Tag: gun violence

The left needs to get serious about how politics works

Jesse Singal has a great piece out recently, highlighting a new gun control organization in Colorado called “Here 4 the Kids.” Run by serial anti-racism grifter activist Saira Rao, the group’s seemingly only goal is pushing a blatantly unconstitutional Executive Order on Colorado Governor Jared Polis. Here is Jesse with the details:

The CNN article links to another CNN article which notes that in April, Polis signed four gun-control bills into law “that raise the age requirement for gun possession and establish a minimum waiting period for gun deliveries, among other measures.” So Polis certainly is on board with reforming gun laws. Will these particular reforms reduce gun deaths in Colorado? You know me: the world is complicated and it’s hard to say. But no one can deny that the law in Colorado, as it pertains to firearms, is now stricter.

Compare that to what Rao and Here 4 the Kids are calling for: they demand that Polis sign an executive order (not pass a law approved by the state legislature) in which his office, having declared a state of emergency, would unilaterally declare “a total ban on all guns and a comprehensive, mandatory buyback program.”

Jesse Singal, “”Here 4 The Kids” Smells Like a Very 2023 Racial Ablution Grift”

As Singal goes on to note, this EO would be struck down as unconstitutional by any court with half a brain in about 10 seconds. No matter what your take on the 2nd Amendment may be, there is no common sense reading of it that would permit a blanket ban and seizure of all firearms, full stop. This is crazy.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis actually addressing gun violence – unlike some unserious people on the left.

It’s also the perfect exemplification of my on-going frustrations with the liberal/progressive/left political movement in this country, or at least, its public face. Let me qualify this by saying: I am a leftist. I would qualify as a liberal or a progressive in any accounting of political positions (although I hate both of those labels, for many of the reasons I will express here.) So I definitely say this as a fellow traveler, and as someone who definitely supports gun control and thinks guns are one of the largest public health issues in our country, not too even mention the moral and ethical issues around the glorification of guns and violence America traffics in so often.

But, if anything is every really going to be done about gun violence (or climate change, or health care, or mass incarceration, or income inequality; copy and paste this argument into discussion of any of these subject), then people on the left have got to get serious about how politics works, and even more importantly, on the indisputable fact that other people of other political persuasions and opinions both exist, and have a right to their views. To take it even further: we have to get serious about the fact that we need some of those people on our side if we ever want to have any chance of making any policy changes actually happen!

Here 4 The Kids is the perfect exemplar of how so much of the left isn’t really here for political change as much as they are for clicks and Instagram posts and virtue signaling. In what world does Rao and the other leaders of this group live? Because in this world, all political actions have an impact and provoke a reaction. And an EO banning and confiscating ALL GUNS in a state would be met with a pretty severe reaction, both in terms of immediate action and political consequence. To make this policy your only goal, especially in the face of a governor who is clearly legitimately trying to address the issue, is to not engage politics in any serious way.

And listen, I understand that posturing and position staking is a crucial part of politics. I understand that shifting the Overton Window on any issue requires visioning the world we want to see, and in some cases, advocating for things that feel extreme right now. I get that. I worked politics, and I was good at it, I have a degree in Political Science and I have a strong grasp of how this works. But this is not that kind of thing. There is a difference between strategically visioning, and just saying the most extreme thing that will get you the most likes on Twitter and more donations from gullible MSNBC viewers in Vermont. To quote Jesse again: “This is all so fundamentally unserious.”

I have disengaged politics for a few reasons. One of the main ones is this essentially unserious ways so many of my fellow leftists do politics. I live in Oklahoma. People are conservative here, by and large. Even the liberals are conservative in many ways. There is no hidden progressive majority here waiting to be activated. Nor is there anywhere else. It’s popular to believe otherwise in progressive circles, but its merely wishful thinking at best, and a willful denial of reality at worst. What that means is, we have to convince people in the moderate center, and in a place like Oklahoma, even people on the center-right, to support our candidates and our policy. Political statements like banning and forcibly seizing all guns does not do that. It makes it harder and harder to do real work around gun control. And, frankly, actions like these border not just on politically irresponsible, but ethically so as well. Gun violence is a massive issue with serious moral and ethical overtones; doing political work that claims to be addressing it while in fact almost certainly knowingly doing the opposite in order to build a donor base or online audience is ethically problematic. You aren’t doing social justice with stuff like this. You are doing just the opposite.

So, fellow leftists/liberals/progressives: get serious.

#lasvegas

So very sad and horrified about the news and images coming out of #lasvegas last night. But not at all surprised or shocked in the least.

I mean, really, a gun violence event of this magnitude was inevitable. And not just because of lax gun laws (Although that certainly plays a leading role in the trend of increased gun violence in the United States.) But also because we are a soul-sick culture, where human lives are worth very little, or at least less than making an ideological point or spreading terror or getting some face time on the news or making a quick buck. If we really believed #AllLivesMatter we would act like it, not only by passing meaningful gun control legislation, but also by practicing a politics of humane intentions, where we see the Image of God in every other human being, and we encourage – we demand- that others to do the same.

