For many of us who think wearing a mask in a pandemic is the most sensible, obvious thing in the world, it’s perplexing and frustrating to watch mask-wearing become a political issue. How did this happen? I think it’s because “freedom” has come to mean “risk,” especially unnecessary risk, and that pro-gun rhetoric is one of the key places in U.S. culture where this transformation has taken place.

In the hands of gun-rights folks, this line of reasoning can be used to justify violence against protesters of all kinds. And because the gun-rights movement is largely white, largely opposed to the political interests of non-whites, and specifically freaked out by Black Lives Matter, this logic, which starts with a Black man defending himself against a racist white mob, is used to justify shooting Black people protesting for their right not to be shot.