, but also the desire to carry licensed (or unlicensed) guns to protect themselves.
ICE is the most recent incarnation of weaponization in this country, in which the agents themselves have become the weapons.
Such macho terrorizing actions as in Minnesota, Chicago, Los Angeles, and so many other places in this country, involving the rounding up of immigrants, are all too much like the 1930s Gestapo in Nazi Germany rounding up Jews. The use of such terror is not only sanctioned by the Trump government but also encouraged by racists like Stephen Miller. He is the quintessential representation of where this country is headed, if not stopped and stopped quickly.
In addition to guns, ICE Agents carry other weapons of war: fire suppressers, lasers, accessory mounts, dump pouches, magazine wells—and they use drones. Pepper spray and other debilitating substances are also being used against those who protest the terror.
War is now being waged against Americans on the streets of our country, which is not only antithetical to all our laws but distinctly unconstitutional and, of course, immoral to the nth degree. Such weapons are perfected for one reason: to kill.
Unsurprisingly, ever more money is once again being spent on the Defense Department (now the Department of War), instead of on health, education, science, and so much else. And Donald Trump wants to spend far more. Guns over butter is an old meme, which we simply must not accept.
People Power
In Minnesota, ordinary people organized against the fascistic actions of ICE. Their resistance was not only brave, but an important example of the ways in which the people have chosen the good over the actions and behaviors of a bad government, president, and the Stephen Millers of this world. As demonstrated in Minnesota, we Americans have refused to go quietly into ICE’s nightmare. We wouldn’t stand for such injustice and intuitively began organizing to meet the needs of our neighbors and those who are being treated horribly. Watch groups, food groups, school groups, even singing groups were organized by ordinary citizens, inspired by an innate sense of justice and an innate hatred of injustice.
The struggle of Americans during the siege of Minnesota has indeed had results. The Department of Homeland Security, President Trump, Stephen Miller, and their cohorts have lost some credibility and perhaps some of their ability to frighten people into obedience. It’s more than unfortunate, however, that, in the process, children had to (and will continue to have to) experience the unjust power exhibited by ICE and Trump.
The use of guns will undoubtedly continue to be a staple of Donald Trump’s war of intimidation, clearly focused on developing a society where white supremacy rules. (See Project 2025.) His followers are laying the groundwork for the few to rule the many at the cost of our freedom.
We the people have power, too. There is power in knowledge, power in organizing, and power in resistance, all of which can be used to halt the brutality and lies of this administration.
The Russian playwright Anton Chekhov once wrote that, if you introduce a gun in Act One, make sure to use it by the end of the play. In other words, unless stopped, what the Trump administration has been doing will only grow more brutal. Its attempt to militarize this country goes beyond the Department of War to other government departments like the Department of Homeland Security. Its plebeian belief that might is the only right (and only its right) is also its way of opening a road leading to an authoritarian government, where voting itself will undoubtedly become endangered.
We’re living through an exceptionally dark time where tyranny, lies, and encroaching fascism at home, and the rapidly accelerating destruction of our planet (again, with a distinct helping hand from President Trump) are happening in tandem. Our elected representatives have shown themselves to be spectacularly ill-prepared in the face of such threats.
But neither the president nor his government owns the people. We the people have power, too. There is power in knowledge, power in organizing, and power in resistance, all of which can be used to halt the brutality and lies of this administration. Moreover, the people have the numbers. If we wish not to be overtaken by an authoritarian government in whose hands so many more will suffer, then it’s important to resist now.
We the people know how to do that. We have done so throughout history. We have rallied and demonstrated. We have called on our neighbors, friends, and families. We have called on our local media. We have called on members of Congress. We have written letters and posted signs and billboards. We have sat in protest, walked in protest, and even gone to jail in protest. And we weren’t to be stopped. We made our voices heard across society. We appeared in thousands of towns and cities across America.
The history of this country has shown not once but many times that people together resisting and fighting for justice (without guns) can win. It was how Social Security was won, how child labor was ended, how the Vietnam War was made ever more difficult to pursue, and that’s just to start down a long list of examples. Recently, on MS Now, TV host and political analyst Lawrence O’Donnell said:
The protesters always win,
And people die,
But protesters always win.
History proves O’Donnell right.
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Charlie Kirk’s Toxic Legacy of Hatred and Division
We can condemn political violence and this hideous murder while also condemning Charlie Kirk for the rotten, vile hatred he fomented.
Sep 11, 2025
In the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, part of a distressing wave of political violence stalking this country, it would seem that the United States is coming apart at the seams, poised at the precipice of disintegration. So much hatred, so much anger, so much toxic rot, and so many, many guns. We are boiling a poisonous stew. Can anyone save us? Is there anyone or anything that can possibly cool us to a simmer, at least? At this time, it appears not—in fact, frighteningly, the rage that got us to this grim, spooky moment seems only to be spiraling.
