GUNS: An Astonishing Passion.  blog

A few days ago, an apparently solid citizen sent ugly, vicious, derogatory Emails to a black state legislator because he opposed her desire to put some controls on guns. And, if an anonymous letter can be ascribed to him, he seemingly sent threatening statements along with more vituperation. His attorney accused the legislator of using the incident to further her political career and suggested that as a public official, she should have a “thicker skin.” Did he mean skin thick enough to keep bullets away from vital organs?

What struck me is that such ugliness was perpetrated by a seemingly ordinary citizen who (likely) owns a weapon . . . and one might assume he would easily pass a mental health check.

So, what’s going on here? Whence the passion for protecting guns from a perceived legislative onslaught, as if the anti-gun crowd is eager to confiscate all such as soon as possible. Humbug! These passionate folks are frightened lest a “slippery slope,” which they perceive is part of a nefarious plot to deprive them of their weapons, start the slide to confiscation.

Their arguments are two-fold. First, they insist that the second amendment was put into place so that if our government becomes tyrannical, armed citizens could revolt and take back their freedoms. The second is the absolute right of self-protection, the image offered is a woman shooting an intruder who threatens her family. And, of course, she needs an assault rifle with a 30-bullet magazine.

The arguments speak of fear, fear of tyranny and fear of physical threats, and both are based on a profound sense of helplessness. Without guns in their hands, without the power of guns, they are terrified of personal disaster. And, the truth about us humans is that often our fears are transformed into anger. Both are a consequence of perceived existential threats; fear leads to avoidance and anger leads to violence. It is no surprise that the passionate gun owners talk tough about what would happen if an attempt is made to confiscate their source of power. They want to secede from the union; and, one way of the other, they threaten to fight.

Guns have become a symbol of both the hidden fear and its fraternal twin, public anger. Any shift leads straight to the imputed slippery slope so any change must be avoided. And, the constitution is on their side and does not permit the slightest variation.

Yet, there are constitutionally protected behaviors which have been somewhat curtailed. For example, the Supreme Court has said that a woman as a right to abortion, yet many states have concocted ways to make getting one more difficult and/or more uncomfortable of achievement. Or, we have constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech, yet we cannot shout “fire” in a crowded area, nor can we libel or slander others. The gentleman who denigrated the state legislator claims freedom of speech; it will be interesting to see how that plays out. But, the passionate gun lovers cannot even accept the notion of universal background checks. Do they really mean that mentally disturbed people should be eligible to own guns? Gack!

Even though the above curtailments and more exist, the passionate gun owners and constitution lovers do not go into rages and make absurd threats. Within varying degrees, there seems to be a general consensus that unrestricted access to abortion would not serve society well, nor would certain kinds of speech. But, the passionate gun owners, for example the NRA, insist that the only way to ensure the safety of our schoolchildren is more guns. Women should have assault rifles to fight off predators. Citizens should pack weapons so as to be prepared to fight off criminals and we are back to the horse opera, the oater, the movie western, the fantasy that good men shot it out with the bad guys and posses went into the badlands to capture the bad guys.

John Wayne or at least the characters he played epitomized a man who could out think malefactors, but if that didn’t work, he could blow holes in them in righteous indignation for their rotten behavior. He stalked through movies, the apparent essence of a good man with his ethics and morality, who was nice to children and courteous to women, the aged and the enfeebled. He had the power, and though a peace lover he was ready to slaughter the desperados who disturbed his peace. But, that tradition goes back to well before the movies. During the late eighteen hundreds, dime store novelists produced stories about gun-toting heroes who shot it out with Indians and bad guys. Such an idealized version of manhood dominated American thinking.

Is it not clear that such vision of manhood is well out-dated, that it no longer pertains to our industrialized lives? More guns to solve the problem would most likely make the situation worse. What to do? There is no quick solution, but a transformation of the ideals of manhood will ultimately reduce the problem. Imagine a society in which there are no assault rifles, guns and ammunition are registered, dangerous people cannot have access to weapons and magazines can hold a limited number of cartridges. That’s where we should be headed!

Some insist upon owning assault rifles

As if can’t having one in our lives truly stifles

Our freedom to shoot

Rooty-toot-toot

Oh, to hell with fun shooting such rifles.