When I read anti-gunner nonsense I am reminded of the one ring from the Lord of the Rings tale. It is as if guns are vile dark evil artifacts whispering malice into their bearer's ears. Only the most innocent of heart can bear one without being corrupted, apparently.
You can read any post at Joan's blog or the Brady Campaign or wherever. It won't take long to find personifications of guns ("the gun shot the victim -- all by itself, really?), or assertions that someone just snapped and shot someone else (the claim being that if the gun hadn't been there, the victim would not have been hurt).
I'll concede that a small number of people do snap and kill others with guns. Sure, it happens, just like people snap while driving cars and commit acts of road rage while wielding a lethal vehicle that has several orders of magnitude more kinetic energy than a bullet. Having access to modern technology like cars or firearms means that the few members of society with criminally poor impulse control can cause more damage. However, it is exceedingly rare. Most murderers have extensive rap sheets and/or substance abuse issues. It makes sense -- most people with really bad impulse control commit an aggravated assault or something first. You're more at risk of falling or drowning in a pool than being shot by someone who "just snaps."
If you read an anti-gun person's assertions though, you'd think that gun is always whispering in its owner's ear, pushing us closer to the edge and making us want to shoot people. It is like carrying a gun means you lose free will.
Don't you find that a bit creepy? I anthropomorphize my cat's meows, and even my car (I'm sure that rattle was trying to tell me something), but not my firearms.
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I will not deny that I have a habit of referring to computers, automobiles, firearms, and countless other mechanical, electrical, or electronic devices as "he" and "she", and trying to figure out what their particular motivations might or might not be (especially when they seem bound and determined to piss me off)... but, at the end of the day, an object is just an object, and, sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.
ReplyDeleteIt really does concern me when I see folks destroying firearms that were used in crimes, and treating this as a somehow right and appropriate thing to do - some of the things those types of folks say smack of heady totemism, which is a religion that can and has been used to inflict some of the worst technological darkness on society.
Heck, I name my firearms. But that doesn't mean that I think Cindy is going to leap out of my hands and go on a rampage, or even whisper in my ear to try and make me shoot someone.
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