This is a point that's probably very obvious to many Americans, but something I hadn't really considered about the second amendment and the like is that freedom is kind of zero-sum: a consequence of the right to bear arms is that armed guards might have to be stationed at schools, and that cops treat everyone like a potential armed criminal.
This last shooting will probably not lead to a meaningful change in gun-control, but it will create pretexts for this administration to crack down on certain political movements.
dudefeliciano · 7m ago
the idea of the right to bear arms was to overthrow a dictatorial government if need be, not to milsim in city centers or shoot up schools. The 2nd amendment is not really meaningful in the age of palantir and f35s.
padjo · 11m ago
If your “freedom” requires walking around backwards waving a pistol is it really freedom?
bvvgpc · 45m ago
Interesting, what triggered the post now?
hackyhacky · 43m ago
I honestly cannot imagine why someone just now is posting an article about how a singular crime is used as a justification for a massive government power grab and an excuse to oppress the ruling party's political opponents, despite negligible evidence of any connection to the crime. [1]
An extremist right-wing citizen murders another slightly less extremist right-wing politician, and the government uses this as justification to crack down on liberal groups. Truly the worst timeline
john-h-k · 38m ago
I don’t think there is yet enough evidence to show the political beliefs of the suspect in either direction. Seems X/Bluesky is awash with certainty that it’s “the other side” but I have not seen any good hard evidence of this
hackyhacky · 36m ago
> I have not seen any good hard evidence of this
True, but for the purposes of a government power grab, the details of the actual crime, who did what and why, are hardly relevant. It only matters that the government can generate enough propaganda to make people think there's a connection.
aredox · 24m ago
The Reichtag fire was caused by a Communist militant- at the time where "Communist" meant litterally "Stalinist".
Even if the Charlie Kirk murderer was a Democrat card-carrying crimson red trans gay pedophilic crypto scammer, the point here is "using him as a pretext to destroy all opposition under false pretense".
john-h-k · 3m ago
Yes, and it is bad if the government do that. It does not mean it is then correct to claim he has beliefs he doesn’t. We should be saying “we don’t know his beliefs and the government is making a power grab”
somedude895 · 19m ago
Holy wow, where do you spend your time to arrive at that narrative? I read both right and left wing media to get a balanced view, but I haven't seen anyone that far off the deep end yet. The most reasonable actual fact from this whole thing that I've read is that the guy was terminally online and that's what drove him crazy. Some people could learn from that.
nmeofthestate · 37m ago
>An extremist right-wing citizen murders another slightly less extremist right-wing politician,
It's mind-boggling how successful this messaging has been, considering the facts.
th0ma5 · 24m ago
How convenient that the facts haven't been verified by anyone not a Republican.
tomp · 17m ago
This is what I return to every time when someone confuses morality and laws.
100% of Hitler's reign was legal. Everything he did was 100% legal.
Morality is and must be above laws.
(Edit: ChatGPT reminds me that Hitler's post-1933 actions were legal; the earlier (and failed) "Beer Hall Putsch" was illegal.)
dudefeliciano · 4m ago
which is also the excuse many nazis used at the nuremberg trials
This last shooting will probably not lead to a meaningful change in gun-control, but it will create pretexts for this administration to crack down on certain political movements.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/jd-vance-char...
True, but for the purposes of a government power grab, the details of the actual crime, who did what and why, are hardly relevant. It only matters that the government can generate enough propaganda to make people think there's a connection.
Even if the Charlie Kirk murderer was a Democrat card-carrying crimson red trans gay pedophilic crypto scammer, the point here is "using him as a pretext to destroy all opposition under false pretense".
It's mind-boggling how successful this messaging has been, considering the facts.
100% of Hitler's reign was legal. Everything he did was 100% legal.
Morality is and must be above laws.
(Edit: ChatGPT reminds me that Hitler's post-1933 actions were legal; the earlier (and failed) "Beer Hall Putsch" was illegal.)