Charlie Kirk had barely been declared dead when President Trump hideously used his killing to falsely blame and attack the Left. Trump seized the moment of widespread mourning to spread more hatred and division, in a reckless, angry televised speech that hurled blame at the Left despite not a scintilla of evidence about Kirk's assassin or their politics. In a predictable yet grotesque display, Trump raged, “For years, those on the radical Left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
Trump went on to enumerate the attempts on his own life, the shooting of United Healthcare’s CEO, the shooting of Steve Scalise, and “attacks ICE agents”—zero mention of the assassinations of Democratic Minnesota lawmakers or others who don’t fit Trump’s vision of worthy right-wing martyrs.
It is not clear how we climb out of this cauldron we are boiling in. We must all condemn political violence on all fronts. We must also acknowledge that Kirk’s legacy of bigotry and division wages its own violence...
The man who said there were “good people on both sides” of the Charlottesville killings by right-wing white supremacists could not bring himself to even mention the tragic shootings of people on the other side of the political aisle.
Soon after Kirk’s murder, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) lunged for the political jugular, telling reporters, “Democrats own what happened today....some raging leftist lunatic put a bullet through his neck.” Mace hurled this profoundly reckless, irresponsible attack without a shred of evidence about the assassin’s politics.
These are not the people who are going to lead us out of this ugly toxic pit. They, along with Charlie Kirk, led us into it. Kirk became a wealthy influencer by spreading toxic rage and fear and division.
We can honor the sadness millions are feeling over Kirk’s murder, and maintain basic civil human decency, while also being honest about the deeply harmful and offensive things Charlie Kirk said. We can condemn political violence and Kirk’s murder while also condemning Charlie Kirk for the rotten, vile hatred he fomented.
And yes, while respecting that many are mourning, this is precisely the time to remind people of the hatred and division Kirk sowed and profited handsomely from.
Consider what Kirk said about Black women leaders and affirmative action. Assailing affirmative action “picks” Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Kirk said, sickeningly, “you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously” without affirmative action. “You had to steal a white person’s slot.”
Let’s sit with that for a moment. Charlie Kirk said these exceedingly smart, strong, successful Black women do not have brain processing power. This is the supposed hero for whom Trump lowered the flag to half-mast.
Kirk was an equal opportunity hater who called Martin Luther King, Jr. “awful,” and “not a good person,” while insisting, “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”
In his gruesome rage against affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion, Kirk also spat out, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” That is some deeply racist garbage.
Kirk called gay and transgender people “groomers” who are “destructive,” opposed gay marriage, and campaigned against gender-affirming care for transgender people, insisting, “We must ban trans-affirming care—the entire country. Donald Trump needs to run on this issue,” Media Matters reported.
The legacy Kirk leaves behind burns on, a flame of reactionary anger and bigotry that keeps this country at a boiling point.
When Zohran Mamdani shocked the nation by winning the New York City Democratic primary, Kirk vented, hideously, “Twenty-four years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11…Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.” Kirk peddled in paranoid, racist, and Islamophobic right-wing nonsense. He called Islam “the sword the Left is using to slit the throat of America.” How profoundly rotten and hateful can one be?
Because Kirk was so energetically prolific, one can find endless examples of his fearmongering and bigotry. What needs to be said now, even or especially in this moment, is that Charlie Kirk mightily helped foment the rage and division that seems to engulf and define our nation today. Kirk helped create this toxic, poisonous stew we are drowning in—he fed it and profited from it.
Despite the unseemly frothing of Trump, Mace, and others, we do not know—as of this writing—who shot Kirk or why. We do not know if it came from the left, the right, or something else altogether. It is reasonable and right to condemn all shootings and political violence. I absolutely condemn the violence and this murder, just as I condemn the bigotry Kirk fomented in his brief time on this earth.
It is not clear how we climb out of this cauldron we are boiling in. We must all condemn political violence on all fronts. We must also acknowledge that Kirk’s legacy of bigotry and division wages its own violence—a cultural, social violence that causes real pain, rage, enmity, fear, and isolation. The legacy Kirk leaves behind burns on, a flame of reactionary anger and bigotry that keeps this country at a boiling point.
No one person will save us. We can hope (and work) for a cooling period that at least lowers the flame and slows the spiral. We can all say, stop the violence, stop the shootings. And let’s also say, just as strongly—stop the hatred, stop the fearmongering, stop the bigotry.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Nancy Mace as a senator from North Carolina. She is a representative from South Carolina. It has been updated to reflect this.
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As Charlie Kirk Killed on Utah Campus, 3 Teens Hurt in Colorado High School Shooting
"What does it say about us that the news of a conservative political activist getting assassinated may need to compete for coverage with yet another school shooting?" said one podcaster.
