bang.
I don’t like guns. I don’t even like the idea of guns. I know they’re an underpinning of the modern world, but so are sewer systems, and I don’t feel any need to take a tour of the local sewage farm. I know there are people in the world who legitimately need them for self-defense, but living in Northern California, I can’t say I’ve met any that I know of.
Gun control is, ironically, one of those political issues that makes me want to go out and shoot people. Gun control advocates are convinced that banning guns will make us safer, and they have statistics to prove their point. The NRA and other pro-firearms advocates are convinced that if enough upstanding citizens have guns, we’ll be safer because criminals will be afraid to try anything, and they also have statistics to prove their point. Both are also trying to convince us that if they don’t get their way, violent crime will vastly increase. So, it’s another debate where both sides have “facts” that completely contradict each other, and no one has ever shown me anything in between.
It’s also one of those debates where people keep trying to do necro-telepathy on the founding fathers. While I share Penn & Teller’s sentiment that the Constitution is just plain awesome, we live in a very different place from the 13-state nation that narrowly avoided collapse 200-some years ago. This country was always meant to be a work in progress; it belongs to us, not those dead guys. Their sentiment that governments aren’t to be trusted and citizens need to be vigilant in case the British come back isn’t quite as pertinent anymore. We’re now a heck of a lot more powerful than the British, and for better or for worse no group of citizens can hope to overcome the power of the U.S. military. I strongly suspect that if there’s ever another real revolution on American soil, it won’t be fought with guns at all. If I could figure out how to write it, I’d do a story about militia weirdos storming the White House only to find that for the rest of the nation the guns they’ve been stockpiling are obsolete because they have no power to influence information.
Anyway, I’m in favor of the NRA insofar as they advocate safe and sane use of guns, but both they and their opponents seem to be missing something very important:
Gun ownership is cultural. Most Texans believe gun ownership is a right, and that it makes them safer. Most Californians believe guns are dangerous and best avoided. (The Supreme Court sees more shades of gray there, which to me suggests sanity). If there were suddenly California-style gun control laws in Texas, you’d end up with lots of otherwise upstanding citizens with illegal firearms. If there were suddenly Texas-style legalization of concealed carry and such in California, there probably wouldn’t be a noticeable increase in gun ownership. True safety from firearm-based violence requires basically removing them from the equation entirely — like in the UK and Japan — and that isn’t an option for the U.S., any more than it would be practical to require adults to own and train in the use of firearms.
You can tell I’m Californian by how guns make me uneasy. Everyone makes mistakes, and mistakes made with guns tend to be permanent. To me, life is too precious for that. If it reaches the point where I can’t feel safe in my own home without a deadly weapon, it’s time to move. Period. Not everyone has that luxury, sure, but I never said I was advocating that everyone take my approach. With the typically flawed, black and white (or red and blue) debate strategy that passes for discourse in this country, there’s a vacuum of hard facts that leaves a wholly emotional, personal opinion my only recourse.
