Some of the firearms found in the basement of Ronald Armand Andruchuk's house in Burrillville.
— U.S. District Court of Rhode Island photo
Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
The arrest of far-right Republican and unsuccessful legislative candidate Ronald Andruchuk of (natch!) exurban, Trumpist and SUV-and-pickup-truck-heavy Burrillville, R.I., who had more than 200 guns and heaps of ammunition, raises a couple of issues.
First, why is it apparently so easy to create such perilously big arsenals, even considering that America is awash in guns and that the gun lobby and the GOP/QAnon have merged? Burrillville has many gun lovers.
Second, it seems that gun ownership has increasingly turned into a comforting fetish for men troubled by generalized anxiety and paranoia, as well as insecurity about their masculinity. I grew up in a towns where many of us (including me) had guns, most often .22 rifles, but I never heard of the sort of huge arsenals that turn up in the news these days. A triumph of marketing by gun makers!
Town offices in gun-dense Burrillville
