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Random Thoughts on Gun Violence

12/8/2015

3 Comments

 
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I grew up with 14 guns in the house (including one like the semi-auto Colt .45 1911 model pictured here - I recall it kicked like a mule). These guns made me feel safer. I learned to shoot them moderately well, and it was fun.

In light of the many recent mass-shootings, I wanted to share some random thoughts as a long-time gun-lover, who is not currently a gun owner.

1. Articles like this, which suggest that public discourse between gun-rights advocates and gun-control advocates is basically impossible aren't helpful. If discourse is impossible, then coercion or submission become the only options.

2. I can only assume that calls to "repeal the 2nd Amendment" in social media are intended to:
- preach to some choir that already agrees with the preacher
- counterproductively enflame the opposition, in which case, WHY??
That being said, repealing the 2nd Amendment would move gun-ownership from "right" to "privilege." The government hasn't always done well with citizen rights. How do you expect they would do with privileges?

3. Calls to large groups of young Americans to arm themselves and obtain concealed-carry permits are irresponsible.
We currently have a problem with too many of our well-trained law enforcement officers making lethally bad judgement-calls. If 10s of thousands of 20-40 year old males (in particular) intend to start carrying, I project an explosion of lethally-bad judgement calls made by would-be hero-citizens.

4. I once did some research on cases of firearm self-defense. I came across a large NRA-affiliated database of cases. I selected the case that was geographically closest to my location. The database described a case of a woman at home, shooting at armed intruders from a local biker-gang. I dug up the case in a local news source. It turns out the woman worked from home... running a meth-lab, and had fallen afoul of the bikers. This was not a clear-cut case of a law-abiding citizen defending herself from anonymous bad-guys. But where innocence or righteousness are concerned, maybe few cases are clear-cut.

5. Most of the mass-shooting cases I can remember were not perpetrated by Muslims.

6. Gun-control advocates fail to recognize that for gun-rights advocates, the problem is not enough responsible people stepping up and owning guns. While other countries have less gun-violence, American gun-rights are what make us superior to those other nations. If a new Hitler arises there, he will run over those people. If a new Hitler arises here, he'll have to think twice.

3 Comments
Andrew B
12/9/2015 05:09:02 am

So I don't think serious gun control advocates suggest repealing 2nd amendment in total. First, it is not an achievable goal. Second, it isn't necessarily desirable. I think what most people are saying is there has to be a reasonable compromise between almost complete unfettered gun access and a country awash in guns, which we have now, and the "take my guns over my dead body" scenario.

As for the next Trump...I mean Hitler argument. Isn't that what our democracy and checks and balances are for? And I am not a history expert here, but Hitler didn't rise to power in a vacuum. I have to assume that there was a cultural milieu that allowed and encouraged his ideology and rise to power. Which actually puts my little Trump joke into perspective. We are responsible for the type of leaders that we get. So America has a significant test before it. What kind of leader do we want. What kind of politicians do we allow to thrive? Admittedly we haven't done a great job, but it does seem that the country is willing to draw the line on a bigoted fear monger.

And lastly, I think the argument that an armed populous can defend against a tyrannical government is antiquated at this point. Back in the day when the "army" had a musket and every farmer had a musket, then it makes sense. There was a balance of power. Today, even the most heavily armed whack job would be hopelessly out gunned by the military. We have drones for heaven's sake! And how is this a good "solution" to tyranny. It won't work. It means civil war, which is truly the worst kind of war. I think this is a situation where our countries origin story is just not a good template for the maintenance of democracy.

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Matt
12/10/2015 03:00:28 pm

I don't disagree at all Andrew, but I wish some of my thoughtful friends would mind their rhetoric online and try to understand the perspective of their ideological opponents. I don't think the last argument is outdated per se given the success of lightly armed insurgents globally in situations where our military has had relatively little restraint, and the likelihood (it seems to me) that in the case of a violent domestic revolt of sorts, members of the U.S. Military could be on both sides. Truthfully, I don't foresee this, I don't want to suggest that it is a good reason for our weak gun laws or that our political system and nonviolent resistance would be inadequate to accomplish the necessary ends if it came to that. I think history and virtue tend to favor the latter approach. Hitler never met concerted, popular, nonviolent resistance in his own country.

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Bonnie link
6/23/2018 01:49:03 am

I don't vote for gun control law. It can't make things better.

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    Matt Hunter, Ph.D

    Multidisciplinary religious scholar and practitioner

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