Recently someone landed at POLITUSIC in search of some examples of the “Wacky World of Gun Toting Republicans“. Of course, we highly encourage people with differing political views to share them here on POLITUSIC – but mostly they just run extreme, right-wing ads to sell their political position. Indeed, there are large parts of America that are a wacky, mirror maze, Yosemite Sam swaggering, gun toting culture.
Is it really a surprise, then, that the rest of the world thinks of us, Americans, as being slightly off center, brash, volatile, addicted to guns and gun-power, forever stuck in the days of the Wild West?
Admittedly, POLITUSIC is predominately left-of-center politically, and in general we demand logic and facts before conspiracy theories of the right. As a result, all we can do it watch the “wacky world of gun toting republicans” from the outside and talk about guns with those who aren’t totally nuts about them like those with don’t tread on me flags on their homes and automobiles.
There are just as many extremists on the left side of this debate as well, that we cannot deny. However, we always go back to our initial assessment of the two sides of the gun control / gun safety debate: one side wants to have more power to kill, the other side wants to stop more killing. It’s pretty simple.
For many gun lovers, owning a bad-ass gun is what defines:
- Freedom, and therefore,
- What it means to be an American.
This pocket of our culture has totally forgotten about all the other ideals that define what it means “to be an American.” Basically, they got their shiny toys at the second amendment, then stopped there to go home. Sadly, this group feels that they don’t need to read any further. They don’t need to do more research, or further their education outside of the NRA information bubble on the matter… or maybe talk to a psychologist to discover why they have such a strong emotional bond to an inanimate object whose primary purpose is to kill something.
Deep down, the primary motivation is this: owning a gun gives someone a sense of power that, in most cases, they’re incapable of achieving elsewhere in society.
A gun gives them power over other people, which very few individuals get in a typical community: being a leader by means of being more powerful than others. A gun grants that kind of power to powerless people – to the most powerless people. All you have to do is follow the evolution of their expressions: changing from soft apprehension and anticipation into “I’m a powerful bad-ass!!!” as they are handed, and then take hold of a gun.
Their eyes change.
Their breathing speeds up, their jaws tense. They smile in way that makes other people uncomfortable. The bask in the power they are holding in their hands – to kill. It’s primal. It’s all there at the moment of taking possession of a gun (especially a gun that looks menacing). In that moment they are virtually divinely granted power over others – and since it’s the only place they can get that sort of power – they’ll never let go willingly. They are addicted to that feeling of power – gun-power – in exactly the same way a Wall Street mega-banker is addicted to his money-power, politicians to political-power, and drug addicts to drug-power.
Addicts don’t simply let go of their addiction. To even consider it they have to hit rock bottom first. When it comes to guns being the source of the addiction… rock bottom is a scary prospect… rock bottom for a gun-power addict is Newtown. It’s Virginia Tech. Rock bottom for a gun-power addict is a high school and a theatre in Colorado. It’s a shopping mall in Arizona. Rock bottom for gun-power addicts happens every single day in this country – and it hurts other people, not just the user.
Guns have a similar effect on the human psyche as religions, really: Are you poor and feel like society is beating you down? Get a gun, it will give you a sense of hope and control. Have a remedial and meaningless job? Get a gun, it will give you power and make you important. Not very smart? Not so good with the ladies? Get a gun, it will give you power and help you meet people at the local gathering spot. It’s a very base motivation – but it’s true. People who claim otherwise are overrating what it means to be a human animal.
What we find so terrifying about that singular world-view is that gun manufacturers, its partners, and the extreme-right media are ENCOURAGING and CREATING the paranoia – so that they all can make more money. It might very well be the most significant example of moral corruption in “business history.” Yes, lawyers tend to cross lines, banks like to crash economies because they know they cannot be touched… but the gun lobby and those media outlets who are intentionally creating paranoia to sell their products are literally playing with death. What sort of moral compass does it take to do that? 
In our opinion there are basically two species of wacky gun toting republicans… (yes: it is very irresponsible to generalize, especially on this issue, but it is what it is – we are writing about “wacky world of gun toting republicans” after all)… one part are those from the more rural parts of America who grew up with guns for hunting, they’re good people (however they really should read up a little more on the Republican Party and the NRA… they really don’t have your best interests at heart). The other part is full of the paranoid, conspiracy theorists who are convinced that the world is out to get them. People who own guns for the simple reason that they don’t want people to take their guns. People who eat their own tail, create their own realities, and generally have no idea what the hell is going on outside of their own narrow circle-of-friends-mindset. They are down right terrified because they believe the extreme right wing advertising. Guns make them feel like they have control inside the republican bubble of monsters, villains, and minorities who are out to get them.
These people are very, very scared, and they need our help. They are literally children who have monsters under their beds and are waiving their guns around trying to protect themselves. We need to tell them the nightmares aren’t real. They need to be shown that an assault rifle does not, in fact, make you more of a man. And we need to remind them of all the lessons that Christianity really preaches – not what a fat, old, ex-governor tells them it says just so he can increase his ratings and book sales.
Published: by | Updated: 04-21-2015 18:10:41