Sep 10, 2025
As condemnation of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk continued to pour in on Wednesday, details emerged about another shooting, at Evergreen High School in Colorado, that left at least three teenagers in critical condition.
"What does it say about us that the news of a conservative political activist getting assassinated may need to compete for coverage with yet another school shooting?" writer and podcaster Manny Fidel asked on social media.
Kirk, the 31-year-old CEO and co-founder of the right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot during an event at Utah Valley University. Kirk's spokesperson, Andrew Kolvet, and US President Donald Trump confirmed his death. There is no suspect in custody.
Footage shared on social media shows that just before Kirk was shot in the neck, a member of the crowd asked him, "Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?" Kirk responded, "Counting or not counting gang violence?"
March for Our Lives, which launched in the wake of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was among the organizations and public figures who weighed in on Kirk's apparent assassination.
" Gun violence spares no one," the group said. "The shooting of Charlie Kirk makes clear that this crisis doesn't care about ideology or politics—it endangers us all. We know the solutions: stronger background checks, extreme risk protection orders, accountability for the gun industry, and more. What stands in the way is not a lack of answers, but political obstruction. Every day of inaction costs lives. It's long past time for leaders of every party to choose people over politics and act."
March for Our Lives also called out the Trump administration for various actions it has taken since the president returned to power:
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts said, "The problem with allowing guns everywhere is that no one is safe anywhere."
Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Utah 36th in the country for "gun law strength." The Utah Valley University website says in part that it "complies with state law with regard to weapons" and "allows concealed firearm permit holders to possess their concealed firearm on campus."
Watts and March for Our Lives were among those who highlighted that the Kirk shooting coincided with the one in Colorado. The gun violence prevention organization said, "Another group of kids left to live with fear and trauma, because our so-called leaders would rather protect the gun lobby than protect the people they serve."
As The Denver Post reported on the shooting in Evergreen, Colorado:
Hundreds of police and law enforcement officers responded to the high school at 29300 Buffalo Park Road for an active shooting, which county officials first reported on social media at 12:40 pm.
Three people from the high school were being treated at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood on Wednesday afternoon and were in critical condition, spokesperson Lindsay Radford said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office later confirmed on social media that "one of the three students transported is the suspect," and the school, which over 900 children attend, has been cleared by law enforcement.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said that "I am closely monitoring the situation at Evergreen High School, and am getting live updates. State troopers are supporting local law enforcement in responding to this situation. Students should be able to attend school safely and without fear across our state and nation. We are all praying for the victims and the entire community."
Polis separately addressed Kirk's shooting, saying that "political violence is never acceptable, and I condemn the brutal and inexcusable attack on Charlie Kirk in Utah. This is a challenging time for so many in our country, but any divisions we face will never be solved by trying to hurt each other. I am sending hope and love to his friends and his family in this dark hour. I encourage everyone to be stronger and disagree better and peacefully."
Like the governor, Fred Guttenberg, who became an activist against gun violence after his 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was murdered in Parkland, took note of both shootings. He declared that "it is time for Republicans and Democrats to find a way to work together to reduce gun violence."
Also acknowledging both shootings, Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-Pa.) said: "Gun violence and political violence cannot continue to devastate our communities. We need gun reform now."
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Suspect in Custody After Five Soldiers Shot at Georgia's Fort Stewart
Sen. Raphael Warnock said he was "heartbroken to see the news of an active shooter incident at Fort Stewart today" and that he would "join all of Georgia as we pray for the safety of our service members, staff, and their families."
Aug 06, 2025
A U.S. Army sergeant is in custody as a suspect in a mass shooting at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
As reported by The Associated Press, the suspect opened fire on Wednesday morning and shot five of his fellow military personnel at Fort Stewart, one of the largest military bases in the U.S.
At this time, law enforcement officials have not identified the name of the suspect nor have they released specifics about the current conditions of the five soldiers who were shot. However, the base announced in a social media post that those wounded in the shooting have since been treated and transferred to Winn Army Community Hospital.
The shooting caused the entire base to go into lockdown for roughly an hour before law enforcement officials apprehended the suspect and determined there was no further threat to the community.
Several elected officials weighed in on the shooting shortly after the news broke. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said he was "heartbroken to see the news of an active shooter incident" and that he would "join all of Georgia as we pray for the safety of our service members, staff, and their families."
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) also commented on the shooting in a post on X.
"My heart is with the loved ones of the victims from the shooting that took place at Fort Stewart in Georgia," he said . "Our service members deserve to be safe in the country they sacrifice so much for. We must work to end the gun violence epidemic that has reached every corner of our society."
