5 Years Since the Jan. 6 Insurrection

On Jan. 6, 2021, I was in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives as violent insurrectionists attacked our nation’s Capitol, bent on interrupting Congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities and doing serious harm to Vice President Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and members of Congress. As I reflect on this dark day for our precious—and often fragile—American democracy, I keep returning to one of the underlying forces helping to fuel the violence: Second Amendment extremism.  Second Amendment extremism comes from what legal scholars describe as the “insurrectionist” interpretation of the Second Amendment. This seriously flawed reading believes that Americans have a right under the Constitution, and even an obligation, to take up arms against the government when they disagree with its direction. At the core of this extremism is the dangerous view that the founders viewed aggrieved citizens who attack the government through armed violence as righteous patriots, rather than the enemies of the state. This perspective that America’s founders supported insurrectionism is baseless. Take, for instance, President George Washington in 1794, who used the army and state militias to crush the Whiskey Rebellion. Or President Abraham Lincoln, who in 1865 led victory against the Confederacy and its attempt to destroy our nation through an armed rebellion designed to preserve the institution of human slavery. Yet shockingly, this theory is increasingly embraced by many Americans today, including many of the foot soldiers in the Jan. 6 insurrection, along with possibly some Supreme Court Justices and President Donald Trump himself. Further endangering our democracy is America’s uniquely powerful gun industry, which promotes and profits from armed vigilantism. For decades, the gun industry has used rhetoric that encourages violence against lawmakers and democratic institutions in the thoroughly mistaken name of “freedom.” The Jan. 6 attack was therefore not an isolated riot. It was fueled in part by gun industry marketing, intensified by America’s dangerously lax gun laws, and intertwined with an ever-growing white supremacist movement. Now, after nearly a year of Trump’s second administration—with its dangerous pro-gun agenda and insurrectionist view of the Second Amendment—it terrifies me to imagine what another insurrection could do to our democracy. Instead of taking action to prevent armed political violence, and all types of gun violence that devastate communities, the Trump Administration has decided to ratchet up attacks on political opponents and worked to loosen gun regulations. We have continued to witness the tragic consequences of political violence and dangerous rhetoric, including the assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the attack on State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Sadly, not even the attacks directed on Trump himself or the assassination of Charlie Kirk have caused this administration to reconsider its gun-based ideology. Moreover, the ever-increasing use of firearms in suicides among youth, military veterans, and active duty troops as well as the ghastly toll of American children murdered in their schools, churches, and neighborhoods has somehow not caused the Trump Administration to reconsider its gun-friendly policies.  Political violence is contagious. It is deadly. And it threatens our American republic. Yet in just a single year, the Trump Administration has not only quietly eroded our nation’s already weak federal gun safety laws, but also designed a uniquely dangerous tinder box in our nation’s capital.  Early in his second term, the President pardoned and restored gun rights to politically violent individuals including Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Later, by the dictate of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, federal prosecutors stopped pursuing felony charges for the open carry of long guns and high-capacity magazines in our nation’s capital. And just last month, the Trump Department of Justice quietly created a new Second Amendment Section. Charged with “investigating” and rolling back local gun laws, one of its first actions—made just two weeks before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection—was to challenge D.C.’s assault weapons ban.  These weapons of war have absolutely no place on any street in America. In fact, assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are used disproportionately in mass public shootings and killings of law enforcement officers compared with gun murders overall. Beyond D.C., the Trump Administration has tirelessly worked to gut the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), including slashing inspections of rogue gun dealers, and diverting resources from gun crime to immigration enforcement, and repealed funding for programs proven to reduce firearm violence. Together, these actions weaken the systems designed to have gun dealers follow the law and keep guns out of dangerous hands.  If the events of Jan. 6 were to occur today, I fear they would have been deadlier. The District’s strong gun laws, including its bans on semi-automatic weapons and open carry, likely stopped some rioters from arming themselves and inflicting mass casualties. Police made many gun arrests between Jan. 5 and 7, and insurrectionists left weapons behind in Virginia because they were illegal in D.C.  Today, however, the current lack of enforcement of the District’s gun safety laws threaten to make the kind of insurrection I survived five years ago even more dangerous. This is why we must demand that state and federal lawmakers take sensible measures like passing universal background checks, bolstering extreme risk laws, banning assault weapons, and ensuring proper oversight of the gun industry.  We can prevent gun violence and political violence. But to do so, we must change course and demand a safer country.