Guns & Murder
I don’t have a solution for the gun problem in this country; let me say that right off. There is no public will to limit firearms, the Second Amendment is now interpreted broadly, and there are already hundreds of millions of guns floating around that virtually anyone can put his or her hands on. Background checks may curtail some mentally ill people from buying guns, but it isn’t going to limit the access of criminals. Moreover, as we’ve acknowledged on several occasions, whether you love or despise the National Rifle Association and all it represents, it is not NRA members who are killing individuals or committing mass murder with guns.
But I do know this: Somehow, we’ve got to come to terms, and come to grips, with the reality that our homicide rate is completely out of kilter with those of all of the other Westernized and so-called civilized nations on the planet.
In this pursuit, I offer up two observations:
One, Americans don’t just have guns because the Constitution says they can. And they don’t just have guns to protect themselves and their families. Many, if not most, of the Americans who have guns do so because they love guns the way Americans love cars. It is part of our culture, and for better or worse, it is part of who we are. Maybe it comes from our frontier heritage the way that our love of cars comes from our vast geography and the ingrained notion that success or fulfillment always seemed to beckon at the end of the road.
In fact, both our love of guns and our love of cars are symbols of manifest destiny – one of the most powerful concepts in the entire American mythos. Both represent personal empowerment, independence and freedom.
As the old slogan says, “God made men, but Samuel Colt made them equal.”
We love the way guns look and the way they feel. We love the styling and the workmanship. As we distinguish between a Chevy and a Ferrari, so we can distinguish between a Saturday Night Special and a Beretta 9 mm. True gun aficionados are gun collectors, amassing far more than they could ever need for self-protection or even to be part of a well-regulated militia.
Two, while it is true that “people kill people,” they do it most efficiently with guns. And if it weren’t for guns, they wouldn’t kill nearly as many, as is statistically irrefutable in just about every other civilized nation.
Guns convey a power to kill that is unavailable by any other means. With a knife you have to get up close and personal. With a bomb you have to have technical skill. With your hands you have to have strength and courage. With a gun, you just have to squeeze a two-ounce trigger and you can take out a large number of people, as we have seen so tragically time after time after time. You can plan your action, or you can do it impulsively, without planning, without thinking it through, without strategy or getting blood or gore on yourself. It all happens in a fraction of a second.
Again, not to take on the NRA types, because they are not the offender profile, but how many banks or stores would be robbed, and how many home and street robberies and carjackings would occur if the criminals could not use guns?
Yes, “people kill people.” But guns are objects, and certain objects change people and alter their behavior. That is certain. And isn’t that what we’re ultimately talking about – human behavior?
So let’s just admit it and incorporate this concept into our public dialogue: Mass access to guns has made us a different country and a different people than we would be without them.
And that is a responsibility we all must share.
I cannot help but wonder (as a foreigner) one thing: freedom, in any society and any area, generally comes with responsibilities. If, therefore, America cares a lot about the freedom to own guns, what are the responsibilities that should go along with these?
In my country, hunters can own hunting rifles, but they do have to have a hunting license that shows that they are able to kill the intended animal rather than a passerby… Similarly, when you claim the right to own a gun for self defense, shouldn”t it be your duty to prove that:
– you know how to use it.
– you know how not to use it.
If you want to be able to own and use a gun for self defense (or worse, vigilante-style activity), you may need to have a training similar to that of a cop, who knows how to shoot and knows how to apprehend a suspect without killing him if at all possible. There is a reason why cops are not just given their good will and a gun but have to undergo thorough training!
Basically, America has many gun owners that have just bought a gun but have never been required to prove they can use it, store it, and also NOT use it responsibly. Many may actually meet the requirements, but many also do not… and many may believe they’re just fine because they are basically nice people who just want to defend themselves, but they may have weaknesses they are not even aware of – no depth perception for example (this is my case, and I did not know about it until I was 24), and above all just “normal” ill-judgement, being easily frightened, having a hot temper, and being tempted to feel the gun is the answer to whatever – fear, anger, etc. It all passes, but if you use the gun, the consequences do not pass.
I do not claim I have any answer to America’s current situation as it is much easier to never let the guns in – which I believe is the best option – than to remove them in an appropriate manner once they are there, but I wonder why gun ownership seems to be the only freedom that is not associated with any responsibility.
Mark, thank you for your response. It means the world to me. My respect for John Douglas’s work along with yours knows no bounds.
I want to relate five personal experiences that has shaped my discomfort with guns. I” keep it short.
I owned a BB gun. I practiced shooting at birds. One day I made my first kill, a difficult shot. The bird flew off its perch, and landed on the grass on the ground. I was delighted at first, but when I reached my kill, seeing it was dead, I reflected, and didn’t like what I had done. Other than killing it, there was no other purpose in killing that bird. I stopped shooting at birds.
