The Right's Gun Routine Falls Flat During the Pandemic
In Michigan alone, as of Thursday, there were 41,379 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and it had killed 3,789 people. The state reports that cases are doubling in Western and Northern Michigan every six days, or faster. Yet as stay-at-home orders issued by Governor Gretchen Whitmer were set to expire Thursday night, hundreds of people demonstrated inside and outside the Lansing statehouse, many with firearms in tow. Whitmer, who had ignored an earlier April protest (and President Trump’s “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” tweet) to stay steadfast on her strict orders, was not in sight, but the Michigan Legislature was in session. Using their unmasked mouths and their guns, the demonstrators sought to return things back to “normal.”
Somehow, it felt all too familiar already, if still startling. A tweet from Democratic state senator Dayna Polehanki, posted live from the statehouse floor, read: “Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today.” Per Lt. Brian Oleksyk of the Michigan State Police, demonstrators were “allowed to go anywhere in the Capitol that is open to the public.” According to Polehanki’s photo, that includes the statehouse gallery. And they can bring their long guns.
Link to tweet
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Oleksyk clarified that the so-called “American Patriot Rally” was nonviolent, save the one incident in which one demonstrator was arrested for assaulting another. But the implicit threat of bringing weapons of war and mass murder into any legislative center fits the definition of political terrorism. Both because of their guns and their disregard for their safety protocols of the pandemic, the Michigan militia men forced the public and legislators alike to choose between physical safety and political agency.
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Perverting the Second Amendment and using firearms in lieu of a good argument is an American tradition at this point, particularly for white men. I mean, anyone arguing this is an “age of Trump” development needs to pick up a history book. This is some antebellum stuff here, some things that date back to before America was America. Violence or the threat thereof has been a method of political intimidation since time immemorial, and whiteness helps many escape legal or fatal punishment that others do not.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/michigan-whitmer-armed-coronavirus-demonstration-993082/
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