God and Guns
There is one big problem common to both God and Guns. While everyone thinks they understand both God and Guns, that is, who or what they are and what they represent, the fact is, very few of us really do. This absence of understanding of God and Guns has created problems of monumental proportion for the country threatening not only our way of life, but the existence of the country itself.
The failure to understand God, most obviously, is of the far greater importance of the two problems. Also, the lack of understanding of God dramatically contributes to the second problem of not understanding Guns. I would not be so presumptuous to attempt to explain God in the next few paragraphs. And also, each person must try to understand God in their own private way. While most of us cannot hope to ever totally understand God, we all must try to do so. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Do we have a purpose? Do most of us even ponder these questions?
The greatest importance of God for human beings is the knowledge that God exists. The knowledge of God’s existence provides a spiritual and philosophical aspect to our lives. This allows human beings to establish standards of behavior, order and civility which further allow us to enjoy the world God has provided for us. Unfortunately, in many parts of this world, the ignorance of God and absence of these codes of conduct eliminate the inhibitions of murderous men to inflict death and suffering on their fellow human beings.
Fortunately, our own country has never experienced this extreme condition. However, the country effectively is drifting away from not only an understanding of God, but also, even the concern of whether a God actually exists. The consequences of ignoring God are, conversely, the deterioration of standards of behavior, order and civility. The most profound manifestation this deterioration is the current Depression the country is experiencing. The very clear cause of this Depression is the total loss of confidence in the country’s financial system and even the government itself. This loss of confidence was brought about by the greed, fraud, lies, and base dishonesty of thousands of employees of the financial institutions which bilked trusting customers out of their life savings, retirement accounts, homes, jobs, and even caused some people to take their own lives. The ruthlessness of these thieves was stoked by a complete disregard of morality, honesty, integrity, and fear of punishment. The consequences of this Depression are yet to be realized however, the existence of capitalism as an economic and political system is severely threatened. What impact could this Depression have on our lives if one of any number of alternative “very bad” final conclusions occurs?
The bottom line is that the absence of the acknowledgement of God removes a moralistic foundation for the country. Only with a belief and acceptance of God can the consistent practice of morality and honesty be achieved. If morality and honestly are no longer emphasized within the culture and throughout the media, if children are not taught the value of morality and honesty, then morality and honesty are practiced less and less and the country suddenly finds itself well down the road leading to complete moral and ethical decay which is now precisely the case. Civilized society cannot successfully exist under these conditions. Confidence in the country, government, economy, financial system, etc depends on the acceptance and practice of the general population of the underlying principles of morality, honesty and ethics. Therein in also lies our own happiness with our country and its lifestyle. History repeatedly proves this premise. “He that would live completely happy must before all things belong to a country that is of fair report.” (Simonides of Ceos 556-469 B.C.)
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The complete lack of understanding of guns by nearly everyone was created by a barrage of television, video games, and movies delivering the message that “it is cool to kill people with guns.” The “bad guy,” of course, must always die a violent death. Additionally, of course, to make it realistic, “good guys” must also get shot. However, it cannot be said that guns are inherently “bad.” Quoting Shane in the movie of the same name, “A gun is a tool, Marian. No better or worse than any other tool, an axe, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.”
Therefore, regarding guns, one fact must clearly be understood at the outset. Guns are inherently “necessary.” They provide defense for our country’s military and law enforcement agencies. They provide a means for hunters to practice their sport and maintain wildlife populations to manageable levels. We need guns period. Of course, the Constitution guarantees “the right to keep and bear arms.”
The lack of understanding of the Gun is complicated by two facts:
1. “Bad people,” (however they are defined) shouldn’t be allowed to purchase, own, or bear guns.
2. The average person, that is, the great majority of people, are not knowledgeable about what is the actual purpose of a gun. What is a gun for? As fantastic as that might seem, it is nonetheless, true.
To clarify the understanding of the Gun, consider each of the above facts separately. Regarding Fact #1, intelligent laws must be enacted to prevent criminals, mentally ill persons, (and people defined by other exclusive criteria) from purchasing, owning or carrying guns. An application for a permit to purchase a gun from a business or even a private owner should be as comprehensive as an application for a mortgage for a home. Proof of employment would need to be verified, and a great deal of scrutiny would be attached to the process of owning a gun. Unfortunately, with all the “bad people” in the world, it has come to this.
