The Gun Obsession
Two months since Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting and the gun control issue has barely been discussed. This past week President Obama tried to bring the issue slightly to the forefront but, let’s face it, it was a half-hearted attempt at best. The simple fact is Obama and Congress are not going to be addressing gun control anytime soon. The NRA has too much of a foothold in American politics for any politician to successfully combat the rampant buying and selling of guns.
I know that I’ve certainly seen a lot of arguments back and forth about gun control and I can’t help but think that people are missing the point. I come down, quite strongly, on the side of stricter gun laws but I’m not naïve enough to think that they would eliminate gun violence entirely. Sadly, that won’t be happening anytime soon. However, the real crux of the issue does not come down to how effective gun laws are. The question that I rarely see asked is: why are we so obsessed with guns?
As far as I can tell there is one key reason: a lack of self-esteem.
This might seem like an odd idea at first but stay with me for a moment. If you ask people who own guns why they do you usually get a reply that includes some half-baked idea about self-defense. On a surface level that might seem like a reasonable reply. But let’s look a little closer and go beyond just “self-defense.” What, exactly, are these people worried about? Are they worried about someone breaking in? If they have a gun or not they should give the burglar what they want and not attempt to shoot them thus escalating the situation, that’s just common sense. If someone else has a gun you do what they say, you don’t try and outdraw them Clint Eastwood style. That’s going to end badly. The self-defense that gun owners are talking about is usually about defending themselves from that evil godless government that is out to get them. And, possibly, from a Muslim invasion (I once heard that one). I have to say that I’m impressed by the level of stupidity it takes to think that owning a gun, even an assault weapon, would be enough to fend off the United States military. That is a level of delusional that even Star Trek fans who think they are actually Klingons don’t reach.
So where does the self-esteem issue come in? In order to think the government is after YOU, you have to think of yourself as pretty important. Newsflash: the government doesn’t really give a shit about you and probably never will. If you’re living in suburbia and clinging to your guns out of fear that the evil liberal government is going to come after you you’ve massively overestimated your importance. But if you’re an unsatisfied American citizen, angry with the government, then I guess owning a gun and saying, “Let’s see anyone fuck with me now!” might feel pretty good. It’s a superficial level of good but I understand the feeling. And if the now proud gun owner musters up the belief that people are out to get him then he’s doubly proud of his brand new gun because he knows he’s a prime target and he’s ready to fight the good fight.
There’s also the fact that holding a gun gives you a sense of power. A gun is made to kill and having the power to kill makes a lot of people feel pretty damn important. Without the gun maybe they’re not much but with it? Oh, boy, now we’re talking. Now they’re a real tough guy because they can put a cap in someone’s ass.
Not all gun owners are people who just need to be told they’re a valuable human being, some of them just own a gun for hunting but those that own guns for hunting usually have guns that wouldn’t be overly effective in a combat situation.
And finally, there are people who guns simply because they’re scared shitless about something or someone. Maybe they’ve been beaten up or have had a ton of death threats leveled against them. I understand the want to own a gun in that case even if I disagree with it. But with over half of Americans owning guns I don’t think hunting and death threats are all too popular reasons.
People own guns because they desperately want to feel important and powerful. There’s always the joke that gun owners are compensating for a small penis and there’s a bit of truth to that. They are compensating for something; they’re compensating for a low self-esteem.