ICYMI: America's gun culture is priming us for authoritarianism (Ruth Ben-Ghiat)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/26/gun-violence-authoritarianism-normalization/
No paywall
https://archive.ph/Ol8uy
What is driving democratic decline in America? Disinformation, election subversion, Donald Trumps authoritarian leader cult and institutionalized racism leap out at you. But theres another factor that is all the more dangerous because its part of our everyday reality: civilian access to lethal weapons, and the mass death that enables.
The scale and scope of gun violence in America doesnt just desensitize us to violence. It also cheapens the value of life. It fosters political, social and psychological conditions that are propitious for autocracy. The omission of gun law reform from discussions of democracy protection is symptomatic of our normalization of this tragic situation. The Jan. 6 insurrection shows us how dangerous that blind spot has become.
For decades we have shot each other, with Americans causing fellow Americans more harm than any foreign enemy. More than 1.5 million died of gunshots in the past 50 years vs. 1.2 million in all the wars in the countrys history. This year alone, mass shootings have killed or injured more than 1,800.
Yet no amount of loss seems enough to deter the supporters of a brutal gun rights culture that factors in harm to some so that the freedoms and privilege of others can continue, and accepts mass death and trauma in the name of liberty. Add in an uptick of activity by extremists that preach violence and extralegal action as a way of changing history, and you have a high potential for political destabilization. Guns were prominent at the storming of the Michigan Capitol in May 2020 by militia members. They also featured at the Jan. 6 insurrection, which brought many strains of armed political extremism together: militia members, retired and active-duty law enforcement and military and radicalized civilians.
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