Controlling Guns

A gun uses a contained explosion to propel a chunk of metal through a tube that aims the projectile. The point of it all is for the chunk of metal to cause destruction at the point of impact. Inanimate targets may be used for practice but the function of a gun is to kill some living thing or person. The bullet rips flesh, and may cause bleeding and death, or may destroy one or more vital organs and kill the victim, or it may simply mutilate part of the body, causing permanent disability but not death.

Guns are primitive. It is the same as throwing rocks, but harder than an arm can propel it. A bullet is a superhuman fist.

There is no plus side to it. A gun only breaks things, it does not fix them.

A gun is useful for killing animals to eat, and for killing dangerous animals and people. It makes a loud noise that some people think is fun, and it can be entertaining to shoot cans and bottles and other targets. And some people shoot them into the air on New Years Eve, which sometimes kills people but mostly just makes a lot of noise. Firecrackers are better for this.

Guns have been called "the great equalizer" because they magnify the physical power of an individual, which can be good if you are a little person threatened by a big person or one who is armed, or an individual threatened by a group. In most situations, though, the gun is a great un-equalizer. Last week, when a mentally ill person had a gun and classrooms of schoolchildren did not, equality was not attained.

A gun does not correct a moral imbalance, it only amplifies it in a biased way. A gun makes a bad person worse but it does not make a good person better, because all a bullet does is destroy stuff. There is no way to use a bullet to promote kindness, you can't heal anyone or make them feel better with a gun, but you can use it to take power or money or possessions from an unarmed person -- or an armed person who did not reach for his or her weapon quickly enough -- you can kill an unarmed person or use the threat of death to rape or kidnap them. You could theoretically do good by shooting a bad person, but that doesn't happen very often, and there is something inherently loathsome about impulsively-delivered capital punishment.

There is an argument that if everyone had a gun on them at all times, then everybody would have equal physical power, and nobody could overpower anyone else. There are a few problems with this argument. One we saw last week, some people cannot be trusted with the power of a firearm, they don't make good judgments about using that life-taking power. The other thing is that guns are what my mother used to call "an accident waiting to happen." People fumble, people leave them where children can get them, people drink, people get emotional, people see or hear something and misinterpret, there are a million ways that the power of a firearm amplifies a mistake or bad judgment. And a gun mistake never has a positive result. And by the way, I have seen expert gun users put holes through walls; training and experience are important but mistakes still happen.

The National Rifle Association, our nation's preeminent pro-gun lobbying organization, sort of went dark online after the killings last week in Connecticut. But yesterday they finally issued a statement:

"The National Rifle Association of America is made up of 4 million moms and dads, sons and daughters – and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown.

"Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting.

"The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.

"The NRA is planning to hold a major news conference in the Washington, D.C., area on Friday, December 21."

We'll see what they have planned for their news conference. I don't know what they can say. It's too late to apologize. They represent companies that sell guns, they almost certainly have to pass the blame, soothe the public, divert our attention ... something. But we'll see.

"...to help make sure this never happens again." What do you think?

Down in Virginia, the governor thinks there ought to be more guns in schools.

“If someone had been armed, there would have been a possibility to stop the person from coming into the school,” McDonnell said on Washington’s WTOP radio’s “Ask the Governor” monthly program responding to a caller’s question. “I know there is a knee-jerk reaction against that, but I think we should have a discussion about it.”

He continued: “If a person [like Sandy Hook’s principal Dawn Hochsprung] was armed and trained, could they have stopped the carnage? Perhaps.” Bob McDonnell: Consider guns for school officials

I suppose he is not joking, and I suppose there are other people who think like this, so let's go through the exercise of thinking about this for half a minute. Let's imagine that every school principal and teacher had a holstered gun on them. How many mass murders could they have prevented? Maybe one. How many times would a gun be left on a table where a kid could find it, or would a student grab a gun out of a teacher's holster, how many times would guns be dropped in a classroom and fire randomly, how many times would teachers freak out over classroom misbehavior or someone they don't recognize in the hall and kill somebody? These things would happen every day.

More guns in schools is a Bad Idea.

Guns have their place. They are good for hunting, and for protection. Some people believe they need to be armed to resist a tyrannical government, okay, whatever, if it makes them happy. Because they kill people, guns can be used to threaten, rob, rape, and murder, and so there needs to be some control over them. It's a tricky balance but we can't let this keep happening.