Portside

I’m for stricter gun regulations. I’m also a 2nd Amendment guy on the left. I worry about the armed militias of the right, and how to defend innocent life. We have to begin breaking down all versions of 'the other.’ We need to change a deepening death culture?

Gunmakers are leaving their historic roots in the North's "Gun Valley" to set up shop in low-cost Southern states — with tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives sweetening the deal.

Taking land by force was not an accidental or spontaneous project or the work of a few rogue characters. The violent appropriation of Native land by white settlers was seen as an individual right in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, second only to freedom of speech.

After Britain had a mass shooting in 1987, the country instituted strict gun control laws. So did Australia after a 1996 shooting. But the United States has repeatedly faced the same calculus and determined that relatively unregulated gun ownership is worth the cost to society. That choice, more than any statistic or regulation, is what most sets the United States apart.

In the infancy of the Trump presidency, a new community defense network is espousing anti-racist and anti-capitalist politics to build coalitions in cities, small towns, and rural areas across America. Redneck Revolt recruits predominantly poor and working class white people away from reactionary politics. The organization advances an analysis of their class condition and white supremacy’s role in upholding the wealth and privilege of a small, white elite.

Until this year, Texas law allowed anyone with a Concealed Handgun License to carry a loaded hidden gun on campus, but not inside buildings. As of Aug. 1, 2016, a new law allows concealed handguns in college and university buildings. We're about to find out what difference guns in the classroom make in the relationships of students, faculty and staff – and in the character of higher education.

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Despite the widespread use of the scanners, the amount of contraband found is low. Some school officials believe the daily security checks actually lead to behavior problems among the students. The metal detectors send a message to the students, says one principal, that “we don’t trust you. And even if we trusted you, we don’t necessarily trust the guy behind you.” That message, she said, runs counter to what her school is trying to teach and “it’s alienating.”