What the Holy Hell?

[Joinfortmill]

https://www.propublica.org/article/ryan-busse-explains-roots-of-us-gun-violence

Former Gun Company Executive Explains Roots of America’s Gun Violence Epidemic

'Ryan Busse, former executive at Kimber America, a major gun manufacturer, recently shared his thoughts on these questions... He was vice president of sales at Kimber America from 1995 to 2020 but broke with the industry and has become a gun safety advocate. He testified about mass shootings and irresponsible marketing last July in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and authored the book “Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry That Radicalized America.”...

What caused the radicalization?

It was a combination of factors. After Columbine in 1999, the National Rifle Association in very well-publicized meetings now, thanks to sleuthing and digging by reporters at NPR, we now have tapes of the meetings where they literally said, are we going to be part of the solution here? Or maybe we can use these things to drum up hate and fear in our members? We might even be able to use them to drive membership. And they chose the latter. They perfected that system for about seven or eight years, getting their feet underneath them. They figured out it can drive politics. And then an explosion hit. That explosion was the future Black president leading in the polls in 2007. And then Barack Obama won in 2008. So you have this sort of uncapping of hate and conspiracy, much of it racially driven, that the NRA was tapping into. Prior to 2007, people in the United States never purchased more than 7 million guns in a single year. By the time Barack Obama left office, the United States was purchasing almost 17 million guns a year. And so I think it’s impossible to discount the degree to which Obama’s presidency lit this whole thing on fire.

[usonian]

1. GOP is a fascist cult driven mainly by racism. Cults need "enemies", real and imagined.

From the article:

The other thing is, we’re going to have to, as a society, just rise up and demand responsibility, the same kind of responsibility that the industry that I worked in once imposed on itself.


You know, I tell the story that 15, 20 years ago, the industry named guns like the Smith & Wesson 629 or the Remington 870 because you had [industry] attorneys that knew that even the names of guns could be important. They could encourage people to do irresponsible things. And so you’d never wanted to even name things that might encourage bad things to happen. Now we have a gun called the Wilson Urban Super Sniper. I mean, what are you supposed to do with that? We now have a gun called the Ultimate Arms Warmonger. What are you supposed to do with that? We now have an AR-15 company called Rooftop Arms, as in when you don’t get what you want, you vote from the rooftops. And what happened in Highland Park? A kid got up and killed people from a rooftop. You see the old self-imposed responsibility; those old norms of behavior have been just completely trashed.

So we can, as a society, demand reinstatement of those norms. Those have nothing to do with laws. They don’t require legislation. They don’t require two-thirds of the vote in the Senate. We can demand that. And we may have to.

Justin Cooper, chief of operations at Rooftop Arms, told ProPublica the business name stems from the origins of founders and is in no way related to “voting from the rooftops,” past events or political causes, or views.

A partial solution, IMO. He's just asking the industry to back away from an extreme marketing tactic.
I'd say: "If guns are the only answer, you're asking the wrong question."

If it were only about legal hunting and self-defense, the industry would not be swimming in money.

However, if self-defense is re-defined as "Defense against all imaginary threats to self, self-image and belief systems" then anything goes (as it does now)

However, I believe this trait to be a key element of cult mentality.

The old joke (when it WAS a joke) goes:
A hunter replies to a game warden:
I didn't know what it was, so I killed it.


But in the end, racism is a key driver of both the gun industry and the GOP cult.
Say it folks. GOP is a cult, and prove me wrong.

How do you deal with a cult? It's not "hearts and minds".
Those take time and enormous effort (as in serious therapy) to change,
As I approach my 5000th post, I harken back to an earlier one:

The best, the ONLY cure to WhiteChristianNationalism, race baiting, mysogyny, etc. is WINNING

https://democraticunderground.com/100216524810

This is from the epilogue of "Stamped From the Beginning", by Ibram X Kendi.
Emphasis mine:

Protesting against racist power and succeeding can never be mistaken for seizing power. Any effective solution to eradicating American racism must involve Americans committed to antiracist policies seizing and maintaining power over institutions, neighborhoods, counties, states, nations—the world. It makes no sense to sit back and put the future in the hands of people committed to racist policies, or people who regularly sail with the wind of self-interest, toward racism today, toward antiracism tomorrow. An antiracist America can only be guaranteed if principled antiracists are in power, and then antiracist policies become the law of the land, and then antiracist ideas become the common sense of the people, and then the antiracist common sense of the people holds those antiracist leaders and policies accountable.

And that day is sure to come. No power lasts forever. There will come a time when Americans will realize that the only thing wrong with Black people is that they think something is wrong with Black people. There will come a time when racist ideas will no longer obstruct us from seeing the complete and utter abnormality of racial disparities. There will come a time when we will love humanity, when we will gain the courage to fight for an equitable society for our beloved humanity, knowing , intelligently, that when we fight for humanity, we are fighting for ourselves. There will come a time. Maybe, just maybe, that time is now.

[NBachers]

2. Thank you

[relayerbob]

4. I surely hope that we can seize the moment, and make that time now

[KS Toronado]

6. Thank you

[mountain grammy]

20. Thank you.. excellent post!

[relayerbob]

3. No, RACISM lit it on fire

Obama was simply the catalyst that gave the Trumpers and KKKers the excuse they were looking for to barf their hatred and evil all over our nation.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Obviously. That is what the article excerpt says. It's the racism. . . nt

[crickets]

14. This. nt

[czarjak]

5. But...

“Racism is dead” According to Chief Justice John Roberts

[Kablooie]

8. And SCOTUS validated their manipulation for profits.

Over the safety of Americans and the text of themConstitution.

[2naSalit]

9. K&R

[Glaisne]

10. The gun companies and the

NRA knew how dangerous guns are and chose to market them irresponsibly.

The chemical manufacturers hid the dangers of PFAS chemicals for decades:
https://time.com/6284266/pfas-forever-chemicals-manufacturers-kept-secret/

The tobacco companies hid the dangers of smoking for decades and spread disinformation about smoking,

The fossil fuel industries knew about the dangers of climate change for decades and spread disinformation about climate science,

The automobile companies fought against car safety regulations and spread disinformation,

Corporations are mass murders and dealers in misery. They are threat to our health and safety. They are enemies of society and democracy.

[phrigndumass]

11. +1

Nice soapbox, Glaisne! Happy to see you up there!

- Phrig

[calimary]

13. Track records always tell the truth. Even when it's uncomfortable.

[Ferrets are Cool]

12. Living in south Alabama, I starkly remember the paranoia when Pres. Obama took office.

All the racists and bigots made a beeline to the nearest gun shop to "top off" their supplies because they KNEW a race war was coming.

[brewens]

19. I think in was Limbaugh that said if Obama is elected, it's gonna be payback for whiteboy!

It's exactly that the racists knew they had it coming to them, but he did nothing of the sort.

[BadGimp]

15. WHERE IS THE MEDIA FIRESTORM?

Propublica is mazing again.

[FakeNoose]

16. K & R Ryan Busse has a book out

https://ryanbusseauthor.com/

I plan to read this book.

Thank you Joinfortmill for this great post!

[keithbvadu2]

17. A commenter once said that having republican presidents discourage gun sales because they won't conf

A commenter once said that having republican presidents discourage gun sales because they won't confiscate guns.

Democrat presidents can be vilified to encourage gun sales.

[aggiesal]

18. Thanks Obama ...

[Orrex]

21. The NRA is a terrorist group

Everyone who supports them is aiding and abetting terrorists.