Ross: Guns at protests aren’t the problem — it’s the men carrying them

Listeners have been sending me videos of the shootings in Kenosha and Portland to support their arguments about who was right and who was wrong. In Kenosha, two Jacob Blake protesters were killed, and in Portland, a supporter of the Trump caravan was killed.

I’ve been watching these videos, slowing them down, pausing them – but I couldn’t come to any conclusions about who was right and wrong because all I was seeing was angry young men with guns.

In Kenosha, even one of the cell phone journalists had a gun.

This wasn’t about arming up to protect your property. We all agree you have a right to protect your property – this was about people who didn’t have to be there. They deliberately brought guns into what they knew would be an emotional event.

And yes, they have every right to do that. Heck, it’s a defining feature of American democracy that any sane person with a clean record and large enough hands has a right to arm up with as many guns as he can carry, whether he knows how to use them or not.

But to take them into street demonstrations where the opposing sides hate each other’s guts strikes me as a bad idea.

However, I’m not blaming the guns – they’re not the problem – it’s the men who carry them. So, since the Constitution still permits discrimination based on sex, how about both sides voluntarily dis-invite men from their demonstrations before we turn into the Middle East.

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