First, two times while out in the country during hunting season, I had shots fly over my head. The first was 13 year olds shooting at blackbirds with a 12-gauge shotgun. The pellets flew over our heads. He charged forward, armed with shotguns to the shooters. They melted. He put them through the ringer, scaring the hell out of them, made them turn over the shotgun to us, then later met with their parents. The second was on a state-eased reservoir property during squirrel season in August. (In Indiana, due to the leaves, one uses a .22 caliber). A shot rang out above my head and I replied verbally in anger (if a decent word left my mouth, it was purely coincidental>.) A second shot hit again above me. I started to continue my verbal assault, but stopped. What if the second shot wasn’t accidental?
I thought about this predicament. I saw a parked Mustang earlier. I was in a creek feeding into a reservoir lake of over 3000 acres. I was about 100 yards up a creek without a paddle, dressed in my skivvies from high school gym. What were my options for escape? Hide? What if they came for me? The creek was cut sufficiently that I had cover to make my way downstream to the reservoir, where significant snags existed where I could hide myself. I heard car doors slammed, an engine started, and tires pealing. I looked over the bank, the Mustang was gone.
So now, I have justification for carrying a firearm. Then one night at my brother-in-law’s home, he is playing with a .22 revolver in a holster, loaded. He is playing with the hammer, testing it’s strength. De repente (suddenly) it slips from his thumb, discharging a bullet which travels through a bookcase, wall and lodges into a leather chair. Further is the other side of the living room, where there is a couch, then the outer wall of the house. So much for the non carbon-life form damage. But in between the chair where the bullet lodged and the couch is the pathway to the lower level of the house from the second story, which were the bedrooms of his three children.
What if the bullet was from his .357 Roger, and one of his children happened to be in the line of fire? Watching Wambaugh’s, “The Onion Field” a year later, I got a visual representation of, “What if”.
Fast forward and I’m in a national chain drug store. A man passes me and gives me a look that would kill. I find what I need, go to the cashier, where he is in line. He sees me (I'[,m 6’3″ 230 lbs, played football). He approaches me, sticks the bird in my face. I ask him, “What is that for?” He says, “Guess”. We stare at each other, then he goes back. I see him in his Taxi, consider calling the company, then cuss him out in Spanish.
Within two weeks, I bought my first handgun.
So I have uncertain emotions about having it, and don’t carry it unless necessary, and without proper precautions in securing it, and deciding when it was necessary to have it (which was seldom). In other words, my concern for its unintended consequences made me reflect on when I should carry it (over 10 years, 3 times.)
Once the bullets start flying, no one can be certain where they end up. It’s not like I was as a kid, setting up two armies with LOS on each soldier, then executing flawlessly shots. No, in real life it is messier.
I am relieved that no more than one student was shot in Colorado. I am distressed at what she has to go through.
Again, thank you for this passionate commentary. You touch on a number of important subjects, including gratuitous cruelty and the need to be realistic about our surroundings. Your ambivalence about guns and our gun culture suggests a deep moral dimension to your thinking.
The problem is not guns. It’s a generation or two of individuals who have an entitlement mentality, who believe they should have what they want, when they want it, and that they have the right to obtain their desires by whatever means. They have a complete dis-regard for human life. Gun Control is not going to some this problem. If anything it will only compound the problem by leaving law abiding citizens without a way to defend themselves against criminals, who aren’t going to obey gun laws, and tyranny. While some blame the Conservatives for the problem because they are opposed to gun control, it is the left-wing extremist who are committing most of the mass murders.
In the latest Colorado school shooting at Arapahoe High, Pierson who was 18, was unable to buy a gun legally. He didn’t seem to have a mental illness, He had lots of friends and he was outspoken concerning his liberal political views. but had shortly before the shootings been kicked off the debate team by the librarian, who it is believed was his intended target, which may have been the trigger for the shootings. There were also a couple of stories that say he was a victim of bullying, which is commonly reported in these type of crimes.
I agree with you, Sherry – gun control will not solve the problem. But I can’t help lamenting that we are the only so-called civilized society that has a gun violence problem anywhere near this magnitude.
The statistics for gun violence in America also includes when guns are used in self-defense and also includes accidental shootings, which in my opinion should not be counted as gun violence.
Most gun violence crimes in America are committed by gangs. If there were an honest attempt to solve gang violence, then gun violence numbers would go down.
Murder is murder regardless of what means it is committed. The crime of murder exist in all countries of the world, not just America. In other countries, where the government has banned guns, citizens are often killed by their own government by various means. These countries also have higer percentages of mass murders committed by suicide bombers or poisons and even stabbings of large numbers of people.