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said he was "heartbroken" to learn of the shooting and that his thoughts were "with the injured soldiers, their families, and the entire military community during this difficult time."
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'License to Kill': New Report Finds Higher Homicide Rates in 'Stand Your Ground' States
"These laws change the nature of self-defense, turning everyday disputes into deadly confrontations," the report, compiled by Everytown for Gun Safety, says.
Jul 21, 2025
A new report has found that "Stand Your Ground" laws have led to an increased rate of gun homicides in the United States.
These laws allow anyone who believes they are facing the threat of death or bodily harm to use deadly force without the requirement to first retreat to safety. But according to a report released Monday by the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, they have become a "license to kill."
Data compiled by the group shows that these laws have led to around 700 additional gun deaths each year, increasing the number of gun deaths nationally by 8% to 11%. That estimate came from a 2022 study published by the medical journal JAMA Network Open, which looked at data from 1999 to 2017.
Following aggressive lobbying by the National Rifle Association and the firearms industry, the first Stand Your Ground laws were introduced in Florida in 2005. Since then, 29 states have adopted them.
Over that time, those states have seen especially high increases in violence, with Alabama, Missouri, and Florida all having 30% or greater increases to their homicide rates.
Everytown's report details one particularly harrowing story from Florida in which Stand Your Ground laws contributed to the shooting of two children:
In October 2022, William Hale and Frank Allison drove alongside each other on US Highway 1 in Hialeah, Florida. A traffic dispute grew more dangerous as both men began driving erratically. When Hale threw a water bottle at the other car, Allison retaliated with a gun, firing a shot that hit Hale's 5-year-old daughter. In response, Hale fired all of the bullets in his handgun, striking Allison's 14-year-old daughter.
Though both men were initially charged with attempted murder, prosecutors dropped the charges against the man who fired first. Under Florida's so-called "Stand Your Ground" legal defense law, the thrown water bottle justified responding with deadly force, leading to a child being shot. In the end, with two girls wounded in a road rage tragedy, the man who started the shootout was protected by a distortion of self-defense that allows people to shoot first and ask questions later.
"These laws change the nature of self-defense, turning everyday disputes into deadly confrontations," the report says. "Far from empowering victims, Shoot First laws lower the threshold for justifiable homicide, encouraging the escalation of petty arguments and armed vigilantism."
These laws attracted national scrutiny in 2012 following the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, who was acquitted under the state's Stand Your Ground law.
The 2020 shooting of another young Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, in Georgia, is likewise believed to have been exacerbated by Georgia's Stand Your Ground law, though the three men who killed him were ultimately found guilty.
Stand Your Ground laws also contribute to heightened racial disparities for shooting victims, according to FBI data from 2019-23.
Justifiable homicide rates increased by 55% in states with Stand Your Ground laws, the report found. In those same states, the shootings of Black victims by white shooters are four times as likely to be deemed justified than they would be if the roles were reversed, a higher rate than in states without these laws.
In some Stand Your Ground states like Michigan, Indiana, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Kansas, the disparity was more than seven times greater for Black victims than white ones.
And contrary to claims that loose gun restrictions protect women, the report found multiple studies concluding that domestic violence cases in which a woman claimed self-defense were less likely to be deemed justifiable, while women convicted were more likely to serve longer sentences.
"In addition to increased risk of victimization in Shoot First states, convictions are unfairly skewed against people of color and women," the report concludes. "In the decades since the first Shoot First law was enacted, no research shows that these laws lead to better outcomes for anyone. Shoot First was created to solve a problem that does not exist—and Americans are paying the price."
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In the US, Violence Has Always Been the Answer
From guns to militarism, the national religion is the religion of us vs. them.
Jul 21, 2024
Every bullet fired into a crowd penetrates the national soul—or so it seems to me, as I continue to grapple emotionally with the Trump rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, which left one attendee murdered, several others wounded, and the shooter himself dead.
As with all such shootings, this goes beyond “motive” into a collective nethersphere of uncertainty. For God’s sake, what is life? Why is it so, shall we say, cheap? Why are we organized—politically, socially—primarily around its elimination? Why are guns so damn sacred... not to mention fighter jets, nuclear weapons, our annual military budget? Why do the following words make me cringe:
“We cannot—must not—go down this road in America, Violence has never been the answer.”
The power to obliterate opposition—the power to kill—has long been sacred, both collectively and personally.
This is U.S. President Joe Biden, blathering a heart-stabbing lie—also known as the thing most politicians mean the least when they say it—to clueless America in the wake of the latest mass shooting. We are deeply, deeply down this road! We have a trillion-dollar annual military budget and maintain around 750 military bases around the world. We are, under Joe’s watch, bleeding billions of dollars to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so Israel can inflict genocide on Palestine. Indeed, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza on the same day as the Trump rally assassination attempt killed nearly 100 Palestinians.
