All I have to say is

[EarlG]

while violence can obviously committed by anyone for any reason, over the past few decades, only one side of the political aisle has been consistently radicalizing people to believe that the answer to political problems is "Second Amendment solutions," or "the bullet box not the ballot box," or that the way to deal with government overreach is to threaten the government with gun violence.

Sharron Angle Floated '2nd Amendment Remedies' As 'Cure' For 'The Harry Reid Problems'

Angle: I feel that the Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms for our citizenry. This not for someone who's in the military. This not for law enforcement. This is for us. And in fact when you read that Constitution and the founding fathers, they intended this to stop tyranny. This is for us when our government becomes tyrannical...

Manders: If we needed it at any time in history, it might be right now.

Angle: Well it's to defend ourselves. And you know, I'm hoping that we're not getting to Second Amendment remedies. I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sharron-angle-floated-2nd_n_614003

Catherine Crabill, VA GOP Candidate: We May Have To "Resort To The Bullet Box"

Catherine Crabill, the Republican Party's nominee for Virginia's 99th District in the House of Delegates, gave a speech at a recent Tea Party event suggesting that Second Amendment rights could be used to defend the anti-tax movement. The strange assertion was picked up by Virginia political blogger Not Larry Sabato.

"We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box," Crabill said. "That's the beauty of our Second Amendment rights ... Our Second Amendment rights were to guard against tyranny."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/catherine-crabill-va-gop_n_235459

Trump Says Maybe '2nd Amendment People' Can Stop Clinton's Supreme Court Picks

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday when he suggested there is "nothing" that can be done to stop Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court picks, except "maybe" the "Second Amendment people."

"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said to the crowd of supporters gathered in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

"Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-2nd-amendment-folks-stop-clintons-supreme-court/story?id=41239648

"As the climax of the confrontation approached, militiamen and other Bundy supporters trained their weapons on federal and Las Vegas law enforcement officers." -- SPLC

4 In 10 Republicans Say Political Violence May Be Necessary

The mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol may have been a fringe group of extremists, but politically motivated violence has the support of a significant share of the U.S. public, according to a new survey by the American Enterprise Institute.

The survey found that nearly three in 10 Americans, including 39% of Republicans, agreed that "if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions."

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/11/966498544/a-scary-survey-finding-4-in-10-republicans-say-political-violence-may-be-necessa

Only the GOP Celebrates Political Violence

In March 2020, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives posted a video message addressed to two Democratic political candidates that issued a threatening challenge if they passed laws he did not like. Standing in his Capitol Hill office, Ken Buck of Colorado’s Fourth District gestured toward a rifle mounted on the wall.

“I have a message for Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke. If you want to take everyone’s AR-15 in America, why don’t you swing by my office in Washington, D.C., and start with this one.” At this point, Buck reached for a stars-and-stripes-decorated rifle mounted on the wall. He brandished the weapon, smiled what he must have imagined was a tough-guy smile, and said, “Come and take it.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/pelosi-republicans-partisan-political-violence/671934/

Personally, I don't really need to hear a lecture from Ted Cruz or whomever on "toning down the rhetoric," because I've never advocated for using guns against the government, and I can't recall ever hearing a Democratic politician doing that either.

But perhaps the other side would like to take a look in the mirror and consider the culture of anti-government gun violence that they've cultivated, now that they're the ones in control of government, and the crazies are just doing what Republicans have been encouraging them to do this whole time.

[walkingman]

1. All I have to say is - "DON'T TAKE TYLENOL"

[leftstreet]

2. DURec

[twodogsbarking]

3. Those guys look like they should be driving those old little Toyota pickups.

[highplainsdem]

4. +1,000,000,000,000,000

[sheshe2]

5. Excellent post.

[llmart]

6. I'm sure you could probably find even more examples too.

By the way, the second picture from the bottom - stupid gun humping woman can't even spell our Governor's name correctly. It's Whitmer not Witmer, but no one ever accused these imbeciles of being educated.

[BaronChocula]

7. It's why both-siders keep having to go back to 2017

When Steve Scalise was shot to prove that it's "both sides." Of course they don't consider the trends and frequency of violence and threats coming from both sides.

And yes, republicans get threatened, but those threats are usually from their own nutjobs.

[Walleye]

12. The guy who shot Scalise? Was he really a Democrat? I don't think so.

They found something in his past where he supported Bernie Sanders. Other than that, nobody knows what the violence was about. And they sure don’t work very hard to find out why we have to experience these things, if they put as much work into discovering the cause as they do fixing the blame, we might be making progress

[BaronChocula]

22. His affiliations were a lot less clear

He was described (possibly erroneously) as a "left-wing activists" in some reports and being strongly opposed to republicans in others. In any event, I'll concede he was probably a left-wing nutjob, but those are far less abundant than the ginned-up white nationalists with fantasies of civil war.

[Walleye]

26. What got me about the whole thing, was that Scalise was still pro-gun after he nearly died

I didn’t have much sympathy for him after that.

[Rhiannon12866]

29. That got me, too! What does it take?!

[GiqueCee]

15. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall...

