*Michelle Goldberg is an opinion columnist for The New York Times.
Guns were the most obsessed issue for Timothy McVeigh, the right-wing terrorist who killed 168 people in a bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City in 1995. For McVeigh, guns were another word for freedom. Any attempt by the government to regulate guns was seen as a sprout of oppression in his eyes.

Jeffrey Toobin's new book, "Homegrown," about the Oklahoma City attacks, explains how obsessed McVeigh was with guns.

"McVeigh's passion for guns went beyond just defending the right to own and use firearms freely. He joined a newly emerging political group that became more and more extremist as time went on."

Reading Toobin's book reminds us how much the world has changed since McVeigh was executed in 2001. McVeigh, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group K.K.K., was an extremist with deep anger toward women. He believed that by blowing up the Oklahoma City government building, people would be inspired by his actions and would eventually go to war against the government.

Although there was no full-scale war with the government, historian Kathleen Villiu explains that for a time after McVeigh's bombing, there were frequent riots by militias and white supremacist groups. Today, in the early stages of the movement of people who are largely similar in thinking to McVeigh, they usually seem to dream of a small rebellion that would turn the rest of society into enemies.

Not all mass shootings are politically motivated. In fact, it's more of the opposite. But in the rare politically motivated mass shootings of all mass shootings, the perpetrators are usually hardened by far-right ideologies.

According to a report published by the Alliance Against Defamation in February, all of the perpetrators of extremist murders in the United States in 2022 were far-right. Sixty percent of the victims of extremist homicides came from two mass shootings: the Buffalo, New York, and Colorado Spring, Colorado shootings. The Buffalo mass shooting was a mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly black neighborhood, and the Colorado Spring shooting was a mass shooting at a nightclub frequented by LGBTQ people, all of which were attacks on racial minorities, LGBT people, and other socially disadvantaged people, which were typical of far-right hate crimes.

As everyone reading this knows, there was another mass shooting in Allen, Texas, last weekend. At this time, the exact motive of the shooter has not been determined, but reports that came out shortly after the incident indicate that the shooter was wearing the armband of the RWDS (Right Wing Death Squad), which stands for right-wing assassination squad. The Right-wing Assassination Squad is a far-right terrorist group that actually operated under the regime of Chilean fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet, attacking and killing Pinochet's political opponents.

Far-right groups such as the Proud Boys often openly praise right-wing assassins. Investigators are investigating a social media account believed to be that of the gunman, which was flooded with praise for Hitler and "angry and hate speech directed at women and black people."

Eight people were killed in the shooting, and at least one of the victims is a child. Just a few years ago, when such a terrible event happened, all news channels stopped regular news, and politicians rushed to make statements.

In 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof opened fire on black people who had come to worship at a church in South Carolina, killing nine people. The impact of this incident was so great that then-Governor Nikki Haley had to take down the Confederate flag from the State Capitol building. That was just eight years ago.

In American society, horrific mass shootings are not occasional tragedies. Rather, it has come to the point where mass shootings now seem to be the default wallpaper of American society. At least as far as I can remember, the recent mass shootings have never sparked discussions about tightening regulations or addressing the problem through political change before it's too late.

Conversely, as long as the right's efforts to make guns easier to own and freely use them are not as unsanctioned as they are now, mass shootings will become more and more commonplace for Americans.

The reason why the United States is exceptionally insensitive to gun violence and violence among developed nations and is so helpless that it has shown little effort to take action, is simple. That's because quite a few politicians have opinions that are no different from Timobe McVeigh when it comes to guns. As Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has pointed out, it's hard to find a Republican politician who echoes McVeigh's theory of overthrowing government.

The far-right theory of overthrow holds that Americans have the right to stock up on guns and weapons in case they have to fight against a dictatorship to overthrow their government. That's why the Second Amendment, which mentions the right to keep firearms, is of paramount importance. Pro-Trump Rep. Lauren Bober (R-Colorado) said:

"The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Of course, it's a different story if it's a fight to hunt down and eliminate dictators."

Republicans' near-cult obsession with guns and overthrow government go hand in hand. This dangerous obsession has only intensified over the course of Trump's four years in office. In a world where people are forced to fight the forces of evil by launching armed rebellion without hesitation if necessary, guns are the most important tool to sustain their worldview. Whenever there's a mass shooting, people think common sense dictates that guns should be more regulated, but Republicans say the opposite: guns should be more widespread and more widespread.

In the wake of last month's mass shooting at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, the Tennessee legislature expelled two young black congressmen who were peacefully protesting on Capitol Hill in favor of tighter gun control. If you look at the composition of the Tennessee State Assembly, the ballThe Republican Party holds the absolute majority of seats. The two expelled congressmen's districts are Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee's largest cities, respectively. A few days later, the state Senate passed a law protecting gun companies. Even in the wake of mass shootings, it makes it difficult for victims or their families to sue gun companies.

In the Texas State Legislature, the predictable will happen. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a bill was introduced in the state legislature to raise the minimum age to buy an automatic rifle such as the AR-15 from the current age of 18 to 21, reflecting public opinion that gun control should be tightened. However, it is unlikely that the law will pass the plenary session.

The state House of Representatives doesn't know it, but it needs to be voted on by the state Senate before it becomes law, because the state Senate is controlled by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who enshrines the right to own guns like a god. Today, Republicans are unwilling to tolerate anything that would stand in the way of gun professors buying lethal weapons.

(The rest of the story is from the soup)