“We cannot—must not—go down this road in America... ” Yeah, sure. This is the road we’ve chosen: the road to hell. The job most presidents have chosen, at least in my lifetime, has been that of public relations director in chief, softening our militarism with the platitudes of state.
As Phil Wilson writes at Common Dreams: “Until 1949, the federal agency responsible for the U.S. military was simply called The Department of War—a rather nondescript, generic title that tells us nothing about intent. But with the advent of the Cold War and the new mandate to unleash military might against leftist regimes in every corner of the globe, our military needed a brand new identity. In 1949, just in time for decades of war in Southeast Asia, we decided to call our military The Department of Defense. This made it clear that bombing, defoliating, and reducing civilian populations to ash thousands of miles from U.S. borders—in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—were acts of ‘defense.’”
Wilson also notes, cogently: “I have always suspected that the Republicans control the American narrative and the Democrats lip sync to the latest MAGA tunes.”
In other words, this is a “unified” nation, despite the anger, despite the hatred, volleying back and forth between the two primary political parties. The nation is unified in its militarism, unified in its refusal to acknowledge that war always comes home and that humanity must evolve beyond it or we will surely destroy ourselves.
America, guns—the two entities seem to be linked... religiously. This link very much predates our founding. Think of the Crusades. Think of the sheer emergence of empires across the planet throughout history. Our god is better than your god! The power to obliterate opposition—the power to kill—has long been sacred, both collectively and personally.
The irony of this is soul twisting, especially as it exists in present-day America, where personal weapon use, aka, self-defense, is ever more glorified, leading us into the current social structure. Guns are the essential symbol of freedom; they are increasingly available to almost everyone and legal to possess almost everywhere. Hence, the irony:
“Thanks to Wisconsin state law, guns will be allowed in the outer perimeter of the Republican National Convention even after Saturday’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump.”
Thus reports The New Republic, adding: “People can open-carry guns and conceal-carry with a permit in a less strict perimeter surrounding a ‘hard’ perimeter controlled by the Secret Service around the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee as the RNC begins tonight. A Milwaukee city ordinance, however, bans tennis balls and paintball guns in the outer perimeter. Effectively, an AR-15 can be carried within walking distance of the RNC hall, but a paintball gun can’t, and it’s all thanks to Wisconsin’s open-carry laws.”
Declaring the situation “utterly ridiculous,” Milwaukee alderman Robert Bauman put it this way to ABC News: “I mean, I could just picture this image of somebody coming up to the entry point with, you know, an AR-15 strapped over one shoulder, a long rifle over another, and two pistols in his belt, and the cops asking him, ‘You got any tennis balls?’”
Yeah, the irony! I definitely do not expect this matter to be resolved politically. Tougher and saner gun laws have been shot and killed, but it’s bigger than that anyway. The USA has adorned itself in military cammies. It has a holster and a six-gun on its belt. This is who we are, and we’re always on the lookout for enemies, which are everywhere (particularly at the southern border). The national religion is us vs. them—the simplest religion available.
And it’s also the most profitable.
Nonetheless, many, many Americans—many citizens of the world—are devoting their lives to the long, complex trek beyond the religion of guns and violence and militarism. Power is a matter of connection with the whole universe.
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'Thought It Was a Joke': Bullets Now For Sale in Vending Machines in 3 GOP-Led States
"In a country awash in guns and ammo, where guns are the leading cause of deaths for kids, we don't need to further normalize the sale and promotion of these products," an expert said.
Jul 10, 2024
A Texas-based company has developed vending machines that sell bullets and installed them at a handful of grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, with plans for expansion into other states, according to news reports this week.
The machines, produced by American Rounds, based in the Dallas area, use artificial intelligence to verify the age of buyers, who must be 21 to purchase the shotgun, rifle, and handgun bullets on offer.
There are few federal regulations on the sale of ammunition, and only a small number of states have their own tougher laws.
The vending machines are "likely to stoke controversy," Newsweek reported, while Gizmodo called their spread a "questionable new trend." Social media users wrote that the idea of vending machines for bullets was "insane", "horrible," and "beyond sick."
"In some states, you can now walk into a grocery store and buy bullets from a vending machine as if you were ordering a candy bar or a soda," Gizmodo reported, though it explained that the process was "slightly more rigorous... than buying a Twix."
Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, expressed concern about the accessibility of the ammunition.
"In a country awash in guns and ammo, where guns are the leading cause of deaths for kids, we don't need to further normalize the sale and promotion of these products," Suplina told The Associated Press.
