There are policies I can imagine passing the “Will this be used against the poor?” test. Some forms of gun buybacks and turn-in amnesties, for example. Possibly some policies targeting gun manufacturers? But that’s not what we’re going to get–or if we do get them, they’ll be enmeshed in broad expansions of surveillance and punishment. “Like the War on Drugs, but for guns” is not an inspiring image.

There are policies I can imagine passing the “Will this be used against the poor?” test. Some forms of gun buybacks and turn-in amnesties, for example. Possibly some policies targeting gun manufacturers? But that’s not what we’re going to get–or if we do get them, they’ll be enmeshed in broad expansions of surveillance and punishment. “Like the War on Drugs, but for guns” is not an inspiring image.

—Eve Tushnet: In the Year of the Dragon