Republicans have now created the culture of gun worship and political murder—So don't let a school massacre surprise you

 By Steve Otto

There should be no surprise that The Oxford High School, in Michigan, was shot up by a 15 year-old right after a jury sprang Kyle Rittenhouse, after he shot and killed two people and wounded a third. Rittenhouse was  also under age, 17. Along with politicians and gun rights groups trying to make a hero of him, we now live in a society in which killing their political opponents is now the normal thing to do.

We have seen Republicans, after gaining full control over our national government,  pushing gun rights to an extreme. I have nothing against gun rights, but there is a difference between defending the right to own a gun and the right to take a semi-automatic riffle to a protest and deliberately shoot protesters. And if the verdict was not bad enough, several republican office holders offered Rittenhouse an internship, or should we say a job, as a reward for killing protesters they don't approve of.

For example Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, invited the Wisconsinite to become one of his interns. Another example; Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida also offered Rittenhouse an internship, at which point Rep. Paul Gosar published a tweet that read, "I will arm wrestle [Gaetz] to get dibs for Kyle as an intern."

No matter what kind of politics these leaders practice, they are acting like juvenile idiots. They are supposed to represent all of the people in their districts, not just the murderous right-wing crazies.

This is a major step in the so called culture war. Republicans want to reward those who deliberately kill their opponents. They are willing to embrace murder, by their followers, in order to stop protests and riots. While school shootings seem more and more common, instead of pushing for some kind of limitations on the purchase and use of dangerous weapons, the Republicans keep doing the opposite. They keep lowering the age for who can own a weapon and carry one. They have pushed for laws that defend owning guns and have practically outlawed any attempt to restrict gun ownership or carrying of such weapons.

To be blunt, Republicans and similar right-wing crazies, seem to want to create a culture of gun violence. They seem to be under the impression that only right-wing crazies as themselves will carry a gun. And they practice using them. The third protester that Rittenhouse shot had a gun himself. But he didn't use it and that seems to have been a mistake. He had a change and perfect right to shoot and kill the murderous brat.

People on the left need to get guns and learn how to use them, because as long as we are under assault by the right, we need our own guns and we need to how to use them. Their is no law to help us. The cops will just turn their heads and look away. The culture war is become more than  a metaphor. It is a real war. There is little doubt that many protesters will now be too afraid to go to a protest against police violence or in support of Black Lives Matter. Many right-wingers accuse BLM of being a Marxist front of some kind. Their hate against these people is obvious and they approve of murder.

It is not unlike the  Greensboro massacre of 1979. Members of the Communist Workers Party faced of with the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was better armed and took the fight more seriously and they killed members of the CWP.

The American people need to get used to crazy people  and the murder they commit, such as the 15 year old who shot up the Oxford High School. If he gets the same lawyer as Rittenhouse, he should get off scot free. All he has to do is convince a jury his fellow students scared him. As long as people vote in politicians who have created this culture of gun worship and violence against political opponents, we should expect more of the same. We should also expect other consequences such as crazy children taking their father's pistols and going to school for a massacre. This is little chance the father of that kid will be held responsible for leaving that gun where his kid could get it. It is what most people have voted for. Such voters have made their bed, now it is time to lay in it.