Thank you Warren for your as always intelligent commentary. As a kid growing up in rural Wisconsin, I had a small shot gun by the age of ten. A .410 gauge shotgun's blast didn't travel very far, so my parents considered it safe. But hunting culture is very big where I come from, and it's still in some circles a rite of passage for a boy to get a gun for his 12th birthday. Now for whatever reason, I became quite turned off with hunting and guns very early on. I would roll my eyes when my parents' friends talked about hunting for food. Oh please, there were supermarkets in every town, well stocked with everything but exotic dishes like caviar or oysters. Yes in the 1950s we ate spaghetti and all Chinese food from a can. But meat, meat, meat was everywhere. And everyone had freezers with half a cow or a quarter of a pig, and of course the venison that someone had personally killed. So to an extent hunting culture equates with meat culture. To conclude this long and winding autobiographical rant, my cousin's husband is a an expert skeet shooter having won numerous awards etc in competition. He is totally for gun control, gun safety, and gun sanity. Yes it is painful to see the gun folks doubling down on their 2nd amendment rights or whatever. But it is also part of the weapons industry to promote fear and the idea that the best way to overcome fear is to have a stash of weapons. So I agree that gun "safety" is a good approach and it will win the hearts and minds of some of our friends and neighbors, though there are the Jan 6th folks who are not going away any time soon. The lunatic fringe or the fascist element? Not sure what to call them. They however will not soon be persuaded by rational discourse like gun safety.
I absolutely agree. But are we so polarized that sensible semantics will supplant the politization of guns? I despise Mitch McConnell, but I respect his intelligence. Why would you change course now when manipulating a portion of your supporters depends on demonising rhetoric?
We are not living in a period where both sides believe in democracy. Fascism requires language that dehumanizes.
Thank you Warren for your as always intelligent commentary. As a kid growing up in rural Wisconsin, I had a small shot gun by the age of ten. A .410 gauge shotgun's blast didn't travel very far, so my parents considered it safe. But hunting culture is very big where I come from, and it's still in some circles a rite of passage for a boy to get a gun for his 12th birthday. Now for whatever reason, I became quite turned off with hunting and guns very early on. I would roll my eyes when my parents' friends talked about hunting for food. Oh please, there were supermarkets in every town, well stocked with everything but exotic dishes like caviar or oysters. Yes in the 1950s we ate spaghetti and all Chinese food from a can. But meat, meat, meat was everywhere. And everyone had freezers with half a cow or a quarter of a pig, and of course the venison that someone had personally killed. So to an extent hunting culture equates with meat culture. To conclude this long and winding autobiographical rant, my cousin's husband is a an expert skeet shooter having won numerous awards etc in competition. He is totally for gun control, gun safety, and gun sanity. Yes it is painful to see the gun folks doubling down on their 2nd amendment rights or whatever. But it is also part of the weapons industry to promote fear and the idea that the best way to overcome fear is to have a stash of weapons. So I agree that gun "safety" is a good approach and it will win the hearts and minds of some of our friends and neighbors, though there are the Jan 6th folks who are not going away any time soon. The lunatic fringe or the fascist element? Not sure what to call them. They however will not soon be persuaded by rational discourse like gun safety.
Thank you Warren for your excellent site.
Roger
I absolutely agree. But are we so polarized that sensible semantics will supplant the politization of guns? I despise Mitch McConnell, but I respect his intelligence. Why would you change course now when manipulating a portion of your supporters depends on demonising rhetoric?
We are not living in a period where both sides believe in democracy. Fascism requires language that dehumanizes.
Well said Warren! Very interesting article! We all hope that something drastic gets done!