Candor

In the interests of fairness and honesty with ourselves, we should be clear that this isn’t about standing up to the “gun lobby.” Yes, the NRA and other related groups play an important role coordinating messaging and operationalizing the desires of gun obsessives. But President Biden’s comment was one of the few times for me that he really did sound like someone speaking from a bygone era. A vast swathe of the population wants things exactly how they are. No restrictions on guns at all. The collateral damage is just tough shit basically.

I hesitate to say “majority” because intensity, geography, various idiosyncrasies of our political system and a bunch of other things magnify the political power of that part of the population. But in practice it’s a majority, a functional majority. Indeed, as we know, almost all of the policy movement in the country today is toward fewer restrictions — more open carry, concealed carry. It’s quite likely that the corrupt Supreme Court is about to invalidate the laws in cities like New York where there are actually pretty tight restrictions on guns.

We are also not captive to a constitution that may be out of date or rooted in outmoded rules. The entire individual right to bear arms is totally made up, a modern confection. The only power of those arguments — wholly empty by any historical analysis — is that a functional majority of the country chooses to pretend they’re true.

This is the America a big, big part of the country wants. It’s not about money in politics or some powerful advocacy group or a breakdown in the machinery of government. It’s not about politicians lacking courage. This is the America something like half the country wants.