Milk, eggs and now bullets for sale in handful of US grocery stores with ammo vending machines https://t.co/wX5tGY7HM3
— Liz Szabo (@LizSzabo) July 10, 2024
The introduction of the vending machine comes as gun-control advocates increase their efforts to defeat the gun lobby. There were more than 500 shootings nationwide over the 4th of July weekend, according to Moms Demand Action.
Though Walmart, a major ammunition retailer, has put some restrictions on sales in the last ten years, thanks to public pressure that followed mass shootings, bullets remain widely available in the U.S.
"In most of the country it's harder to buy Sudafed than it is to buy ammunition," according to The Trace, which characterized federal law on ammunition sales as "next to nonexistent."
There were once stricter federal laws in place on ammunition sales but they were undone when Congress passed pro-gun legislation backed by the National Rifle Association in 1986.
One of the new vending machines was the source of controversy in Tuscaloosa, Alabama last week.
"I got some calls about ammunition being sold in grocery stores, vending machines," Tuscaloosa Councilor Kip Tyner said during a city council meeting on July 2, according to ABC 33/40. "I mean, I thought it was a lie. I thought it was a joke, but it's not."
The vending machine in question was removed from a Fresh Value supermarket in Tuscaloosa the next day. The store manager said that the machine was removed due to lack of sales.
The American Rounds machines can currently be found at four locations in Oklahoma, one in Alabama, and one in Texas. The company has plans to install a machine in Buena Vista, Colorado, and already has more than 200 installation requests from stores in nine states, CEO Grant Magers told Newsweek. "And that number is growing daily," he said.
American Rounds' website says that "the future of ammo sales is here."
In Alabama you can purchase ammo from vending machines
The machines in Fresh Value stores in Tuscaloosa and Pell City use facial recognition for age and ID verification to streamline the process of purchasing firearm ammo. #2A
Developed by @americanrounds pic.twitter.com/xmzEAFSpCF
— Steve Gruber (@stevegrubershow) July 6, 2024
There are no limits to how much ammunition a customer can buy, other than the machine running out of stock, Newsweek reported. American Rounds is targeting small towns where ammunition might not be readily available. The machines are always set up inside of stores, Magers said.
The process of making the purchase, including the use of facial recognition software to check against the ID being used, can take one minute and a half, Magers told the AP.
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'Truly Evil' Clarence Thomas Offers Defense of Guns for Domestic Abusers
"The Thomas dissent is only further proof that he is simply a threat to America," said the father of a mass shooting victim.
Jun 21, 2024
"Thank goodness. Also, Clarence Thomas is truly evil."
That's how one progressive pollster responded Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court's 8-1 ruling in United States v. Rahimi, which upheld a law prohibiting individuals subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm.
Critics across the political spectrum called Thomas' lone dissent in the case "insane" and blasted the right-wing justice as "fucking awful," a "corrupt lunatic," and a "contemptible POS" who "continues to undermine the safety of women and disgrace the court."
Some pointed out that after Thomas was nominated to the court in 1991 by then-President George H. W. Bush, during the Senate confirmation process, Anita Hill accused the future justice of sexually harassing her. More recently, Thomas has faced demands for his recusal or even resignation because he took gifts from right-wing billionaires and declined to report them.
Journalist Matt Fuller highlighted a portion of Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion that describes various instances of Zackey Rahimi behaving violently with a weapon, including a December 2019 interaction with C.M., the mother of his child.
"C. M. attempted to leave, but Rahimi grabbed her by the wrist, dragged her back to his car, and shoved her in, causing her to strike her head against the dashboard," Roberts wrote. "When he realized that a bystander was watching the altercation, Rahimi paused to retrieve a gun from under the passenger seat. C. M. took advantage of the opportunity to escape. Rahimi fired as she fled, although it is unclear whether he was aiming at C. M. or the witness."
Amid expressions of relief that the court's other members joined Roberts' majority opinion—with several also writing concurring opinions—Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts said that "the Rahimi case should never have been taken up by SCOTUS. To even question whether domestic abusers should have access to guns shows just how extreme this court has become."
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was murdered in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, said that he was "glad to see the Supreme Court got it right" in Rahimi, compared with the 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
"This case only existed because of the horrible Bruen ruling, a decision written by Justice Thomas who was the lone dissent here," Guttenberg noted. "I am hoping that they cleaned up some of the Bruen issues with this case. The Thomas dissent is only further proof that he is simply a threat to America."
Bruen struck down New York state's restrictions on the concealed carry of firearms in public but had a broader effect on various gun control laws—which legal experts said could be further disrupted by the new decision. Slate's Mark Joseph Stern explained Friday that while "both the majority and several concurrences are attempting to narrow and refine Bruen," Thomas "says everybody else misunderstood his opinion" in the 2022 case.
Thomas wrote Friday that after Bruen, "this court's directive was clear: A firearm regulation that falls within the Second Amendment's plain text is unconstitutional unless it is consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Not a single historical regulation justifies the statute at issue."
