It doesn’t have anything to do with defending the nation from foreign enemies or a tyrannical government. And it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with an 18th century Constitutional guarantee that every state should be allowed to maintain a disciplined and organized paramilitary force to defend its property-owning citizens from armed insurrection, Indian attacks and slave revolts.

The founding fathers knew that no system of government could be maintained without bayonets and coercion, and they were very suspicious of standing armies, particularly in peacetime. They also knew that those pressed into serving in these “well-regulated militias” would be precisely from those social and economic classes least likely to engage in rebellion and revolt. In their recent memory, standing armies had been used to force “gentlemen of property” to pay their taxes and the founders had just fought a war with the British Crown so they wouldn’t have to. Follow the money.

No, we have a gun problem because the Republican Party can’t muster up enough votes to elect its people without manipulating a bunch of old white guys around racial fear and xenophobic hatred. This ensures that there is no meaningful and reasonable gun control legislation that can be directed against this problem and that what regulation does exist is contradictory and ineffective because it can only be enforced at the State and local level, while commerce and travel across Continental distances is now (unlike the 18th century) routine.

Self-defense and fear of crime are legitimate concerns, but this old fart network becomes a one-issue bloc that can be counted on to behave predictably and vote consistently against their own economic and social interests in return for the security that can only come from cradling a warm, smoking gun. They are scared, timid little men who are terrified that one day the slaves will get their revenge, or the Arabs will implement Sharia law, that lazy ignorant immigrants will steal their jobs or the Mexicans will organize into unions and go to court to demand the same wages and benefits old white guys are guaranteed by law and custom. And of course, there’s always the black helicopters, jack-booted storm troopers and UN paratroopers under direct orders from Obama and Hilary to worry about. Jesus fucking H. Christ.

It stands to reason that by politically organizing these pathetic little pukes into a political force there will always be a bottomless source of funding and votes available to further (and disguise!) Conservative and Republican policies which are otherwise primarily designed to promote commercial and corporate class interests. Remember, the gun industry, and all its allied and accessory businesses, is like health care. It is extremely successful, growing rapidly and highly profitable even in unstable economic times because it is based on fear and anxiety. But in a saturated market loaded with merchandise that doesn’t quickly wear out, you have to continuously come up with additional demand to keep sales (and profits) up. Families used to rely on heirloom shotguns, Dad’s Army service pistol, and deer rifles for their legitimate needs. Now they are sold silencer-equipped, high capacity, semi-automatic military hardware with munitions banned by the Geneva Convention. So you have a paranoid customer base, an unscrupulous corporate hierarchy that panders to it and a ruthless lobby that collects revenue from both and hands over a substantial portion of it to unprincipled Conservative politicians who cover their crimes with patriotic double-talk and Constitutional gibberish. Like I said, follow the money.

Now, can we stop talking about this? I have some kitten videos I want to post.