Two thoughts on gun control

Thought 1

Do you want to know how to get rid of the Second Amendment? Start up the Black Panthers again. Create a Muslim Panthers. A Chinese Panthers. A Latino Panthers. Arm all the racial minorities. Arm the women. Arm the Planned Parenthood employees. Arm queer people. Arm trans* prostitutes, particularly trans* youth sex workers engaging in survival sex work. Make it legal to shoot rapists with impunity. Teach radical self-defense in American high schools, but only to people who belong to oppressed groups, because those are the groups that have been historically exposed to government tyranny and the viciousness of their fellow citizens. Start up AIM again, and give real sovereignty to the tribal leaders, so anyone who steps on their land without permission can be gunned down without trial. Anyone who tries to sell their mineral, water, and oil rights who isn’t a tribe member can be shot as a violation of their sovereignty.

You will see the Second Amendment evaporate faster than you can says “bipartisanship.”

Thought 2

The mighty US military just got pantsed by a bunch of guys with technicals, AK-47s, and roadside bombs. In a grinding, awful ten year war in Iraq. An American guerrilla army *definitely* has the potential to cause all manner of intense grief to the actual standing US army. Unless you are willing to do something like ride through a neighborhood and kill every man, woman, and child absolutely indiscriminately, conventional military force means less and less these days. We weren’t willing to do that in Iraq / Afghanistan, and the troops who did pull shit like this were put on trial (and rightfully so). I’d imagine that American troops would be even less inclined to commit war crimes this if they were rolling through, say, St. Louis, Brooklyn, or Tulsa.

That being said, we’ve seen concrete erosion of our freedom since 2001, all in the name of protecting it from terrifying brown people. All the guns in the world didn’t stop that.

In terms of protecting freedom with force, these supposed “real Americans” are cowardly and pathetic. They lack the intellect to realize that we’re frogs in a slowly boiling pot of water and the willpower to do anything about it. They see violations of our Constitutional freedoms as necessary protections against terrorism.

Guns don’t protect freedom. People protect freedom.

And our people have utterly, profoundly failed.

About justinwoo

Justin Woo is a Rutgers graduate, Jersey City resident, and Chinese-American poet, theatre artist, videographer, photographer and DJ. He has performed at universities and theatres in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire including the 2007 NYC Fringe Festival and the Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre. He was a member of the 2011 and 2012 JC Slam team, and is a JC Slam committee member and tech director. He has collaboratively created several multidisciplinary spoken word theatre pieces. He is currently writing "The Girl Behind The Glass," a science fiction play exploring androids, sex, freedom, consent, and personhood. His goal is to encourage positive social and political change through the creation and performance of startling, extraordinary poetry and theatre. View all posts by justinwoo

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