However, given the majority, Stern predicted that "A LOT of lower court decisions that interpreted Bruen as a maximalist cudgel against virtually all modern gun safety measures—and struck down a bunch of laws accordingly—are about to get vacated and remanded by the Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of Rahimi."
"This is a win for the gun safety movement and another loss for the gun lobby hellbent on putting lives in danger."
Gun control advocates cheered Friday's ruling—which overturned a decision from the far-right U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit—and what it could mean for future court battles.
"Today, we're celebrating that the Supreme Court ensured that the lives and safety of millions across the country will be protected over the desires of gun rights extremists. This is a win for the gun safety movement and another loss for the gun lobby hellbent on putting lives in danger," declared Moms Demand Action executive director Angela Ferrell-Zabala.
Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who has worked on gun violence prevention since surviving a 2011 shooting, said that "this is a win for women, children, and anyone who has experienced domestic abuse," and it "would not have been possible without the work of gun safety and domestic violence advocates across the country."
People for the American Way President Svante Myrick called out the "extreme, ultraconservative 5th Circuit" and stressed that while "we're glad" the justices "made a reasonable ruling" in Rahimi, "we can't lose sight of the fact that far-right majorities on the Supreme Court and a lower court set the stage for what could have been a disaster."
"In fact, the majority of the court made clear that they may well invalidate other gun safety rules under Bruen even after today's decision," he warned. "That's why we have to keep courts in mind when we go to the polls in November."
In the November election, Democratic President Joe Biden is set to face former Republican President Donald Trump. While Trump's three appointees to the high court sided with Roberts in Rahimi, they were also part of the majorities in Bruen and Garland v. Cargill, a ruling from last week that struck down the Trump administration's bump stock ban.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that "while President Biden and I stand up to the gun lobby, Donald Trump bows down. Trump has made clear he believes Americans should 'get over' gun violence, and we cannot allow him to roll back commonsense protections or appoint the next generation of Supreme Court justices."
"This case is yet another reminder that some want to take our country back to a time when women were not treated as equal to men and were not allowed to vote—and husbands could subject their wives to physical violence without it being considered a crime," Harris added. "Trump is a threat to our freedoms and our safety, and we must defeat him in November."
The U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), by texting "START" to 88788, or through chat at thehotline.org. It offers 24/7, free, and confidential support. DomesticShelters.org has a list of global and national resources.
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Tennessee GOP Shuts Down Debate, Passes Bill Allowing Handguns for Teachers
"Instead of protecting kids," said one Democratic lawmaker, "they've protected guns again."
Apr 24, 2024
A Democratic leader in the Tennessee House on Tuesday warned that a bill pushed through by Republicans to permit teachers to carry concealed handguns was "nothing but a bad disaster and tragedy waiting to happen," after the GOP cut off a debate and refused to include amendments that aimed to add safety measures to the legislation.
House Bill 1202 passed in a 68-28 vote, and Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who has never vetoed legislation, is expected to sign it, clearing the way for the state to require school districts to allow teachers to carry firearms without notifying students' parents.
According to The Tennessean, the legislation does not allow schools or school districts to opt out of the program and requires administrators "to consider every individual who wants to carry."
The legislation was passed just over a year after a shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville killed six people, including three children.
"Our children's lives are at stake," said House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons (D-55).
After last year's shooting, the Tennessee Legislature garnered national attention when Republicans voted to expel expel state Reps. Justin Jones (D-52) and Justin Pearson (D-86) for joining outraged students in a chant for gun control during a protest. Jones and Pearson were soon reinstated.
Following Tuesday's vote on arming teachers, Republicans voted to bar Jones from speaking in House proceedings for two days after he was accused of committing three rules violations, including recording on the chamber's floor—something a GOP member was also accused of doing.
Jones applauded Tennessee residents for speaking out against H.B. 1202 in the House chamber.
"Despite my Republican colleagues' best effort, the power of the people cannot and will not be stopped," said the lawmaker.
The GOP ended the debate over the legislation after one teacher, Lauren Shipman-Dorrance, cried out from the viewing section. Shipman-Dorrance was removed by state troopers on orders from House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25).
After the bill passed overwhelmingly—despite four Republicans who joined the Democrats and three who abstained—the remaining protesters chanted, "Blood on your hands!" before the GOP ordered state troopers to remove them.
Sarah Shoop Neumann, whose children attend Covenant Day School, delivered a letter with more than 5,300 signatures to the House on Monday demanding that lawmakers defeat the bill and warning that the legislation "ignores research that shows the presence of a gun increases the risks posed to children."
Shoop Neumann told The Tennessean that the bill's passage was "disgraceful."
