I am honestly & pleasantly surprised at how much energy the gun control movement has sustained since the school shooting in Florida. I see people in my circles, still posting gun violence statistics and arguments, when I would expect them to be posting food and workout pictures by now. This is encouraging, despite the tragedy and horror of the situation.

The side-effect of this pro-normalcy energy, however, is a sustained effort by gun-lovers to argue back. This is totally understandable and logical, especially given our toxic masculinity. But it is also very frustrating to see the arguments they trot out. It is clear that there is a fundamental difference in their perspective, and that is that they don’t give a damn about doing something. No matter how hilarious or questionable, though, it’s important to understand the perspective of these folks. They are our teammates in this USA thing.

Here is what talking points seem to be making it out to the masses.

One of the most common arguments I see, is this idea that guns are the one thing in the universe that should be spread even though dangerous.

so get people to use guns less by making sure everyone has one. I can’t wait until we try this with drugs

The other favorite is the idea that bad guys are going to do anything they want, regardless of laws. I guess I am the only person who thinks this is directly contradictory to the point above.

A classical fallback is the idea that we just have worst morals than people did before. Of course, this requires you to ignore things that happened during the past; like how some people used to lynch others.

But the current official stance, at least at the start, is that we should distract everyone with mental illness as the only issue at play. At the very least, this is enough for some Republicans to entertain debate about stronger background checks. That’s in alignment with the polling that shows people think mental issue is more of a problem. But there hasn’t been any progress on either of these factors, and it doesn’t matter to conservatives how many people die- they will always think they are the one that should have the gun.