GOOD Ideas: Guns, And The Lefties Who Love Them

Welcome to GOOD Ideas, a web series in which you get to interact with artists, activists, innovators and entrepreneurs who give a damn.

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In the Friday, July 26 episode of GOOD Ideas, Joshua Neuman, GOOD Magazine’s Editorial Director lead a conversation on gun-loving liberals, trying to make sense of the growing progressive subculture that is embracing firearms with the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting and the NRA’s controversial response still fresh in the public’s mind.

The conversation is a continuation of one that began within the pages of GOOD’s summer edition, the Exploration Issue.

Marlene Hoeber is a longtime queer, feminist, trans, sex positive activist and laboratory engineer. She currently oversees the gallery, archive and library at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. A self-professed lefty activist and gun geek, she is troubled by the predominance of far right politics surrounding her recreational shooting activities. She has sought out like minds at The Liberal Gun Club, where she is a moderator on the discussion forum, and working to found the Northern California chapter.

Kim Russell is a Brooklyn resident, mother of two, and a gun violence survivor. Since December 15, she has been working around the clock to demand action from legislators, companies, and educational institutions to establish common-sense gun reforms in this country. She is now the National Director of Media Relations for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

John Bickle, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at Mississippi State University. His professional research is in the area of philosophy of neuroscience. Politically a committed libertarian, Bickle was an avid supporter of Dr. Ron Paul’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. He argues in academic settings for a virtue-based, ethical foundation for libertarian political philosophy and policies.

Marin Cogan is a contributing writer for GQ magazine and The New Republic. She has written about the school shooting that happened in her Pennsylvania hometown and growing up in a family of progressive gun owners for New York magazine.