Mindset of fear
The mindsets of many gun owners and their interpretation of the Second Amendment are fueled by fear martial law will be used to take their guns away.
Because gun owners believe privately owned guns will be needed to fight off unknown invaders, they have directly or indirectly supported politicians eroding the rights and safety of citizens.
Obsession with unobstructed gun ownership has led to lobby money and voting supporting a Republican-controlled Congress that has abused and exploited power while in office to benefit themselves and their major political contributors, created a conservative Supreme Court that approved Citizens United [5-4 in Jan. 2010] and politicians who have ignored President Donald Trump’s behavior and sleazy business practices.
These same politicians have reduced taxes on the wealthy, weakened regulations on the finance industry, weakened consumer protection and environmental protection, assaulted labor rights, allowed exploitation of our for-profit medical system by the pharmaceutical, insurance and medical industries and blocked progress towards universal healthcare, including sabotaging the Affordable Care Act by repealing the individual mandate.
Gun advocacy has extended to blind support of our costly military-industrial complex as many gun owners believe being pro-militant is patriotic.
School shootings are just a small price to pay for “freedom.”
Gun owners have basically helped empower fascists with their fear, ignorance and indifference to political corruption and gun violence.
Cheryl Nash,
Port Angeles