... Scalise was wounded while taking part in a softball game in which others were injured as well. He wasn't specifically targeted. But then, when did facts ever slow down a Republican in mid-lie? Those guys are shameless.

[EarlG]

16. To be clear

I'm not trying to make the point that only one "side" is responsible for violence, because clearly both Republicans and Democrats have been shot by crazies. But as far as I'm concerned, only one side has spent decades encouraging and cultivating the idea that the way to deal with government overreach is to commit gun violence against the government.

This nation was founded by people who stood up against tyranny and used violence to overthrow their previous rulers, so they could create their own government -- and we celebrate that. But violence is, and should always be, a last resort used for self defense. Over the past couple of decades -- you can see examples in my OP, but there are hundreds of other examples -- Republicans have mainstreamed the idea of violence against the government, right up to and including their attempt to essentially kill congresspeople and the vice president on January 6, 2021, which resulted in injuries to 140 police officers, and which Republicans later dismissed as a violence-free love fest committed by "tourists."

Presumably Republicans believed that the only fallout from all these years of encouraging people to see the government -- or other people in positions of power and authority -- as something worthy of shooting at if you disagree with them, would be that their "side" would shoot at our "side." But the problem with opening this Pandora's box of "might makes right" ideology is that we are all exposed to it.

Republicans have spent decades brainwashing Americans into believing that the simple solution to something you disagree with is to shoot at it. They've done this while also making it significantly easier for anyone to get their hands on powerful weapons of war. And now they're operating elements of the government in a manner which could genuinely be described as tyrannical -- masked agents roaming the streets without ID, kidnapping people and disappearing them into foreign torture prisons, ignoring court orders, dehumanization and blatant corruption in broad daylight blasted daily from the president on down... they're creating the exact conditions that they've spent decades telling people should be fought against with gun violence.

And then they have the gall to say, "Hey everyone, let's tone down the rhetoric."

[BaronChocula]

23. I think we're in agreement n/t

[odins folly]

39. You make a great point EarlG

I often wonder where all of the “defenders against tyranny” (proud boys, 3%, etc.) have run off to now that there is real tyranny happening today. Those cosplayers and chair warriors seem to have completely vanished (possibly deputized into ice) or only cared about make believe tyranny when there were Democrats in charge….

[malaise]

8. Great. OP

Rec Rec Rec

[1WorldHope]

9. Thank you EarlG. Now how do we get this on the front page of every newspaper?

[yellow dahlia]

36. Hear! Hear!

[progressoid]

42. People still read newspapers?

Kidding...

sort of...

[wiggs]

10. thank you for this. I think this kind of summary is also the responsibility of MSM outlets, pundits, newsrooms

and elsewhere...but is sadly missing.

MSM doesn't provide much context with each outrage, acting as though nothing like it has happened before.

[Grim Chieftain]

11. Epic

Much needed and much appreciated. Thank you, EarlG.

[Wednesdays]

13. Amen.

[BurnDoubt]

14. And the threat is REAL

Who will save us from THEIR TYRANNY?
By the time they realize what they've done, it will be too late for them, too.
He IS coming for the guns. They just haven't been useful yet.
I have enough prescience to see that, as I have for what has happened so far.

"Evil men do as they please. Men who would be good must do as they are allowed".

[Hekate]

17. KnR

[mountain grammy]

18. republicans want a war

against us..

[IronLionZion]

19. Mentally ill and heavily armed

with no political agenda whatsoever. They like to pretend these murderers are never political.

But no action on mental health care or guns because?....

[PunkinPi]

20. Another submission for your OP...

since we're in the middle of an election here in VA. Here's the woman who is currently running against Abigail Spanberger for governor (and she is the current LG)...



Also happened upon this graphic (Support for Political Violence, by Trump Favorability & Christian Nationalism Groups) the other day, which is horrifying.

[BurnDoubt]

38. Interested to know the reaction if she was a Democrat.

This is the Crux of The Biscuit.

[Norrrm]

51. By her own party's standards, Winsome Earle-Sears is super DEI.

By her own party's standards, Winsome Earle-Sears is super DEI.

Female
Black
Immigrant.

[FakeNoose]

21. K & R! Thank you EarlG

[Botany]

24. Well said Mr. G

Meanwhile we had many Charlie Kirk is Jesus rallies in Ohio.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2025/09/22/vigil-for-charlie-kirk-held-in-stow-on-same-day-as-memorial-in-arizona/86277890007/

[littlemissmartypants]

25. Perspective...

The emigrating British first established a permanent settlement in America with the founding of Jamestown in 1607. The American Revolutionary War began in 1775.

Making the number of years between trying to establish an independent peaceful existence and "resorting to violence" 168 years.

Either the American settlers were very ineffective in fomenting violence against the British or they weren't involved in a concerted organized effort to destroy their enemy.

Of course, the 2nd Amendment wasn't a thing then.

But it also didn't take 168 years for the Republicans to create a "bulletbox" mentality.

So, EarlG, I get your point.

