Shootings aren't a sign America is 'broken'. It's working exactly as intended.

[Nevilledog]

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Dr. Katja Thieme 👀
@Katja_Thieme
“For years, the NSSF worked behind the scenes to criticize & marginalize people like me who spoke up. Today the org openly attacks anyone who speaks out in support of gun safety.”

theguardian.com
Shootings aren’t a sign America is ‘broken’. It’s working exactly as intended | Ryan Busse
I was a firearms exec for years. The industry used to adhere to self-imposed rules and norms – until gun makers and lobby groups like the NRA realized fear and extremism sold more guns
6:57 PM · May 25, 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/25/shootings-arent-a-sign-america-is-broken-its-working-exactly-as-intended

No paywall
https://archive.ph/TPvcP

After the horrific mass murders in Buffalo and Uvalde, Americans are hearing a familiar chorus emanating from the cable networks. Every host and guest seems shocked. They search for the right words.

Eventually, their message becomes almost universal: Something is horribly broken in a country that allows troubled young men to arm themselves to the teeth and kill innocent people – especially young children. Social media explodes, expressing a version of the shock that the first lady, Jill Biden, expressed after the murders in Uvalde – “Stunned. Angry. Heartbroken.”

I too am angry and heartbroken. But I am not stunned, and I don’t believe anything is broken. The truth is that Americans now live within an escalating system of radicalized gun tragedy that is working exactly as expected.

I know. For more than two decades, I worked in the highest levels of the firearms industry. I spent my career working to hold on to the principles of responsible gun ownership and fighting against the very predictable results of increasing extremism and the pursuit of profit above all else.

*snip*

[TigressDem]

1. America IS broken when it lets the gun industry dictate that profit is more valuable than human life

America IS broken when it lets business pollute and not clean up after itself.

America IS NOT OWNED BY CORPORATIONS ... YET.

WE ARE VERY CLOSE, though.


BUT although it IS WHAT profiteering and greedy corporations planned, THAT IS NOT what was intended when America was founded.


Capitalism is a part of America, but it is NOT America as a whole. WE are MORE than that.


We have fought against becoming an Oligarchy before and we are at that breech again.



DOES NOT MEAN that America was MEANT to be an Oligarchy.



We left England to FIND freedom from the blasted Royalty and Lords and Ladies defining every damn thing we could and couldn't do.


THE WHOLE IDEA OF A REVOLUTION was to create a BETTER system, not just reboot the old one and hope for better results.

[underpants]

2. Excellent read.

[Aussie105]

3. It's very much like the Oxycontin and Opioid epidemic.

Those businesses are focussed on profits - gun makers, big pharma - and the deaths are just 'collateral damage' or with guns 'friendly fire'.

A trivial price to pay, right? Pay it all lip service, pretend the cause is difficult to identify, wait for the media to lose interest.

Trivial? Not really.
It might seem that way, until someone you know dies.

So sorry, but profits come first. It's the American way!

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

For years, the NSSF [National Shooting Sports Foundation - The Firearm Industry Trade Association] worked behind the scenes to criticize and marginalize people like me who spoke up. Today the organization openly attacks anyone who speaks out in support of gun safety. But it has nothing to say about Kyle Rittenhouse or armed men menacing the Michigan capital. So far there is silence from the NSSF and the NRA on the 10 Black Americans murdered in Buffalo and the 19 children and two teachers murdered in Uvalde.

The NSSF helped craft a new world of gun lobby extremism in which profits are all that matter. With the election of America’s first Black president, the lobby embraced conspiracy-mongering, racism and fear campaigns. Gun sales soared from less than 8m guns in 2008 to more than 16m in 2016.