I don’t even have the energy or desire to talk about gun laws. Because it hardly matters. We have a political system fully in thrall to the Violence and Death lobby, and within a week or two, we will move on from here with nothing being done. If the faces of 20 innocent five- and six-year-olds in Newtown, Connecticut who were murdered couldn’t get us to do anything, even with a pro-gun control president and Senate, then I certainly don’t expect this event to. It’s a tired and exhausting charade of faux concern and meaningless “thoughts and prayers,” of endless social media fights about the 2nd Amendment and magazine capacity and good guys with guns and I’m simply not interested.

We move towards preventing this type of thing by doing the little work of loving one another, one small action at a time. We do it by condemning the rhetoric of “us vs. them”, by refusing to support politicians and thought leaders who pit people against people, who refuse to take action, all in the pursuit of more money and power. We do this all in the hope and expectation that it will one day make the world a better place, that it will help prevent this kind of event happening in the future. And we have to do it ourselves, because our leaders aren’t gonna do a damn thing about any of it.

The Way of Jesus is the Way of Peace

If you think safety and security will be brought about by more guns, then you clearly are missing the point of Jesus’ life and death.

In the days since the tragedy in Orlando, we’ve seen the pro-gun crowd double down on their call for more guns in society, led by presidential candidate Donald Trump, who expressed support for the idea that what when wrong in the Pulse nightclub was that there weren’t enough guns in the building.

(Because more guns always means less killing, right?)

FB_IMG_1466694781406For decades, the NRA has led a push on behalf of the gun makers they represent to normalize the idea of a gun in every hand, all in an effort to make more money for the aforementioned companies. They’ve certainly succeeded in polarizing the debate, but more importantly, the gun lobby has managed to completely transform the culture of American society.

The culture of America is now one of fear and distrust of others, and a willingness to commit violence at the slightest provocation. It is a culture that says the way to relate to others is with bluster and anger and hate, in an effort to cover up the infantile fear of so many.

And it’s understandable that fear is the prevailing mood in 21st century America, when an entire ideological movement has paired with the gun lobby to terrorize Americans by making them think that everyone different from them, and everything strange, is a mortal danger. When you constantly hear that you and your family are in danger from terrorists and black teens and trans people and Mexicans and a hundred other things, then of course you are going to be fearful. And if you are fearful – like really, life-and-death fearful – day and night, then of course you are going to listen to the NRA when they tell you that the only thing between you and danger is the barrel of a gun.

And to think, we have the gall in the midst of this to claim the mantle of a “Christian nation.”

Fear and distrust and anger and violence are all the antithesis of the Way of Christ.

The message of Jesus was one of strength through peace. It was a way of power found in love and submissiveness, not force and coercion.

Jesus found a way to deal with enemies: you love them. You serve them. You go the extra mile. You lay down your life, if that’s what it takes.

When Jesus was confronted with violence and his own death, he did not pull a sword and lead an armed resistance. He implored his followers to put away their swords, reminding them that “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.” He recognized that his nonviolent resistance is what would break the cycle of violence. It would warm the cold hearts of the world, by showing them that real power and liberation is found by refusing to submit to the violent ways of the world.

You turn the cheek. Because, if we are going to live in a less violent world, we have to break the cycle of violence.

More guns and more fear and more distrust will not make us a safer society. Walking through Kroger with your AR-15 does not make anyone feel safer or secure. Putting guns in the hands of more people does not make for less violence. Weapons of war and destruction do not build a more just, peaceful and merciful society.

Image-UN_Swords_into_Plowshares_StatueWe must beat our swords into plowshares. We must learn to love others. We must begin to be peacemakers.

Does the mean we don’t protect our loved ones and the vulnerable of the world? Does that mean we become doormats for injustice and power to walk all over?

Of course not.

But it does mean we have to re-imagine our conceptions of power. We have to find that prophetic imagination that animated Isaiah and Jesus and Gandhi and King and Mandela. We need to be able to imagine a gun-free world, a world where mutual distrust and cynicism is replaced with love for our brothers and sisters. Only by imagining a new way of being in the world will we begin to transform this world.

Because nothing screams “lack of imagination” like a gun.

We have to be willing to endure the taunts of those who tell us the way of Christ is unrealistic, utopian, or naive. We have to ignore those who would distort the Gospel by telling us it’s “metaphorical.” We have to face up to those that tell us that this is the “real world” and we have to be “practical” and be willing to say “Get behind me, Satan!”

The only way we replace the fear that has permeated our culture is through love. It’s biblical: “Perfect love casts out all fear.”

We have to be willing to take our call as Christians seriously, and realize that peace and nonviolence begins with us. We have to be the example, just like Jesus was the example. We have to practice love for all people, especially those we term our enemies. We have the live into the role that Jesus blessed: that of peacemaker, of the meek, of mercy, of the oppressed.

Don’t like the idea of that? Take it up with Jesus.