Mastodawn

To put this in perspective: There is absolutely no equivalent to this among major parties that could be regarded as even remotely mainstream / “conservative” anywhere else. It’s the most obvious indicator of what an extremist outlier the GOP is by international comparison. 2/

I don’t want to downplay the role of NRA money - obviously, that’s a huge factor. But the problem also runs deeper: to the level of a political culture that has normalized the gun fetish to the point where it’s hard to imagine how a functioning democracy might be sustained. 3/

It’s also the result of a social order built on the idea that some people - especially white men - have the absolute right to defend their place and status against all threats, real and imagined, and defend it by violently lashing out, by preemptively using excessive violence. 4/

The U.S. is built on and around that social order, in which powerful political and economic forces have decided that the right to use violence, be violent, and access guns to be violent, must not be meaningfully restricted - a situation that’s utterly incompatible with democracy. 5/

Democracy depends on people feeling safe in the public square. If they don’t, because it’s ruled by intimidation and threats of violence, they won’t be able to participate.

How could anyone feel safe in a gun cult society, in a public space dominated by gun fetishists? 6/

https://twitter.com/momsdemand/status/1652306443289149440?s=46&t=1xecvNVImNo8TKt3oEvqnA

I hadn’t even seen this yet. In the U.S., it’s always right after AND right before a mass shooting, regardless of whether we apply the term to shootings in public space or in the home.

And one the two major parties calls this “freedom.” It’s simply grotesque. 7/

Moms Demand Action on Twitter

“A Texas man who was firing an AR-15 style rifle in his front yard killed five people in a neighboring home after they asked him to stop shooting because a baby was sleeping. Police said all were shot execution-style; the youngest victim was 8-years-old. https://t.co/eAHqXoIEIk”

Twitter

I wholeheartedly support policies that would make it harder to obtain a gun and reduce the obscene number of guns out there. Such policies would be effective, as they have been in all comparable nations. But much more profound change is also needed. 8/

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/america-is-sacrificing-its-children

I wrote about the politics of gun violence in America after the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. But that was about a month ago, and in the U.S., that means there have been so many more mass shootings since, so much more death and destruction. 9/

America Is Sacrificing Its Children at the Altar of the Gun

Mass shootings are a political problem. A democracy problem. A uniquely American problem.

Democracy Americana

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/22-land-of-unlimited-gun-violence/id1652741954?i=1000610075038

We also devoted the latest episode of “Is This Democracy” to gun violence.

It is outrageous and infuriating to know that this conversation is guaranteed to stay relevant for a very long time - even though a clear majority of Americans rejects the gun cult.

‎Is This Democracy: 22. Land of Unlimited Gun Violence on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Is This Democracy, Ep 22. Land of Unlimited Gun Violence - Apr 21, 2023

Apple Podcasts

StuartB Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history
In the US, the time right before and right after a mass shooting are the same time!
At least, that's the way it looks from somewhere with saner gun laws.

bk Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history Cue regular reminder that New Zealand solved this problem in two weeks…

Mary Ann Horn Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history . With the de rigeur army green clothing. Sicko

Morten Bay Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history Amazing timing 🙄

Truth Or Consequences ✅ 🇺🇦Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history 1) I grew up in rural America where guns were everywhere but people bought them because they needed them for hunting, farm varmint control or recreation. Folks could buy "assault weapons through the mail but didn't because they didn't have a use for them. It was rare for city slicker to own them because of the cost and they didn't need them. Oh, we had the occasional one that showed up with a weapon but they were avoided because they liked to shoot things that they shouldn't.

Truth Or Consequences ✅ 🇺🇦Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history 2) Along came the NRA who decided that there was profit in promoting gun sales. Soon people who should never own guns were persuaded to buy them. These people who had absolutely no reason to own guns invented reasons to use them, mostly on other humans.

lemo Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history that's a Sig MG 338, new weapon used by us Navy seals. Effective range of 1500m. Very serious piece of hardware. Hard to imagine any sort of home defense with that.

Apr 29, 2023

@lemonadewasapopulardrink @tzimmer_history Am I crazy or does she have her finger inside the guard but no mag loaded?

lemo May 3, 2023

@josephholsten @tzimmer_history That's a belt fed machine gun. Pretty obvious what with the M13 (or equivalent for .338 Norma mag) belt links littering the table.

May 3, 2023

@lemonadewasapopulardrink @tzimmer_history Ah! I was wondering since they didn’t look like brass. I’ve never actually had a chance to operate a full auto weapon, much less one after 1986.

lemo May 3, 2023

@josephholsten @tzimmer_history I recommend taking a gun safety course, because the absence of a magazine does not mean the weapon is not loaded and ready to fire as you can still have a round chambered.

