Thomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023

The Party of the Gun

Republicans uniformly embrace the gun cult and will only ever double down on the gun-toting militancy they have made a key element of their political identity.

It’s grotesque.

https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1652283410788884480?s=46&t=1xecvNVImNo8TKt3oEvqnA

Ron Filipkowski on Twitter

“Nikki Haley rolls out the mandatory Republican candidate gun photo.”

Twitter
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023
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/
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023
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/
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023
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/
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023
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/
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023

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/

Show threadThomas Zimmer

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/

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

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
Apr 29, 2023 at 5:10pmIvory for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023
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/
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023

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/

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

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
Show threadThomas ZimmerApr 29, 2023

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.

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

‎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
Show threadStuartBApr 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.
Show threadbkApr 29, 2023
@tzimmer_history Cue regular reminder that New Zealand solved this problem in two weeks…