This is a response crossposted to BlueOregon to a missive by my good friend TA Barnhart.
I am coming in late to the game here, but I wanted to stop and think about my response BEFORE posting random missives.
TA asked:
Do guns build a better community? Does gun ownership make better citizens? How responsible are we to one another owning automatic guns, teflon bullets and enough weaponry to outfit Lithuania? How necessary is it that individuals own guns in order to maintain the militia?
Yes, Yes, and quite. Yes. But it isn't that simple.
Let me elaborate:
Guns are inanimate objects. They do NOTHING if left alone. Eventually, they will rust, but even the most "dangerous" fully automatic weapon, if maintained with a minimum of respect and care, will do nothing by itself. For centuries. Literally. It won't randomly go off, and it won't cause deaths, injuries or heartbreak.
The benefit to the community isn't in the firearm itself, but rather the act of owning and using that firearm. Having a firearm of any sort means that the owner and any operators HAVE to learn some basic steps...the Four Rules at a minimum.
Those same four rules will keep you 100% percent safe, if followed.
Lets consider them for a moment:
The First Rule: Do not point your firearm at *anything* you do not wish to destroy.
Consider that a moment. Anything and destroy are the operative words. Extend that out to speech, and we have an operating mode for public discourse.
The Second Rule: Be aware of your target and what is beyond it.
A firearm is capable of extending its reach beyond the intended target. You can sometimes punch through a target, but you could also miss, and that could lead to stray rounds.
This would also apply to any sort of public discourse: be aware of those around your intended target. Is this something or someone you REALLY want destroyed? What happens if you miss, and suddenly, you are cleaning up a mess that you never intended in the first place?
The Third Rule: Treat *EVERY* gun as tho it is loaded.
This would directly correlate to the "engage brain, THEN engage mouth" idea. Words are loaded, and can be almost as devestating as swords, certainly. Be wary and selective.
The Fourth Rule: Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire, and the target is in your sights.
This would urge caution and respect for others.
If a person follows these four rules, they will most certainly NEVER get hurt by their own firearms, and if their friends also follow them, they will NEVER be injured by one of their friends. Even in the event of malfunction, following these rules will keep you safe and sound, and everyone goes home at the end of the day.
It has been said before that an armed man is a free man. This dates back to the years following the civil war when African Americans were legislated out of the gun ownership class. As yet another persistent element of racism, such administrative rules and laws were enacted as late as the 1980's (HUD did a bunch of them in Chicago.) Disarming the populace is an excellent way to force a reliance on the state for protection and basic needs.
If you believe, as I do, that the right to LIFE is inalienable, then it would go as a companion that the right to self-defense is an inherent component to that right. Removing that most effective tool makes one reliant on inconsistent and perhaps non-existent delays in the response of the state. Such a reliance isn't progressive. It is inherently regressive.
The founders of our country weren't against a police force, but they recongnized that the police are human and cannot be everywhere at once. They also realized that the surest way to protect against an overly aggressive government was to give the people a means to overthrow that same government in the event it became too onerous. Ultimately, a responsible firearm owner is the foundation and cornerstone of our society.
The above concept is a profound one. It isn't that one should not EVER call the police, but they shouldn't have to DEPEND on the police for everything. They should possess the basic tools to handle simple protection, and be able to assist if the police/state/feds go too far in their regulation of the average populace.
AS for the Lithuania question: I want to point out that although we have enough weapons to supply Lithuania, we have had a stable country for over 200 years now. Our political system has seen massive upheavals: civil wars, civil rights, constitutional crises and incredibly massive wars...yet we are still here. We might not be living up to our full potential as a country, but we are still the best thing going.
I happen to believe that one of the many reasons that is so is the fact that the average citizen of the country is able to walk into a Joes and after a little bit of paperwork walk out with an actual THING that proves that you are a citizen, and with that, are entrusted with the care over our great nation. The Constitution, that esoteric document that outlines how the government fuctions gives to us, explicitly, the protections over speech, worship and safety. It also enshrines, for us, the means to reforge that document. To remake the government when that government is no longer doing good things.
This alone sets us apart from most folks in the world. This alone makes us the envy of the world. This alone makes us a beacon in the world. Our government doesn't OWN us. We own IT.