May 3, 2023

@lemonadewasapopulardrink @tzimmer_history Absolutely agree! To me a finger in the guard means “I intend to destroy what’s down range”, so doing that with a weapon with no mag makes me nervous the operator doesn’t know what they’re doing (esp your round in chamber ex). Admittedly, it’s been a couple decades since I last took a course, I could use a refresher.

nedhamson Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history Just so sick

JR Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history A weapon designed to hit targets 500 m to 1200 m away. I can only guess that is a really long building. She might as well be sitting in a tank turret.

RevJeber Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history
She using a most ridiculous weapon to make her look macho. Specialized military weapons are for military specialists. She could have made her point with a hand gun. But then, the whole point of photos like this isn't to defend the 2nd Amendment. It's to remind MAGAts of the one policy the right has, pro-gun.

JaneGray Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history
Grotesque is right. They display a stunning lack of humanity.

Badwolf303 Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history is #nikkihaley aiming at school children or just photos of them? Because…… #GOPDEATHCULT

LeeFromVT 🌎🌌🐈♂️♏🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history

I never understood the GOP need to publicly masturbate their guns. Its not a hard skill.

Try showing off a universal healthcare proposal. Help pass US Equal rights laws. Fight to raise minimum wage!

sandywb14 Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history 🤮🤮🤮

Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history She has her finger inside the trigger guard but no magazine loaded. The worst kind of “virtue” signaling.

Unserious people.

Jake Miller Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history Dukakis_Tank.jpg

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Apr 29, 2023

@jakemiller @tzimmer_history I understand the reference, but I don't understand your point in making it.

Jake Miller Apr 29, 2023

@tzimmer_history @jik I think we need to start mocking the politicians who wrap themselves in military weapons. They don’t look tough. They look like posers.

None of this is to disagree with the broader points about gun fetishization, but instead to highlight it in politically weakening terms.

@jakemiller @tzimmer_history Ah. The reason why the photo of Dukakis in a tank destroyed him was because he looked ridiculous to Democrats, i.e., his base. Gun photos of Repug politicians don't look ridiculous to their base; on the contrary, they're increasingly table stakes.
At this point the GOP base is completely detached from reality. Mocking their candidates just pushes them deeper into that rabbit hole. It won't work and it won't help. #politics #USPol

Jake Miller Apr 30, 2023

@jik Perhaps. But I think that Low Energy Jeb, and Lil’ Marco (who was very thirsty) might disagree on the impact of mockery with the GOP primary electorate.

@jakemiller Surely you understand that what Jeb and Rubio were mocked for is qualitatively different from mocking pols for posing with guns when idolizing guns is one of the key wedge issues for their base.

Jake Miller Apr 30, 2023

@jik Ok, but that’s why it could really sting. Because with the exception of pols like Crenshaw and a few others, you can hit them for: 1) Looking dorky instead of cool (Haley), 2) Looking like they don’t know what they’re doing with a gun, or 3) being reckless like they don’t know how to responsibly handle a gun. 1 and 3 are largely mutually exclusive. Everyone in the party is pro-gun: Criticize each ppl for doin’ it wrong.
Are there pictures of Trump with an AR? I don’t recall any.

@jakemiller I don't know why you think any of that will have a negative impact on their electability, given all the GOP pols who are more popular than ever after posting Christmas photos with everyone in the family down to the toddler brandishing a gun.

@jakemiller You seem to be trying to attribute rationality and consistency to these people. That's a mistake.

Jake Miller Apr 30, 2023

@jik Their leaders - Trump, Carlson, Murdoch - seem to be able to predict how their audience reacts. They can also lead. The party has shown they love bullying, instrumental to Trump’s 2015 rise. Christie even mocked Rubio out of the race!
They have ways of thinking, and different subgroups do so slightly differently. But I think we need to learn how to communicate with them - and mocking their candidates, esp for weakness, has shown efficacy in the past.

Half Cocked Law Apr 30, 2023

@tzimmer_history She'd have better luck hitting the target if she put a magazine in the rifle.

C0ppertop Apr 30, 2023

@tzimmer_history
If that’s the weapon that kills her, wouldn’t that be ironic.

Jason Green May 1, 2023

@tzimmer_history I don’t think you can understand this culture without looking at a couple of beliefs in which it is rooted:

1. There are bad people out to get you who are willing to use violence.

2. They will not be deterred by law or custom.

To someone who believes those two things, it follows quite logically that the only way to not be killed for the change in your wallet is to be better armed than those who would do you harm.