The huge criminal elements and the drug trade are equally huge customers for guns. These are the people whom should be outlawed from owning guns. Of course, the “bad guys” will come up with ways to get the guns anyway. But, at least, this would be a start. The enacted laws would need to provide severe penalties for anyone in possession of a gun that is not their own and anyone who does not have a permit for it.
Fact #2 is complicated by the misinformation about guns as disseminated in the aforementioned television, video games, and movies. However, this part of understanding the nature of guns can be simplified. A gun really has one purpose. A gun is a weapon used to kill people or animals. That’s it. (I know gun advocates scream about guns for target shooting and all that nonsense. However, why would a person need to be good at shooting targets if he or she isn’t going to use a gun for its ultimate purpose, to kill.)
There are basically two kinds of guns. First, there are guns used for hunting animals. Second, there are guns used for hunting (shooting) people. Looked at in this context, the owner or potential owner of a gun must ask himself, “What am I going to do with this gun? Am I going to use if for hunting animals or for shooting people?”
If a person is going to use the gun for hunting, that is fine. Hunters hunt with guns used for hunting animals. That’s very obvious. However, the big problem comes into the conversation with the other kind of gun, the people or “anti-personnel” gun. What kinds of guns are available for shooting people? Today’s Wall Street Journal had listed by state weapons confiscated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives. There were grenades, machine guns, AK47’s, pistols, shotguns, rifles and other assorted high powered types of guns. If this kind of weaponry has been confiscated, how much is out there has not been confiscated and is in the hands of “bad guys?” These kinds of guns are specifically used for killing people. These kinds of weapons are for criminal usage. The average person doesn’t own these kinds of weapons nor have any need for them. This is where the regulation is desperately needed. First, however, the production and distribution of these kinds of weapons on a massive scale must be halted.
The gun producers have a great system. They produce guns they know will fall into criminal hands. Then they produce guns for the police. But, they produce even bigger guns they know will fall into the criminal hands. Then they produce even bigger guns for the police. Does this system of ever bigger and more sophisticated guns and weapons sound quite a bit like the “arms race” between countries? There’s a lot of money to be made by killing people!
Two events earlier in this week underscore the problem. In Germany, a seventeen year old high school student randomly killed fifteen people. In Alabama, a twenty-eight year old man randomly killed eleven people (some family members were specifically targeted). How these two people had access to that much firepower is the first question which should be answered.
Should a person have a gun for self-protection? Most people would answer this question “Yes.” And, that could be the correct answer if it weren’t for a very simple question: “What am I going to do if I “need” to actually use the gun against another person?” Most people never really consider that. Will they actually use the gun when the time comes? Again, most people say “yes.” The problem is, when the time comes, pulling a gun and pointing the gun at a person is a very big step into the abyss. The rule is to never pull a gun unless you fully intend to use it. Once the gun is in your hand and pointed at another person, the dynamics of the situation change very rapidly. The person the gun is pointed at may also have a weapon, in which case he will probably fire his weapon at you. Or, the person may turn and run. Do you take a shot at him or just let him go? Or, the person may lunge at you to attempt to wrestle the gun away from you. You have about one second to fire the gun before he gets to you. If you are not ready to immediately fire the gun at the person (aiming at his torso because it is the biggest target), you are in real trouble. There is no time to think about it. You can’t wrestle with the person as you have only one hand free. The other one is holding the gun. You are bound to lose the wrestling match and the gun. If the “bad guy” gets to you, he takes your gun away and shoots you with it.
This is the greater part of understanding the Gun. People guns are used to kill people. Nobody wants to be injured or killed by a gun. And, if the average gun buyer ever gave it any real thought, they really don’t want to use a gun to injure or kill someone else. This would be even more the case if the person considering the purchase of a gun had ever seen a person actually shot by a gun. Pictures of victims and movies don’t bring the point home nearly as much as standing over someone who had just gotten killed---before their bodies were covered. That is why people guns need to be much more heavily regulated and their manufacture needs to be extremely rigidly controlled. If the factories keep producing and distributing them, they are going to be used for what they were intended to be used for, killing people.
