Civil Society is Fully in a State of Gun Crisis

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://hartmannreport.com/p/civil-society-is-fully-in-a-state

Yesterday was, by some media counts, the 309th terrorist mass shooting in America so far this year. No other country in the world experiences this so often or so severely.

Civil society requires that its citizens feel safe in public spaces; destroy that generalized sense of safety and you will radically warp public opinion to the right (which promises safety and “tough on crime”) while producing a whole new generation of safe-space destroyers.

Our most fragile members of society are our children, which is why when shooters go after schools it disrupts society at its most fundamental level. Right behind schools are celebratory events (Vegas shooter, yesterday’s Trump supporter), stores/theaters, and places of worship.

If a malignant actor — say, Putin — wanted to truly disrupt American society, all he’d have to do is flood the country with weapons of war. If he could help reach some critical threshold — in most of Europe there are 15 to 20 weapons per 100 people as it was here 40 years ago; in America now, though, it’s over 120 per 100 — he could sit back, stir up a little political agitation, and watch the fireworks from afar.

Which reminds me of the September 17, 2019 article from National Public Radio (NPR):

“The National Rifle Association acted as a ‘foreign asset’ for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation...”

Or the April 11, 2018 piece in Politico that opened with:

“The National Rifle Association reported this week that it received more money from people with Russian ties than it has previously acknowledged, but announced that it was officially done cooperating with a congressional inquiry exploring whether illicit Kremlin-linked funding passed through the NRA and into Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign…”

The Committee then failed to issue or enforce a subpoena.

*snip*

[Leith]

1. About 30 years ago, my mom and I went to London, UK

We took in a show in the West End (Les Miserables). On our way out to the subway station (okay, Underground) was a large bus area. One of the buses had Victoria Station as its destination, which was where our B&B was. I suggested that we take the bus back so that we could see London at night. I had a bus schedule and map so there was no way we could get lost.

The bus was moving along as expected until it took an unexpected turn. Odd, but the bus did say it was headed to Victoria Station, so why worry? A young woman said something to the conductor that I didn't catch and he replied, which I also didn't catch. Apparently she expressed disbelief and he repeated himself: traffic was being diverted because a bomb went off at a private club on our route. A bomb that the IRA set and blew up.

I told my mom that we had gone off route and why. For the rest of the ride, I pondered what it would be like to have to live in a place where terrorists blew people and places up. Here's the gut punch: now I know.

rethugs are terrorists targeting their fellow citizens. They hate segments of the populace without reason and they are willing to kill innocents because of their hate.

Whether it's a grocery store, outdoor concert, movie theater, 4th of July parade, we are now vulnerable. There are terrorists among us and they are not from other places. They live next door.