Peace! 
August 4 at 1:11 PM
I?m a pretty good shot with a semi-automatic pistol. I grew up shooting guns and I still enjoy heading to the range with friends. But I gotta tell you, the biggest culture shock coming back to Texas from Canada isn?t the cheap gas prices or the brisket, it?s the gun fanaticism. The moment I cross the border in Texarkana it?s apparent?billboards emblazoned with gargantuan images of ammunition, giant pickup trucks (because I?m a big boy) with AR-15 bumper stickers, and gun store after gun store in small Texas towns. Moving away has brought the rabid insanity of gun culture into stark relief for me. Each time I come home I realize I am passing over into a militarized society. I was thinking about this the other night as I passed through a metal detector, watched security personnel rummage through my wife?s purse, and saw a teenage girl endure a pat down screening, all so we could see a few bands play. I think about the militarization of my home as I listen to students tell me how there is only one entrance to their school and how they wear ID badges. I think about it when I hear how churches encourage armed parishioners in the wake of Sutherland Springs. It?s all just so matter-of-fact now. But it?s not. It?s fucking insane. Every one of these killings is a painful personal tragedy. But the transformation of society into something occasionally resembling a failed military state is a political failing of epic proportions.
President Trump insists there is no racial tension in the U.S., meanwhile back in the real world another white nationalist terrorist kills at least 20 in El Paso. Gun enthusiasts tell us the answer to the mass shootings is more guns, meanwhile back in the real world the Dayton shooter manages to kill 9 people even though he was engaged by law enforcement in under 60 seconds. All the thoughts and prayers are not helping. The higher power is apparently powerless to stop it or enjoys the gun violence. Either way, the supernatural rescue mission isn?t coming.
We are going to have to confront this ourselves. A good start would be to vote out every Republican from here to Timbuktu. This is the party that gives safe harbor to racists and stokes the flames of bigotry. This is the party that consistently opposes all forms of rational gun regulation. This is the party of retrograde constitutional originalism, holding us hostage to a very questionable interpretation of a political world long since vanished. In what other field would we allow such a dangerous anachronism to hold sway? Would we jettison the last 200 years of advancement in physics? In economics? In medicine? So why in the world are we doing just that in sociology and political science? Another important thing to do is to confront xenophobia, racism, and nationalism whenever and wherever it raises its head. I see so much ugly shit in these Facebook threads every day. Call these cowards out. Push back on the inane Fox talking points about the leftist politicization of race. This discourse is dangerous, but it?s also sophomoric and easy to refute. And even if we manage to dislodge the chokehold of right-wing extremism, the milk toast variety of social reform on offer by the Democrats likely won?t confront the militarization of law enforcement. Simply put, the idea that the gun industrial complex is the best way to guard against the excesses of the state is wrong. More guns in the civil sphere is the most expedient political vehicle for the militarization of society. It doesn?t matter whether that?s enacted via civilian law enforcement or the arsenals of the gun nuts. Confronting that means taking both parties to task.
August 4 at 1:11 PM
I?m a pretty good shot with a semi-automatic pistol. I grew up shooting guns and I still enjoy heading to the range with friends. But I gotta tell you, the biggest culture shock coming back to Texas from Canada isn?t the cheap gas prices or the brisket, it?s the gun fanaticism. The moment I cross the border in Texarkana it?s apparent?billboards emblazoned with gargantuan images of ammunition, giant pickup trucks (because I?m a big boy) with AR-15 bumper stickers, and gun store after gun store in small Texas towns. Moving away has brought the rabid insanity of gun culture into stark relief for me. Each time I come home I realize I am passing over into a militarized society. I was thinking about this the other night as I passed through a metal detector, watched security personnel rummage through my wife?s purse, and saw a teenage girl endure a pat down screening, all so we could see a few bands play. I think about the militarization of my home as I listen to students tell me how there is only one entrance to their school and how they wear ID badges. I think about it when I hear how churches encourage armed parishioners in the wake of Sutherland Springs. It?s all just so matter-of-fact now. But it?s not. It?s fucking insane. Every one of these killings is a painful personal tragedy. But the transformation of society into something occasionally resembling a failed military state is a political failing of epic proportions.
President Trump insists there is no racial tension in the U.S., meanwhile back in the real world another white nationalist terrorist kills at least 20 in El Paso. Gun enthusiasts tell us the answer to the mass shootings is more guns, meanwhile back in the real world the Dayton shooter manages to kill 9 people even though he was engaged by law enforcement in under 60 seconds. All the thoughts and prayers are not helping. The higher power is apparently powerless to stop it or enjoys the gun violence. Either way, the supernatural rescue mission isn?t coming.
We are going to have to confront this ourselves. A good start would be to vote out every Republican from here to Timbuktu. This is the party that gives safe harbor to racists and stokes the flames of bigotry. This is the party that consistently opposes all forms of rational gun regulation. This is the party of retrograde constitutional originalism, holding us hostage to a very questionable interpretation of a political world long since vanished. In what other field would we allow such a dangerous anachronism to hold sway? Would we jettison the last 200 years of advancement in physics? In economics? In medicine? So why in the world are we doing just that in sociology and political science? Another important thing to do is to confront xenophobia, racism, and nationalism whenever and wherever it raises its head. I see so much ugly shit in these Facebook threads every day. Call these cowards out. Push back on the inane Fox talking points about the leftist politicization of race. This discourse is dangerous, but it?s also sophomoric and easy to refute. And even if we manage to dislodge the chokehold of right-wing extremism, the milk toast variety of social reform on offer by the Democrats likely won?t confront the militarization of law enforcement. Simply put, the idea that the gun industrial complex is the best way to guard against the excesses of the state is wrong. More guns in the civil sphere is the most expedient political vehicle for the militarization of society. It doesn?t matter whether that?s enacted via civilian law enforcement or the arsenals of the gun nuts. Confronting that means taking both parties to task.
