Below is my stance on the gun control debate in america, and why the left should oppose gun control and instead support alternative measures to reduce violence in the US.
I wrote an essay on violence in america a while ago that explains how and why violence in america (including mass murder) is more frequent than in other countries, which is in my opinion, the following:
- America has significantly worse income inequality than the countries it is being compared to, which is a significant driver for violence (even more strongly correlated to violence than rates of gun ownership)
- Americans are the most narcissistic people in the world (which combined w/ a culture that gravitates towards violence as a solution to all problems leads to a significantly increased homicide rate, i didn’t mention this in the essay) also, higher levels of narcissism correlate with stronger aggressive reactions towards ego threats, as well as a trend towards strongly reactionary ideology.
- media contagion / sensationalism inspiring more mass shooters + profit motivating sensationalist news coverage of mass shootings
- the aversion to social programs that prevent violence and homicide far more effectively than gun control because it is more politically viable to focus on firearms.
There are tons of sources in the essay and more in depth explanation.
By creating or supporting social programs that can prevent people turning to homicide to solve their problems, as well as offering free talk therapy or similar support to those who feel isolated and alienated from society, + cracking down on white supremacy, you could effectively prevent almost all mass shootings as well as a significant amount of homicide and mass murder without restricting the political rights.
It has been pointed out by Marx, Lenin, Newton, Makhno, Bookchin and many other significant leftist and anarchist political figures that gun control is purely an authoritarian right wing policy, and it needs to be treated as such. Disarming only those who america’s white supremacist police choose to disarm once bans pass is only going to increase reactionary violence, as well as making it easier. Reactionary radicalization is far more closely tied to mass murder than gun ownership. When you have police that already disproportionately arrest poor, non white people for nonviolent firearm violations (think accidentally violating confusing assault weapon regulation that makes cheaper guns illegal and requires one to buy more expensive ar15s that comply with the laws), and frequently collaborates with fascist / right wing militias, you will get a significant increase in hate crimes and police violence across america when that police force disarms minorities that they dislike across the country.
Below are some leftist pieces on guns and gun control that I think are important to read before taking a stance for gun control, even if you disagree with what I’ve written
Negroes with guns - Robert F. Williams
This nonviolent stuff’ll get you killed - Charles Cobb
My Guns Saved My Life: when the state and the liberals left me to die
Gun control in America has always been about race and class, from Indian/slave codes before we even existed as a country to Jim Crow laws specifically designed to disarm Black people to the birth of the modern gun control movement in Reagan’s California as White suburbanite backlash to the Black Panther Party forming militias to defend poor Black neighborhoods from racist cops. Laws designed to prohibit small cheap handguns are targeted specifically at poor minorities in bad neighborhoods who can’t afford anything else to protect themselves from crime they absolutely cannot expect police to help with.