Comment by 0xDEAFBEAD

Comment by 0xDEAFBEAD 5 days ago

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I see a lot from the left about how right-wingers are supposedly hypocritical on gun control. However, concrete examples of hypocrisy are rarely provided. In terms of actual concrete statements, what I'm seeing from gun rights people like Thomas Massie and the NRA is consistent with previous stances:

https://xcancel.com/NRA/status/2015227627464728661#m

https://xcancel.com/RepThomasMassie/status/20155711073281848...

I'd say the left is actually much more hypocritical. Just a few years ago they had essentially no issue with the government taking everyone's guns. Now suddenly they understand the value of an armed citizenry as a final last resort against tyranny, something the right has understood for years, and then they start calling the right "hypocritical"...

guelo 5 days ago

Massie is the odd man out out of 1000s of Republican politicians in being willing to publicly criticize his own party. He is very not typical. Everybody else marches in lockstep with whatever insanity trump puts out.

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epistasis 5 days ago

The NRA is not a very honest or good gun association, their immediate statement was quite different:

> “For months, radical progressive politicians like Tim Walz have incited violence against law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their jobs. Unsurprisingly, these calls to dangerously interject oneself into legitimate law-enforcement activities have ended in violence, tragically resulting in injuries and fatalities.

https://x.com/NRA/status/2015224606680826205?ref_src=twsrc%5...

(they then go on to say "let's withhold judgement until there's an investigation" despite them passing quite extreme judgement, with a direct lie, and getting their judgment extremely wrong when there was lots of video showing it wrong when they posted...)

In light of their large change of attitude, the initial critiques were quite correct.

In another Minnesota case, they refused to defend a gun owner that was shot for having a gun, despite doing everything right when stopped by police.

Other gun associations besides the NRA have been more principled and less partisan.

Rep. Massie is barely a Republican, he's pretty much the only one willing to go against Trump on anything. Right now the Republican party is defined by one thing only: slavish obedience to Trump. For Republicans' sake, and the sake of the Republic, I hope that changes soon.

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  • 0xDEAFBEAD 5 days ago

    I don't see inconsistency between the two NRA statements. Your interpretation seems imaginative/unsupported.

    Gun rights people understand that owning a gun comes with certain responsibilities. The accusation of "hypocrisy" seems to be based on a cartoon understanding of gun rights from people on the left. Find me a gun rights person who previously claimed that resisting arrest while armed is all fun and games.

    https://policelawnews.substack.com/p/cbp-involved-alex-prett...

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    • mindslight 5 days ago

      Always being able to come up with some exception [0] doesn't mean that you're not being hypocritical, it just means that you've tricked yourself into being unable to see it. For another incident that resulted in a widespread display of hypocrisy, look at the public reactions to what happened when Kenneth Walker exercised his right to night time home defense - one of the basic scenarios the NRA is always rallying around. But I'm sure you've settled on some coping excuse for that one as well.

      The real thing you need to understand is that this fascist movement will always find some grounds to characterize its targets as worthy of othering. If (when) you get tripped up by it, no amount of conforming or having supported it is going to redeem you in the mind of the mob. Rather it's going to be people just like yourself condemning you.

      [0] this one seemingly based on an outright shameless lie of "resisting arrest"

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      • 0xDEAFBEAD 5 days ago

        I have no opinion on Kenneth Walker. I'm just annoyed by what I see on social media -- people claiming hypocrisy without any supporting evidence. The flip side of your "exception" point is that you have to actually understand what the person said, and what they believe, before you claim hypocrisy... something that lefty activists in the US largely have no interest in doing.

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wsatb 5 days ago

It's not hard to find examples.

"You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It's that simple."

- Kash Patel

“I don't know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign."

- Kristi Noem

“With that being said, you can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t.”

-Donald Trump

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  • Gud 5 days ago

    And are these really 2nd amendment advocates to begin with? They don't strike me as principled people in general.

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    • wsatb 5 days ago

      That's MAGA, which is the overwhelming majority of the right in the United States.

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  • 0xDEAFBEAD 5 days ago

    If you mean to say that officials in Trump's administration are hypocritical, then say that. But many are accusing thousands of rank-and-file gun rights supporters of hypocrisy on a thin to nonexistent evidence base.

    Here's how one gun rights group responded to some of the statements you quoted:

    https://xcancel.com/gunrights/status/2016268309180907778#m

    https://xcancel.com/gunrights/status/2015572391217467562#m

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    • wsatb 4 days ago

      You didn't say "rank-and-file gun rights supporters", you said "right-wingers". These are all MAGA, which today, whether you like it or not, is the majority of "right-wingers". MAGA lives on a lack of principles, and that's why it's popular. Things are getting real now, huh?

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idle_zealot 5 days ago

> Now suddenly they understand the value of an armed citizenry as a final last resort against tyranny, something the right has understood for years

What? I thought it was pretty clear that I don't consider an armed citizenry to be doing us any good. The government can take the guns, I don't give a shit. It should also stop arming Police and other goons. We can all slug it out in the streets with batons ;)

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