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Gun violence is the leading cause of death for U.S. children. Yet the superintendent of Arizona schools pushes for more guns in schools. Students Demand Action called a national student walk-out April 5 in response to their legislatures hypocrisy. One organizer said that if Tennessee lawmakers actually cared about protecting kids they would address what kills kids every single day instead of banning books and drag shows.

On April 6, Tennessee lawmakers flew their racist flag high as they expelled two Black representatives for participating in a peaceful First Amendment protest while hanging on tight to the money of the gun lobby. Their time is running out and now they have just lost two generations of children who have been stalked by gun violence their whole lives.

The Second Amendment was originally written so that state militias could respond in defense of democracy if the government turned into a tyranny. Now the Second Amendment has been perverted to give individuals guns so they can overthrow the government and create a tyranny.

The culture wars attacking womens reproductive autonomy, CRT, LGBT, and drag are an excuse to use violence to destroy democracy. These wars are being fought at the legislature but also on the street. Recently the Bridge, a small religious cult in Tucson supported by the Proud Boys, waged a campaign of intimidation against Bookmans because of a scheduled drag story hour. Because of the threat of violence to individuals, the story hour was cancelled. An injunction was granted against the Proud Boys on June 23 by the Superior Court in Washington, D.C., in relation to the Metropolitan AME church they had been harassing.

Legislators never concerned about shooting before are concerned about the shooting at the religious Covenant school in May in Tennessee because the shooter was allegedly trans. In the past 41 years, 98% of the mass shooters have been men. At least 51% were white with 10% unknown. But you never once heard the white supremacist crowd suggesting we keep guns away from white men. Courts claim that baking a cake or making a website for a gay wedding is endorsing and/or participating in the wedding. But selling a gun to a mass shooter is not endorsing and/or participating in the shooting?

None of this banning books, prohibiting language, refusing to teach about racism, preventing women and LGBT people from determining their own health care, or prohibiting people in costume from reading to kids is about protecting children. The same legislature that banned abortion banned fetal medical care. The same legislature that bans books bans free lunch for hungry kids. The same legislature that protects children by prohibiting sex education at school passes a law to allow children to go to work at age 11. Their goal is not to protect children but to control society and force us all into their dystopian view of the 1950s.

I have participated in many protests since the 1960s. Some of them were against businesses like gun shops and pornography stores. But three things are different from the actions today by the white supremacists. If members of our group decided to break the law, i.e. do civil disobedience, we knew it was against the law and expected to be held accountable. Our goal was to change the law through the democratic process. Those threatening and using violence today have no respect for the law, believe it doesnt apply to them, and violate it with impunity.

We took great effort not to harm individuals but only to target property. This group is just the opposite. Their threats and actions deliberately seek to harm individuals.

We protested actual events the Viet Nam war, Jim Crow, beating women. The white supremacists are protesting lies that they make up. Elementary and secondary public schools never taught CRT. Drag story hour never sexualized or groomed children. Priests, pastors, coaches, child beauty pageants and pornography do that quite well. Yet they use their own lies to threaten harm to others.

Using street violence, white supremacists intend to overthrow democracy as did the Brown Shirts. We must maintain our democratic principles while using the institutions of democracy knowing that some are already corrupted. The times call for all of us to be active, democratic citizens because it appears that the right to guns trumps the right to life.

Dianne Post is an international human rights attorney.

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Violence is being used to destroy democracy - Arizona Capitol Times