Gun rights advocates frame their cause as freedom by overriding state choices

Evidence

In 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill granting individuals with a permit to carry concealed loaded weapons in their own states and the right to do so in other states, regardless of their gun policies. In justifying this law, Congressman Chris Gibson equated guns with freedom: “This bill is about freedom” (Collins, 2011). It is ironic that promoting a bill in the name of freedom takes away the freedom of inhabitants in other states that have chosen to disallow carrying concealed firearms. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1050

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: how moral justifications invert stated values — freedom rhetoric that erases other jurisdictions’ freedom — as a recurring rhetorical move across gun, abortion, and vaccine debates.