When the news broke of schoolchildren murdered in Uvalde, Texas, my gut wrenched. When I saw the videos and heard the stories of parents being detained by the do-nothing Uvalde police as parents listened to their children being shot, I felt angry. The word “heartbreaking” doesn’t do justice in describing the tragedies like this that have made the headlines over the years.
While I would rather things like this never happened, the underlying principle by which I lead my life remains:
It is treasonous, tyrannical, and immoral to advocate for the restricting and/or eliminating of our own rights.
This goes doubly for the Second Amendment.
Sure, some might feel I have no right to say this because I’ve never lost a child to an act of random gun violence. To this, I’ll say something I’ve said a few times before: if we narrow down the people allowed to have an opinion on any given issue to only the people the issue has affected directly, then we’re limiting the conversation to a very small pool of biased opinions.
I firmly believe that we as human beings have a right on account of simply being human to defend ourselves against external threats by any means necessary. Of course there are other weapons that could protect us like knives, swords, and even fishing line if you know what you’re doing. But these are all so primitive and, quite frankly, utterly useless.
Now, I think it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways for clarity’s sake: I would rather no one was violent. I would rather we lived in a society where mental illness and substance abuse and the various traumas that linger and torture the human consciousness did not exist. Unfortunately, we cannot ignore reality and whatever my preferable world is cannot - and will never - exist on account of the vastness and variance of human nature.
And this is exactly why I would rather preserve than forfeit my right to protect myself with a firearm. There are some crazy motherfuckers out there who I’m not entirely convinced are going to give a shit whether or not a gun control law exists. In the event that one such crazy motherfucker shows up on my property looking to rape and pillage, I’d feel much safer with a rifle in tow than a knife, pepper spray or a cell phone ready to dial 911 (based on how we saw the Uvalde police handle their situation, we all know that I’d be dead in a ditch before they muster the courage to stop the bad guy anyways!).
All I’m saying is that restricting the rights of law abiding citizens (a phrase that I’m actually beginning to have mixed feelings about) is not a good plan of action. Just because a piece of legislation has a cute name like the “Protecting Our Kids Act” does not make the world a safer place.
It merely makes people like me essentially defenseless against a crazy person. It would also categorize a lot more of yesterday’s “law abiding citizens” as today’s criminals, but this is a conversation for another time.
Instead, what I think could be more impactful on stunting needless instances of gun violence (though this solution is a lot more unpopular with the public) is the following: people should be encouraged to understand and familiarize themselves with firearms and firearm safety in the hopes of making them less fearful and more willing carry on a daily basis. After all, the saying “an armed society is a polite society” exists for a reason: who’s dumb enough to post up to a school or a grocery store locked and loaded knowing they’re going in outnumbered?
And if you think I’m the psychotic one, consider this: what happened in Harry Potter after Voldemort killed Harry’s parents with his goddamn wand (which is arguably infinitely more deadly than an AR-15)? Were wands banned from Hogwarts? Hell no. The fucking teenagers were learning how to use wands to defend themselves against the dark arts for Christ’s sake!
The following is true and JK Rowling knew it, too: remaining fearful and ignorant of something is not a realistic - or safe! - way to live.
Think about it: how often do you come across an adult who refuses to drive because they’re too scared of wrecking and dying? And how often do you think that person needs to grow up, get his license, ball up and drive?
And, yes, I know. People (especially of the lefty variety) typically hate the car-firearm comparison. Cars are seen as necessities to life and guns are not.
How funny this sounds to me.
If a rogue gunman approaches me with ill intentions and I am left disarmed because of some fucking ignorant laws, then I would regard a gun a necessity to my life at that point.
If a government wished to detain people en masse and I were to be included in this dentention, then I would consider a gun a necessity to my life at that point.
If - I don’t fucking know - some globalist scheme turned a pandemic into a goddamn food shortage crisis and I could no longer find affordable meat (if any at all), then I would consider a gun a necessity to my life at that point.
Another potential counter to this comparison is that guns are inherently more dangerous than cars on account of their limited utility. I would argue that people have this perception only because more people receive training to drive than to properly handle a firearm. Imagine the Altamont littered with hundreds of drivers who’ve had no training at all trying to commute to work at the same time. It would be utter mayhem. Or, it could be outright dangerous. Some people might be too anxious with their uncertainty behind the wheel and decide to make their commute on foot, thus leaving them completely vulnerable to getting struck by the other noobie drivers. Eventually, the folks on foot would call for the banning of cars nationwide, I’m sure!
So, I reject the idea that guns are inherently dangerous. Instead, I think that there is a lack of familiarization with them that leads to a widespread fear and hatred of them.
You know what else people have hated and feared for decades?
Marijuana. The deadly ol’ Schedule I substance. It’s heroin’s closest cousin, didn’t ya know?! And you’d better stay away from it, unless you want to become so helplessly addicted that you start pimping out your body for your next fix!
I’m joking, if that wasn’t obvious. But I’m willing to bet that there are plenty of people out there who are completely unfamiliar with weed that hold this to be true. It is almost impossible to have either consumed or simply researched the effects of marijuana and not find its being scheduled alongside heroin a fucking scam and absurdity. Hardcore anti-weed people are victims of the same damn crime as anti-gun folks: they’ve been fear mongered and indoctrinated by state-run propaganda.
Yes, I understand that there is a growing leniency and acceptance regarding the use of weed, but for a very long time it was stigmatized. Hell, potheads were considered criminals! And we were brainwashed with this bullshit by the same exact motherfuckers who wish to disarm us.
Why we continue to believe the government has our best interests in mind and beg for them to “do something” in some cases, but also declare them to have been the direct cause of past injustices and demand that they screw off in other cases is beyond me.
If you can say with a sincere heart and a straight face that
the government simply can’t allow anyone to have a gun!
the government must allow me to smoke weed!
then here’s a message for you:
Up in Arms: a 2A Argument