"We worked with the Senate and representative sponsors of this bill to make it even a little bit safer—anything, really—and I'm utterly disappointed that that was not taken into consideration," she told the outlet.
Kris Brown, president of gun violence prevention group Brady, pointed out that "multiple teachers were armed at [the Covenant School], yet that was not enough to stop six children and school employees from being murdered."
"The Tennessee Legislature has just dishonored all who were killed at the Covenant School shooting last year by choosing to promote the proliferation of firearms in classrooms," said Brown. "H.B. 1202 is especially egregious as it has no safe storage requirements, meaning firearms could potentially fall into a child's hands."
"If we want to be free of this uniquely American crisis, we cannot continue to perpetuate the deadly norms that got us here by adding more unsecured firearms in spaces where children should be safe to learn and grow," she added. "We urge Gov. Lee to veto this bill and ask him to work alongside us, teachers, and gun safety advocates to craft meaningful reforms across the Volunteer State."
Democrats proposed amendments to require that teachers lock up their handguns and only remove them during a security breach, that teachers be held civilly liable for using their guns, and that schools inform parents if guns are on campus, but the GOP rejected all of the proposals.
"I can assure you these people have never experienced an actual working high school classroom or they wouldn't be passing this nonsense," said one Tennessee teacher. "A child will die because of this."
Pearson said the passage of the bill marked "an awful day for Tennessee, our kids, our teachers, and communities."
"Instead of protecting kids," said the lawmaker, "they've protected guns again."
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Advocates 'Elated' as Biden DOJ Closes Gun Show Loophole
"To be clear, that 'gun show loophole' has been a death sentence for countless Americans, and that will change with this action," said one gun violence prevention advocacy leader.
Apr 11, 2024
The White House on Thursday honored "the will of the vast majority of the American people," one Democratic lawmaker said, as President Joe Biden announced a final rule closing a loophole that has left tens of thousands of firearms dealers able to sell guns without running background checks on purchasers.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) will require anyone "engaged in the business" of selling firearms for a profit to register as a federally licensed firearms dealer, which will require them to conduct background criminal and mental health checks on their customers.
Previously, dealers who sell guns online, at gun shows, and through private transactions had been required to register with the federal government only if their gun sales were the primary provider of their livelihood—the so-called "gun show loophole," which allowed roughly 23,000 private sellers in 29 states to conduct their business without determining if buyers had a history of abuse, violence, or mental health struggles.
Sellers who fail to register will risk being fined $250,000 and a potential prison sentence of up to five years.
The ATF released firearms trafficking data last week showing that four in 10 illegal gun cases tracked by the agency between 2017-21 involved sales through private dealers, which account for 40% of all gun sales in the U.S. according to some estimates.
"This rule will save lives by ensuring those who engage in the business of selling firearms are taking the necessary precautions we require of all other licensed gun sellers."
The gunman in a 2019 mass shooting in Midland, Texas, obtained his AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to kill seven people. He had previously been blocked from buying a gun in 2014 due to a background check that showed a court had determined he had a mental illness.
A 2022 shooting at a high school in St. Louis was also made possible by a private online sale; the gunman had struggled with severe mental health issues and had been automatically rejected by the federal background check system when he tried to purchase a gun 16 days before the attack. He then purchased a gun without undergoing a background check, and later killed a 15-year-old student as well as a teacher.
"To be clear, that 'gun show loophole' has been a death sentence for countless Americans, and that will change with this action," said Kris Brown, president of the gun violence prevention group Brady. "This rule will save lives by ensuring those who engage in the business of selling firearms are taking the necessary precautions we require of all other licensed gun sellers. In doing so, we can mitigate the proliferation of firearms in our communities and keep weapons out of the hands of those most at risk of harm."
"I am elated that President Biden continues to deliver on his promise to represent the will of the people and make progress to free America from gun violence," she added. "I urge Congress to follow suit and pass universal background checks without delay."
Brown noted that 90% of Americans support universal background checks for gun purchases, and that the new rule is the direct result of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was passed in 2022.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called the rule "the most impactful change made possible by the 2022 gun safety bill."
March for Our Lives, the advocacy group established by young survivors of the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting, credited gun control supporters who submitted public comments supporting the new rule.
"For years, this glaring loophole let people who shouldn't have access to a gun otherwise slip through the cracks to get a deadly weapon and cause harm," said the group. "Not anymore."
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) called on Congress to build on the Biden administration's progress "by fully closing the boyfriend loophole, enacting a nationwide red flag law, getting high-capacity magazines off the street, and reenacting the federal assault weapons ban."
"Thanks to the non-stop advocacy of survivors across the country, the leadership of the Biden-Harris administration, and the persistence of Democrats in Congress," she said, "America has taken the greatest strides against gun violence that we've seen in three decades."
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