In the United States, openly carrying a gun in public has increasingly become a means to raise one’s voice or silence another’s.
Last month, armed protesters appeared at a polling place in Phoenix, Arizona, making unsubstantiated claims that the gubernatorial election had been stolen from Republican Kari Lake. In October, armed members of the Proud Boys joined a rally in Nashville, Tennessee, where conservative lawmakers spoke out against transgender medical treatments for minors. In June, armed demonstrations in the US amounted to almost one a day.
Most of these incidents occur where Republicans have fought to expand the ability to carry firearms in public, a move bolstered by a recent US Supreme Court ruling on the right to carry firearms outside the home. The loosening of the limits has come as violent political rhetoric has increased.
A New York Times analysis of more than 700 armed demonstrations in the past three years found that at about 77 percent of them, people openly carrying guns represented right-wing views. Some form of open carry without a permit is now legal in 38 states, a number that will likely expand as the legislation progresses further. Anti-government militias and right-wing culture warriors like the Proud Boys attended most of the protests. Violence broke out at more than 100 events and often involved fistfights with opposition groups, including left-wing activists like Antifa.
The frequency of these incidents skyrocketed in 2020, with conservatives rejecting public health measures to combat the coronavirus and responding to the sometimes violent protests following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota. .
In parts of the US today it is not uncommon to see people with guns at all kinds of protests.
Proponents of the right to bear arms claim that banning weapons at protests would violate the right to carry firearms for self-defense. But Adam Searing, a lawyer and professor at Georgetown University in Washington, said there is an impact on free speech when people use guns to make their point.
In some states, disability rights advocates were afraid to attend rallies to support mask mandates because of armed opposition.
“What was really disturbing was that guns became sort of significant for political reasons,” Searing said. “It was pure intimidation.”
By: MIKE McINTIRE
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6502389, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-12-20 23:50:07
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