Many of the murders committed in other countries using guns are not labeled as gun violence crimes because it is considered legal to use guns during war. That could included locking hundreds of people in a building and setting it on fire, then shooting any person who tries to escape, whether it is for the safety of that country or not, and usually isn’t.
So is gun violence really a bigger problem in America than elsewhere in the world? Or is it that, what would be considered illegal in America, is not listed as a gun related crime in other countries, or is considered acceptable?
It is reported that the State of Louisiana is the second highest in America for gun violence, but if we didn’t count the crimes committed by the street thugs and gangs in New Orleans our state would probably not even make the list for gun crimes.
Cut down on gang violence in this country and the number’s for gun violence crimes would most likely decrease by more than half in my opinion.
So if people are really concerned about this problem, instead of pushing for tougher gun control laws, which does nothing to stop gun violence, because those who obey the law don’t need laws, and those who need the law won’t obey them, start pushing for tougher laws that would get the street thugs and gangs off our streets.
Good article. The key point is we have far more guns than is necessary for self defense.
Interesting post. Let me start with your conclusion. Technology infuses humans with a, “certain aggressive pride”, whether it be a gun or be a car. It extends our power. And as Nietsche states, humans have a tendency towards, “Will to power”.
I had my Billy Rosewood time (remember the character from, “Beverly Hills Cop”?) I worked as a security guard in a rehabbed auto factory from the 1920’s in which one of the tenants manufactured muskets. Late at night, I would stop in. The guy putting together the muskets (he didn’t call it a craft because he didn’t manufacture every part of the gun, but he knew how to fit in tiger-striped maple with its irregularities into a smooth stock). He bought and sold guns. I held Remingtons from the cowboy days, wondering who had owned the guns. I held Belgium semi-automatics. And so on.
I learned to hunt, shot a squirrel, rabbit, deer and Wild Turkey, and once I gained that competency, quit. I didn’t much like shooting living things, but knew that is what kept my grandparents alive during the depression. Most hunters I respect and know don’t trophy hunt, they eat what they kill.
Due to an incident where it was possible that I would be assaulted with lethal force at a drug store that I purchased my first gun. I witnessed an assault in progress in which the perp was trying to use deadly force, and it took the cops 20 minutes to respond ( the incident ended, and the intended victim, her girlfriend who kept the boyfriend at bay and the perp were long gone). No report, no follow up, the cops were getting 10-15 runs a shift.
I worked on a federal study in the 70’s in which I rode with patrol units as an observer. We were studying the delivery of police services. The primary principal investigator later won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work in economics. It was a great experience.
I say this, because it took the incident to buy a gun. I know that there are times the police cannot be there in time. I became a secondary teacher of Spanish, and due to my previous experiences and reading whatever I could of Mr Douglass’ works, I prepped my classroom for the unlikely event of a school shooting. I had a plan. Two 4 drawer file cabinets were near the door, to block enty. I had heavy tables that could be turned over and used as shields. I was aware of every possible LOS, and had in my mind where to place each and every student in each class out of harms way.
Lastly, I placed in a very secure place, two machetes, a hand axe, a tomahawk, and a hand gun in built in furniture. Basically you would have to take parts off of a built in bookcase to find them. No one unless they were renovating the room would accidentally find them. It would take me a few minutes to get to them.
I’m not a fan of concealed carry for all teachers. The possibility of being thoughtless and leaving a gun exposed to others is too great. But having tools at one’s disposal is useful. A friend who was a police officer was involved in two justified shootings. The second was at a convenience market, and the perp shot a uniformed officer waiting in line. My friend was undercover, in bib overhauls, 6’4′ and 300 lbs, a weightlifter. He charged straight at the perp, who froze at the sight. He slugged him in the neck, breaking it, and put his revolver to the perp’s head and shot him. The autopsy’ conclusion was that the slug killed the perp instantly.
I wish it weren’t so, but there are times we need to have protection.
Insightful and well-reasoned comments that stand on their own, Whosear. In one way you contradict my assertions, at least on a personal level, and on another, you support them. Being a meat eater and a wearer of leather shoes and belts, I would be hypocritical to oppose hunting, and hunted animals certainly have a better life than those raised for industrial production. I also think there is a moral dimension in understanding and appreciating where your food comes from.
As far as the protection aspect, you seem to be a perfect example of someone who is not a “fetish” gun owner but understands the real situation “on the ground” and is reacting accordingly. Your observation, “I wish it weren’t so,” is the key. I also wish it weren’t so, but know it is.
Thank you so much for your contribution.