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The NRA is already trying to juice gun sales by creating fear around a new Biden administration. “Stay vigilant and engaged” sounds a lot like “shoot people who disagree with you” to their supporters - too many of whom have been radicalized by the gun lobby’s extremist agenda. https://twitter.com/nra/status/1348411742729199617
This NRA owns much of blame for the armed white supremacists trying to undermine American democracy: “The gun-rights movement cleared the path for insurrection. It blew a hole in the rule of law—and Donald Trump’s would-be soldiers clamored through it.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/nra-americas-insurrectionist-fever-dreams/617627/
Many members of the mob that rioted inside the Capitol lead or belong to so-called “gun-rights groups,” and were motivated by the warnings of tyranny issued by the @NRA. https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210108-who-s-who-in-the-trump-mob-conspiracists-neo-nazis-and-gun-activists
Guns are an integral part of anti-government and white supremacist violence. In 2017, a joint report from the FBI and DHS said “firearms likely will continue to pose the greatest threat of lethal violence by [extremists] due to their availability and ease of use.”
Here’s an example. In October 2018, Donald Trump claimed a “caravan” of migrants was heading to the US from Mexico. NRATV, then the propaganda arm of the NRA, claimed Jewish billionaire George Soros was conspiring with Venezuela to send migrants here to influence the election.
Eight days later, a white supremacist who claimed the government was trying to take Americans’ guns entered the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue and opened fire and killed 11 worshippers. He told an officer, “They’re committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews.”
So what are the solutions? First of all, prohibit open carry. There is no place in a healthy democracy for armed intimidation. Especially in and around statehouses, courthouses and municipal buildings. Over 40 states allow open carry and in 2/3 it’s almost completely unregulated.
Pass extreme risk laws, aka red flag laws, which give family and police a way to intervene before warning signs of violence escalate into tragedies. The law allows them to petition a court for a temporary restraining order to remove guns from someone who is at-risk.
In the fall of 2019, the FBI filed an extreme risk protection order in Washington State against a member of a neo-Nazi group, after the man had started preparing for “an impending race war.” After the order was granted, police seized five military-style rifles and three pistols.
Close the Charleston loophole, which allows gun sales to proceed by default after three business days—even without a completed background check. That’s how the white supremacists who killed nine Black worshipers at an AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2017 got his gun.
In at least 54% of the mass shootings between 2009 and 2017, the perpetrator also shot an intimate partner or family member. We must close “boyfriend loophole” in federal law that allows stalkers and dating partners convicted of domestic abuse to have easy access to guns.
Only 22 states and DC require a background check on unlicensed gun sales. That means in 28 states, people with dangerous histories can circumvent the background check system simply by purchasing a gun online or at a gun show. We must close this federal loophole.
White supremacy and anti-government conspiracy theories are fomenting violence across the US. Lax gun laws give domestic terrorists access to some of the deadliest and most effective tools to carry out violence, which is why strengthening our gun laws is more urgent than ever.
