Guns, Freedom and Communication

I am not religious believer - a ‘nut’ or other wise. I am not a ‘right-winger’. I am not paranoid or full of fear. I do not hate any groups of people. I have no desire to hurt or kill anyone. I am not ‘pro-gun’. I am not a gun enthusiast, a ‘sportsman’, ‘outdoorsman’, collector, etc., nor am I a hunter or fisherman. I certainly do not ‘worship guns’. I am not a Limbaugh ‘ditto-head’, nor do I watch Fox News except once in a while....probably much less than I watch MSNBC, CNN, Current TV, and other outlets. I sometimes read right-wing or conservative material online, such as Town Hall and Human Events in the same way I read the left-wing Alternet and The Huffington Post. I do not support the Second Amendment as a reason for private gun ownership. I am not in favor of “states rights”, secession, and I am certain that no group of citizens, no matter how well-armed they may be, could ever have any successful (from their point of view) confrontation with the government. And, I do not own any guns. So... tell me please, just what horrible box will you put me in so that you can justify dismissing my opinions and arguments as merely the rantings of a....what? If this is your modus oprandi, I’m sure you’ll think of something.

If you are a more thoughtful, reflective person than that, perhaps we can talk.

I have friends on Facebook of many different ‘stripes’; conservative, libertarian, liberal-progressive, anarchist, Christian, agnostic, atheist, black, white, hispanic, male, female, gender-neutral, straight, gay, etc. I don’t know of a single one of these people with whom I can’t talk about something, even if we do best to avoid particular topics, since we know each other’s position and that they are not likely to change.

Regarding the so-called ‘gun debate’ in our country, if you care enough to read on, allow me to explain why I totally support the idea of people having the right to own guns. First, as I said, to me, the Second Amendment is totally irrelevant to the issue. I figure that life, all life, has innate within it, a natural right to attempt to defend itself from harm or death to the best of its ability. In the case of modern humans, this is best accomplished in most cases with guns. They are the tools which, in one sense, are the true equalizer; your physical size and strength has little to do with being able to defend yourself with a gun.

We might get into flinging statistics back and forth about how many people are killed with guns, or how often having a gun saved many lives, but these are, at best side issues, with little relevance to the main issue...which is the ability to defend yourself. There are MANY side issues which have little or nothing to do with the main issue...which is the ability to defend yourself. Why does he need a semi-automatic weapon, why does he need a 30-round clip, why does he need a hundred different guns, etc. The bottom line on all such questions is that A) “need" is not the issue and, B)it is simply not your business why he wants them. ‘Should everyone have nukes too’ is an argument ad absurdum, completely off the topic...which is the ability to defend yourself with PERSONAL weapons, not weapons of mass destruction.

There is much insulting vitriol thrown toward all gun owners that they are full of hate and fear; this seems especially ironic to me, since it seems to me most of the people who call for more gun laws have a good deal of hate, for lack of a better word, toward their stereotypes of gun owners, and a fundamentally irrational fear of guns themselves and all people who own them. I read a story sometime back about some customers getting bent out of shape because a couple of men who were also customers in a Starbucks, were openly carrying their weapons. The weapons and their method of carrying them were completely legal. If they had been concealed carry people, no one would have even known....just as they didn’t know how many of the customers had concealed completely illegal guns.

“Guns are made only to kill people”. First, that is only a bias....I can equally say guns are made to protect people; or it is simply incorrect because some guns are made for hunting or sport shooting or for collecting, etc. Also, even if taken at face value that guns are made for killing people, this is NOT a bad thing....some people very much need killing. Such as one who takes a gun into a public place and begins killing innocent people. It’s fine with me if some people have no desire to defend themselves. Pacifists exist (though not for long should an enemy attack them).

There is one question in particular to which I have not yet seen any answer: Why do you think more laws would prevent certain people from having guns? I am dismayed and astounded that so many of my liberal friends seem to think that passing a law against X puts an end to it and we don’t have to worry about it any more. This is just not very rational at all. There are ABUNDANT laws on the books about legal gun ownership, and don’t forget the ones about murder being illegal too, but none of these, so far, seem to have put an end to murder.

Many of the people on the right, certainly not all, think it is their business if gay people can legally get married or women can legally have an abortion. It isn’t. Unless some gay person is trying to force you to marry them, it is simply not your business whether gay people get married or not. Unless some woman is trying to abort YOUR baby against your will, then it is simply not your business whether she has an abortion or not. Likewise, unless someone is trying to force you to have guns in your house or on your person, or unless someone is assaulting you with one, it is simply not your business if someone else wants to own guns. That’s the long and short of it...bottom line. It’s simply not your business. On this, the right-wing sites are correct; it’s seldom ABOUT guns at all, but about control. Unfortunately, the same is true of them re the gay marriage and abortion issues. Could it be that, we might have just a little better national discourse if we all stopped screaming about what other people do, whether we like it or not, as long as they are hurting no one?

TRB