The Left Gave Up God—Now They’ve Picked Up Guns, by John Mac Ghlionn

The country is living through a spiritual vacuum of its own making, carved out by decades of nihilism dressed up as liberation. A culture that once anchored itself to God now anchors itself to nothing. And when people believe in nothing, they turn to anything—rage, tribal identity, self-invention, even violence. We are entering a time when wounded people, especially those wrestling with deep mental-health struggles, are arming themselves not out of duty but out of despair.

For years, the Left mocked guns. A firearm was a symbol of backwardness, a leftover from another America carried by rubes who clung to Jesus and the Second Amendment in equal measure. But now the same people who once lectured America about “gun culture” are buying rifles, training on weekends, and posting videos where cosplay meets combat readiness. It’s a strange development, equal parts sad and absurd. But it is also unmistakably terrifying—a new era of fear, resentment, and self-medication through firepower. ….