#MAGA: President Trump Slides Down Slippery Slope Of Gun Control

I stirred up a big shitstorm on Twitter this afternoon.

I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

I have mixed feelings about this. For many conservatives, religion, sportsball, big trucks and guns have become markers of a pseudo-tribal identity. They aren’t allowed to have a real identity so they compensate with toys which they never intend to use pic.twitter.com/2mnlQtGRts

— Not Brad Griffin (@notbradgriffin) February 22, 2018

It was caused by President Trump’s tweet this morning. I had written about the issue on Tuesday when he came out and called for a ban on bump stocks. He traveled further down the slippery slope this morning by calling for raising the minimum age to buy a gun to 21.

I wanted to see if the Trump cult would be angrier at me about it or President Trump who has actually flip flopped on gun control so I sent out a tweet about the issue. My point was that for many of these people guns along with sportsball, big trucks and religion have become the tribal markers of a surrogate ethnic identity that falls along purely partisan lines. In other words, they would be howling with outrage if HILLARY or OBAMA or the DEMOCRATS had called for these exact same policy changes, but since Donald Trump is their tribal chief they were letting him slide on the issue.

It’s also true that the Molon Labe/Don’t Tread on Me crowd is notorious for stockpiling guns and ammunition and showboating – just look at the Patriot groups like the Oathcucks which came to our rallies last year – even though they have no intention whatsoever of actually using these weapons. They are afraid to be called mean names in public. I mean come on … these people aren’t going to fight back against the tyranny of big government when simply calling them “racists” is a knockout blow and far more devastating weapon than their assault rifle.

When I expressed my doubt that people who are shamed into submission by strong words were going to unload their arsenals on the federal government, it really got under their skin. How dare you doubt that I am willing to use my freedom boner in defense of liberty?

Anyway, I stand by my position that many of these people who amass private arsenals are engaging in nothing but signaling games and base their whole sense of identity on collecting toys. They aren’t going to use those toys either in defense of the Constitution or similar such nonsense. And no, this isn’t the same thing as calling for gun control as some have insinuated.

Note: I do believe in some forms of gun control. We shouldn’t allow mentally ill people or impulsive, low-IQ populations to acquire firearms.