[underpants]

27. RW media flipped that Bundy time pic as being a Federal agent

[Kid Berwyn]

28. "When do we get to use the guns?"

A man at a local event by Turning Points USA asked, just hours after the Boise Towne Square shooting, asked Charlie Kirk when he would get to start killing political opponents.



‘When do we get to use the guns?’ The police should be able to take that guy’s guns.

BY BRYAN CLARK
The Idaho Statesman, OCTOBER 28, 2021

Excerpt…

The main speaker was Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Points. Kirk’s hucksterism is obvious. He is a traveling salesman at heart.

Snip…

According to the nonprofit organization’s tax filings, Kirk was paid about $330,000 last year. Turning Points reported earning about $10.3 million from fundraising events, more than a quarter of its total revenue for 2020.

Snip…

The man, claiming the state had fallen into tyranny, asked Kirk: “When do we get to use the guns?” — to applause and cheers from many in the audience.

Then, to remove any doubt that this aspiring Brownshirt wasn’t being metaphorical or facetious but was, in fact, asking when to start murdering political opponents, he continued: “That’s not a joke. I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where is the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”

Kirk did not respond with a simple message like: “Terrorism is wrong. You shouldn’t do it.” Instead, he cast political violence as a tactical blunder. It would play into the hand of the same hidden media-deepstate-Democrat forces trying to institute tyranny by installing Joe Biden as president, he claimed.

Continues…

https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article255354321.html

This arming American youth with automatic weapons and crazy ideas is intentional -- led by the rabid and corrupt right on the US Supreme Court.

[proud patriot]

30. bookmarked

[Wild blueberry]

31. Well said

Well documented.
Thank you.

[Queso Delicioso]

32. The generation that grew up in a hail of gunfire is old enough to take up arms.

Not surprising that they would, given the world they were raised in.

[mzmolly]

33. Well said!!!

[Permanut]

34. K & R

[peggysue2]

35. Thank you for that stark reminder, Earl.

I was coming home from a vet appointment this afternoon and caught Ted Cruz pontificating on the radio, the tone-it-down speech.

This from the party sporting Christmas family portraits featuring not family members but the matching gun sets. Children decked out like gun-toting gangsters. Then there's the AR-15 rifle lapel pins Republican Congress-critters proudly sport or the campaign videos featuring guns, guns and more guns.

Sorry. I refuse to be lectured about violence by people who openly worship the Gun and praise the renegades who breached and desecrated our US Capitol.

Because that would be as crazy as listening to a Jeffrey Dahmer lecture about the fine art of dining.

These people need to step back, then listen and look to themselves.

[yellow dahlia]

37. Thank you!

This says a lot.

[WestMichRad]

40. Exactly right.

K&R

[pbmus]

41. BINGO

[Gimpyknee]

43. The Justice Department needs to do a detailed study on domestic violence.

[red dog 1]

44. GOP - GunsOverPeople

[spanone]

45. K&R

[Martin Eden]

46. I'm confused. If 2A violence may be necessary to stand up against a tyrannical government...

Doesn't that mean standing up against the fascist Trump administration?

[applegrove]

47. This is a gun control issue as much as anything. The GOP has promoted and defended

Last edited Thu Sep 25, 2025, 03:30 AM - Edit history (4)

rabid gun ownership, including assault rifles, with hardly ant reasonable gun control. They let mass shootings grow. I think it was to teach cruelty and tolerance for cruelty so people would vote for the Republican agenda of no health care and needless death of innocents. When you own an assault rifle there is no other use for it, outside of a gun range, than to fantasize about using it. A tiny percentage of white men then go out and shoot up a school or something. They kill a lot of innocent, as was intended, normalizing needless death of innocents. 3/4 of those shooters are on the right wing as one would expect. It is appalling. And now the GOP is full on trying to annectdotally make it a purely left crime. There are short cuts, heuristics, in our brains. One makes annectdotal info seem like it is scientifically real. MAGA is now using this heuristic on their herd. They've found a new use for gun crime. I'm so sorry for your country.

[KitFox]

48. Nothing says "Peace on Earth" and celebrating the birth of Jesus,Prince of Peace like political leaders posing on their

Christmas cards with all of the family, including little children holding weapons of war in front of their Christmas trees. Let’s see what else can we try to “normalize”…….. how about the transfer of thousands of pieces of military equipment and vehicles from the Pentagon to state and local police departments. Gotta keep feeding the corporate military industrial complex. How about taking over the National Rifle Association and turning it from a gun education and safety organization into a smokescreen for a wildly profitable gun business with an immensely powerful lobby that will guarantee no matter how many mass shootings occur, gun control is off the table. Guns, guns, and more guns is big business. Something for everybody, even different models in Barbie pink for the younger set. It’s stomach churning to go down this memory lane, but I appreciate this post and all the responses to remind us to be clear eyed. No doubt we’re right up to the precipice; we have to hold fast to each other. Thank you, Earl and all this dear DU family.

[mdbl]

49. K&R

[ck4829]

50. K&R

[Norrrm]

52. "when our government becomes tyrannical..."