I will say that guns rarely deescalate a situation.
In life, you’re right. And I am speaking as a former self-defense teacher. I really believe the average person should not be carrying guns. Home defense, sure, but they’re NOT an answer to 99% of potential daily problems with others and just make everyone crazier.
That said, political defense is a different ball-game. You need force behind your politics when your enemy is also putting force behind their politics. This applies to everything from international relations between allies and enemies to domestic movements. This is why Trump has so much political capital, not only does he have a raving cult behind him, they’re literally armed lunatics. It may seem unstable and it is, but it IS power. It’s why he managed to carve such a deep swath through the GOP, that kind of assured power is intoxicating to people.
I guarantee you if the left were more willing to take up responsible gun ownership broadly, we would have both more cards in the political game, AND we would have greater influence over the gun laws our country desperately needs. (Gun lobbies listen to gun buyers, not the people trying to put them out of business.)
In life, you’re right. And I am speaking as a former self-defense teacher. I really believe the average person should not be carrying guns. Home defense, sure, but they’re NOT an answer to 99% of potential daily problems with others and just make everyone crazier.
That said, political defense is a different ball-game. You need force behind your politics when your enemy is also putting force behind their politics. This applies to everything from international relations between allies and enemies to domestic movements. This is why Trump has so much political capital, not only does he have a raving cult behind him, they’re literally armed lunatics. It may seem unstable and it is, but it IS power. It’s why he managed to carve such a deep swath through the GOP, that kind of assured power is intoxicating to people.
I guarantee you if the left were more willing to take up responsible gun ownership broadly, we would have both more cards in the political game, AND we would have greater influence over the gun laws our country desperately needs. (Gun lobbies listen to gun buyers, not the people trying to put them out of business.)