Welcome to Litsy!

This book was much more than I was expecting, not only a history of the 2nd Amendment & guns in America, but a history of the United States itself & the politics that have made guns a part of our culture (and not necessarily for the reasons you might think). Very informative and based on her history in this book, I‘ll definitely be checking out her An Indigenous Peoples‘ History of the United States (which has been on my list for awhile now).

Just an aside...remember when people were pulling down statues & people said “what‘s wrong with Teddy Roosevelt? He was land conservation & national parks, right?” This is one of the reasons why (Hawaiians & a few other island nations have cause to really dislike him as well).

Plus, I thought it was really interesting to connect that to those cattle ranchers who seized “federal” land not too long ago. I remember Colbert giving them such grief.

And that is probably the most important part of any conclusion...the old divide and conquer. If you can convince them that guns are more important to their health and safety, than say wealth inequality, then they won‘t fight those collecting concentrated wealth, or mind that they are making more money selling you guns and organization, but instead fight big government and that they might want to take their guns.

Talking about the famous Sarah Winchester house, where she built on room upon room until her death, to elude the ghosts killed by her family‘s product....and making a pretty good argument/analogy out of the lengths we‘ll go to to avoid looking at the real problem/history.

Laws with questionable value, that end up hurting research they really weren‘t necessarily aimed at.

They were studying gun injuries, which could have let to better treatments, better education, better training, who knows.....but instead was now all research that “could” promote gun regulations. 🙄

Scary, but I think this is the business Trump and company wants to get into next... organizing his followers, backing politicians he likes, ruling from the background, and sadly I can see it happening the way a bunch of politicians seem to follow his leads now.😬

That should scare everyone too.!!!🤯

Maybe there is a reason a bunch of mass shooters have been ex-military, and maybe it‘s not all brain injuries and/or PTSD either. 😳

That should scare everyone!!!!! 🤯

Looks like another book to add to my to-read list!

So much in one fairly short book, here are some of the origins of the current Antifa movement that the Right rails about & examples of the dog whistles & dates having significance to certain audiences that most of us might never even realize. I could only think of that June 16th rally in Tulsa that made such news this year, and the history of that date. It‘s interesting to read that some dates & places have been signals to some for decades.

Sounds like a simple, but I bet difficult goal.

As much as we love guns ourselves, we are also spreading them throughout the globe. 🤦‍♀️ That always comes back to bite us.

Who would have guessed this book, published in 2018 before slogans of defunding the police, would touch on that same subject from the very first mass shooting in 1966. We didn‘t create better health care, or mental illness care, but put funds into a SWAT team, and then one for every police department.

* and on that note, time for a break! After that opener, I think I‘ll save the rest of the mass shootings chapter for another day.

So marketing and sales, I guess that means it‘s time to buy stock in gun companies again. 🙄

So the NRA wasn‘t originally all about the 2nd Amendment either, or against regulations for that matter.....but it was also reshifted during this period of social upheaval in the 70‘s. Interesting....

So much other odd history in here, as there has been a lot of Supreme Court talk lately and discussing who is an “originalist”, now here‘s the answer of what started that school of judicial interpretation, desegregation as communism. Things we think of as far in the past, still alive and well in judicial schools of interpretation today.

Plus some of how the Koch Brothers became so influential in current political circles.

What now!?!? This wasn‘t an issue until the 1970‘s and even as far as 2008 when the Supreme Court said it was an individual right, not a militia, it still upheld that there could be prohibitions and laws.

So it‘s a Congress/NRA/lobbyist issue?

And there it is, the Calvinist origin myth that tied godly goodness “gods chosen few” to take “this promised land” to race “from the godless heathens” almost always some people of color. I can see how that could fuel both our country‘s racial issues and South Africa‘s.

(She also mentions here in passing that Hebrew has a similar promised land origin that also relates to how they view Palestinians, etc.)

She really does a great job in this book at pointing out our origin story (as a country) and then breaking it down.

That‘s a great question

About some of our origin myths about the “great hunter” living by his wits on the land, and how those myths have grown into our hunting industry, and selling the idea of living off the land.

(And honestly, when I read that last sentence about a failed businessman and how great his legend became as a”self made man”, I couldn‘t help but think of another origin story)

The mass marketing of civil war guerrilla fighters as outlaw heroes.

Sorry for the small type, but that is definitely a truth is stranger than fiction story about an author, a “true story”, and the appropriation of culture for profit.

They myth building of the American west

And sadly, still true today!
Sandra Bland
Breonna Taylor
Trayvon Martin
Philando Castile
.....
....
...
..
.

I‘ll never think of Walker, Texas Ranger the same again....

And yet people get testy when reparations are even brought up...they not only built this country, they were the wealth structure of the new country. 🤯

...”principle role was to repel Native Americans whose land the had appropriated.”

Now that‘s the Thanksgiving story they don‘t teach you. ☹️.

I am also understanding more and more why some old statues are being pulled down too.....

Summary: Take the land from the inhabitants (they aren‘t Christian, so the Pope said it‘s ok), kill or enslave them, farm the land until it‘s depleted, move westward and start again...wait, the King says no, time for a revolution! Use the mandatory armed militias to take the land, hold the land, patrol the slaves, and fight the king. Therefore, everyone must have a gun, because you never knew when it might be necessary to take or defend something.

A look back at the origination of colonization, slavery, and extermination, and how the gun became essential to that endeavor.

I always thought the well-regulated militia wording was because of the war/fighting with England... and here it was all about subduing the natives and being prepared if they refused to take kindly to that and fought back. 🙄

Well that‘s part they don‘t teach you in school about the American Revolution and our founding fathers.

OMG! The whole taxation without representation Stamp Act fight we learned about in school, was because he was taxing us to support British troops, to STOP US FROM INVADING INDIAN LANDS!

In all the discussions I‘ve seen about the Second Amendment, I don‘t think I have ever seen it broken down into why we originally wanted lots of local armed militias, just whether it was a militia right or an individual right. This book lays it all out there, the Second Amendment was originally all about land conquering and putting down Indigenous and Slave revolts. Which makes perfect sense to me now. 🤦‍♀️

Wow...if that‘s what he thought in the 70‘s, I can‘t imagine what he‘d think now!

This was a pretty tough read - dense with info, a tad dry at times, and with a harsh tone that clearly reflects the author‘s outrage. But that tone makes sense given the story she tells about the history of the Second Amendment and its basis in racism, war, colonialism, nationalism…and she pulls no punches in linking those to enduring political and cultural forces that perpetuate gun violence today. Compelling, chilling, sad, and very valuable.

Great book on American culture and the history of the Second Amendment. Some stuff I was familiar with but lots of information packed into this little book. Recommended reading.

#guns #gunsinamerica #secondamendment #culture #history #historyfan #historygeek

Loving this book on the historical background and cultural roots of American‘s 2nd Amendment. It makes a lot of sense based on our history of war and subjugation of various groups of people all in the name of manifest destiny.

Getting our signs ready for Saturday's march.
#marchforourlives #guncontrol #resist