When it comes to guns, no matter how small (used by individuals), nor how big (used by countries), one statement clearly summarizes weapons. “We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?”
(Seneca 8 B.C. – A.D. 65)
What, then, of God and Guns? If there were more God, there would be fewer Guns. If there were more God, there would be less crime. If there were more God, there would be more honesty and trust among people. If there were more God, confidence and trust would be restored for citizens in each other as well as in the country and its economy and financial systems. For its very survival, the country needs to stop itself from this precipitous plunge of self-destructiveness. There is a way.
James Wharton
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Okay, I'll bite again.
ReplyDeleteI try not to take this stuff personally, but would you say the absence of god in my family means we have no moral foundation? Does my daughter have no hope but to grow up dishonest and immoral? She seems like a pretty good kid to me.
I know this is not your intent, but this is the kind of rhetoric that makes me afraid to talk about my own beliefs in "mixed company" for fear of being branded a "godless immoral" by those all those charitable and tolerant people of god. Religion is only one path to morality, and it can be a crooked one.
Now guns we can talk about...I disagree that guns are "necessary." The only reason we *need* guns is because we *have* guns. If the other guy didn't have a gun, you wouldn't need one either. Aren't there enough recreational options out there that we could live without killing things "for sport?" The wildlife management arguement is completely tautological...the only reason we need to shoot deer is because they don't have any predators left...because we shot them all. The Constitutional arguments have all been beaten to death, but I would argue that the spirit of the 2nd Amendment had more to do with revolutions and less to do with Saturday Night Specials...but that's just me.
On much of the rest, we actually seem to be in agreement...mostly. Laws restricting the ownership of guns are a joke. The "bad" people will always have guns so why restrict the "good" people from defending themselves? Though, as you say, the choice to "bear arms" comes with a heavy burden. Statistics are clear, households with guns in them are 3x more likely to be the scene of a homicide, and 5x more likely to experience a fatal suicide. We agree again...guns up the ante. Accidents become more tragic, domestic violence and suicide attempts become more lethal. It may be my "right" to bear arms, but it will always be my *choice* to live in a gun-free home.
I don't know the solution, but I think I agree again that it is grounded in the production and availability of automatic weapons. The only people who need machine guns are the military. If someone wants to don a tin-foil hat and insist they need a machine gun to protect themselves *from* the military, well, I won't bother to argue, but as long as automatic weapons are produced by private companies and available to the public, they will continue to fall into the hands of disturbed and violent people and all the end-user laws you can write won't do a thing to stop it.
I again refuse, however, to be drawn into debating that a belief in god is in anyway inversely proportional to the prevalence of guns. When was the last time you heard the words liberal, hippie and militia in the same sentence...unless it was, "The three militia members chased that hippie down and beat him liberally."
I have to agree with Jim. I can't think of a single more complicated relationship than that between religion and violence. Religious faith is the ideal justification for violence. Think about it, so long as someone believes (or is duped into believing) that their God and his laws are inerrant, they are in the right, no matter the violent acts they commit. In fact, what does it matter if they die in the process? They'll be rewarded in Heaven. And heck, if that's the case, what's a little martyrdom for an eternity of God-given rewards?
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, those who are religious are significantly more likely to own a gun. And gun ownership is related, surprise surprise, to more death, be it accidental or purposeful.
Religion's been around for a long time; so have guns. It doesn't look likely to me that morality delivered through the vehicle of religion does much of any good in curbing gun violence.
Morality delivered through religion is no better or worse than morality delivered through some non-religious mechanism. It's our culture that sanctifies religious morality as the gold standard, when it (as often as any other moral code) is substandard and outmoded. A good example would be the Pope traveling to African nations preaching the evils of contraception use to AIDS-ridden populations. If he ever makes his way to the 21st century, there might again be hope for the Catholic religion. As it is, it's well on its way to moral obsolescence.