Oh good, it's only a concern when the left is militant. Glad we could clear that up. For a moment, I was concerned that the GOP had grown a spine and found their morals again.

Most of reddit users aren't old enough to remember and haven't studied history, so they don't know this.

When the Black Panthers started legally buying guns under a self defense mantra, California Republicans freaked the fuck out. Governor Reagan was quoted saying "no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons". He and the State Republicans pushed through very strict gun control laws that have over time turned CA into one of the most anti-US states in the nation.

That movement went national a year later. Race riots broke out all over the country, and the National Guard trying to respond was greeted by sniper rifle fire. In the end the federal government under LBJ passed the famous Gun Rights Act in 1968. The one liner justification in basic history books is JFK's assassination, but the detail not included is that black people legally arming themselves in defense of violent racism is a big part of why Republicans happily lined up in support of gun control.

It's been like this with the Republican party for half a century now -- at least since the civil rights realignment and Nixon's southern strategy. They're the party of rights for me, but not for thee. They support their own individual liberties. They don't support yours or mine. They like small government handing out tax cuts to the wealthy, except for when they need big government in people's bedrooms, up women's vaginas, and of course shoveling money into the military industrial complex. And if any governance actually happens along the way, I assure you it's entirely accidental.