Crazy In Love With Guns

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni

Why does this country love guns so much? Why would we rather watch so many of our children, and ourselves, die by gun violence, rather than do anything other than the least to prevent deaths by firearm? Many of the answers, it'll shock no one to know, have their roots in American Enslavement, and the fear of historical and contemporary white people that Black people will one day inflict on them what they've inflicted on us. Also, a central Gun Myth is that they will provide us security in a whole range of situations. But if we look at the realities, we have the data that shows they do little to keep us safe, and they've made us far more likely to die, needlessly, in many more circumstances. In this way, American guns are the security blanket that is smothering us--and especially our children--to death.
In this episode, host Thomas Giovanni sits down with co-host Jorge Navia for a thoughful, spirited, and (hopefully) informative conversation about the roots of America's sick obsession with guns, and what we can do to get better. From Jorge's unique perspective as a Columbian-born, legally trained, recent immigrant to the U.S, and Thomas' perspective as a former Juvenile Justice policy-maker, a criminal/racial justice advocate (and mostly, as a tired Black man and a gun owner who's heard the U.S. Gun Myths all his life), they'll expose some of the lies, and explore some of the truths about how we got here, and where we can go next, as the country moves closer each day to the end of America.
(***Correction: I (Thomas) say at one point that Americans have more dogs and guns than people, but that was a mistake: we keep over twice as many pewpews as we do "man's best friends" in our homes, which was the irony intended to be highlighted regarding our Gun Love.)

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni