I really don’t want to have to write this post, but I think we’ve reached the point of gun saturation in this country that if one side, the right wing fascist side, is consistently sending lone wolves among us to kill innocent people, perhaps we have no choice but to balance the equation and arm ourselves in equal measure. Not to attack, but to defend and resist.
I don’t think I’m being too terribly alarmist when I say that right wing thugs could easily be organized into militias sanctioned by a rogue government to police our streets. The Ku Klux Klan comes to mind, and all of the militias at the tip of the spear of the attack on Congress were probably organized or at least abetted in their mission by government actors.
I don’t expect this situation to get any better. If you thought 2020 was hotly contested, just wait until this November when ballots start getting thrown out over picayune irregularities without the ability to cure, and when state legislatures don’t like the result of a close race they will fire election officials until they find some that will send the electors they prefer. We who love democracy will protest, no doubt, and find ourselves in check by police and possibly militia.
So, the question is, what good is gun control going to do? Is it feasible, or even wise, given the threat the populace faces from those who are already hoarding guns for a revolution or a civil war? In order to make this country safer, we’d need to confiscate hundreds of millions of guns. How is that going to work? Hell, the ATF couldn’t disarm David Koresh without killing every one of his unfortunate followers. Ruby Ridge didn’t go so hot either. The ineluctable fact is that we cannot disarm America. It’s simply too herculean a task at this point. And everyone knows that banning only produces a black market, much the way the prohibition of drugs does.
Sadly, the only path to resistance may be for anti-fascists to be ready in equal capacity for an attack. The time for nonviolence is long past, and it won’t solve this problem. There’s a chance that a work stoppage or a general strike might wake some people up, but we have not achieved consciousness as servants and laborers in this manner yet. Most will be afraid to walk off the jobs they need desperately. Who can blame them, in these times where everyone is hanging by a thread economically?
Some feel that an incremental approach to the gun control problem is an answer. That clearly doesn’t work; every time a slaughter happens, even the slightest move towards curbing gun violence causes the purchase of guns to exponentially rise. And you can bet those aren’t lefties hoarding when this happens. These people are paranoid wingnuts with itchy trigger fingers. They think there’s a war coming. And they are ready to fight it.
Are we?