Second Amendment proponents are facing a stark reality. One they didn’t think they were going to face. At the beginning of 2025, everything seemed like it was going to be ok, as President Trump signed an executive order directing Pam Bondi to undo all Biden-era gun control. While on the surface this seemed great, there were some underlying questions that few people were asking. First, why just Biden-era gun control? Second, what about Trump-era gun control? Some of Biden’s initiatives, after all, were merely following the precedent set by Trump during his first four years. The bump stock ban is a good example. While many people made excuses for this by saying that bump stocks were just a piece of plastic, and that Trump was throwing the gun-grabbing left a bone, the truth is vastly different. The bump stock ban enabled the ATF to begin unilaterally playing with the existing definition of the term machine gun, currently written into federal law. In essence, a bump stock became a fully automatic weapon despite the fact that it is just a piece of plastic. Another action taken by Trump, that many of his supporters still ignore, is his push for red flag laws. William Barr, the Attorney General during Trump’s first term, was given the green light by the president to fund states to pass red flag laws, aka, extreme risk protection orders. To many people across the country, red flag laws seem like a commonsense approach to ending “gun violence,” as they enable the state to disarm anyone deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. The problem with these laws is the absence of due process protection and the fact that the gun owner is often unaware that any petition has been filed against them. Taking this information into consideration, gun owners should not be surprised to see that Trump’s promises have not really gone anywhere. Pam Bondi, despite being fired from her position, ended up defending the very “Biden-era” policies she was supposed to be dismantling. The stark reality that gun owners now face is threefold. On one side, it is highly likely that the gun grabbers will not only win the midterms, but the presidency in 2028 as well. On the other is a lame Supreme Court that can’t even muster the needed intestinal fortitude to defend its own rulings. On top of all this is a relentless propaganda campaign targeting the emotional dispositions, and deep-rooted ignorance of Second Amendment issues prevalent in many gun owners across America. Not all gun owners understand the significance of the Second Amendment and are willing to accept some gun control measures in the name of public safety. These gun owners are the target audience of this campaign.
The push for gun control is coming on hard. States such as Virginia and Rhode Island, surely taking notice of the Supreme Court’s lack of interest, have jumped on board the gun ban choo-choo train. Rhode Island has gone as far as introducing legislation, which would commence the confiscation of firearms that were previously banned. National legislation has also been introduced in the U.S. Senate, which if passed into law, would mimic what just passed in Virginia. Behind all this is a message rooted in deception, targeting the ignorance of many gun owners. The message is, “I own a gun, and I support common sense gun reform.” What is so deceptive about this message? First, it is framed targeting the moral foundations that are common to most people using something called Moral Foundations Theory. According to MFT, there are five major moral foundations that can be used as a means of changing political attitudes towards controversial topics. These foundations are harm, fairness, ingroup, authority and purity to worldview. Harm is common to most people as no one wants to see anyone get hurt. Fairness expresses the desire for equality and unbiased treatment. Ingroup prioritizes the importance of loyalty. Authority stresses the respect for tradition and those who hold power. Finally, purity to worldview suggests that one is adhering to the views they hold. For example, conservatives were persuaded into accepting the homosexual marriage issue using the purity to worldview foundation as it was framed in a way that aligns with conservative beliefs pertaining to liberty, and the freedom to live one’s life as they please. The message, “I own a gun, and I support common sense gun reform,” is meant to target the common value that all people hold when it comes to public safety. Nobody wants to see people get hurt. Nobody, even the most die-hard Second Amendment supporters, wants to see a madman get hold of a dangerous weapon and murder helpless people. In other words, this is a message that is deliberately framed to get you to question your values and give up your rights in the name of the greater good.
Read Full Article: https://thewashingtonstandard.com/understanding-the-moral-framing-of-gun-control-propaganda/
