Babies are born with a gun in their hands in America. Yeah, okay, that’s obviously not true literally. It’s just a way of saying that when it comes to guns, there ain’t no country like US of A – for every 100 Americans, there are 120.5 civilian-owned guns, legal or illegal.
US population: 346 mn.
US civilian-owned guns: 393 mn.
That makes US the only country in the world that has more guns than people. Will some of those guns come into play as results of a toxically divided America’s prez polls start rolling out today? That’s the fear more thoughtful American commentators have been expressing for months now.
If Harris or Trump wins big, that fear’s less. If results are close and hotly contested, that fear’s more. But even a big victory, say, for Harris, doesn’t kill the fear. ‘Coz if the Don throws a tanTrump, some Trumpers may decide bullets gotta do the job ballots couldn’t.
– At least 400 incidents of political violence were reported in US in the first six months of 2024.
– That’s an 80% jump compared to the whole of 2022.
– Trump was just the most famous target.
– Unreported elsewhere in the world, local US politicians, election administrators, municipal leaders, school officials and emergency responders have been targeted.
– US Department of Homeland Security recently said the threat of political violence is “high”.
– In a 2022 survey, 1 in 3 adult Americans justified political violence to “protect democracy”.
– 1 in 7 agreed there may be a civil war in US in the next few years.
– This belief was strongest among MAGA Republicans – 30% of whom are readying for a civil war.
– A 2024 survey found 9% of Americans agree with batshit crazy conspiracy theories (example: Satan-worshipping paedophiles run American institutions).
– 20% thought they were living in the end of times.
Wow, right? But it gets more wow. There are 169 armed private militias in America. Many of these were front and centre when Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.
And then there’s social media. YouTube, X, Facebook, Telegram host lots of groups where a lot of pissed off people with assault rifles get their jollies talking about taking “the fight” to the streets. In social media’s dark, dank nooks and crannies, politically charged gun-toters recruit and motivate other gun-toters.
A report (https://shorturl.at/l8m7P) in The Guardian quoted an expert on political violence, Garen Wintemute: “There are, on any given day in US, thousands of armed people walking the streets who support the idea of political violence and are willing to engage in it”.
He also said: “What we have (in America) is a uniquely high rate of fatal assaultive violence, and that’s because we have a unique level of access to firearms….”
That’s a lovely way of saying an unlovely thing: there are lots of guns in US, and lots of angry people who reckon they have a political view, mix the two – and take cover.