“So, when do we get to use our guns to kill political opponents?” That is the question that was asked at a pro-gun rally a few weeks ago in Boise, Idaho the same day the Boise mall shooting took place. The answer to the question was, “Not yet, but soon.” This isn’t a joke. We are in immense danger because these people mean what they say. A recent poll showed that 1 in 6 Americans believe that violence is justified in solving political problems. If this kind of thinking continues, America will be headed for disaster because when the next election hits, ‘not yet’ will become ‘do it now.’
Here’s what we need to do. First, we have to create a centric party - one that can draw people in from both the left and the right. We have to put something in the middle because those who can’t stand the left have nowhere to go other than the far right and side with the people who are asking things like, “when do we get to use our guns to kill political opponents?” We have to create an alternative for people who don’t want to be on either side. The second thing we need to do is tell people that killing political opponents isn’t going to solve our problems. Instead of resorting to violence, we should be talking, negotiating, and compromising. Leaving your house with a gun and shooting others is the worst possible thing you can do and if these people succeed in killing political opponents, they will be in power and this will no longer be our country; we’ll have to get out or get killed. We need to solve our problems in a more rational fashion. Number three, we have to give people the skills they need to solve their problems. Far too many people want to do good and make a difference in the world but don’t have the emotional ability to back it up. When they run into a problem, they crack because they don’t know how to get around it. They fail to handle things properly because they were never given a good example of how to do it. Because of this, we now need to teach people effective problem-solving skills so they can deal with difficult situations when they arise.
I think the next election is going to be a disaster. If the right wing wins, America will turn into an authoritarian dictatorship, but if the right wing loses, they’re going to use their guns and start shooting. Either way, democracy loses, which is why we need to start building a center party. That’s what matters at the moment because more and more people are beginning to accept the idea of guns and violence to solve problems and that is my greatest fear. A few days ago in Durham, North Carolina, two children were shot while waiting in a car in a Burger King drive-thru line. They were taken to the hospital but thankfully they are both fine. There was another shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. A couple made a stop at a gas station convenience store and while the girl was inside shopping, a man drove up to the gas station, pulled out a gun, and started shooting. He killed the girl’s boyfriend who was waiting in the car, then went into the convenience store and started shooting there as well. Everyone hid and came out unscathed, but when the girl got out of the convenience store, she found her boyfriend dead in the car.
So much violence is continuing to go on and people are becoming more and more traumatized every day. If people keep talking about shooting political opponents, they might go along with it. They might not like it, but they’ll go along with it if they think it’ll return America to a traditional moral center. That’s the kind of violence I fear is paving the way for people who ask, “so when do we get to use our guns to kill political opponents?” We are in a very dangerous situation and I do not think our current political leaders know how to deal with it. I know that Biden and Harris are good people, have great hearts, and want to make America a better nation. If things were more ordinary, they probably would succeed, but we are living in anything but an ordinary time. People nowadays are truly willing to resort to violence and I don’t think Biden can cope with that. I wish I could believe that he’d be able to effectively handle a situation like this, but I don’t think he can. Instead of preaching to people that guns and violence are bad and that shootings are not to be joked about, we need to deal with the problem by persuading people that it’s in their best interest to support peace and love and compromise.