Episode 70: The Gun Violence / White Power Connection (interview with John Stoehr)

Brendan and Andrew welcome veteran journalist John Stoehr, editor of The Editorial Board, who has been studying and commenting on gun violence since the Sandy Hook school massacre a decade ago. They discuss a few of John’s recent posts on gun violence and white supremacy. He argues that white power is a driving force behind the proliferation of guns and gun massacres––even when the murderer is mentally unwell and has no overt political motive––and that gun control is a threat to white power. He and the co-hosts also discuss a number of related issues, including neo-conservative pundit Ben Wattenberg’s early mainstreaming of “great replacement” thinking, why the gun issue became crucial to Republican politics particularly after Obama became president, Democratic Party leaders and white liberals who blame the gun lobby for the explosion of gun violence while evading the links between guns and white nationalism, and race and class dimensions of the Uvalde school massacre and the ensuing cover-up.

Current-events segment: Live from DC: The Jan. 6 Committee. The co-hosts comment on Thursday’s opening session of the committee’s public hearings.

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by MHI, but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

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