The United States is the worlds #1 exporter of guns. North Korea is their only rival when it comes to military enlistment per capita. Only China and India have larger standing armies. They are the backbone of NATO, and widely regarded as the best when it comes to making war. Arms manufacturers eroded healthy gun culture long ago to create a large domestic market for their product during the short lulls in the forever war against America's enemies. Expecting Americans to have a sane domestic firearm policy is like expecting Brazilians to pass laws to encourage moderation in coffee consumption.

I would love to see the police disarmed and de-militarized. I'd love to be able to go to a protest without having to accept getting shot by police or a vigilante is just one of the risks - hell I'd like to go to the barbershop without having to accept getting shot by police or a vigilante is just one of the risks. But Democrats have increased funding year after year to the military industrial complex and voted for every war on the docket while wondering out loud why every other nation has significantly less mass shootings. Please don't join the useless chorus.

The Republicans have openly called to exterminate leftists, kill women who won't submit, and celebrate America's genocides. They've made celebrities of people who gun down protestors. They're dehumanizing transgender people, refugees, and people of color. This next election could be the trigger for a new era of internal genocide. Every call for dis-armament in the United States has been targeted primarily at urban people, the poor, and people of color. Do you think that's progressive?

Australia's foreign policy and domestic defense relies heavily on the expectation of American intervention in military matters. If you had your own bonkers gun industry and military complex with a stranglehold on politics and the economy, maybe I'd consider the Australian gun control model realistic. It's hypocritical to knock people who keep guns when you've got an arsenal-owning bogan uncle down the way who will rock up the minute you turn on a blue.