All of you worshipers of the Holy Second Amendment preach that you need unbridled access to military style guns because of some nebulous future in which your arsenal will protect you from a tyrant who has the full backing of the world’s largest military.

Wake up! You are already the vassal of a tyrant, and that tyrant is the politics of fear.

The American people are already sacrificing their children, their spouses, and everyone they love to gun violence in the name of this tyrant. We have sacrificed our lives, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness as we teach our children to barricade themselves in their classrooms, as we wonder if the person praying next to us in our place of worship is going to kill us, and decide to stay home because our entertainment venues can become killing grounds without warning.

And we do this because the people who make money off the proliferation of weapons have convinced you to be afraid of anyone who is different, or from some hypothetical villain you would never stand a chance against if they ever did arise.

Stop praying at the altar of fear and hatred.

Take a step back and think about the cost of inconsistent firearm regulations.

You don’t want the government to prevent you from owning the weapons you want, but by blindly objecting to any new gun safety legislation, you are letting people who are even less rational about the illusion of power they feel from firearm ownership than you are become armed to the teeth.

By celebrating your white privilege as Open Carry Enthusiasts – because people of color get gunned down by police even when they aren’t in possession of weapons, so open carry would be suicide for them – the Good Guys with Guns (uniformed law enforcement) cannot take preventative action when a Suspicious Person shows up in a public place toting a weapon, because open carry makes it legal to carry weapons openly…and shots have to be fired before the authorities can take action.

And Good Guys with Guns who aren’t in uniform can’t stop Bad Guy with Guns because the SWAT team can’t tell the difference between the active shooter and someone who’s trying to be a hero. A police officer was quoted after that particular shooting that cops have to assume that anyone firing a weapon when they arrive at a scene is an active shooter, and they will be considered threats who may be fired upon.

Our children are literally dying as you support politicians who take money from weapons lobbyists because you believe them when they tell you that your unrestricted ability to get your hands on the most powerful firearms available will keep you safe. Meanwhile, whatever you have in your gun cabinet at home isn’t going to protect your third grader when the next school massacre comes around. The rifle you wear proudly at Walmart is the reason why the next public venue terrorist won’t be stopped on the street carrying the weapon he’ll use to mow down seven people before anyone realizes he intended to use it.

The politics of fear already rules, and we are all victims of its tyranny and oppression. Stop allowing yourself to be a tool in its continued reign of terror.