Several niche, left-leaning gun advocacy groups said that since the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, they can hardly keep up with the surging demand for firearms training.

With Donald Trump sending armed federal agents into communities around the country, even more once gun-shy liberals and leftists are considering getting armed.

And while Americans tend to think of gun owners as leaning more Republican and male, already more women, gay people and people of color have taken up arms in recent years, particularly after 2020.

  • Soggy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    3 hours ago

    Activists being assassinated by the government should tell you what the people in power are actually scared of. (It’s armed, organized resistance rather than one-day protests and email campaigns)

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      3 hours ago

      The notion that simply parading around with guns made any of these civil rights leaders safer is empirically proven false by their government-sanctioned assassinations. They were not made bulletproof by carrying guns. They were never truly allowed to use these guns, as the stigma against firing on a police officer continues to be far higher than the stigma against a police officer firing on a civilian. And their overt display of gun ownership quickly became a rational that excused their executions, ultimately undermining their mission.

      Take this further - to a degree of full militancy - and you end up with Hamas and Hezebollah. Organizations that have failed to rebut imperial militancy and have even become the rationale for imperial expansion.

      You want to believe waving a gun in a cop’s face makes you safer because it’s an expedient and accessible solution. Guns are easy to get. Sporting one is an easy thing to do. But the reality is harder to swallow. You’re not Rambo. You’re not in the Vietcong. You’re not part of a well-organized militia movement of able bodied, adequately trained resistance fighters.

      You’re not going to deter the entire federal bureaucracy by brandishing a gun.